While you line up at first of any race—whether or not it’s a small neighborhood occasion or a World Marathon Main—chances are high, you’ll see “tremendous sneakers” on an entire bunch of ft. These carbon-plated, cushioned trainers enable you choose up the tempo by boosting vitality return, they usually merely make racing an entire lot of enjoyable.
Most operating shoe manufacturers now have their very own model of them, and once I discovered Below Armour was getting into the fray with its new Stream Velociti Elite, I used to be keen to provide them a strive. I examined out a pattern pair for SELF’s 2023 Sneaker Awards—and ended up having fun with them a lot that I laced them up for the primary 10Ok I’ve raced in a number of years. Listed below are my ideas on the shoe.
Who it’s for
The Stream Velociti Elite is a racing shoe, made particularly for runners who wish to push the tempo at longer distances, like half marathons or marathons. Mainly, when you’re in search of a PR, you’d gravitate to this type of shoe.
Christa Sgobba
Out of the field
I’ve to confess: Once I opened up the field and took out these sneakers, my first thought was skepticism. The sneakers seemed so fairly that I used to be afraid they have been going to be extra about look than perform. They’re a lovely seafoam inexperienced colour (with popping lime accents) with an virtually dainty, see-through mesh higher that appears very cool. Look-wise, they seemed extra like a conventional operating shoe—they lacked the tremendous excessive stack top and futuristic particulars of different tremendous sneakers I’ve tried. Plus, they felt tremendous gentle (weighing 7.5 ounces).
Christa Sgobba
Match and Really feel
I attempted these in my regular street-shoe dimension, they usually match high quality. Usually I am going up half a dimension in trainers (to permit for motion and slight swelling with exercise), however I nonetheless had a bit of further room on the prime, so these may run a bit large. The shoe additionally has a streamlined, svelte look and runs a bit slender within the toe field. Whereas I used to be okay with my regular shoe dimension, I feel a half dimension up may have additionally labored too (particularly for runs longer than an hour).
The shoe laces up securely (no heel slippage!) and the padded tongue and heel add a bit of further TLC. For tremendous sneakers, they didn’t really feel overly cushiony—they’re undoubtedly extra of a agency assist—however they certain did really feel gentle. It bought me excited to take them out for a quick run and put their velocity chops to the check.