Under Armour is not one of the traditional brands most people know or use for running/jogging. At least not in my tiny little circle ol’ farts set in their ways. I kid, but I remember when the Under Armour brand first came out. It was primarily tight, form fitting, sweat wicking clothes I wore underneath my pads (when I could afford them) during football season. Their behemoth of a marketing campaign with “WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!” was a huge hit.
So when they came out with shoes, I was no where near first in line. And if I’m quite honest, their logo on a shoe just was not meshing with me.
So, it should come as no surprise that I didn’t pick up my own pair of Under Armour shoes until 2020. This was my first time EVER buying a pair of Under Armour (UA) shoes. I was loyal to Nike Air Zoom technology. This was primarily due to familiarity, their light weight, price point and reproducibility.
However, I was wearing through the Nike shoes quicker than I had in the past. Plus, the Under Armour Facebook ads stalked me (I know y’all know the feeling). As you can see, the ads worked.
Hindsight being as it is, I actually intended to purchase the UA HOVR Machina ($150), but their cost was more than my intended budget. So I settled for the UA HOVR Infinite 2 ($120). Both were higher than my usual $100 or less price tag.
Week One
The first week would actually be an indication of how I expreicenced the shoe for the majority of it’s planned obsolescence — foreshadowing. After 34 miles of pavement running, two runs on a treadmill and some moderate weight training, on a scale of 0 to 10, I scored the UA HOVR Infinite 2, a score of 5.
Here’s why…
Intended Use
When I bought these shoes, the intent was for long distance runs. I thought they were capable. At least that was the impression I got from the marketing. My longest single run in the first week was 8.9 miles.
Initial Performance Impression
My first two runs were on March 26th and March 27th, 2020. Both runs were on the same route and distance, each 8.56 miles long. As first impressions go, if I had not spent $100+ on this first date, I would not have gone back for a second. But, as they say, “it’s cheaper to keep her!”. So I set out to change them by wearing the down. I kid, but really, I anticipated some “wearing in” was necessary, but I didn’t realize it would take SO MUCH.
If These Shoes Could Talk
By this time, I know you’re tired of hearing about the virus that swept the world in early 2020 (COVID-19), but it wouldn’t be a complete review without mentioning it to provide context.
My fitness center shut their doors indefinitely around March 16th with little notice, although expected. With no other real outlet, I took to the trails and pavement. So this purchase was timely. Also, in response to what was going on in the world (as stated above), I spent some time, and the bulk of my mileage in Detroit, MI.
I had the priviledge of seeing some beautiful sights around downtown Detroit. My runs took me along the Detroit River following the famous Riverwalk, within yards of the Canadian border, USCG Brisol Bay, the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, The Spirit of Detroit statue AND Belle Isle, my favorite spot. Once I returned, these shoes got me to my kids, at a safe social distance. Check out Family Day Everyday: International Day of Families.
Features
The shoes are Bluetooth enabled. This allowed them to sync up with the MapMyRun Under Armour app with GPS, that not only tracks your distance, but your cadence, stride length, point of impact, split pace and a few others.
The ability to sync my shoe up to an app permitted an auido coach to be provide realtime feedback on my cadence and stride. I credit this feature for making me conscious of my slow cadence and stride outside of my desired range based on my target pace. Now, I deliberately try to shorten my stride, quicken my cadence and minimize the time my feet dwell on the ground.
Discomfort
I experienced left foot pain and numbing. These nagging discomforts were present throughout the long runs where there were significant elevation changes. The maximum elevation gain was about 411 ft, which does not sound like much, but it was enough to have a negative impact on the ride of the shoe.
The only runs that I did not experience foot discomfort were on short 2-mile runs, on runs with little to no elevation change or on LONG runs with intermittent stops for calisthenic exercises that broke up the constant pavement impact. Again, as stated above, my intent was to use these shoes on long runs.
It took well into 50% of use or about 150+ miles into wearing the UA HOVR Infinite 2 before most of the discomfort in my left foot subsided. Even after that 50%+ worn in point, the foot discomfort persisted except on runs less than 4 miles. I got blisters on my left pinky toe and eventually had to wrap my toe in athletic tape to make it through my runs. And this was 40 days into having these shoes!
Should it take this long to break in a shoe? Is 75 miles normal? I don’t think so.
Conclusion
This was quite an intro to my first pair of Under Armour shoes. The MapMyRun UA phone app was data driven and statistics heavy. But with all phone app, you obviously need to have your phone with you on the run. If you’re going on long runs be wary of your phone battery life.
The shoes were built to collect data. The shoes were also built for even surfaces and runs without much elevation. If that’s what you want, then this MAY be the shoe for you. If I were still living in Alameda, CA (like I was up until September 2019), this shoe would have been great.
In Week One, my preliminary score was 5 out of 10. I was being generous becasue I expected to wear in the shoe the more I ran in them. This did not happen within a reasonable time. Therefore, my final score is 3 for the discomfort stated above.
Check out the stats below!
Longest run 17.45 miles
Duration 2 hours :41 minutes :34 seconds
Totals
# Of Runs 53
Distance 407.24 miles
Energy 62,805 kcal
WHAT’S NEXT?
Stay tuned for the next shoe review: Mizuno Wave Rider 4