I am naturally drawn to a paper thin road racing shoe like streak or mayfly because they feel great.
But lately I hear the vapor fly might be faster even for a mile. Now I have not worn it, but I can't imagine running 4:20 pace in alpha fly, but the marathon record is not much slower than that, so maybe it is okay.
Any of you watch any elite road miles lately? The top guys normally has a good feel for what is fastest.
Those high stack marathon racing shoes that the pros are using lately for road miles are being worn strictly to appease sponsors. They are not faster for that distance. I just bought the Reebok Run Fast Pro for $69 at Sierra and I believe that you can find them for as little as $49 at discount stores. They're much faster than the Next%2 of which I also own. If I could still get the NB 5280, I'd snatch a pair up. The Nike Lt line was my go to shoe for everything 5k on down.
RIP Mayfly wrote:
I just bought the Reebok Run Fast Pro for $69 at Sierra and I believe that you can find them for as little as $49 at discount stores. They're much faster than the Next%2 of which I also own.
I can't imagine any studies would back your claim up, but I'm definitely intrigued. I'll check them out.
I don't think anyone has studied the VF for distances less than 3k. One study did show that all participants ran a 3k faster in the VF than in a big standard racing flat.
In theory, the VF shouldn't help much over a mile. The proven benefit is an improvement in running economy, not speed. That should matter a lot more over long distances, less so over short distances.
If you have VFs, then I'd wear them, if you're buying a new shoe and you're just a mid-d guy, then just buy the lightest show you can and save some money. I think the weight reduction over the mile will balance out any benefit from the VF.
Floatride Run Fast PRO
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Sketchers VANISH are solid choices as well.
https://runningnw.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Skecher_GOrun_Horizon_Vanish_Featured2.jpg
