Mizuno Wave Inspire 14 Running Shoe Review

The Mizuno Wave Inspire 14 running shoe tweaks this much loved family with a fresh look and improved support. 

As Josh highlights in his informative review, this go-to running shoe is best suited to a pronated foot type. It's available in 2A, B and D widths for women and D and 2E for men.  

Check out the full review with transcript below.

Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude. 

Today I’m coming at you with a new shoe review. I have here the Mizuno Wave Inspire 14. 

It just dropped into Australia in 2017 with some great feature updates which I’m going to get stuck into in two ticks. Big changes from the 13 to the 14, so without further ado let’s get cracking. 

First and foremost what foot type fits inside this shoe? In terms of how we fit the Wave Inspire 14, we look at the foot type and we need to assess whether it’s a pronated foot type or a neutral foot type. 

The reason being is they always carry in the Inspire series a form of arch support. Mizuno use a Wave Plate on the medial side that is essentially built up. They don’t use a dual density foam which other brands have used. Brooks and Asics for example will use a firmer density or dual density under the arch area. 

In terms of the actual arch support that Mizuno use, it’s very supportive but it’s not intrusive. You don’t feel it on the arch as much as you do in some of the other dual density brands. 

Getting back to the foot type and talking about who would run in this shoe. It’s a foot type that rolls in, so a pronated foot type. 

As the foot comes down, heel strike comes through the midstance and what we see is that the foot  collapses ever so slightly on that medial side which can put a bit of twist on the ankle joint, shins, knees and hips. To minimise the amount of pronation velocity, Mizuno have put in that arch support. 

In terms of the cushioning system what Mizuno have used in the past is their U4ic or the U4icX cushioning system. It’s easy to identify in previous shoes because they’ve split the colour schemes, so I can point out which one is softer than the other.  

However, cosmetically they’ve made the decision at their head office to make the shoe a little bit cleaner and to be honest I really like the look of this shoe. It’s nice and clean and has a great 'pop off the shelf', and it’s a big improvement by Mizuno. 

Hand on heart I love Mizuno shoes, but they’ve probably a bit off the mark on their cosmetics in the past, but they’re really banging on with this little guy. 

Back to cushioning. U4icX is their soft cushioning system and sits just under their strike zone, which is the heel region. On top of that Wave Plate is their U4ic cushioning system, so it’s not quite as soft as the U4icX. It gives a little bit more response and that goes right the way through the forefoot. 

The Wave Plate as I touched on before has the medial support. The Wave Plate in this shoe finishes roughly just before that first flex groove. 

What that essentially does for the Mizuno shoe is as you come through that midstance to toe off transition, through the forefoot it’s not as stiff as previously it has been with other shoes, excluding the Inspire. Going back a few years now, the Wave Nirvana, Horizon and the Paradox all have forefoot specific Wave Plates.

With the Wave Inspire 14 they don’t have that, it’s a lot more flexible through the forefoot, which essentially offers you a quicker transition through toe off. 

Getting back to the other features which I like about this shoe. I love, love, love the depth of their heel counters. Mizuno has always felt a little bit deeper through the heel counter. 

What that does is when the foot hits the ground, whether it be heel strike or midstance, you get a lot more support in that region of the upper. They use an internal heel counter that’s stable and very strong. The support in the upper in the shoe is fantastic. 

As you come through their upward changes, they’ve made the shoe lighter through the forefoot. However, previously to the Wave Inspire 14, the feedback was it was quite boxy through the forefoot, so we were finding it quite difficult to fit in store. There was a bit of bundling going on in the upper. 

When you go from midstance to toe off you don’t want to have too much movement through the upper in the forefoot. If you do you’re going to be moving off the platform support that this shoe is engineered on, so it’s really important that the forefoot is nice and stable. 

So I can tell l you right now the upper in the Wave Inspire 14 is firm and solid. It's not intrusive and doesn’t hug the foot too much, but it just gives you a little more support. 

Moving on to others things I’d like to talk on. Mizuno have thrown in a few more overlays in the navicular region. What that does is when we’re loading heel strike to midstance, all the weight is on one leg while the other foot is up in the air. 

It’s vital the navicular region is nice and stable, not too strong, not too tight because you need a little expansion for your foot to transition through to forefoot toe off. It’s certainly a big improvement from the Inspire 13.

Engineering wise from the foot down they carried that story for two years. This is the first big change I’ve seen in the Inspire for a couple of years now. 

From the foot down it’s a slightly lighter, softer feel and in the upper it’s again, a lighter but more secure fit. In terms of the shoe itself and going back in the last ten years, I think this is easily one of Mizuno’s best updates from their previous model.

Touching on widths, in ladies we’ve got a 2A which is narrow, they have a B which is standard and then a D which is a little bit wider. In the men’s it’s a standard D and they offer it in a 2E width as well. 

To get a closer look at the other colours and subtle features of this shoe please click the product pages below this video. 

Thanks for watching and happy running. We’ll see you next time.