The tongue is thin, but provides sufficient comfort, and is stitched to the internal sleeve, which makes it very stable: it won’t turn or bend be it when putting the shoe on or while running. At 212g in my size, I expected little rubber on the outsole. But no, instead Puma offers itself the luxury of covering between 50 and 60% of the outsole of the Liberate with its Puma Grip. Only the middle third is not covered but the forefoot is completely covered with Puma Grip, with a triangular pattern it, and the rear is covered as well - cut in three parts, one under the heel, and two more midfoot bands whose placement surprised me a little actually. They may for a touch for stability as outsole coverage in that area is often used for that purpose. Still, the grip is fabulous, dirt roads, gravel, rain, cobblestones, nothing surprised me. My stride pattern corresponds well to the rubber placed in the forefoot and even at the end of the session or on tight turns, the grip was fantastic. Wear so far is absolutely imperceptible and I would predict great durability. In line with its vocation as a versatile trainer, the Velocity has an outsole that covers more of the shoe. We can clearly identify three sections, with a part in the forefoot, two inserts at the midfoot, and an insert in the heel. Each of these parts is decoupled, to add a bit of flexibility. Last year’s version was a heavier and firmer ride, two things that we generally disdain, and especially did in this shoe. Neither Meaghan nor Adrienne particularly enjoyed the ride of this shoe on account of both those things. While it’s not overly heavy on paper, it just feels bulky on the run.

The color of the Velocity is really flashy compared to the Liberate. The mesh is much more dense and therefore the fluorescent orange color is more visible. Visibility will not be an issue with this one! The supercritical Nitro midsole provided a responsive ride that embraced the simplistic joy of running. And they didn’t stop there, refining those models in concurrent versions, fixing the things that didn’t work and keeping the things that did. Oh, and they also put a race day shoe (Deviate Nitro Elite) on Molly Seidel as she took home bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.The outsole can be cut into two parts, with a PumaGrip insert over a large part in the forefoot, and another insert in the heel. The material is a bit noisy, banging on the ground, but we will forgive this downside as the grip offered is nothing but excellent. Equipped with small, slightly textured lugs, I have never experienced the slightest skidding or stalling, whether on paths or on wet asphalt. ROBBE: It seems like we’ve been working our way through the Puma lineup for awhile now, and while things are slowing down, they’re also getting faster. We started out with the somewhat-weird Puma Deviate Nitro (is it an easy day shoe or a fast shoe, who knows), then we moved on to the incredibly versatile Puma Velocity Nitro (the best of the bunch in my opinion), and now it’s tempo time with the Puma Liberate Nitro. The Good Another positive is that it loses some weight and manages to come in under 10 ounces, despite its max cushion status. Also has the Pumagrip outsole and an engineered mesh upper with an internal and external molded heel. PUMA FOREVERUN NITRO Alex : I had the same kind of good surprise with the Beacon 1 as with the Liberate. A flexible, light, dynamic experience. The upper of the Beacon v1 was much more constructed and less ventilated. Less roomy in the toe box too. Durability, grip, and stability are all three better on the Liberate. In terms of price, the Beacon 1 was sold for an extra 10€. Liberate for me, but if you smiled with the Beacon 1, you might like the Liberate too! For 2021, the big cat shows its claws and delivers a complete lineup, from a lightweight trainer to a pure carbon-plated race machine, all using the new nitrogen infused Nitro Foam.

The Deviate compares to the Velocity midsole in terms of stiffness. The addition of a full-length carbon plate further stiffens the whole thing. No EVA insert but the TPU clip remains.

Presented as a “racing flat” dedicated to 5 / 10km on the road, the shoe is actually much more versatile and accompanies the runner on all kinds of paces. I tried it on recovery runs between 5:30/ km and 6:00/ km and where I really let myself go but I also pushed it under 3: 00min / km and I had no bad surprises whatsoever. But safe from those extremes, the Velocity will fill the bill by ensuring excellent dynamism and good propulsion when pushing. Qualities already seen on the recent Adidas Boston, which I found magnified in the Puma model. However, there are some very promising details in this one that makes us excited to see how it runs on the trails.

Seems like it could be a really fun shoe to just tear up some technical terrain, so we’re definitely excited to test this one out in concert with the Voyage Nitro 3. Calf endurance is key given that minimal shoes tend to load the calf muscles more during running. The traditional manual muscle test taught to DPT students is that individual should be able to do 25 full range of motion single leg heel raises at a consistent tempo on both sides. While this may not be enough for faster running, it is a good starting point for easing into these shoes. After having had the SLab Phantasm and Pulsar in hand, the weight of the Liberate would seem almost normal to me: it remains in the realm of the two top models from Salomon, weighing just over 200g in my size. It's impressive! It’s not an ideal shoe for cool recovery runs due to the firmness of the cushioning. Fans of traditional Hokas and soft cushioning, this shoe is not for you! It will take a bit of commitment to make the most of the qualities of this Velocity. This fits with the vocation of this model: a rather versatile shoe for daily training. It will not be suitable for cool recovery runs, where its stiffness and firm cushioning will be awkward or even uncomfortable for some. Likewise, its excellent qualities of dynamism and energy return (firm cushioning + fairly rigid flexion combo) will be somewhat extinguished by its weight for short interval sessions such as 200m or 400m.As far as the Voyage Nitro, we didn’t even know this shoe existed in previous versions, so we have no idea what to compare it against. But let us say that this shoe looks incredible, so we’re cool with it no matter how it performs.

The upper also deserves praise for performing well in a wide range of conditions, from humid and 90°F to unseasonably cool and damp to hard rain. It neither trapped heat nor retained moisture, whether that moisture came from my feet, the sky, or puddles on trails. Versatility: The bad news is that the Run XX is pretty much the same shoe, except it gets an upper update. If you like those things, maybe you’ll like this shoe, but we’re not sure if it needs to exist. It does look good, though. PUMA VOYAGE NITRO 2But that midsole also provides plenty of bouncy cushion. This isn’t a shoe that asks you to trade protection for performance. The midsole foam is soft to the touch, and nicely accommodates heel landings at any pace. The ride firms up as you transition to toe-off. One result is that the 10-millimeter heel-to-toe drop isn’t as noticeable as is the case in many other models with a similar construction.