Qhen ASICS launched its two METASPEED™ models on the market in the spring of this year, it did so by declaring that it had created them to meet the needs of two types of athletes: the strider, namely those Athletes who maintain a constant cadence increasing or decreasing the stride length, and the cadence runners, those who instead adapt cadence and stride length to the pace they want to maintain. The METASPEED™ Sky is the shoe designed for the first group of runners and was therefore born with rather high ambitions: to serve runners with an efficient running technique and also with a more than quick stride. But let’s proceed in order.
AESTHETICS
The ASICS METASPEED™ Sky certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. The two colors, “Sunrise red/white” and “Performance red/black,” make it recognizable from a mile away, just as the conformation and design of the tread rubber are absolutely unique. The upper is extremely lightweight and breathable, and all details are heat-molded to minimize the weight of this component as much as possible. The heel, very noticeable as in now all shoes with plate technology or carbon components, rises 3.3 centimeters from the ground, leaving 5 mm of differential with the toe, which has a marked saber shape. The combination of the upper with ASICS’ proprietary mesh, FlyteFoam™, which makes up the midsole and a very thin rubber band to act as a tread allow this shoe to weigh less than two hundred grams, and thanks to the well-balanced distribution the perceived weight is almost zero.
THE TEST.
Several runs were made for this trial, at very different paces, both on track and asphalt, in a wide variety of weather conditions (autumn helps a lot in these cases).
The ASICS METASPEED™ Sky is a shoe with one soul, one that looks at the highest possible speed our foot is capable of making it reach, and it matters little whether you use it on asphalt or track. In either case, the perforated rubber tread will have firm grip and every change of direction, whether on the tartan or the road, dry or wet, will be firm and precise. It is an extremely stiff shoe, almost impossible to flex by hand, and this stiffness of the shoe is all felt when the foot goes into contact with the ground, although once we put them on the softness of the midsole makes us wonder whether or not carbon is actually present. In fact, it is the midsole itself that provides the support needed to handle this stiffness optimally, and when you start running the energy return pushes the body forward almost automatically, giving the runner the feeling that accelerating also increases running stability and improves efficiency, which is actually what the METASPEED™ Sky was created for.
At a relaxed pace, on the other hand, the feeling underfoot is very strange and the ride becomes almost unstable, because the tread is very limited on the middle part of the foot and thus rests directly on the midsole, creating a situation of ground contact with two different materials, which gives the foot a completely new and unusual feedback compared to what you have when pushing. Then again, the METASPEED™ Sky is not, and does not even want to be, a shoe for everyone, so at low paces or with an inappropriate running style and foot stance it can only respond in a way that is not in line with that for which it was designed.
IN BRIEF
The
METASPEED™ Sky
is a very demanding shoe in terms of pace and running technique, suitable for fast runners who are able to keep their cadence more or less constant by changing their stride length. For these, the best use is definitely in fast runs with lengths varying between ten kilometers and the marathon, but it can also be used in those medium or short distance workouts where you push hard and seek the best possible performance.