Total distance ran:
500 km (300+ miles)
Type of runs:
Marathon workouts and long runs, one marathon raced
Weather ran in:
Northern winter and spring, most miles on snow, gravel-covered snow**,** gravel-covered pavement or plain old gravel
My profile:
Height: 200 cm (6-6)
Weight: 90 kg (200 pounds)
Normally size 12 or 12.5, I wear 12.5 in this shoe
Range of average pace with this shoe: 4:00-5:00 min/km (6:30 - 8:00 min/mile
Strike Type: Midfoot landing, tend to roll off the toe as shown by wear in the photos (scroll all the way to the bottom)
Run 90 - 110 km (55 - 65 miles) per week when marathon training
Positives:
- Most comfortable super shoes I've tried (Metaspeed Sky, Sky Paris, Adios Pro 3, Puma Nitro Elite 3)
- Roomy toe box for a race shoe
- Easy to lock down the upper
- Work well for my mechanics
- Have been durable, especially for a bigger runner
Negatives:
- Expensive and hard to get when they originally launched
- Indoor paces are not accurate with the Stryd pods, this is the only shoe of about a dozen I've used them with that has the issue
Overview:
I tried so hard to get these for my 2024 marathon, ended up going with the Sky Paris which was a great pick. I grabbed a pair for my 2025 race and tested them against the Asics and they performed better for me, in addition to feeling more comfortable and stable, especially at the end of the race.
As a bigger, older runner I feel like these are the sweet spot of performance and still being comfortable. I think they still look pretty awesome too and have some good color options going.
Going into 2026, I decided to re-up on the Alphafly rather than chasing the newest and greatest super shoes. (Not gonna lie, I was tempted by the Fast R3 but the narrow toe box scared me away.)
Worth buying?:
I think this shoe is still tough to beat, at least until v4 comes out. I know there are other shoes out there that are tested to be as fast or faster, but I find this one to be one of the most comfortable I've tried which means a lot over the marathon! Especially for a recreational runner.
Testing versus a fresh pair
In one of my last workouts before my marathon, I thought it would be interesting to test my old worn down pair (500+ km of use) against my fresh pair with only 20 km on them.
Workout was 6 x 1200 m with 3 minute rest where I changed shoes. The old shoes did 1,3,5 and the new ones 2,4,6. I was aiming for about 4:00 pace but wasn't too fixed on it, just tried to keep the effort even.
Measured on the same road loop using my Garmin watch, Garmin HR chest strap and Stryd duo pods.
Takeaway is that the new pair felt much better and was a little bit faster, although not as much as I might have thought. The numbers are not earth shattering but it was about 1% faster at the same effort. The new shoes were also "bouncier" as shown by slightly longer stride, lower ground contact time and higher leg spring stiffness.
At the end of the marathon I would imagine the difference between old and new would be even greater.
| Measurement | Old Pair Avg | New Pair Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Time (1200 m) | 04:50 | 04:45 |
| Pace /km | 04:03 | 03:59 |
| Heart Rate | 147.3 | 148.3 |
| Power | 412.3 | 416.0 |
| Cadence | 173.7 | 174.3 |
| Stride Length | 1.42 | 1.43 |
| Form Power | 98.3 | 98.3 |
| Form Power Ratio | 0.24 | 0.24 |
| Ground Contact Time | 212.3 | 208.7 |
| Leg Spring Stiffness | 14.9 | 15.2 |
| Vertical Oscillation | 7.89 | 7.89 |
| Vertical Ratio | 5.6 | 5.5 |
| Impact Loading Rate | 67.0 | 72.3 |
