The TYR Valkyrie Elite 2 is a lightweight marathon race shoe designed for speed. At $280, it competes with shoes like the Puma Fast-R 3 ($300) and ASICS Metaspeed Ray ($300). The upper is extremely light and breathable and is almost completely see-through. The Valkyrie Elite 2 has a very unique geometry with a de-coupled heel and forefoot, a midfoot cut-out, and an aggressive full-length carbon fiber plate. The plate has a really interesting geometry where the forefoot juts out over the front of the shoe. There is also not much under the heel, with a significant heel bevel and lots of cut-outs designed to drop weight. This version is a completely different shoe from the previous iteration. It has an ATPU foam instead of PEBA, a completely different geometry, and somehow drops the weight by about 70 grams. The foam feels soft underfoot when you first lace it up, and the shoe fits true to size with a snug, race-ready fit. Out on the run, we found that, similar to the Fast-R 3, you look down at your watch and find that you are going much faster than you expected due to the easy, smooth turnover. The lightweight construction, rocker, and bounce all work together really well to make you move along very quickly. To us, it feels like a combination of the Metaspeed Ray and Fast-R 3, but with a little bit more stability and comfort. It is surprisingly comfortable when hitting the heel and provides decent stability compared to both the Ray and Fast-R 3. This is a shoe that fits squarely into the fastest, race-day category, but we really like how well it balances speed and comfort. The foam is really nice and very pleasant to run in, while the geometry is still quite aggressive. It might do the best job we’ve seen of threading the needle between being really fast and still being comfortable when your form isn’t perfect or when you are running your warm-up or cool-down miles. The Valkyrie Elite 2 actually reminds us even more of the OG Saucony Endorphin Elite. The midfoot cut-out is in essentially the same place, and it has a similarly aggressive heel bevel and late-stage rocker. The big difference is that the Valkyrie has a softer, more modern race foam with tons of pop. It has that same feeling of getting a lot of speed without having to work particularly hard for it. The toe-off is excellent and keeps you turning your legs over with ease. The Fast-R 3 is probably still the faster shoe, but the Valkyrie Elite 2 is right there. For us, the biggest advantage of the Valkyrie is that it gives you so much speed without being nearly as punishing. It has the aggressive geometry and lightweight feel you want in a race shoe, but it also has enough cushion, bounce, and stability to remain comfortable when the miles start adding up.
