Mizuno Wave Inspire 15 vs 14 Running Shoe Review

Josh reviews the new Mizuno Wave Inspire 15 running shoe - a breathable, high mileage running shoe best suited to slight overpronators.

Mizuno stay true to what works, transferring the U4ic and U4icX cushioning over from its predecessor for a resilient and responsive ride.

The X10 carbon rubber outsole provides the durability needed to accommodate heel strikers and keep you marathon-ready.

Check out the full review with transcript below.

Hi guys, Josh from Sportitude here today to talk to you about a new shoe, the Mizuno Wave Inspire 15.

It’s going to be on the market roughly towards the end of 2018 and will be one of their premium shoes for the whole of 2019.

There’s a bit to talk about this shoe. They haven’t gone back and recreated the wheel by any means, but there’s a lot of cool stuff so without further ado let’s get stuck in.

Foot Type

With all my shoe reviews I like to talk about what foot type should be running inside the specific shoe.

The Mizuno Wave Inspire 15 is designed for that slight overpronator. Therefore, we are talking about a foot that does have a slightly collapsed arch through that braking phase or loading phase.

The foot comes down to heel strike and as you come through to midstance the arches do flatten out just a little bit and roll in. Technically, the engineering in this shoe is designed for a heel striker. There’s a lot going on in the back.

However, myself being a midfoot runner, I enjoy the feel of this shoe just as much as some of the other stability ranges on the market.

Outsole

With all my shoe reviews I like to start from the ground and work my way up. First things first, let’s talk all things outsole.

You can see with the Mizuno Wave Inspire 15, we’ve got the X10 carbon rubber outsole on the back side of this heel, obviously designed for a heel striker. It provides a nice, durable rubber on that first point of contact on the ground.

As you come through the forefoot, they have a rubber called SmoothRide. It is not quite as strong or aggressive as the X10. However, it’s still nice and stable and provides a little bit of rigidity support for a midfoot striker.

As you come through the forefoot, I’d like to talk about this highlighted feature. In terms of the flex grooves underneath the foot, you can see right under where the first metatarsal joint where your first big toe sits that you have a little bit of rigidity.

I like that for shoes designed for overpronators because as you come through that gait transition when we flatten out the arch and load up that big toe, if you’re shoe is too flexible through the forefoot, you’re just going to roll off that platform on the medial side.

It’s going to cause quite a bit of variability in movement with the angle of attack as you hit the ground and the angle of the excursion when you leave. We do want to be relatively stable underneath that big toe which is what they’ve achieved with this model.

We’ve got one flex groove through the forefoot and just after that midstance or braking phase, a flex groove there as well to provide speed in the transition to get you ready for toe-off, but still nice and stable as you go through that toe-off phase.  

Midsole

Talking all things midsole. We’re talking about the cushioning systems U4ic and U4icX. There’s nothing that’s really changed here from the Mizuno Wave 14 in regard to the midsole.

We’ve got the U4icX that sits just underneath the Wave Plate and your U4ic foam that sits just on top, U4ic foam being a little more responsive than U4icX.

The Wave Plate has been Mizuno’s point of difference for years and years. The Mizuno Wave Plate provides rigidity in the midsole to give it strength and integrity, splitting the two density of foam – the softer foam from the firmer foam, which is great.

It provides a little bit of strength and hold as that foot comes down and you compress the shoe over the entire life of the shoe.

As you come to the medial side, it is a supportive shoe. However, unlike other brands they don’t use dual density foam. Mizuno’s philosophy behind that is that dual density foam can be a little aggressive on the arch depending how you layer cushioning. It can also be a little too heavy.

Keeping this shoe nice and light is a great feature, and also using that encapsulated Wave Plate on that medial side. It doesn’t dig into the arch but it provides enough support through that transition. It is a cool feature. I’ve always liked how they’ve made the support on their shoes with the medial side in the Mizuno range.

Upper

As you come through to the upper, it looks like a traditional running shoe in the sense that there’s some overlays, the logos stitched in, as you come through the forefoot there’s that synthetic cap at the front which is double stitched and they have that open, breathable mesh.

In some instances, it does look a little old school in turns of its engineering design. However, I kind of like it because when you’ve got the overlays and stitching involved, there’s a little more care and love that’s gone into making this shoe.

What I mean by that is, there's a few more hands and machines it goes through to make this construction. It is a nice, supportive upper. I’ll definitely hang my hat on that.

In my opinion what Mizuno are trying to achieve by keeping the foot nice and stable inside this shoe, they’re doing it with the overlays and have achieved it quite well. You can see the logos stitched in on the lateral side and the medial side.

They have attempted in the past to not stitch in the logos and almost weldmesh it on or paint them on. They did that for the Wave Inspire 10 and it sends shivers down people’s spine when I talk about this shoe.

I hate to be critical but that was not a good shoe. It was too light, too cheap and the list goes on. It was OK and there was a minority of runners that actually liked the reduction of weight and didn’t need that amount of support, but for a traditional Mizuno Wave Inspire wearer, it did not hit the mark.

Five years later since the Wave Inspire 10, we’ve got a great shoe and built the customers expectation back up. The reputation of the brand is certainly there.

I’d like to talk about the upper again. Just to touch on there is a few widths in this shoe as well. For that just hit the product pages below for what’s available in the men’s and women’s range.

The mesh through the forefoot is relatively light but it’s nice and breathable. You want that in a shoe like this. It’s a shoe designed for someone that’s going to spend time out in the road that doesn’t necessarily want really heavy cushioned shoe.

It’s a mileage shoe, so that being the case you’re talking someone that’s potentially going to be in it for an hour, two hours, three hours or four hours running a marathon. You do want some space there for breathability and swelling, and this shoe does have that adaptability in the upper to provide for that runner.

It has a nice and breathable mesh tongue which is great, providing plenty of ventilation. One thing I love about Mizuno in the past six or seven years even in the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10 is the good heel counter.

Nice internal stability. Deep, so you get plenty of depth in the back and security around the back of the heel.

When you put a Mizuno on and you feel your heel go clunk in the shoe, it feels fantastic. You know it’s on, you know you’ve got that support in the back half. I do like that feature about Mizuno and I can't see that changing any time soon.  

There you have it guys, the Mizuno Wave Inspire 15, a fantastic update. Again, they didn’t recreate the wheel, they just tweaked it a little bit from where it was last year.

It’s a great shoe, one to consider if you’re looking for that high mileage or mid to high mileage category and want a reduction in weight and to keep it nice and plush as well.

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Until next time, happy running.