By compliance, I am talking about the shoe with the greater mm of deformation in compression of the midsole given the same amount of force upon impact.
One other claim I see there is 7.5% more "raw energy returned" - here is the issue with that claim (and it's the same issue any brand has with energy return claims when it comes to midsole foams/packages). That energy return is directly correlated to the energy input right?
Scenario A) 100N of force input with 90% return you get 90N back. Scenario B) 150N of force with 65% return you get 97.5N back. In this case you want scenario B right - less energy return but more effective force because you were able to input more to begin with.
This is how the shoe to ground interaction works because shoe midsoles are in essence "input force inhibitors". Every shoe with cushioning foam inhibits your input force - that's a key function of cushioning to begin with. You might be capable of 3500N of pure force into the ground (this is an actually realistic number for an average human) but by the time it goes though your midsole that actual number that goes into the earths surface is much less as it's been subject to the compression of the foam, loss through the transition across layers of materials, unconfined aid voids etc etc.
Finding the perfect balance based on your mass, how much extra force your muscles can generate and your ground impulse (your force x the time spent imparting it) is the actual key to optimum performance footwear - not just stack height and raw energy return.
Compliance of the midsole, given two different midsoles of the same resilience, is the difference maker.
By compliance, I am talking about the shoe with the greater mm of deformation in compression of the midsole given the same amount of force upon impact.
I was just thinking about this a few days ago, are we going to reach a point where shoe technology becomes so good that you can run crazy mileage in training with little to no fatigue and injury risk, but that those shoes are banned in competition so that there will be major injury risk when pushing yourself in races?
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