Best running shoes to conquer your fall training

As the leaves begin to change colour and the temperatures begin to drop, it’s time to prepare for your fall training and any road race goals on the horizon. To make the most of this season, you need the perfect pair of running shoes to keep you comfortable and confident. Whether you’re gearing up for a marathon, tackling long training sessions, or simply just enjoying a scenic fall jog, these five shoes have you covered. So, lace up and get ready to embrace the autumn air with our staff picks of the best footwear for your fall runs.

Asics Magic Speed 3

(Editor’s Pick: Best Marathon Shoe)

Category: Neutral cushioning
Men’s: 220 g
Women’s: 186 g
Offset/Drop: 7 mm
Stack Height: 35 mm (women’s), 36 mm (men’s)
Price: $210

The new Magic Speed has the right combination of specs for a near-perfect racing shoe for recreational runners. With a generous (but not outrageous) midsole stack and an embedded, full-length carbon-fibre plate (updated from the carbon/TPU composite plate in the 2), it’s built for speed, but the new wider platform will give you a little more stability for cornering, and the internal heel counter also adds to a feeling of stability. The choice of midsole cushioning (FlyteFoam Blast Plus both above and below the plate) makes the shoe a little more forgiving, not to mention more affordable, than an elite racer; some wearers felt that the 2, whose lower layer was made of the less-cushy FF Blast, was too firm.

This shoe has seen a steady evolution since the original, which did not have a propulsion plate, and is versatile enough to work well for anything from the 5K to the marathon. The biggest change in the 3 is the upper, which is now the same light, breathable “Motion Wrap” upper used in the Metaspeed Sky and Edge elite racers.

The brand has made the shoe just a touch (18 g) lighter, while adding 5 mm to the midsole stack height.

New Balance FC SuperComp Trainer v2

(Editor’s Pick: Best Long Run Shoe)

Category: Neutral cushioning
Men’s: 281 g (9.9 oz.)
Women’s: 221 g (7.8 oz.)
Offset/Drop: 6 mm
Stack Height: 40 mm
Price: $240

New Balance has toned down the stack height of the original version of this shoe by about 6 mm (so it will be legal according to World Athletics rules for footwear). The drop has been lowered from 8 mm to 6 mm to appeal to faster runners, and the shoe has been made slightly lighter, with a wider platform at the heel, to accommodate the deep cavity running along the bottom of the midsole. This is a very plush, very comfortable shoe for long runs, featuring the brand’s premium, nitrogen-infused TPU foam and a carbon-fibre plate.

The shoe’s engineered mesh upper is breathable, very comfortable and somewhat less structured than the previous version, but still supportive enough to keep your foot in place at faster efforts. It has a thin, gusseted tongue that won’t move around during your run, and that comes up quite high onto the ankle. Whereas the previous version had a thin collar with no padding, the shoe now has a conventional padded collar similar to other trainers, which extends to the last lacing hole. The toe box is ample and the shoe fits true to size. There is plenty of textured rubber on the outsole, providing good traction in wet conditions and extending the life of the shoe.

Some reviewers have pointed out that the reduced drop, combined with the plate stiffness and very soft heel stack combine to produce a less responsive feel at faster paces, but most recreational runners will find it more than adequate for their marathon training needs.

Puma Magnify Nitro 2

(Editor’s Pick: Best Daily Trainer)

Category: Neutral cushioning
Men’s: 274 g (9.7 oz.)
Women’s: 228 g (8.0 oz.)
Offset/Drop: 10 mm
Stack height: 40 mm
Price: $190

This high-stack daily trainer from Puma is made with one thing in mind: lightness and comfort for your daily miles. Built on a new performance last and featuring a thick layer of the light, responsive Nitro foam that’s been so successful for the brand, the shoe is appropriate for logging easy miles on weekend long runs, as well as for midweek runs of varying intensities. With its relatively high heel-to-toe drop, it will appeal both to newer runners going up in distance and to more experienced runners who heel-strike or who have Achilles tendon issues. You’ll also love the shoe’s incredibly grippy, all-season rubber outsole, which will give you confidence in rainy conditions this fall.

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The shoe has a thick, knit upper that is very comfortable to step into and that moves with your foot while keeping you solidly anchored to the midsole; our tester didn’t have any issues with slippage, even though the heel counter is completely pliable. Our only reservation about the shoe is that the upper is a little warm for summer. It has a comfortably wide toe box, but fits a little long; you may need to go down a half-size.

Under Armour Velociti 3

(Editor’s Pick: Best Update)

Category: Neutral cushioning
Men’s: 249 g (8.8 oz.)
Women’s: 198 g (7.0 oz.)
Offset/Drop: 8 mm
Stack Height: 30 mm
Price: $190

This is an update to the Flow Velociti Wind 2, now with a simplified name—but don’t confuse it with the Hovr Velociti 3 racing flat introduced in 2020, which used a different type of foam midsole. The Velociti 3 has a Flow midsole that’s been made slightly softer, necessitating a slightly higher stack; this gives the shoe a plusher-feeling ride without any perceptible loss of stability, despite the added height. It’s a welcome change for those who felt the shoe was too firm, and it’s still a relatively modest height for those who like their trainers fast and sleek, rather than chunky. It’s a great shoe for both training and racing anything up to the half-marathon.

The main difference is in the upper. The brand has dispensed with the Kevlar ribbons from previous versions and created an upper made of soft, breathable, sock-like knit mesh that feels like stepping into lush grass in your bare feet (but we recommend socks!).

The one-piece midsole/outsole of previous versions is unchanged. This “full ground-contact midsole” was a radical innovation in the original Flow Velociti Wind in 2021, and it has proven to be a winner for the brand; the grooves lend grippiness, and it doesn’t seem to show a lot of wear.

Brooks Hyperion Max

Editor’s Pick: Best 5K/10K Shoe

Category: Neutral cushioning
Men’s: 221 g (7.8 oz.)
Women’s: 190 g (6.7 oz.)
Offset/Drop: 8 mm
Stack Height: 26 mm
Price: $220

The new Hyperion Max is a speed shoe for fast workouts and potentially for races, so if you’re going after a shiny new PB, this could be your new shoe.

The Max doesn’t have a plate, but it does have a rockered sole and the brand’s nitrogen-infused DNA Flash cushioning (the same foam that’s in the Hyperion Elite plated racer and last year’s Hyperion Tempo), giving superior energy return for up-tempo-running; it’s also lighter than many comparable high-stack trainers, and more affordable than a plated racer.

Our tester enjoyed the highly breathable upper, the shoe’s flat laces (which stay done up well), the grippy outsole and the smooth transitions made possible by the rockered heel and toe, but found the toe box slightly skimpy. For racing, you might prefer a plated shoe if you are going after a fast time, but for longer tempo runs and intervals, this shoe is the ticket.