Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit Shoe Review
Josh reviews the neutral Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit running shoes that are in a league of their own with the softest cushioning he’s ever experienced over his last 15 years of road running.
This puts them on the radar for your high mileage running – keeping you motivated and energised from your everyday training to easy-going runs over long distances.
A full ground contact outsole provides plenty of durable rubber underfoot, particularly through the rearfoot and forefoot for a consistent connection with your running surface.
With an elevated stack height, Nike have packed an ultra-plush platform between your feet and the road. The springy ZoomX midsole compresses to provide a cushioned barrier to soak up shock and reduce the running stresses acting on your feet during repetitive impacts.
The Flyknit upper offers high ventilation in strategic zones to sweep away sweat and humidity on your endurance runs. The internal heel counter adds stability, keeping your feet secure on the cloud-soft midsole.
All-up it’s a super comfortable partnership for everyday athletes that want to run strongly and distraction-free over long distances.
Check out the review with full transcript below.
Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude Running and in my hand I hold the Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit running shoes. There’s a lot of hype about this shoe globally and let me tell you the hype is real. There is a lot going on with this shoe.
In today's review we're going to break down exactly what this shoe is all about and who it's designed for. We’re going to go over the outsole, midsole and the upper and give you all the information at home to maybe throw this into your shoe rotation. Without further ado let's get stuck in.
Runner Profile
Like all my shoe reviews gone by, I like to touch on the foot type that could be considering this shoe. It is a neutral high mileage shoe. Neutral refers to a foot type with a high arch in a static position. There's a little bit of real estate between the arch and the ground.
For this runner when they're coming through their gait transition, the pressure will either be through the central part of the foot and they might have a slight tendency to supinate or put a little bit of lateral pressure as they go through their toe-off phase of the gait cycle.
The other neutral or stable neutral category we see in store is a foot posture with a flatter arch. When this runner comes through their gait transition, they still stay relatively stable and the pressure is through the central part of their foot.
If you are a runner at home and you tend to mildly overpronate, where you flatten out that arch and track towards your big toe before you release on toe-off, I'd be questioning whether the ZoomX Invincible Run is a shoe for you.
Obviously, there's going to be runners out there that overpronate, use it and may be A-OK. However, because it's so soft I'd be questioning whether the support is going to be adequate for you the overpronator out there. I encourage people to get fitted to make sure this is going to be appropriate for you at home.
Outsole
Let's get to the exciting part about this shoe and that is all to do with the engineering. Like all my shoe reviews gone by, we'll start from the ground and work our way up. Let's talk all things outsole first.
This shoe is full ground contact meaning there is rubber from the furthest part of the heel right through to the furthest part of the forefoot. You get plenty of traction and protection underneath the foot which is going to be making sure there is no uneven wear on the ZoomX midsole.
There’s a lot of rubber underneath the foot and a relatively substantial amount of shoe at the base of the heel. That's a lot to do with the cushioning system which we'll get to in two ticks.
You have quite a lot of real estate underneath the heel and then it does narrow through that semi-curved last region through the arch. As you come through to the forefoot you have quite a flared forefoot as well so there's a lot of purchase area through the front half of this shoe.
Midsole
Coming through to the midsole, we have the ZoomX cushioning system. This is hands down bar none the softest shoe I've ever run in and that's saying a bit.
I've ran in hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of pairs of shoes over the last 15 years and when I put this shoe on my foot it just felt crazy soft underneath.That is a good thing and can be a bad thing depending on what your body is requiring at this point in time.
The cushioning system is the ZoomX midsole. This is not the first time they’ve done this, we've seen ZoomX in the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next%, the Nike Air Zoom AlphaFly Next% and even the Nike Zoom Pegasus Turbo just to name a few. This iteration of cushioning system has been introduced into Nike's running shoes now for a few years, but they haven't actually put it into a high mileage shoe and jacked it up like they have with the ZoomX Invincible Run.
When we're talking about jacking it up there is a lot of shoe underneath the foot. For the men's model we have a stack height of around 37mm in the heel and 28mm in the forefoot for a drop of 9mm, so there's quite a bit of generosity underneath the foot.
The reason they've gone so high is purely and simply because it is a high mileage shoe. It's your daily trainer, it's designed to spend plenty of hours out on the road at your easy jogging pace.
Also, when you're really calling out the asset being the cushioning system, you want to make sure you give it all that you can. That's why there is so much shoe underneath the foot.
Touching on what I said earlier, it is a neutral shoe. When we're talking about neutral shoes there is no additional arch support placed on that medial side. There’s no dynamic support system, it is the same density on the inside as it is on the outside.
This could be touched on with regards to the upper, but I will call out the plastic support system that runs around the back of the heel counter which is strategically placed on top of the midsole. That is placed there just to provide a bit of stability for that heel.
Since this cushioning system is really soft it does compress quite a lot when your foot hits the ground. You want to make sure your heel stays nice and stable on top of that midsole, hence that stability plastic system which runs from the lateral heel right around to the medial side of your heel.
It might add a few grams of weight, but it needs to be placed there because it will provide more stability on top of the shoe.
Upper
Coming to the upper of this shoe, this is a very comfortable design. Not only is there a lot of magic underneath the foot, but the Flyknit upper is very comfortable.
I was concerned it may be a little narrow through the forefoot. I'm traditionally a D width and I'm running in this shoe in a size 9.5 D width. I fluctuate between size 9 and 9.5 depending on the brand.
I really like the fit and feel, especially through the forefoot. I get the perfect amount of width through the front half and the depth is about bang on for me. I don't like something really boxy where I have a lot of wiggle room, but there's certainly enough space there to get a bit of movement with my toes without sacrifice to support.
As you come through to the arch area there's nothing really suggesting there's any overlays. The Nike Swoosh has been strategically placed there more for cosmetic reasons.
On the inside of the tongue there is a gusseted system, so you have that connection from the tongue to the midsole on the medial side and the tongue to the midsole on the lateral side. The tongue isn't ridiculously thick but it's certainly not thin. If it was a little bit thinner, I personally might like it a fraction more but there's nothing really to say that it's not going to be comfortable for a lot of people.
It's going to feel nice and protected on top of your arch and there's plenty of ventilation panelling at the bottom half of the tongue so you're going to get that airflow through your foot which is a huge requirement of this shoe.
Being a mileage shoe you want to make sure your foot doesn't swell too much inside the shoe, so ventilation plays a key part. You get plenty of ventilation through the Flyknit construction in this design.
Coming back to the heel counter, as we touched on it does have that plastic system which sits on top of the midsole but we do have an internal heel counter on play as well. You’re not only getting protection underneath or around the lower border of your heel, but you do get plenty of protection up the walls of your heel with that internal heel counter which is great.
I like it when shoes get it bang on and in my opinion they've nailed the amount of foam they have on the inside of the collar. They’re certainly not overdoing it by any stretch of the imagination. There's just enough there to really dial in and get that fit nice and secure at the back heel, but provide the comfort that you require as well.
The last thing to call out is that there is the additional eyelet at the back. For those of you that prefer to run with the heel lock lace you have that ability to dial that in for yourself with your lacing system.
Widths
While we're talking about the upper let's touch on the widths. Being the first of its kind, more often than not a brand will only release a shoe in one width. In the men's model we have a D width which is standard and in the women’s model we have a B width which is their standard as well.
The Wrap Up
Wrapping up the Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit, it is the softest shoe I have ever run in bar none. The closest comparison from my experiences is potentially the New Balance Fresh Foam 1080 and I'll throw the Hoka One One Clifton in there as well as a soft, everyday mileage running shoe. I still think this sits on its own with the cushioning system on offer underneath the foot.
Just to give you a bit of feedback from my personal experience, I am a mild overpronator and I can use stable neutral shoes. With this shoe when I was running at around 5 minutes per kilometre to 5 minutes and 15 seconds per kilometre, I didn't feel as stable as I would like in my everyday mileage shoe. However, when I picked up the pace and was running around 4 minutes and 30 seconds to 4 minutes and 45 seconds per kilometre, I felt very happy inside this shoe.
Would I buy a shoe to do some shorter runs at that speed? There's a lot of other shoes I'd potentially run in, but I could certainly see this being a great training shoe for those people who on their longer runs happen to run at a slightly quicker pace.
However, keep in mind again I'm a mild overpronator and if you happen to be a neutral runner and you are looking for something super soft and you might be pushing anything out over that 5 minutes per kilometre mark, don't rule this out. This could be a shoe for you.
Thanks for tuning in and listening to my take on the Nike ZoomX Invincible Run Flyknit. If you have any questions about this shoe or have some feedback on it because you've ran in it or tried it on, please contact our Sportitude shoe experts.
Please subscribe to the Sportitude YouTube channel if you haven't already done so to stay notified and we'll keep pumping out as many shoe reviews as we possibly can for you the runners at home.
Until next time stay safe, happy running, be kind to each other and we'll see you on the road. Take care.
FEATURES
- Support: Neutral
- Upper: Mesh
- Midsole: Nike ZoomX
Men
- Heel Height: 36.6mm
- Forefoot Height: 27.6mm
- Offset / Drop: 9mm
- Weight: 314g / 11.07oz
- Width: D (standard)
Women
- Heel Height: 34.2mm
- Forefoot Height: 25.8mm
- Offset / Drop: 8.4mm
- Weight: 253g / 8.92oz
- Width: B (standard)