SHOE-IN Nike Air Zoom Tempo NEXT%

What do you get when you take the exceptional energy return of the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% and put it in a shoe marathoners can use for daily training? The latest addition to the Vaporfly 4% family: Nike

Tempo NEXT%. The brand has taken the shoe Eliud Kipchoge wore to break two hours in the marathon and made it more durable, more affordable and all-around more accessible for the rest of us.

The Tempo has the same thick ZoomX midsole foam in the forefoot as the Alphafly, but you can use it every day, thanks to two key differences: the more compression-proof React foam under the heel and the additional rubber in the outsole (which also provides better traction). The extra rubber makes the shoe slightly heavier than the Alphafly, but at only 277 grams for a men’s size 10, it’s still a very light shoe — and it should last as long as your Pegasus (i.e., 500 to 600 km). The shoe is ideal for weekly tempo and fartlek sessions and long runs on the roads, and its thick foam midsole means fast recovery times. (One caveat: it’s a little high for hard workouts on the track.)

The Tempo NEXT%’s midsole plate is made of plastic, rather than the Alphafly’s more rigid carbon fibre, but the energy return is comparable, and the airbag is the same. The shoe’s seamless Atomknit upper and optional handsfree FlyEase lacing system make it a pleasure to slide in and out of, and a ton of fun to run in.