By Brian Metzler

It’s amazing how many good running shoes are available on the shoe wall at your local running store nowadays. The challenging part is figuring out what shoe is best for your everyday running needs, especially because training shoes are morphing beyond the pre-existing criteria and specs that we’ve been used to for so long.

While we’ve all been excited about the high-end racing shoes that have brought game-changing performance to the marathon, my favorite category lately has been the evolution of performance trainers into the new category of maximally cushioned – some say illegal – everyday super trainers. (They’re only suggested to be illegal because they ignore the World Athletics 40mm midsole stack height regulation of shoe design for elite runners in international races. But they’re not at all prohibited for you to wear during training or in your next race.)

ASICS is one of the brands that has redesigned several of its training shoes with midsoles higher than the 40mm standard. Most recently, it released the boundary-breaking Magic Speed 4 ($170) as a max-cushioned super trainer and, in my humble opinion, it hasn’t gotten the accolades it deserves. That’s partly because it debuted in June after the release of the stunningly remodeled Metaspeed Edge Paris ($250) and Metaspeed Sky Paris ($250) max-cushioned marathon racing models and just a few weeks before the Superblast 2 ($200) oversized super trainer. 

So where does the Magic Speed 4 fit in? To be honest, it kind of blurs the lines a bit. It probably sits between the Novablast 4 everyday trainer and the Superblast 2 oversized super trainer based on their tall stack heights. But neither of those energetic and cushy shoes have plates and the Magic Speed 4 has a semi-firm carbon resin plate and that puts it adjacent to the Metaspeed Sky/Edge Paris racing shoes as a high-end performance trainer. It starts to get confusing, but it doesn’t need to be. I’ll keep things simple and dig into why I think the Magic Speed 4 offers such great bang for the buck as an exceptionally fast, cushy, and versatile shoe. In fact, I think it’s versatile enough that some runners might consider using this shoe for a majority of their runs during any given week.

What’s New: The Magic Speed has continued to evolve since its inception five years ago as a more traditionally shaped racing flat with a semi-firm plate. It has gradually gained midsole thickness through the years, including 7mm of added height in this edition to its current 43.5mm/35.5mm geometry. It has a full-length FlyteFoam Blast Plus midsole with a wedge of energetic Flytefoam Blast Turbo (ASICS’ premium race-day foam) in the forefoot above the semi-firm/semi-flexible carbon resin propulsion plate. A new engineered mesh upper features a lighter, more breathable material that is conducive for both training runs and speedier, race-paced efforts. The outsole is now made from a grippier rubber formulation which ASICS says provides much better traction on wet surfaces. The updates are good, but together they’ve made the Magic Speed 4 an entirely new shoe.

Fit/Feel/Ride: The Magic Speed 4 fits true to size with a medium/narrow interior volume and some extra room in the toe box. The interior feels soft and comforting – though not necessarily an opulent or plush feeling – but it’s how it comes together that earns high marks from me. The thinly padded gusseted tongue is very similar to the previous version and lays flat and snugs up nicely with the new upper and lacing system. It feels like a speedy shoe (and it is) but it rides like a responsive max-cushioned shoe (which it also is).

The ride provides a smooth, snappy sensation based on the semi-firm/semi-soft FF Blast Plus midsole, and it seems to encourage me to land with more of a midfoot gait style. The high level of responsiveness comes from both the density of the midsole, the firmness provided by the plate, the shoe’s rockered shape and aggressive toe spring, and the segment of springier FF Turbo under the midfoot. It’s one of those shoes that, once you roll through the mid-stance phase of the gait, it feels like your foot falls forward into the toe-off portion of the end of a stride with a spark of energy.

Why It’s Great: The combination of its maximal semi-firm cushioning and the responsive ride it produces make it a fun, energetic shoe, but what makes it great is that it’s both light and lively but also very stable. That stability comes from having a slightly more dense midsole than many of its contemporaries and a slightly wider footprint, too. Some oversized training shoes with midsole stack heights taller than 40mm tend to be overly soft and lack a good proprioceptive feel for the ground while others tend to feel too marshmallow soft. That’s not the case with the Magic Speed 4, which is firm enough to allow your foot to sense the ground and make you feel like your foot is really in control of your movement and speed. (That’s in contrast to a bigger, softer shoe where you just roll through the gait and are at the liberty of the plate’s levering action to accelerate or maintain a faster pace.) The FF Turbo foam is a good example of high-end foams trickling down into other shoes in the ASICS’ lineup, ultimately up-leveling the Magic Speed 4 to the status of a premium training shoe.

Specs

Weights: 7.3 oz. (women’s 8), 8.5 oz. (men’s 9)

Heel-Toe Offset: 8mm; 43.5mm (heel), 35.5mm (forefoot)

Why You’ll Love It: If you’re like me, you’ll love it because it does everything very well. It’s versatile enough to handle slower and faster long runs, execute up-tempo workouts, and even be a race-day shoe for mid-range runners. It doesn’t feel quite as special running at slower paces, but I’ve run a few recovery runs in it, too, and wasn’t disappointed. Since the spring, I’ve run in about 25 different training shoes, but I’d be willing to bet I’ve run more miles in the Magic Speed 4 than any of them. Why? It’s both because I love the shoe, but also because it doesn’t have any glaring limitations as a performance trainer that can easily be categorized as a lively everyday trainer. I ran 12 miles in the Magic Speed 4 recently and wound up running about 30 seconds faster per mile than I expected to. This shoe has also excelled on those days when I’ve laced up my shoes and decided what pace I’d run after I got out the door and got moving.

Pro: At $170, this shoe offers a lot of bang for the buck and it definitely punches above its weight for its mid-range price tag. You could pay less for a true everyday trainer that wouldn’t offer nearly the performance, or you could pay considerably more for a shoe that would only be marginally more responsive, but wouldn’t be as cushy or comfortable. 

Con: As much as I love this shoe, I’ll admit it’s still a bit of a ‘tweener. It’s not as fast and light as ASICS’ Metaspeed racing models and it’s not as cushy as the Superblast 2 or as soft and agile as the Novablast 4. Does versatility also mean sacrificing high-end features? Yes, perhaps, but the Magic Speed 4 is pretty special.