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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Takumi Sen 11vs
ASICS Magic Speed 5

Adizero Takumi Sen 11

£95

Typical street price · £180 RRP

33mm — road legal
Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal

Choose the Adizero Takumi Sen 11 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.6–3.6% economy gain against 2–3.1%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 160g against 218g, a 58g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £95 against £130, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Magic Speed 5 is not.

Choose the Magic Speed 5 if…

  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 38mm against 33mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 500km of competitive life against 250km.
  • You are racing Half marathon or Marathon — built for it, where the Adizero Takumi Sen 11 is not.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over 10k from 45:00

Time back
Adizero Takumi Sen 11: 29s–44sMagic Speed 5: 19s–37s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Takumi Sen 11: £0.16Magic Speed 5: £0.14

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503327
Adizero Takumi Sen 11
010203040503831
Magic Speed 5

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£95■
Magic Speed 5£130

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£180
Magic Speed 5£150

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£5.70
Magic Speed 5£3.90■

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£0.16
Magic Speed 5£0.14■

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Adizero Takumi Sen 1129s–44s■
Magic Speed 519s–37s

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Adizero Takumi Sen 112.6–3.6%■
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
Built for
Adizero Takumi Sen 115K · 10K
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Adizero Takumi Sen 11A short-distance specialist with real carbon underneath. Firm, aggressive and brilliant for 5K and 10K where a marathon shoe feels like too much.
Magic Speed 5The best entry point to carbon. Real plate, real super foam, durable enough to train in, and about half the price of the flagships.

How it is built

Weight
Adizero Takumi Sen 11160 g■
Magic Speed 5218 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Takumi Sen 1133 mm
Magic Speed 538 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Takumi Sen 1127 mm
Magic Speed 531 mm
Drop
Adizero Takumi Sen 116 mm
Magic Speed 57 mm
Foam
Adizero Takumi Sen 11Lightstrike Pro
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
Plate
Adizero Takumi Sen 11carbon fibre
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Takumi Sen 11Yes (33 mm)
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Adizero Takumi Sen 11narrow
Magic Speed 5standard
Stability
Adizero Takumi Sen 11demanding
Magic Speed 5stable

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Adizero Takumi Sen 11~250 km
Magic Speed 5~500 km■

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Adizero Takumi Sen 11estimated
Magic Speed 5estimated

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£95at Runningbear — £85 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£119at Startfitness — £31 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.