How come most elite runners wear shoes with 10mm drop?

by the way he was wearing vaporflys or some variant of them, which have a huge drop. He was also overstriding.

Yes. And? wrote:

Quenton Cassidyyy wrote:

But everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school

We're talking training paces, not weak PRs.

2:06 800 is faster than 4:20 mile pace. If you are training, say, 6x200 at 800 pace, than you are training faster than 4:20 mile pace. Plus you got the quote wrong. It was Frank Shoter who said that, not quenton Cassidy. Quenton Cassidy wrote

"Rudyard Kipling was a 4:30 miler"

on a notecard and taped it to his dorm room door

They'd run in clown shoes if you paid them enough.

Snobby CrossFitters: 0-4mm drop

Snobby Vegan: 0-4mm drop

Snobby ultrarunners: 0-4mm drop

Pair of vibran fiveFingers for a 20min 5k and subsequent visit to Whole Foods hot bar

A real distance runner (pro and amateur but serious): will wear a lower drop flat or spike for most of their racing shoes, but prefer 10mm drop for easy day trainers and perhaps marathon flats

Pre-2009: what’s a heel toe drop? ASICS GT trainers all the way!!!

2009-2012: I am a forefoot striker Goddamn it! Better buy vibraM five fingers to walk around in!! Have you ever done CrossFit? You’ll take 5mins off your 5k! You have to be an idiot not to sign up!

2012: ooohh Hoka’s are out! Better get those for everything!!! So comfy like running on clouds! God I need to do some ChiRunning exercises and meditation to compliment my running!

_____________________

Shoot I got injured, better go back to Brooks Adrenaline traditional drop . I’m still a forefoot striker I tell you!!!! Watch me run and I don’t hit with my heels. That guy hits with his heels and can run 2:30 for marathon and 90mpw but I can do 20mpw and break 5hrs - it’s all about balance though! Quality over quantity! CrossFit instead of high mileage!!!

2017- present: I’m Altra shoes zero drop up my butt! Instant orgasm- I’m Altra all the way!! This new thing is out called Goat yoga to compliment it-it’s so great! I need Lulemon Meggings to go along with it!

Most people that claim to have switched from a heal strike to a forfoot strick have been focused on the wrong thing. They usually are overstriding and just changing to a forfoot strick doesn’t change overstriding. That’s why you think the heal is in your way. Your forfoot strike is overstriding. Focus more on landing underneath you and you’ll find the heal drop starts to matter little.

Yes, I finally broke 20min in the 5k with a zero drop shoe from Altra and my Altra dildo! I only run in Altra shoes now and forever! I never exceed 50mpw! Quality over quantity my friends!

Your Write wrote:

zzzz wrote:

I'm feeling awkward going even 7-9 minute miles, while I can knock off 4-5 minute pace smoothly in 0-5 mm shoes.

You turd. NO WAY you run 4 min pace in zero drops but feel awkward running 9 min pace in 10mm.

My guess is you jumped on the minimalist bandwagon to try and look cool at work in your five fingers. You probably have a hard time running 9 min pace in any shoe.

What's with the insult? I'm probably faster than you.

So you are saying that you run better strides or sprints in 10 mm shoes than you do in spikes? That's odd.

I train in racing flats with very little drop and was the number 2 runner on my D1 college team. I'm definitely not fast by elite standards but I feel like I could compete well in most road races.

I know several elites and they all have very different views on shoes. None of them would spend time researching what shoe is best, they just take what their sponsor gives them as long as the shoe feels good and are thankful to have free shoes (most of them are barely scraping buy). I will say that none of them are Nike sponsored and most of them I've talked to think the 4% is an unfair advantage.

It worked the same way on my college team, everyone was just thankful for cool free shoes and never questioned it.

Haha! Spot on!

Not really. On letsrun, training in racing flats was a thing starting back around 2003. There were at times something like 20 threads on it in a week:

Bumping this thread.

I’m struggling a bit to figure out what to move to in terms of marathon flats. I do all of my training in 4 MM drop shoes (Kinvaras, Pureflow before that) and all of my half and full marathon racing in 6 mm drop shoes (ASICS HyperSpeed, I bought about 6 pairs of these before they discountinued them).

I don’t know what to move to now that the HyperSpeed is dead. As this OP pointed out, every elite racing flat is now 10 mm, whether it’s Adidas or Nike.

Should I just go back to 10 mm flat at this point, or is there anything else out there for runners like me? I have never had any issues with calf or Achilles my entire life, which is why I’ve always run in low drop shoes.

Lower Drop Runner wrote:

Bumping this thread.

I’m struggling a bit to figure out what to move to in terms of marathon flats. I do all of my training in 4 MM drop shoes (Kinvaras, Pureflow before that) and all of my half and full marathon racing in 6 mm drop shoes (ASICS HyperSpeed, I bought about 6 pairs of these before they discountinued them).

I don’t know what to move to now that the HyperSpeed is dead. As this OP pointed out, every elite racing flat is now 10 mm, whether it’s Adidas or Nike.

Should I just go back to 10 mm flat at this point, or is there anything else out there for runners like me? I have never had any issues with calf or Achilles my entire life, which is why I’ve always run in low drop shoes.

What is the drop on the nike LT streak zoom? I have a pair of them and if anything it is a slight positive incline.

Saucony Type A

+1

Damaged my achilles running in college (workout in track spikes). I struggled for years to make my formerly comfortable 4mm drop shoes work and still had achilles pain. In a final last ditch effort (after 7 years), I went to the store and tried a bunch of shoes and found that I had little or no pain with higher heel drop shoes. This past year my fitness has finally turned (1st year I'm not getting slower) - I would consider myself a midfoot striker, in my 10mm drop Pegasus 35.

It's surprising to me that the difference between 4mm and 10mm, less than 1cm, could make such a huge difference. People act like it's the end of the world and that now you will be "forced" to run with poor form. I think there are many other factors involved.

FFF wrote:

I've run the past few days in Lunaracers. I think they have an 8mm drop. For years I've been in 4mm shoes.

My heels are not just hitting first, they're actually scuffing the ground before I land, somewhat flat-footed. It's very odd. I can't run now how I want, or I'm too "on my toes," and I can't heel strike, because that feels weird. I think I'll start mowing the lawn or something in the Lunaracers. Anyone need a size 12, barely any miles on them?

This is likely because you are overstriding. It’s a huge misnomer the heal vs for foot striking is synonymous to overstriding vs not.

Lower Drop Runner wrote:

Bumping this thread.

I’m struggling a bit to figure out what to move to in terms of marathon flats. I do all of my training in 4 MM drop shoes (Kinvaras, Pureflow before that) and all of my half and full marathon racing in 6 mm drop shoes (ASICS HyperSpeed, I bought about 6 pairs of these before they discountinued them).

I don’t know what to move to now that the HyperSpeed is dead. As this OP pointed out, every elite racing flat is now 10 mm, whether it’s Adidas or Nike.

Should I just go back to 10 mm flat at this point, or is there anything else out there for runners like me? I have never had any issues with calf or Achilles my entire life, which is why I’ve always run in low drop shoes.

Hyperspeed guy myself. Have you tried the Gel 451? Uses the sole from the HS 7. Dorky BOA lacing but otherwise runs like the HS.

I haven’t yet , but they did pop up on my search. The laces looked so goofy, what were they thinking. I’ve hear mixed reviews on whether former hyper speed runners like them or not.

Forgot to address other two posters:

I ran in the A5 in the past, but they were so firm with little cushioning that I couldn’t imagine running a marathon on them.

For the LT4, does that have enough cushioning for a marathon? They seemed more like a 10k or half shoe.