The Reebok Floatride Run Fast is well named. It’s a shoe built for speed days, but thanks to the Floatride cushioning, versatile enough to handle long runs.
Cushion
I recently went over Floatride cushioning in depth during my review of the Reebok Floatride Run 2. It’s a great foam for running. Reebok is under the radar in running shoe technology but that should change soon. Why? Because Floatride is awesome.
The Floatride Run Fast has less Floatride than the Floatride Run 2 but it’s also lighter and lower to the ground. Reebok got the amount of Floatride for speed or track days just right. You get a great bounce in something that’s minimal enough to wear during a race.
The Floatride Run Fast also features an EVA support rim around the top edge of the Floatride midsole. I’ll talk more about it during the Support section but it does a great job adding stability to such a plush cushioning system. It prevents you from losing any energy compensating for side to side motion.
Traction
Nicely spaced carbon rubber nubs make up the entire outsole except the heel which reverses the pattern and offers greater coverage and more rubber for heel strikes. At first glance, the pattern seems like it might have durability issues but after 60 miles it hardly looks worn.
The outsole always gripped well which made me confident pushing off as hard as I could on speed days, even if the track or asphalt was wet.
Support
The star of the Floatride Run Fast’s support is the EVA foam rim. It’s harder than the Floatride and kept me stable everywhere I went, even a few trails. Your heel sits inside the rim. This keeps your foot on the footbed and prevents side to side movement. The EVA is also used in the midfoot just below the insole as a sort of shank plate that keeps the midfoot stiffer than the rest of the shoe. This aids stability by preventing unwanted twisting or turning.
Other than the EVA foam rim there’s a minimal heel counter that doesn’t do much of anything and some skinny fuse overlays that attach to the middle three laces loops. Helpful, but nothing you haven’t seen a lot in other shoes.
The Floatride Run Fast is built for running as fast as you can. Because of that, I didn’t expect it to be as stable as it is. The EVA foam rim was implemented well and was a pleasant surprise.
Materials
The Floatride Run Fast’s materials are minimal and very similar to the Hoka Carbon X. It’s a straightforward engineered mesh throughout the upper with a reinforced toe and three fuse overlays in the midfoot that attach to the middle three lace holes. At a $140 price point, I expected a little more from the upper.
The mesh tongue is attached below the insole with an elastic band on either side. The tongue’s thickness feels good but it’s not quite long enough. As a result, the tongue often sneaks below the top level of the laces. It needs about a quarter of an inch more material. Luckily, the tongue didn’t slip off to the sides of my foot.
The collar, while minimal, has a thin but ample amount of padding and cups your heel nicely.
The laces aren’t great. They’re very thin and extremely hard to tie. They’re impossible to tie if you have gloves on. I’d prefer they use something different for the laces in future iterations of the Run Fast.
Fit
The Floatride Run Fast runs a little long but is fairly narrow width wise. I recommend getting your true size.
Interestingly, the shoe, because it’s a bit stiffer in the arch, feels built up in that area. You get that arch hugging feeling when wearing the shoe. I know some runners don’t like this so I wanted to mention it even though it didn’t bug me at all.
Overall
The Reebok Floatride Run Fast is a light, speedy shoe that’s versatile enough for everyday training and long distance road races. The upper is fairly basic and there are some fit issues but overall I was really happy with how well these worked. The Floatride Run Fast will stay in my rotation when my feet need a break from whatever I’m currently testing.
Thanks to Reebok for sending us a pair to test. Reebok was not given any editorial control of the review. This review is based on our weartesters’ experiences using the shoes for speed workouts, trail runs, treadmill training, long runs, casual wear, and more.
