Anyone else not understand the hype of Vaporfly's on a track?

Bruhhhhhhhh wrote:but I don't understand why they became so popular amongst college athletes in 3k and 5k, the only benefit I saw was reduced soreness

maybe because their all snowflakes

you ran 1 sec short of your PR in the 3k and 12secs on the 5k. what would you have blamed for your times if you had run in spikes? is it possible you just aren't as fit as your PR times or you didn't have a good "race" rather than the shoes weren't magic for you?

i agree the shoes feel chunky but i dont find them a hinderance once im going.

either way, go with what you feel best for you ....or get a pair of dragonfly spikes so you have the zoomx foam and spike plate in one shoe.

catch wrote:

you ran 1 sec short of your PR in the 3k and 12secs on the 5k. what would you have blamed for your times if you had run in spikes? is it possible you just aren't as fit as your PR times or you didn't have a good "race" rather than the shoes weren't magic for you?

i agree the shoes feel chunky but i dont find them a hinderance once im going.

either way, go with what you feel best for you ....or get a pair of dragonfly spikes so you have the zoomx foam and spike plate in one shoe.

You're right there is no way to be certain, but from my experience and with how long I've been running I can usually tell. I ran the 14:55 in spikes a few weeks prior, and really had only gotten better from there.

The reason I made this post is not because I think they are worse than spikes, but just because people I've talked to made it sound like they propel you to fast times, or make it seem like they give an unfair advantage over spikes, and I'm thinking they are kinda overhyped in that sense.

There is no advantage in them over shorter distances on the track, which is why (even pre-WA ruling) you didn't see world-class athletes wearing them on the track - with the exception of some 10Kers, but those were primarily road guys who weren't used to spikes and the chief benefit is saving the legs, not running faster.

Yeah, true, plus some runners are more responsive to them than others. I tried out the Alphafly for a solo 5k time trial on the track and felt like I was running in sand. It was 18 seconds slower than a group time trial I had run a month earlier, which was possibly a disaster or maybe it was ok-ish considering that the prior effort was competitive. (I'm older and running in the mid to high 16's these days.) My takeaways, which I think also apply to the Vaporfly, is (1) the obvious one that these shoes generally work better at longer distances, and (2) maybe also obvious but slightly less so, these shoes work better on harder surfaces like asphalt and not tracks or dirt. Don't know if the science supports this, but my notion is that they need a hard surface to get the full benefit of the rebound effect, and that a slightly softer surface doesn't work as well. I think that the Dragonfly having both the foam and a hard plate fits in with this idea.

just some real thoughts wrote:

There is no advantage in them over shorter distances on the track, which is why (even pre-WA ruling) you didn't see world-class athletes wearing them on the track - with the exception of some 10Kers, but those were primarily road guys who weren't used to spikes and the chief benefit is saving the legs, not running faster.

I'm guessing you're a forefoot striker if you run in spikes? The reason I ask is the CF plate in the Vaporflys is geared towards midfoot to heel strikers augmenting the Achilles. So we're you forefoot in them too? Assuming so they wouldn't give you much benefit and would weight probably 100g more than your spikes so 1% slower right there.

LTHR hurts wrote:

I'm guessing you're a forefoot striker if you run in spikes? The reason I ask is the CF plate in the Vaporflys is geared towards midfoot to heel strikers augmenting the Achilles. So we're you forefoot in them too? Assuming so they wouldn't give you much benefit and would weight probably 100g more than your spikes so 1% slower right there.

I run in Mamba's most the time when I wear spikes, which throw you up onto your toes. When I ran in the VF's it felt like I was just sinking when I ran on my toes, and I think I unintentionally broke down more and fell off my toes because they don't force me up as much as my usual spikes would. Although running a track 5k in mambas on your toes does WRECK your shins for around 5 days.

Basically I think they probably aren't aggressive enough for runners that are used to running on their toes

It's more difficult to kick in vaporflies than dragonflies. They're not aggressive

There is never a time in the English language when "have ran" is correct. The same rule applies to "has ran."

Bruh, you run in a super bouncy shoe on a super bouncy track - what did you expect?

Hell, you would have been better off in racing flats. What the hell are you thinking.....technically, not thinking.