Flanked by five iPhones ready to capture my every move, I stood on the treadmill and thought: Here goes nothing.I started to walk at a 3.0 pace, slowly getting into it. I am a casual jogger mostly, though I prefer low-impact activities like Pilates. But on this day, I needed to prove I knew what I was doing. Before I knew it, I was in my comfortable 7.0 jog, but I was still a bit self-conscious about what I looked like on the screens surrounding me. And after three minutes, it was over. I did it.
Having five iPhones capture me running isn’t something I regularly do. But I was recently in Portland at the Nike Headquarters (the Lebron James Innovation center, to be specific), where I was able to test out the Alphafly 3 running shoe, which incorporates Nike’s technology Air.
Air, for those who don’t know, is a cushy cushioning platform that consists of pressurized air inside a flexible (yet surprisingly durable) fabric that was introduced in 1978 (in the midsole of the Tailwind, for all you sneakerheads.) It has come a long way, though. It’s “40 year-young technology,” joked John Hoke, Nike’s chief innovation officer. Air is gearing up for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. It will be in the sneakers of athletes like A’ja Wilson, Sha’Carri Richardson, Eliud Kipchoge, and many more.
“We’ve given a measurable, proven-by-science advantage to our athletes,” says Hoke when I ask what he’s most excited about with the products. “Whether that’s a racing spike, or a distance-running spike, or a high-jumping shoe — or a lunge, jumping shoe or a marathon shoe.”
The Air technology will also be a part of a 13-shoe collection called the Blueprint Pack coming out July 3. And for us non-professional athletes, it will be available at nike.com and select retailers. The collection includes updated spikes for track athletes, with the Nike Victory 2 and Nike Maxfly 2; a new basketball shoe, the Nike G.T. Hustle 3; and a boot for footballers, the Nike Mercurial.
After years of being tested in the Lebron James Innovation Center, or Nike Research Lab (which, mind you, includes a full-size basketball court, a 200-meter endurance track, a 100-meter straightaway, an artificial-turf training pitch, and four chambers that can mimic any athletic condition you could imagine), the latest iterations are finally ready for athletes (or even just me and you).
“Gold medals are great, but the everyday athlete achieving his or her own best is thrilling to me,” says Hoke.
So back to my running. After those three minutes in the Running Analysis room, I got the results. To my surprise, my running form was well rounded in the six areas they measure: cross, bounce, lean, slide, roll, and reach. (I mostly credit the Alphaflys.) On my way to the treadmill from the locker rooms, I might have felt like a puppy trying to take its first steps — wobbly, awkward, and a bit clumsy since the shoes feel like clouds. But once I started running, the bounce provided by the Air cushion made me feel like I could run a marathon. And that’s my gold medal.
Bianca Nieves , 2024-04-12 21:11:01
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