Adidas’s Ultraboost range has gone through a few cycles of popularity - amongst runners and sneakerheads alike. However, the Ultraboost 5 now packs 9 mm more Light Boost foam, how does this translate to performance on the road?

The Ultraboost 5 came at an opportune time for me. During winter this year my health took a knock and I had to spend five months off the road. It left my fitness (and VO2 Max) yearning for those long runs we often take for granted. Luckily, things returned to normal about a month ago, allowing me to go back to running, but having to start from scratch.

The Adidas Ultraboost 5 became my training companion for my return to the road. And it proved so for the better.

What’s new

What’s new on this year’s model? Firstly, I love the design, with the industrial looking midsole of last year’s Ultraboost Light (review) making way for a colourful, playful transition of colours on a newly designed chunky midsole.

Adidas notes the midsole offers 9 mm more Light Boost foam this time around, bringing it to a rather thick 31mm, dropping 10mm to the front of the foot. This is good news for heel strikers like me, and especially so with my now 94 kg frame. 

Talking about weight, the Ultraboost 5 is minimally lighter (2 g) than the previous model, standing at 321g for a UK10.5. This still places the shoe on the heftier end of the scale, ranking heavier than Puma’s similar Velocity Nitro 3 shoes’ at 300 g.

On the road

So, what can the Adidas Ultraboost 5 do for me, a runner that had to start from scratch to regain my fitness? To begin, I simply went walking in them - they are definitely comfy and because of their look they became a favourite to wear out and about too. When I started slowly running for parts of the walk, the Ultraboost 5 provided a neutral platform to comfortably start off with. The shoe’s outsole is 119 mm, making it a wide shoe that provides great stability (in comparison, the Puma Deviate Nitro 3 runs at 111 mm). And the thick midsole adds the expected energy return, providing decent bounce to runs without going wild. 

In theory, Adidas notes the Ultraboost 5 as a neutral shoe, but at the back Adidas cuts away part of the midsole outside of the heel area (see below picture). As an underpronator this contour suited me well, since there was less midsole to contend with when striking the ground on the outside of the heel, which allows for a far more balanced foot movement, at least for me. And since Adidas also included a thick midsole, the extra few kilos of weight I was carrying around did not translate to sore feet.

Is the Ultraboost 5 comfy? Yes, as far as the midsole is concerned, but I’m not a fan of the liner sock which feels like it’s just a bit too tight. The plastic lacing guides are not my favourite either, always coming across as a bit too loose or too tight as it fastens across the foot.

As I got fitter, I managed to break past five kilometres of continuous running, even incorporating a few short fartlek sessions into my training, which the Ultraboost 5 assisted with amicably. That said, the Ultraboost 5 is not a fast shoe - for that there are far more pacier shoes in Adidas’s lineup. But then again, I didn’t need it to be. Getting back my fitness was important, and I was content to do so in a healthy way that did not strain my system. And for this, the Adidas Ultraboost 5 was the perfect shoe.

Case in point: with better fitness I grew in confidence and decided to go running with the new Puma Deviate Nitro 3, a shoe meant for speed thanks to its carbon plate. It ended up being just too much for the type of pace I could currently manage and simply too much to handle.

Getting back to fitness

My sessions with Adidas’ Ultraboost 5 came just at the right time, when I required a shoe that could help my fitness go from walking, up to comfortably dealing with a 10 km again. And it did so with aplomb. My belief is that these shoes will help me progress back up to 21 km, and thanks to the chunky 31 mm midsole and wide outsole, it can do so without sacrificing comfort and stability. It remains a heavy shoe though, and not everyone will like the tight uppers, which could necessitate ½ size up from your usual.

At R4k for a pair, the Ultraboost 5’s price raises a conundrum, since it’s R1k more expensive than more considered running shoes in Adidas’ line-up, including the Supernova Rise and the Boston 12. This means that if you are considering the Ultraboost 5 as your running shoe of choice, you must also appreciate that its streetwear credentials are where your extra bucks are going. And in that regard, the new look of the Ultraboost 5 comes out tops.