Saucony Fastwitch

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Nike Lunaracer

Light enough for sprints, cushioned enough for 70.3.

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When do you age up? Next year?

If so then you should be looking at the brooks beast :)

Seriously though i used to run in the Saucony type A sockless for a 5K

I just got a pair of Zoot Makai sockless shoes for sprints and olympics. I love them. Very quick in transition.

Do you have any biomechanical concerns or landing habits that would be involved? Pronate, supinate, etc. What is your injury history like? Have you experimented with various "drop" shoes and if so, what was the result? Any tendon issues-sensitivity on top of the foot? Are you a heavier runner, do you have a semi-curved or curved foot shape? These are all question I would ask of myself before I look at a single shoe. Once you answer these questions, you can then narrow it down rather quickly to ask input that would apply back to your original question.

For everyday training shoes I might be a little more picky but I can race in anything. No significant injury history or biomechanical issues (knocking on wood right now). Not heavy, semi curved foot. And I never wear socks for a sprint unless it's just stupid cold. Light, fast, and comfortable without socks are the boxes I would like to check.

And yes jaretj I do age up next year :-(.

I can tell you from experience, that while I love Adidas shoes for run races with socks, they are not really a great "sockless" racer. Stitching on the inside have scarred my feet with adidas stripes on the arch. I am constantly changing shoes each year, looking for that ideal dream racer. I will say my latest pair for Ironman was the Hoka Clayon 2. Lots of support, cushy, but not durable, a bit wide for my narrow semi-curved foot.

I waited for years for an Adidas Prime Knit Boost Adios shoe...paid $150 bones for it, literally nothing for support in the shoe. Issues I find with the Prime Knit racers are lack of support. Enjoyed Saucony Fastwitch series, great fit, and I could run sockless as well for shorter races. My advice is to look at the drop that agrees with you (I can't wear 0 drop shoes without getting an injury), look at the shape so it fits a narrow or wide foot whatever you have), and know if you need posting/support in any way--then just try them on & run in them before you buy. Most shops these days should have a treadmill to run on these days.

While I do favor (generally) the fit of adidas, for the life of me can't understand why they are so behind on the sockless + support part of a racer like the Adios shoes. Great shoe but tears the crap outta the feet with the stitching inside. Asics does a GREAT job with a seamless upper in the DS series shoes. Not sure who started it first, but ZOOT was one of the first I bought with a seamless upper.

New Balance has some excellent racing flats in the 1400 and 1500. The 1400 being the lighter weight and more "neutral" option, with the 1500 being more similar to the fastwitch by having just a mild degree of posting on the medial side. The tongue does tend to be on the low end when laced to the top and can be harder to snag for a quick entry into the shoe.

Brooks hyperion or asteria are both fast shoes that would do well over 5k. The Hyperion is the nuetral model, while the Asteria offers minimal medial posting.

Hoka does have a couple awesome shoes slated to debut this winter/spring that I think will be pretty stellar fit and performance wise. The Mach will replace the Clayton, and the Cavu (I think that's the name for now) will be a new shoe added to the line-up. The Tracer 2 from them is a great option as long as you keep in mind the sizing in that shoe is woefully off, the shoe runs pretty large and I would consider sizing down at least a half size but maybe more.

NB, Brooks, Adidas, Asics and Nike shoes will tend to be 8mm+ while Saucony and Hoka tend to design on the lower end at around 0-4mm.

NB, Brooks, and Saucony tend to design on the wider end of the last spectrum, but most racing shoes use a more performance oriented last and may feel more narrow.

I like Asics DS Racers. I'd probably like the LyteRacer too, but that's aimed at the half marathon.

I use the Saucony Endorphin Racers for sprints and olypic distance tri's and have used them all the way up to straight half marathon. Super light, super fast, not so much comfortable. Ran a 15:25 5k on the end of a sprint tri so they have to be fast.

Does Nike even make that shoes anymore?


OP, I would say anything in the 5 to 6.5oz range (for mens size 9) would be good for a 5k as long as you are ok with no support and minimal cushioning. Nike Zoom Streak, Saucony Type A or Endorphin Racer, NB Hanzo are a few examples I'd consider looking at.

If you answer Rocky M's questions I can help you more.

I think the sockless thing is personal as well. I have multiple pair of Adidas that I race in sockless without issue. It's 100% YMMV on that. I tend to favor shoeless over shoes though unless shoes are required.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

You are seeing two different types of recommendations: racing shoes optimized for running speed and shoes specifically optimized for quick transitions.

One school of thought is that you want a shoe that enables you get out of T2 super fast, so the keys are speed laces and sockless. The other is optimized for a fast run so that will focus on weight mostly. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in a sprint, T2 is a big deal in determining overall outcome, so you don't want to miss out on the overall optimized shoe.

On cloud surfers with speed laces and bodyglide :) Ive got a wide foot fww. Thes shoes to me are superlight ,totally comfortable with out socks and very easy to get into.

Yeah, the curse have having buttery soft baby feet..sockless in Adidas just doesn't work well for me :-)

Nope. Nike stopped making them after the spring. Damn shame too imho. Now they have a 9.5oz shoe they are advertising as a racing flat.

Nike Zoom Waffles...whichever model feels best.

Crocs? Lol

I like Brooks Ghost 10 for long distance. Be careful searching for best running shoes on search engines nowadays all you get are amazon affilaite peddling fake reviews to get you to click affiliate links.

Asics Hyperspeeds. About 180gms, great to run in and I use them for all races from 5km, to half marathon/70.3 without socks. I'd imagine the DS-racer would be quite similar? There's a few guys on ST that rate them, hence the reason I bought them :)

I have used the following shoes in the past few years with success:

Saucony Type A - The new Type A A8 just launched and they have a redesigned upper and are great for narrow feet athletes. I use rubber laces for all my shoes
Asics Hyperspeed 7 - This are fast and light but they breakdown quickly. I think I got 200 miles / 300km out of mine before they were totally trashed
Saucony Kinvara 8 - These are better suited for longer distances but deserve an honorable mention. They are light and responsive and the 8s have Everrun the full length of the show now
Saucony Endorphin Racer 2 - If all you care about is the lightest, fastest competition 5K shoe look no further. These are built for fast people who are only worried about high turn over and PRs.

The shoes I've been interested in trying lately for this purpose are the Hoka Tracer 2. I'd put it with the Kinvara as the others are lighter but they will likely hold up longer.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

I've been racing sprints/5k in Nike's Zoom Streak LT3 for two years now. Great shoe for that distance, I've raced a couple of 10K and Olympic distance without much issue, but feel pretty beat up afterwards and throughout the next day. So I chose to go with the Nike Air Zoom Elite 9 for the longer stuff.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

What do you think of the A8s? I've been a huge fan of the A5s that I bought several pairs to avoid the shortage once they were discontinued.

I like the A8s much better than the A7 or A6. The upper is better, the colours are better, and the “snappiness” is there still. I was hoping for some EVERRUN foam in the forefoot but hopefully the A9s sort that out.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"