This week I picked up a pair of the Nike zoom flyknit shoes. I have been on the market for a good racing shoe for a while and settled on this racing flat. After reading about the specs on the shoes I pumped to try them out. I read that the Flyknit zooms have the same carbon fiber plate as the Nike vaporfly 4% but are $90 cheaper. After watching the breaking 2:00 movie on YouTube I learned that the Nike vaporfly 4% were used to attempt a marathon under 2:00 hours. The claim was that the shoe caused a 4% improvement in running efficiency. This 4% improvement peaked my interest about the shoe because I am training to run a marathon under 3:00 hours to get into Boston and ever little advantage helps.
Here are a few things that I noticed about the shoe
The feel
The shoes felt weird after I first put them on. They felt like springs that gave back a lot of energy. The sole of the shoe felt narrow compared to the Altras and Brooks. Due to the weird feeling I wore the shoes while training my clients before taking them out on a run. I was worried that I would feel unstable during my run because of how they felt while I was demoing exercises for my clients. The flyknit material fit nicely around my foot and felt better the longer I wore them. The material is very breathable which was a plus. The shoe didn’t feel light but it also wasn’t heavy.
The style
One of the pluses of this shoe was the style. I never buy a shoe for looks but this one has looks that says I go fast. I was wearing them for the day my clients all made comments of how cool the shoes look. The designers made sure to make the shoe look cool and have a nice color to the shoe.
The Test Run
Ok now we are going to get
down to the real test of the Nike
zoom flyknit. After a solid day of work, I was ready to take these out for a
run. My running coach had a 6-mile run in a heart rate of zone 2 which isn’t a
speed day. I wasn’t feeling 100% when going out for this run and I was unsure
how it would turn out. My legs were a little sore from running 8-milers and
working out my legs the day before. The temperature was low and the winds were
high. I put my headphones it cued up a drum and bass mix and was ready to rock.
When I hit the road, I went out fast. The first mile clocked in at a 6:30 pace and the shoes felt great giving me more energy back the faster I ran. The second mile was also fast running the same pace of a 6:30 mile at this point I started feeling comfortable in the shoe. The third mile was the best of the run coming in at 6:11 which is the fastest mile I’ve done during a multiple mile run. I was blown away with how fast I was running. When I hit the uphill lasting 2 miles my pace dropped to around 6:55 for the final 3 miles. The run ended with 4x 15 second sprints which felt good in the new shoes. The only down side is that I had pain in my middle toes on both feet. I hope this goes away as I get used to the shoe.
The Verdict
The Nike zoom flyknit will be my racing shoe if the toe pain goes away. I feel that it is a fast shoe and will help me reach my goal. If you want to go fast I highly recommend giving them a try. If you want speed this shoe is worth the cost. I wouldn’t recommend using them for every run because they wouldn’t do great in bad weather or on a choppy trail. The shoes beg you to run faster and the faster you go the more you get back from the shoe.
