My main takeaway: When you pick up the pace, these shoes feel amazing: they truly become an extension of your foot and the rolling with each step feels so natural. I normally take a little while to get up to 5k pace after my warm-up or cool-downs, but when I wore them I was able to hit my intended pace much quicker. I also felt like I was able to maintain it better, with less effort than usual, even on the hilliest portions of my route. 5K training tends to be tough for me, so I was surprised to see when I got home that each interval was at the faster end of the pace range I was aiming for.
However, the shoes definitely feel better as you increase your speed. During my warm-up, cool-down, and cool-downs, I felt more instability and found the firmness a little jarring.
This made me even more excited to face them in a real race, since I knew I would make it to the end. I ended up running a solid race with them, maintaining fairly even gaps throughout the ride and saving enough juice to reserve the last mile. It’s at these fast speeds that the shoes really felt most effective to me: they really encourage a quick push off the ground and provide enough bounce to help you along.
One other thing I have to point out: the comfort and fit are really great here. The lightweight upper is incredibly breathable and my feet didn’t get swampy during the northeast morning humidity of early September. I also forgot to Body slide my ankles beforehand to protect me from any friction, and I didn’t need it. There was no rubbing, pinching or crushing during the entire ride.
Conclusion
If you want to achieve a fast pace, the On Cloudboom Echo 3 can help you get there and make the whole process a little more fun (and less exhausting). After wearing them for a 5k work out and a 10 mile run, I would recommend them more for shorter, faster distances than for a half marathon or anything further. They just seemed smoother at faster paces, and I prefer to use something a little more cushioned when I’m going for a really long time. But I’d definitely be excited to try them in a 5K, 10K, or maybe even another 10 miler, especially if I was chasing a PR.
Christa Sgobba
I probably would only wear them for a run though, which makes them less versatile than some of the other great shoes (e.g. like the Hoka Machthat you can train And race). With just 16 miles on the odometer, the shoes are already showing slight signs of wear along the sole at the heel – I’m a heel striker – so I guess their four-marathon shelf life is pretty accurate. I don’t want to “waste” their miles on regular races, so I’ll save them for higher stakes races.
This also makes their high price ($290) a bit more noticeable. If you save them for race days, you’ll have to shell out even more money to buy other sneakers to train in. If you have enough disposable income to spend on running – and you’re really looking for peak performance – these can be a great option. But for more casual runners or those on a tighter budget, there are likely more versatile options that will check similar boxes.
