The Six Minute Mile Holiday Gift Guide
Don’t stress about shopping for your running-obsessed friends and family members—or yourself, wink wink!—we’ve got you covered with the gifts runners want and the gifts runners need.
The Megablast is light, bouncy, and responsive at every pace in your training spectrum.
I’ve said this before, but we’re definitely in the Golden Age of Running Shoes. Several times every year, new shoes drop that break the mold, redefine what daily training shoes can feel like, and raise the bar for runners of all ability levels.
Lately, these new shoes are made possible by the ever-improving midsole technology, although many also include updates to upper materials, outsole rubber, and how shoes are put together. And because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, it results in entirely new fit, feel, and ride sensations. But let’s be honest, those next-generation shoes typically come with futuristic price tags, too.
The latest barrier-breaking shoe to arrive from the future is the ASICS Megablast, a thickly cushioned everyday trainer that produces a bouncy and very responsive sensation in every stride. Building on the success of the ASICS Superblast shoes, the Megablast raises the bar on bounciness with precision and control. And yes, at $225, it is very pricey—perhaps exorbitantly so for some runners.
It doesn’t have a plate embedded into the midsole, so it’s hard to classify it as a super trainer, but the way it handles and performs could certainly give a lot of its super trainer cousins a run for their money. It’s a very well-rounded everyday trainer capable of running at any pace you’ll run during the week with plenty of cushioning and protection for long runs and recovery runs, and enough pizzazz for speedier workouts, too.
What’s New: ASICS is debuting a brand new aliphatic TPU (ATPU) midsole foam called Flytefoam Turbo Squared that it says is 33 percent bouncier and 10 percent softer than its standard FF Turbo foam. The shoe’s lightweight woven mesh upper is extremely light, very breathable, and also quite supportive, and feels similar to what’s found on some race-day shoes. It also includes lightweight sawtooth laces that have become a trend lately on racing shoes and speed trainers, while smartly placed ASICSGrip rubber on the outsole offers traction and control.
Fit/Feel/Ride: The ASICS Megablast fits true to size with a medium volume interior and just a little bit of room in the forefoot for toes to wiggle. (It’s more narrow than many road running shoes.) The step-in feeling is plush and padded, thanks to a high-quality footbed and a thin, lightweight gusseted tongue that comfortably and securely cinches down the engineered mesh upper once the laces are tied. There’s just the right amount of padding around the heel collar, while an internally reinforced heel cup optimizes the rear-foot fit and provides control through the early stages of a stride.
The ride is where the futuristic vibe of this shoe comes to life. Light, bouncy, and responsive, the Megablast has put a noticeable amount of spring in my step in every stride at every pace I’ve run at. It starts with soft landings and quickly transitions to vibrant toe-offs. Because the midsole is only slightly soft (and slightly firm), it’s not a sloppy bouncy sensation, but instead a very controlled and precise energetic feeling. The ATPU midsole foam—a material more typically found in race-day shoes—is hyper-responsive but the slightly firmer feel will result in an inherently stable ride for runners with a neutral gait pattern.
Price: $225
Approximate Weights: 6.4 oz. (women’s size 8); 7.5 oz. (men’s size 9),
Heel-Toe Offset: 8mm; 45mm (heel); 37mm (forefoot)
Why It’s Great: In a word, it’s versatile. But it’s also very lively. Its versatility is really about having exceptional pace variability without losing comfort or performance at any speed. I’ve loved this shoe for long runs and recovery runs, plus speedier tempo runs and fartlek intervals. It can be a high-mileage workhorse and a quick-cadence trainer for speed-day workouts, even though I wouldn’t choose to use it for intervals shorter than 800 meters.
In previous years, two of my favorite everyday trainers that offered exceptional versatility and truly did everything well were the Saucony Endorphin Speed 3 and Hoka Mach 6 shoes, but those were not max cushioned trainers and lacked the long-haul comfort and protection that the Megablast delivers in spades. While it might not be as all-out fast as either of those examples, I ran a 5-mile tempo run in the Megablast shoes the first time I took them out, and then ran 16 miles in them the next day. In both cases, the shoes felt exquisite and resilient, making me feel fitter and faster than I probably am at the moment.
Why You’ll Love It: The Megablast is one of those shoes you put on and it almost feels effortless to run in at any pace. The midsole foam is infinitely responsive, and because the shoe is so light, it doesn’t feel bulky at all. In fact, if you didn’t know this was a maximally cushioned shoe when you laced it up and started running, you might think it is lower to the ground than it really is. It has above-average proprioceptive feel for the ground, which is rare for thickly cushioned shoes, and that allows it to feel as agile and energetic on slow recovery runs as it does for long runs and tempo runs.
Why You Might Not Like It: If you have wide feet, this shoe might feel a bit too cramped, especially in the forefoot. (It only comes in a standard width.)
Pro: There’s not a lot of outsole rubber on the bottom of this shoe, but it has smartly placed at the high-wear areas and the durability factor of the exposed foam shouldn’t be a concern.
Con: The only real drawback against the Megablast is that it’s not cheap. Paying $225 for a training shoe will definitely stretch a runner’s budget.
Senior editor Brian Metzler has wear-tested more than 2,000 running shoes and is the author of “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes” (2019) and “Trail Running Illustrated” (2019). He has raced just about every distance from 100 meters to 100 miles, but he’s most eager to share stories about his experiences pack burro racing in Colorado.
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