I run most days. Easy pace, about 5km. Nothing serious.
I have two pairs of Pumas: the Deviate Nitro 3 and the ForeverRun Nitro 2. Hundreds of kilometers on both, zero problems. So when I bought the Velocity Nitro 4, I did the research. Compared specs against the two I already own. Stack height, drop, weight, foam. I knew what I was getting into.
The Velocity gave me blisters on the first runs.
the research was the wrong kind
I compared what the shoe does against what my two shoes do. I never searched for what it breaks. Why would I? The Deviate and the ForeverRun are from the same brand, same foam family, and they are perfect. I assumed the third would be too.
Two shoes, zero failures. I got complacent.
the blisters
Inner arch, both feet, same spot. Before 2km the hot spots start. By the end of the run they are blisters. Every time.
After it happened I finally searched: shoe name plus "blister" plus "arch". A whole thread of people with the exact same problem. The reports were out there before I bought the pair. I just never went looking.
I spent hours on specs. Zero minutes on failure reports.
the fix
A runner on Reddit suggested skipping eyelets 3 and 5. Lace 1, 2, 4, 6 only. It takes pressure off the midfoot so the arch stops grinding against the upper.
I was already running a heel lock from day one. It did nothing on its own. The eyelet pattern was the piece that mattered.
Before the change: pain before 2km. After: 5km, nothing. Not a hint.
The shoe is unchanged. The bug is probably still in there past 5 or 6km, waiting for someone who runs farther than I do. But my daily run is 5km. The workaround covers every run I actually take.
the rule
Two rules now, one for buying and one for fixing.
Before I buy anything again, I search the product name plus the failure, not the review. "Velocity Nitro 4 blister" was one search and it would have told me everything.
And a workaround that covers every run I actually take is a fix. The shoe is not healed. It has a known issue. But my feet never reach the part of the run where it triggers.
The bug is real. My runs just stop before it does.
