100+ Miles a week and Shoe Cost

But it takes longer for shoes to dry--water is a plasticizer. By rotating you are reducing the amount loading that occurs while the shoes are saturateed. It is only minor savings.

Engineer wrote:

Just a thought here wrote:

Can someone explain why rotating shoes extends the life? It seems you will still run the same number of miles on them. Maybe it will take longer for a given pair of shoes but you still have to buy a second pair of shoes.

The relaxation time for the polymers in the midsole is not on the order of hours, so the whole "decompression" argument is bogus. Rotating doesn't help.

Consider that the soles are made out of foam, not just blocks of polymers. I don't know what the recovery time of EVA is, but the higher the frequency of stress the quicker the failure in general

Not sure. But again,if you get them and feel like they're past their prime take out the insole and replace it with a Spenco insole.

I tend to run on my midfoot/forefoot and get very strange wear patterns. The only place that gets worn down is a about a 1 square inch segment a few inches directly anterior to the front of the arch. The heal, extreme forefoot, and the sides of the shoes show no wear. This severely limits my total mileage (~400-450 miles). Any recommendations from similar runners?

Material Scientist wrote:

But it takes longer for shoes to dry--water is a plasticizer. By rotating you are reducing the amount loading that occurs while the shoes are saturateed. It is only minor savings.

I hadn't considered this. How much water do you think gets into the midsole? I always thought that the majority of water was absorbed by the insole/mesh lining.

To another engineer:

Do you think the cyclic loading makes a difference over 1 day vs. 2 days? I'd agree that the polymer would reach failure faster if you were loading it before the polymer relaxes. I tried doing a quick lit search on it. All I could find was an article from 1985 by Cook et al. that showed that the shoes had the same shock adsorption 24 and 72 hours after simulated running.

sign up to test shoes for one of the running brands. just google search 'product testing for ____(insert shoe company here)' and that could help soften the cost of buying shoes so often.

Here are some ways to save money:

Find a club or team that can get you a discount. I get 40% off, so I get my shoes in the $55 range. I run 350-400 miles in them, then I through a few pairs in the washing machine and sell them on Ebay for about $20 a pair. So I end up getting 400 miles for $35, not too bad.

You can also try to run some barefoot miles to put less mileage on your shoes.

sorry, should say "throw a few pairs in the washing machine"

The more you run, the more you eat. 1 mile = about 100 calories. You may spend more on food than shoes.

500 miles = 1 pair shoes = $90 avg full price retail

500 miles = 50,000 calories food = ???

Of course this guy has both sides of that equation worked out:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/04/Life/Catching_up_with_the_.shtml