ASICS Novablast 3

This is my goto shoe; treadmill, road, trails, long runs and recovery days. Everything except speed work. Incredibly light, incredible cushioning, seems to last forever. I feel less beat up after hard workouts, I love this shoe. Last year's model, but I have two pairs.

It’s a perfect daily trainer, handles long runs and medium long runs perfectly, is light and bouncy enough for workouts, rolls through the gait cycle well. couldn’t ask for more except potentially better grip on the outsole. the durability is only around 300 miles but that’s the price of such a light and bouncy foam, and you could probably push further if you needed to. overall, 9/10 shoe for me. 

I've had 3 pairs of this shoe over an entire year. I've used them for everything in my training. This shoe can almost do it all. It's so close to perfect. Let me explain. When you get this shoe out of the box, you can tell it's a very bouncy and energetic shoe. The foam feels great underfoot and it'll carry you through all your workouts and easy days and long runs. After 75 miles, I lost this bouncy feeling. I felt the foam compress more and not rebound as much. This feeling continues for the rest of the 400 mile lifespan. It's a good shoe for those long runs and easy runs but when you get to the harder faster workouts, this shoe loses it a bit. I feel like I have to put more effort into my stride and more force into the ground after the 75 mile mark. Also cornering in this shoe even on a track isn't the greatest. I feel unsure every time I take a turn because I feel my foot move in the foot bed

The outsole is also almost perfect. It's very durable and I haven't noticed any grip issues on trails and wet surfaces. I know this shoe is made for roads but you'll be fine on dirt trails and with running on gravel that isn't boulders. The only problem is the exposed midsole. If I could, I would submit a picture of my outsole. I'm at 304 miles on my current pair as of writing this review and the exposed midsole in the forefoot is COMPLETELY shredded. I'm not asking for complete rubber coverage but this is just insane.

Overall this shoe is an incredible shoe. It'll do whatever you want it to do. I've even raced a 5k in these. It will and can do everything well to very well. I highly recommend this shoe to anyone looking for a do it all shoe

The asics novablast 3 is a huge upgrade in the daily trainer space. Its comfortable, fits well and the miles just flow with this shoe. 

One issue is the outsole, it does not have great grip. Its not a noticeable issue in summer with dry weather but in the winter with damp conditions then a person can feel some sliding on damp or wet surfaces.

Let that not take away from what is a great shoe, there is little else at fault here. I have ran over 600miles on these so far and they still feel good and I think I can manage another 100 to 150. They have nice colours, stylist, fit true to size.  

Its an ideal trainer for a new runner. If someone is thinking about a new daily trainer then I doubt you can go wrong with trying this one.

The Novablast 3 is a top-notch daily trainer that epitomizes value and versatility. The shoe lasts at least 500 miles with minimal loss of midsole integrity. After a 300 miles, the biggest wear is to the exposed outsole foam, but there’s enough rubber to make the shoe usable for several 100 more miles. It’s soft and stable enough for easy running, cushioned enough for long runs, breathable enough for warm-weather training, lightweight and bouncy enough for fartlek or tempo sessions. A signature feature is its trampoline-like decoupled groove. The price is fairly typical for this sort of premium running shoe, but few in the same category offer this level of performance. The shoe is also stylish given the oragami-inspired midsole shape.

Loved this shoe. Got 3 pairs on Black Friday for $80 each, so in terms of modern day running shoe pricing, a good deal. I loved the level of cushioning and it had a decent rocker shape (something the Novablast 4s and 5s lacked, in my opinion). Got a little less than 400 miles on each pair before the upper developed holes. I found the heels to be extremely clunky and unnecessary and the lack of traction was super annoying, but the forefoot and midfoot of the shoe made up for it. I used these for everything from long runs to track work. Despite the complaints I have I would 100% wear them again if asics brought them back.

highly recommend to anyone looking for a soft daily trainer

Fantastic shoe. Best ive ever had. The foam is springy, the fit is comfortable, the sizing is true, the tongue is great, i got 1000k out of them which is great for me! Never got any injuries. Must recomend.

At first I was blown away by the responsivenss of the novablast 3s. The build feels sturdy, the trainer as a whole feels fairly light (not the lightest, but certainly not so heavy as to be noticeably an issue in stride). But the bounce is remarkable. I was looking for an affordable alternative to a carbon shoe and this fits the bill. 

My only area for improvement really would be the longevity of the cushioning. For context I am a heavier runner; 183cm 100kgs. I have found that by 300 miles the cushion responsiveness is drastically reduced.

These shoes are great. Soft and bouncy. Good for many miles. And they last. I have 800 miles on mine and they are still in good shape. As many have mentioned, the grip could be better, but I run in Portland OR where it is rainy, and I have never had a real problem.