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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
A lot faster when running in them too,†she says. With a generous layer of the brand’s bouncy FF Blast Plus foam underfoot, the Asics Novablast 4 is the most versatile max-cushion shoe in this category — it can support runs at slower paces and won’t feel sluggish on runs at a faster clip. The Novablast is very similar to the Saucony Endorphin Speed in that I can use the shoe for any type of run. Maria Wong, a co-founder of the running group Queens Distance Runners, uses her Novablast 2s (a previous year’s version) for easy runs. Wong says it feels “very padded†and can “take lots of pounding,†while Brown of Pineries Running Lab, who uses it for daily training, says it has flexibility in the forefoot and a “poppy-soft†feel that “has a little bit of give to it, but it bounces back.†Thanks to innovations like carbon-fiber plates and finely engineered geometry, these fast shoes are helping professional runners smash world records — and the rest of us shave a few seconds off our 5K times. Nike consistently produces super-shoes built with one goal in mind: going fast. The Vaporfly 3, built with a full-length carbon-fiber plate and ZoomX foam, is no exception. Maria Wong of Queens Distance Runners ran the 2023 Boston Marathon in the Vaporfly 3 and uses them on runs whenever she’s simulating race pace (like ten-mile-repeats at marathon pace). Chung likes the ZoomX foam cushioning on the Vaporfly 3, which he says keeps his legs fresh on longer efforts. “I’m reaching for this shoe when I’m racing anything longer than a 5K,†he says. They’re also the go-to race shoe for chef Daniel Humm, a marathon runner currently training for the Boston Marathon. “There might be a little bit of a placebo effect going on, but they are very comfortable and very fast,†he says. “I don’t know if I shave off minutes, but maybe seconds. And I don’t break two hours, but I still do break three hours, which is pretty good.†After the Nike Zoom Alphafly — largely regarded as the fastest marathon shoe at the time — came out, nearly every other major running brand has introduced shoes with carbon-fiber plates and their take on springlike midsole cushioning. Pro runner Sara Hall finished second in the 2020 London Marathon (the first American woman to make the top three in the race since 2006) wearing Asics’s version: the Metaspeed Sky. It’s a shoe that forefoot strikers will enjoy: It has a full-length carbon plate, a thick layer of the brand’s proprietary FFBlast Turbo cushioning underfoot, and a rocker that propels you forward. The Metaspeed Sky+, the latest version of the
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