Disclaimer: I received a set of free pair of Under Armour HOVR shoes to evaluate. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"
As an athlete you can never have too much data to help analyze and improve your runs. I always run with my GPS watch so that I can quickly watch my pace and mileage and later check my run stats. In my pursuit of my sub 2 hr half marathon, I am always open to testing new products to help me on the journey. Under Armour recently released the HOVR shoes (https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-hovr?iid=hero&iidasset=180201_HOVR_SITE_M_PRM) that sync with MapMyRun to measure your pace, cadence, steps, and mileage. I use the MapMyRun app and web page to plan my adventure runs for marathon training. The idea of running in a smart shoe is really innovative.
Setting up the shoe
The first step of getting the shoe ready to record all your awesomeness on the pavement is to sync it to the MapMyRun app. The app uses your phone's Bluetooth to sync the shoe. Syncing was really easy. The instructions to sync the shoes were super simple and within a few minutes my shoes were ready to go.
When the shoe is synced for each run the icon, circled in purple, indicates that the shoe is ready to go for tracking.
The Fit
I am flat footed and usually wear Brooks Raveena shoes with a hard orthopedic inserts. The UA HOVR shoes fit well and I was able to wear my insert. Even without my insert, there wasn't discomfort. I wore the shoes for my weekly runs and for the Extra Yard 5k, Miami Tropical 5k, and the Hot Chocolate 15k. I didn't run longer distances since the weather did not permitted long runs. My performance for the weekly runs and 5k races was the same as when I wore my Brooks. I really liked that I could get my stats after the run (miles, paces, number of steps) in the MapMyRun app. I could even upload a picture and comment on the run.
I even got a nice reminder when I took a break from wearing the shoe that I needed to step my game up since I hadn't put many miles on the shoe. Being able to track your shoe mileage is helpful in knowing when to replace it..
I can happily say that they shoes can survive train. I ran though every puddle during the Hot Chocolate ATL race. I choose not to track the race using the app, since I didn't think my phone would survive over 2 hours of tracking and I wanted to see if the shoes would record mileage if they weren't synced. They do not record tracking without syncing (makes sense since watches don't record if you don't start them), but they do work after being drenched in rain.
Overall I like the concept of the shoes and I would love if all my shoes had this capability. The shoes were lightweight and comfortable. I plan to wear them until I have reached my mileage limit.
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