This is my unbiased Nike AlphaFly NEXT review – possibly the only one on the Internet you are going to find that isn’t attached to any kind of affiliate pay out or paid review.
How do I know? I looked for one. Doesn’t exist.
There are no affiliate links in this article. It’s just information.
I have wanted the Nike AlphaFly running shoes ever since I heard about Eliud Kipchoge breaking the sub 2 hour marathon back in 2019. Even though they were priced just shy of $300.
The technology in this shoe supposedly allows for substantial improvements in time for tenured runners.
For a recreational runner, I’m talking anywhere between three and five minutes for a whole marathon. That is huge!
A lot of my running friends purchased them as self rewards and, similarly, I negotiated with myself in hour 10 of a 12 hour ultra marathon to earn them.
“ if you don’t stop for the next two hours, you can get the shoes“
Waitlisted
What I didn’t know during that ultra was that they were sold out. Nevermind hot pink being gone, I couldn’t get any color combination at all.
Purchasing these shoes used is not a good idea because they are known for being quite fragile in wearing out quickly.
You want to buy them new because, comparatively speaking with other running shoes, you’ll have less of a lifespan (overall miles) in them.
Finally, I hopped on an email waitlist and grabbed a pair when they restocked.
Initial thoughts
This is a blog post I am definitely going to update because so far I have only done a couple of training runs.
I will say this: the moment I took my first running step, I could feel a difference.
They admittedly feel as high as they look and sort of rock you forward.
It’s like running with a tailwind the entire time, regardless of what the weather is actually doing.
I didn’t wear a watch the first time I took them out, but the second time I beat my 5K training average by :50.
Was I excited to be in these shoes or was I actually faster?
I don’t know.
Nonetheless, they feel great, don’t need a lot of breaking in, are insanely lightweight for a shoe that has a lot of bulk, and boast shoelaces that are actually designed to stay tied.
I’ve heard others say they feel like running on clouds and, as cheesy as that sounds, I have to agree!
Boston bound?
Will they save me three minutes in my marathon time? I don’t know.
For a runner like me, though, who can qualify for Boston but misses the actual entry.
Spoiler alert: the qualifying times allow you to apply for registration but you have to beat the spread within your age group.
Last year, I qualified with two minutes to spare but missed the opportunity to register by 57 seconds.
Essentially, you never know what the cut off point is going to be so the best thing to do is just go as fast as possible.
Short of losing 10 pounds and being unhealthy, I don’t know where those few minutes are going to come from. Enter the shoes.
Buying advice
- Buy directly from Nike to avoid fakes and utilize the warranty in case you don’t like them. Nike has a 60 day return and exchange policy and great customer service.
- Select the size consistent with your other Nike purchases
- Get over the colors. This isn’t a fashion choice, it’s a performance tool!
- Don’t rely on these for your sole training shoe. In fact, I think of them as your racing shoe and continue to rotate out your training shoes around then.
- Save the box (& possibly the bag) so you can resell on eBay or Poshmark when you’re done using them. This product has an unnaturally high resell value, even when in used, poor condition. I have no idea why!
Update- post marathon
Well, I said I would update this post and here I am. It worked.
Folks, I don’t know if it was the shoes, placebo effect, or what but I ran a 3:26 in them which is a personal best for me by a decade and over a minute.
That BQ I was so worried about? Beat the spread by 14 minutes. This is bananas- read more about my race experience here.
Do you have these?
I’m eager to hear from other folks who have the shoes, specifically think about how often you have replaced them or if you beat a previous PR. Message me!
