Are Super Shoes Worth It Alphafly 3 vs Adizero Pro 4 vs SuperComp Elite v5 vs Fast R Nitro Elite 3

We have just finished testing four of the best carbon shoes in the world so we can answer one question. Are these super shoes actually worth it? So stick around to see how much of a difference they made and which super shoe was our favorite. To put these shoes to the test we're going to be doing a simple experiment. Firstly we're going to go run a mile in our everyday shoes and this will set up a baseline for the rest of the test. Then we'll run a mile in each of the carbons tracking our heart rate and level of exertion trying to keep that as close as possible to our baseline and by doing this we can compare the shoes head-to-head. I know this isn't perfect science but it is one way to answer the question are carbons really worth it? Okay so right now we are going to run a mile in our everyday trainers to just create that baseline test for the rest of the shoes. For the baseline mile I was wearing the Brooks Glycerin 22s. These are the shoes that I pretty much wear on all of my training runs and all of my long runs. I've been wearing Brooks since I started running. They're a neutral shoe and they've just worked for me so far. These are not carbon plated but they have a lot of cushion to them and my baseline mile ended up being 9 minutes and 12 seconds and my heart rate was around 162. So for the baseline mile I ran in the Socknee Endorphin 5s and unlike the shoes that I usually run in these Socknees do have a nylon plate in them. A nylon plate is sort of that happy medium between an everyday shoe and a carbon plate so it will be interesting to see how these feel compared to the fastest shoes in the market. Okay nice. I've heard such good things about these. I feel like a lot of fast runners have these so I'm so intrigued to try them. I've never tried them. I mean we can't return them can we? It's like a foam mattress on your feet. So great. Yeah you've never worn carbons before have you? No. It's exciting. The first mile we ran in the super shoes was in the Adidas Adizero Pro 4s. This was my first time ever wearing super shoes and I didn't really know what to expect. These were way bouncier than I thought they would be and they were super light. I ended up starting so much faster than I did in my baseline mile just because of how easy it was to get up to that speed. It felt like the shoes were encouraging me to run faster. I also really appreciated the support that they seemed to have in the ankle. Overall they felt great and I really liked them. So I have to agree with Ayesha on this one. These shoes make you want to run fast. They certainly left a great first impression on me as I could literally feel myself being pushed off the ground by them. It was actually almost frustrating because I wanted to run fast in them but obviously for the experiment I was trying to hold back just to avoid my heart rate creeping up. But all in all these are definitely a superb carbon shoe to run in and another feature that is definitely worth sharing is the noticeable ankle support in the back of the shoe. This definitely makes the shoes feel way more supportive than other super shoes that I've tried. You can still feel that they are a carbon plated shoe but it's not quite giving the same bounce. Our second super shoe was the New Balance Fuel Cell Super Comp V5s and putting these on right after the adidas the first thing I noticed was that they didn't feel quite as bouncy. They felt a lot more like an everyday trainer compared to the adidas but I still felt like it was propelling me forward just not quite as much. I'd recommend these shoes to someone who is looking for a carbon plate but is also looking for a shoe that doesn't feel quite as extreme. So to me these shoes definitely felt a lot more sturdier. I noticed that when I got up to the same speed as the adidas that my heart rate was also higher so I did need to slow it down slightly and personally I just didn't think they provided quite as much bounce but this definitely isn't a bad thing either. Every runner is different and different carbons work for different people so if you are looking for a safer option I definitely recommend these New Balance. I knew it oh my goodness that color is unreal. The back of your foot almost hangs off. I'm really intrigued to see how they how they perform though. The third shoe we tested was the Puma Fast R Nitro Elite 3s. These definitely took a second to get used to because they were so different from the other shoes but by the end of my mile I was really liking them. I'm a bit of a heel striker which is probably not ideal for these but I still did feel like I was getting that boost that comes with wearing a carbon plated shoe and this did end up being one of my faster miles. So let's talk about the Pumas. I must admit putting these shoes on they felt strange like definitely one of the more unique shoes I've ever worn but don't get me wrong they do not feel as silly to run in as they do to walk in. Once I started running I was like okay these shoes are fast that's for sure they are so light you can visually see how bouncy they are and very interestingly when I wore these shoes due to the design of them my ankle was actually dropping off the back of the shoe which is super interesting. They didn't feel uncomfortable they just felt new and there must be a reason for this I'm not sure what that reason is but an interesting feature for sure. I saw I saw. Okay well this is exciting. These are crazy. Our last mile was in the Nike Alphafly 3s. I didn't know much about super shoes before this but I had heard of the Alphafly's. These shoes definitely had a good amount of bounce support and stability and while some of the other super shoes took a minute to get used to these felt a lot more natural right away. I really liked these and I appreciated that there seemed to be a good bounce and support all the way throughout the shoe. The Nike Alphafly the very popular carbon shoe that a lot of runners race in and I think the most noticeable feature about these shoes is the platform of the shoe like they give you a lot of height and a lot of bounce. All in all I love these shoes I have actually worn them personally for my first marathon and I was very happy with them. I got a very fast time. They are just a great stable carbon trainer for whatever distance you are running and I can see why they are so popular. I love these shoes. I thought like before I tried all those different ones like these are like really extreme but now having tried on like those these feel like normal. Okay guys it has been a day since the test and we've had a little bit of time to recap have a think about the shoes and to think about the data and now let's get into it. It's not a surprise that for me all of my times in the super shoes were faster than my baseline mile. I feel like at the start of every mile I was surprised at just how easy it was to get up to speed and I felt like I was actively holding back to keep my heart rate similar. My fastest mile was in the adidas but all of these times were an improvement over my non-carbon plated shoes. You'll see that my heart rate was climbing throughout but I think that had to do in large part with how hot it was getting. I would be really interested to try the test again in a temperature controlled environment and see how that affects results. Okay so what actually surprised me was that my baseline mile was actually my fastest but I am going to pin that down to two reasons. Firstly the Soconis are a nylon plated shoe and also like Aisha said I did find myself holding back in the super shoes just to keep my heart rate the same. I think had the test been pushing these shoes to go their fastest that's where we would have seen a greater improvement when compared to the nylon plated shoe and also what you can see that my heart rate was actually lower all the same in the super shoes despite it getting 10 degrees warmer throughout the test and I was still getting super good speed out of them. If we were to redo the test I'd love to try these shoes in an all-out mile I can just tell there is so much more speed in the carbon shoes compared to the nylon or everyday shoe. Well it's hard to say because obviously we did only run a mile in them and I think all of these trainers are like from 5k to maybe like a full marathon distance but I am really really excited to try out the adidas adizeros. Like I mentioned I have had like my time in the after flies and I cannot fault them like they are amazing but I'm going to go ahead and say my favorite are the adizeros. Do you have an idea yet of which ones you're going to pick? So I really loved both the nike and the adidas so I think right now I'm like a little torn between them. I loved the bounce of the adidas but I think the alpha flies that support instability that I was talking about like in the ankle and in the arch I think would really help me in that marathon distance specifically. So are carbon running trainers actually worth it? So personally for me I would say carbon running trainers are definitely worth it. My focus is getting faster and having carbon trainers is kind of the cherry on the cake. We can't forget all the other influencing factors I follow a training plan, I do my strength training, I eat well, I sleep well so when race day comes I have all those factors that are going to hopefully help me run fast but also like I said having carbon trainers do make me a faster runner and they are the cherry on the cake. And I think it's important to remember that like everybody going into race day has different priorities, they have different goals. You know these shoes are super expensive and so if speed is your priority I don't think that it would be a worthwhile investment. For me I do want to see how fast I can go so I think you know adding carbons to the mix is something that's really exciting because it just levels it up in a way that I think everyday trainers can't. So that's it for this video guys hope you enjoyed and let us know in the comments what other shoes you want to see us test whether it's more super shoes or everyday trainers. Make sure you are liking this video and subscribing to Runner TV and also guys as much as we'd love to keep all these carbon trainers we know we can't do that so head over to our runner Instagram and keep your eyes peeled for a very exciting giveaway where you could get your hands on a pair of these. Until next time guys, bye!