How are we supposed to afford shoes???

"Nice try, shoe shill."

The only thing I'm shilling is that if running is important in your life then don't cheat yourself by wearing shoes with several hundred miles on them. Prioritize your life . By doing so you might find some great bargains and be able to run in fresh shoes from now on.

dtyjetyj wrote:

"Nice try, shoe shill."

The only thing I'm shilling is that if running is important in your life then don't cheat yourself by wearing shoes with several hundred miles on them. Prioritize your life . By doing so you might find some great bargains and be able to run in fresh shoes from now on.

There are better places to spend money than replacing shoes with less than 500 miles. Spend money on a hotel somewhere nice to train or good food, not replacing shoes every 3 weeks.

There seems to be a correlation between how much mpw someone does and how often they replace shoes. The less someone runs, the sooner they feel the need to replace shoes. The end result is people buy new shoes around the same time ha. Just based on a couple responses in this thread.

"Spend money on a hotel "

Hotels are the biggest rip=off! Spend $50-$150 to stay less then 20 hours in a small room. Not to mention the hassle of checking in, and out. One night in a hotel is a pair of new shoes!

dtyjetyj wrote:

"Nice try, shoe shill."

The only thing I'm shilling is that if running is important in your life then don't cheat yourself by wearing shoes with several hundred miles on them. Prioritize your life . By doing so you might find some great bargains and be able to run in fresh shoes from now on.

Depends on the the shoe, but I mostly like shoes better after a few week's wear (at 80-85 mpw), which would be worn out for you. Usually a shoe's bottom profile changes for the better for me as they wear in for me because most aren't perfect for me at the start. After a few weeks, a heel that might catch the ground slightly with my generally midfoot landing will have reshaped the heel bevel so it doesn't. The outsole rubber might wear quickly in the back outside corner, then basically stops for the next 1,000 miles (on other shoes, the bevel is fine out of the box, and doesn't wear at all). If you put a fresh pair on a table and look at the bottom profile, it will generally be flatter with more of the bottom touching the table top. My shoes with worn in midsoles become more rockered, and rest on the middle of the shoe.

An example of the midsole reshape would be my NB Zante 1s. I hated them for the first 400 miles and always seemed to catch the heel, even though they have a relatively low heel offset. After 400 miles, they suddenly felt much better, the midsole having been reshaped for the better. Looking at a stock photo the heel sits basically flat when new. Now, with 1,075 miles on them, the heel is 3/4" of the table top, the shoe resting on the middle of the shoe.

I generally like to get over 1,000 miles per pair. I have 6 pairs between 1,000 and 1,700 miles currently in rotation, along with some newer shoes. I actually enjoy the shoes with 1,180 and 1,216 miles on them just as much as the one with 89 miles.

dtyjetyj wrote:

"Nice try, shoe shill."

The only thing I'm shilling is that if running is important in your life then don't cheat yourself by wearing shoes with several hundred miles on them. Prioritize your life . By doing so you might find some great bargains and be able to run in fresh shoes from now on.

The difference is negligible. Why not just change out 40 miles? Because at some point the cost outweighs the benefit. My Bostons work great at 600 miles, hardly different than at 6 miles, and certainly pleasant on runs.

Kvothe wrote:

There seems to be a correlation between how much mpw someone does and how often they replace shoes. The less someone runs, the sooner they feel the need to replace shoes. The end result is people buy new shoes around the same time ha. Just based on a couple responses in this thread.

Yes, we have seen that in previous threads. People who put 1,000+ miles per pair like me are highly likely to be experienced, high mileage runners who basically never get injured. They know a shoe feels fine to them, know from personal experience that there is no injury risk to them as long as the shoe feels fine, so they keep using them until the shoes are really done.

i just wanted to point out that any runner running 100 mpw is probably very efficient and lightweight and can probably get around 1500 miles out of their shoe

UmbrellaMan wrote:

Here's a scenario. A guy averages 100mpw for a year and gets about 500 miles out of a pair of shoes. If a pair of shoes cost $100 this guy is going to spend $1,000 a year just on training shoes! Not to mention the shoes needed for racing and other expenses.

You can try to get clearance shoes or last year's model and sometimes that brings the cost down but I can't imagine someone who runs a lot being able to spend less than $500 a year on shoes. There has to be a better way to buy shoes!

100 miles per week at 7 minute pace average, 52 weeks per year comes out to 36,400 minutes or 606 hours of running per year. So with $1,000 spent on shoes, that's $1.65 per hour.

Where else can you get value like that? What a cheap hobby!

Any idea the value of that 100 miles per week in opportunity cost is? For me it's probably 80K.

"i just wanted to point out that any runner running 100 mpw is probably very efficient and lightweight and can probably get around 1500 miles out of their shoe"

Yea and their runs would be way more pleasurable if they replaced their shoes at 400 miles. If you live in the developed world running is an inexpensive but highly beneficial sport. Buy new shoes!

To those outside of the developed world: The governments and people who wish to control others make your life unhappy. This will change. It could change fast, too. The world is on the verge of a revolution.

In the meantime if you have interest access and time you can in fact earn a great income, like those in the developed world. Selling is the key.

Only buy new shoes when the upper is toast.

Back when I was running 100+ I would go 1000 miles on shoes.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

Only buy new shoes when the upper is toast.

Back when I was running 100+ I would go 1000 miles on shoes.

Alan

Agree -- my current pair of New Balances is approaching 2500 miles, used about 70mpw. I use duct tape inside the upper when a tear starts to appear (I put a patch of it behind the tear so it doesn't rip bigger). I specifically get shoes with a low stack height (usually racing flats) so there isn't much foam to compress. If they still made things like the original Tigers or Arrows, I'd get those. I wish spikeless XC flats didn't effectively have a negative drop, otherwise I'd just get those.

UmbrellaMan wrote:

Here's a scenario. A guy averages 100mpw for a year and gets about 500 miles out of a pair of shoes. If a pair of shoes cost $100 this guy is going to spend $1,000 a year just on training shoes! Not to mention the shoes needed for racing and other expenses.

You can try to get clearance shoes or last year's model and sometimes that brings the cost down but I can't imagine someone who runs a lot being able to spend less than $500 a year on shoes. There has to be a better way to buy shoes!

Most guys doing 100+ MPW get free shoes. But I found shoes last at least 700 miles once I no longer got free ones. Also if you get older models on sale its usually $70-$80 a pair.

Your scenario seems reasonable. It is not. You can run 100 miles per week for a year for $20-40 of running shoes. Running shoes are mostly alike. Anyway, you can get clearance shoes for $20-40 easily. I was given a pair of $20 shoes last year from a factory outlet (at my request, only shoes cheaper than $40). After X-Mas, I went and got a second pair since it was a deal. So, it's not that hard. Next, you realize that 500 miles is not a necessary place to stop. Sure, you start getting injured after 500 miles, so you buy new shoes. But all you have to do is the occasional (and needed) prevention exercises, calf drops, step-ups, and so forth, and you can run as long as the soles stay on the shoes. If the soles fall off, you can duct tape them and they'll last a while longer. Even without tape, they should get you 3-4,000 miles, which is the minimum of what I've gotten on shoes for a decade now. (The two pairs, started in February, are still going. I did about 2k miles on the first pair, am using the second pair for a month now (about 500 miles) and then will go back to the second pair until they fall apart.)

I would really like to see a photo of 4,000-mile $20 shoes.

Also, yeah ... I just don’t understand the mindset that you love running enough to do 100-mile weeks, but you aren’t willing to spend any money on shoes. I very much agree with the comments about prioritization: if this is important to you, then it’s important all the way through (including financially). Also, if you’re logging that many miles, aren’t you probably spending way more on race entry fees? Or are there also secret underground $5 10ks and Marathons that I don’t know about?

dtyjetyj wrote:

"i just wanted to point out that any runner running 100 mpw is probably very efficient and lightweight and can probably get around 1500 miles out of their shoe"

Yea and their runs would be way more pleasurable if they replaced their shoes at 400 miles.

Speak for yourself. And actually listen when people like me write (from above): I actually enjoy the shoes with 1,180 and 1,216 miles on them just as much as the one with 89 miles.

"Running shoes are mostly alike."

No. Almost all running shoes are different from one other. Once you start trying different models and brands on that's obvious.

What not so obvious is that in general once the price goes over $120 for a current model shoe there are qualities that do not exist in shoes at a lower price. In general you get what you pay for. Now, that is not to say a $100 shoe will not be better for you than a $170 shoe. It's just that in general you get what you pay for. Stick with shoes that originally cost over $100 and are now on sale.

"I actually enjoy the shoes with 1,180 and 1,216 miles on them just as much as the one with 89 miles.:

I hear you and that's true for you. But most people who run prefer shoes that have spring and support in them. Not worn out dead shoes.

Two words: Atreyu Running.

https://www.atreyurunning.com/