I don’t like to say anything too definitive about a running shoe after doing just one run in it — usually I aim to get 40-50 miles in a shoe as a minimum before I review it — but sometimes the design of a sneaker is so dramatic you can say a lot about it after one workout.
That’s definitely the case with the Nike Vomero Premium, which is the most cushioned and comfortable running shoe I’ve ever tried. That was clear pretty early on into the 10 mile run I did for my first outing in the shoe, and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the Vomero Premium.
It has a monster 55.5mm stack height at the heel, which drops to 45.5mm at the forefoot. That’s 10.5mm more foam underfoot than even the Nike Vomero Plus, an extremely cushioned shoe itself.
The design has its drawbacks, which I’ll explain later, but for easy runs it’s an unprecedented level of comfort for a running shoe. I’ll be racking up a lot more miles in the Nike Vomero Premium, but here are my main takeaways after one run.
All the comfort, all the bounce
The midsole of the Vomero Premium is mostly made from Nike’s soft and bouncy ZoomX foam, which surrounds two large Air Zoom units — one under the heel and one under the forefoot. These Air Zoom pods are firmer and more responsive than the ZoomX foam.
This combination of materials, and the fact there’s such a large stack underfoot, makes the Vomero Premium the softest and most comfortable shoe I’ve tried, but also one of the bounciest.
If you just sank into the foam it would be comfortable, but create a laborious ride for running. With all the bounce you get from the foam and pods this isn’t the case, and I was able to roll through my Sunday long run happily without it feeling like the shoe was too big or soft.
One other thing I noted about the crazily high stack could be seen as a positive or a negative is that it adds over two inches to your height. It’s nice to be taller, but I was suddenly very aware of low-hanging tree branches on my run.
It’s surprisingly stable
It’s 55.5mm high and the foam used is very soft, so stability is definitely something I was concerned about before using the Vomero Premium. However, it has not yet proved too wobbly for me, and on my 10-miler I even took it onto some uneven trails without it feeling unstable.
That’s because it has a wide base, which creates a more secure feeling when you land despite the high stack of foam underfoot. It’s soft, springy and stable, and that makes it perfect for cruising along at easy paces while protecting the legs.
At faster paces, the Vomero Premium is less impressive
The Vomero Premium is built to deliver the last word in comfort on easy runs, and is ideal for using on a recovery run the day after workout, as I did. It is not really designed for faster efforts, and felt unnatural and cumbersome to me when I did try and speed up in it.
That’s largely because it is a heavy shoe — it’s 12.5oz in my US men’s size 10 — which is not surprising given the high stack, but does take away from its performance at speed. The smooth rocker on the shoe also works best at relaxed paces.
It’s a little loud
One last note I had from my first run in the Vomero Premium is that it’s not a quiet shoe. It could be the Air Zoom pods of the design of the waffle outsole, but the slappy sound it makes means people will certainly hear you coming when you’re running in the shoe.
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