Training in carbon plated shoes?

I really like Zoom Flys for long runs. According to my butt dyno, my legs feel more fresh the next day, though they are a bit harder on my feet.

I would only use them for LR and MLR workouts. I wouldn't use them for any type of easy running, even long easy runs.

jvarunner wrote:

I would only use them for LR and MLR workouts. I wouldn't use them for any type of easy running, even long easy runs.

Why? The limitations I see are money (but even there we are only talking a couple thousand/year. Not exactly big money for anyone with a job) and stability (i.e. none of these shoes are really good for offroad or even wet conditions).

Great recovery has been my experience as well. I've shifted to using an Endorphin Pro on my faster days (LT or quicker) twice a week. Have kept running easy days and long runs with whichever generic trainer I have at the time.

Costs are kinda negligible IMO. For example, I'll use this $200 carbon plated shoe over another $100 shoe twice a week for 2 x 10mile runs and keep them for 300-400 miles. That's close to 4 months on the low end for a $100 difference. Well worth it I think.

I use Next% or Endorphin Pro for most of my LR workouts, tempo workouts and track workouts. I find they beat me up a lot less. I have been doing this for 8-12 months at this point and have had a calf strain during that time period. Ironically it happened during one of the few workouts when I wasn't wearing a race day shoe and was instead doing 2 mile repeats in a pair of TC Elite's.

That said, it gets expensive and the sheer bottleneck of Next%s for a time was frustrating.

NEGATIVE: Regular use could alter natural biomechanics in an undesirable way.

POSITIVE: Regular use could allow for a higher volume of injury-free training.

Consider using a non-zerodrop shoe regularly as these can put unnecessary strain on the calf muscles resulting in the opposite effect you are appreciating from the RC Elite. I love the escalantes for walking and jog in em once a week to switch it up but something lightweight with a 6mm drop like the Hoka Rincon or Kinvara are better suited for regular use. I love the REBEL as well and use that for pretty much anything but tend to "save" it for select runs to not get spoiled by the amazing fit/feel and preserve life(even tho i have two pairs!!)

Let us know how you make out.

I also found better recovery using the carbon guys. I used the New Balance FuelCell TC for my training runs and the Nike Zoom Fly flyknits for faster days and intervals. But i pretty much wore out the FuelCells and they are just too expensive so now i just run in the Zoom flys most of the time.

Would really like to find a little more supportive carbon plate shoe like the FuelCell that is under say $150.

Save my Nike vaporfly 4% for races, or maybe they are Next %, can't remember which.

ViperDom wrote:

NEGATIVE: Regular use could alter natural biomechanics in an undesirable way.

POSITIVE: Regular use could allow for a higher volume of injury-free training.

Consider using a non-zerodrop shoe regularly as these can put unnecessary strain on the calf muscles resulting in the opposite effect you are appreciating from the RC Elite. I love the escalantes for walking and jog in em once a week to switch it up but something lightweight with a 6mm drop like the Hoka Rincon or Kinvara are better suited for regular use. I love the REBEL as well and use that for pretty much anything but tend to "save" it for select runs to not get spoiled by the amazing fit/feel and preserve life(even tho i have two pairs!!)

Let us know how you make out.

Rincon is 5mm drop. Kinvara is 4mm.

I train in next %’s for all but treadmill days with turbo 2’s. It’s expensive but Nike is the only brand that really fits my feet and I hate their react shoes for the cold as they brick up. Waiting for the vomeros or something else but until then I am stuck

ViperDom wrote:

NEGATIVE: Regular use could alter natural biomechanics in an undesirable way.

POSITIVE: Regular use could allow for a higher volume of injury-free training.

Consider using a non-zerodrop shoe regularly as these can put unnecessary strain on the calf muscles resulting in the opposite effect you are appreciating from the RC Elite. I love the escalantes for walking and jog in em once a week to switch it up but something lightweight with a 6mm drop like the Hoka Rincon or Kinvara are better suited for regular use. I love the REBEL as well and use that for pretty much anything but tend to "save" it for select runs to not get spoiled by the amazing fit/feel and preserve life(even tho i have two pairs!!)

Let us know how you make out.

Zero to near zero drop shoes shouldn't have any negative consequences on your calf/Achilles......your body will just adopt a more midfoot stride.

Back in the Stone Age.....you know, like 2000.....I switched to running in as minimal a shoe as I could following my second marathon because of the Achilles and calf issues I had with normal beefier "protective" shoes.

Listen kids.....runners in the 20s through the 70s-early 80s ran in very minimal shoes. The running shoe revolution starting in the 80s through today was created so that regular joes with poor biomechanics could run more frequently without pain. Thats just my opinion.

In my best years I put in 100-140 miles a week in racing shoes (this was before the minimalist revolution) and never had issues. You either have good biomechanics and foot strike or you don't. I assume the majority of you kids here do.

Now there is a limit. I got a pair of retro Nike Waffle Racers which were just a bit much. The best training shoe I had was probably the Brooks T3-T5.

I wore em till the outsoles were no good. There's only so much compression those midsoles will take (300-500mi) before they are as bad as they are gonna get.

Alan

What's your experience with carbon plate shoes?

Runningart2004 wrote:

Zero to near zero drop shoes shouldn't have any negative consequences on your calf/Achilles......your body will just adopt a more midfoot stride.

Your body will adapt, but it takes time -- low drop is definitely more load on the Achilles/lower leg. Especially if you're older and used to high drop shoes, you can get hurt during the transition. But definitely worthwhile to strengthen the lower legs rather than boxing yourself into HAVING to run in a big drop shoe.

That said, I'm curious about how the CF shoes are affecting people's mechanics -- are they putting more load on the knees/hips? It's great to recover fast, but I think people are just talking about soft tissue, and I wonder if they're setting themselves up for different types of injuries by training in these shoes.

An upcoming option that is most compelling to me as a training shoe will be the Atreyu carbon fiber shoe since its $100 and supercritical EVA so similar to DNA Flash and Hyperburst making it more durable than Pebax

Runsplit wrote:

An upcoming option that is most compelling to me as a training shoe will be the Atreyu carbon fiber shoe since its $100 and supercritical EVA so similar to DNA Flash and Hyperburst making it more durable than Pebax

A shoe that requires a subscription in most cases? What's with that?

You can order and then cancel your subscription right after no questions asked to just try them