![]() The deep, wide decoupled groove underneath the Supercomp Trainer is its most unique feature and what gives it such a bouncy, energetic ride. New Balance FuelCell Supercomp Trainer Sole Unit It didn’t need a break in period and I was extremely excited to get more miles in the SC Trainer after my first run in it. The stone was easy to remove and the damage didn’t affect the ride afterwards but this shows how soft FuelCell foam is. This stone had pieced the soft midsole foam and was so deep that it was rubbing against the bottom-loaded plate. WIth every footstrike, it sounded like the carbon plate was hitting the ground.Īt the end of my run, when I inspected my shoe, I saw that there was a sharp stone lodged into one of the holes in the forefoot. Towards the end of my run, 1 kilometre away from my apartment, I heard a crunching sound underneath my right shoe. I could feel the large canal in the middle of the outsole compress and return energy with each toe-off. The carbon plate in the midsole didn’t feel overly intrusive while transitions felt buttery smooth. It reminded me a bit of the FuelCell TC but with a much stabler, plusher ride. The shoe felt extremely cushioned, bouncy and a lot of fun to run in. Within the first 500 m of running in it, I knew that the Supercomp Trainer was something special. Picture of New Balance FuelCell Supercomp Trainer The Supercomp Trainer on the other hand uses New Balance’s FuelCell which is one of the softest and most responsive foams on the market. The Hoka Bondi X is also in this category which I found to be clunky, blocky and not very versatile due to its bland midsole foam. The Supercomp Trainer falls into a new, unique category: max-cushioned, carbon-fibre trainer. It weighs 1.2 oz (34 g) more than the FuelCell TC and the US price is supposed to be 180 USD but this pair cost 320 Australian dollars (225 USD). The Supercomp Trainer weighs 10.2 oz (289g) for a men’s standard size 9 and has a heel stack height of 47mm with a forefoot stack height of 39mm. New Balance claims that the Supercomp Trainer has the ability to store and return 40% more energy than the FuelCell TC but I would take it with a grain of salt because there are other factors which come into play such as weight. The Supercomp Trainer has a much wider base which should help to make it more stable. Its one weakness was its instability due to the weird lateral wing and narrow base so running in it at slow paces felt awkward, especially if you were a pronator. It was my favourite carbon fibre shoe at the time. At the time of launch, the FuelCell TC was unlike any other carbon-plated trainer on the market: its ride felt soft and bouncy while its flexible plate allowed it to have more natural transitions. ![]() The Supercomp Trainer replaces the FuelCell TC which was launched 2 years ago. They already have 2 other carbon plated training shoes, the TC and the Lerato to complement their flagship racer but those are both much lower in stack height compared to the Supercomp Trainer. The Supercomp Trainer is New Balance’s first venture into the above 40mm midsole stack height category. All of them have FuelCell midsoles and a carbon plate sandwiched in their soles. The Supercomp Pacer is the lightweight, short distance racer, the Supercomp Elite Racer is the long distance racing shoe and the Supercomp Trainer is the max-cushioned training shoe. Supercomp is a brand new premium, performance series from New Balance which consists of 3 shoes. It’s no wonder World Athletics has banned shoes higher than 40 mm from being used in their competitions. The Prime X felt more propulsive, more cushy and faster. I enjoyed it much more than its little brother, the Adios Pro 2 which comes in under the 40 mm World Athletics limit. Take for example the Adidas Prime X which comes in at 52 mm in the heel. A higher stack height results in more cushioning and a more aggressive rocker. Bigger is not always better but when it comes to running shoe midsoles, I’ve found that bigger IS better.
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