I've been a runner for basically all of my adolescent and adult life. When supershoes hit the market, I started wearing them for road races and key workouts. I try to use them sparingly.
I increasingly have friends (usually less-experienced/more casual runners) who wear supershoes every single day. Some have several pairs/all different brands. I try to tell them that the shoes aren't meant to be a daily trainer, but when they ask "why not?" I'm not sure what to say. The shoes aren't like a racing flat or spikes, where too many miles in them will tear up your legs. Something about altering your form? When I say that I want something special for races and workouts, they just say something along the lines of "I want that every day, and the supershoes keep my legs feeling good."
Do you have any better points to make than me? Am I being too uptight?
Some people reportedly get achilles issues when wearing them too regularly, but a lot of people don't. The only "bad" thing about wearing them all the time is that it's probably more expensive, but if that's not a limiting factor, then why not? I guess you could make the argument that they compensate for some weaker muscles, so you might be a weaker runner without them, but that's gonna be true for everyone anyway.
If they can afford it, why not? As I get older I’ve come to realize I need that extra cushioned shoe so if you can get the best of both worlds lightweight and cushion, I say go for it if you don’t mind the cost. Personally I’ll stick with the inexpensive shoes.
Maybe it's that you're a more serious runner so like you say you want to keep them for races and workouts, whereas your friends aren't into racing so for them that doesn't make sense. They simply like the shoes and can obviously afford it. Keeping shoes for a race is kind of like how you treat spikes and they won't have had any exposure to that.
I guess I'm talking about shoes with a carbon plate. I do most my workouts in an older/cheaper pair of carbons and race/do a few workouts in alphaflys. My daily trainer in the past hasn't had PEBAX but I think I'm going to try a pair that does.
I guess there's no harm in others training in carbons daily if it helps them stay healthy and it's within their budget.
I've seen anecdotal reports that supershoes improve recovery. Personally, I could look at this in multiple ways -- e.g., (1) if it's improved recovery, is that related to a lightened training load and hence possibly reduced adaptation, (2) is that a shoe company marketing ploy to influence runners to wear them more, etc.?
Nevertheless, I also know multiple runners (all masters) who have said the same thing: They make running more fun again. That's one reason why we run, so why not (as noted above, if the $ is not an inhibiting factor)?
I think it's the pebax foam that "promotes recovery" or is less pounding on your feet. The Endorphin Speed just has a nylon plate so I think imma go with that for a while. The ZoomX Invincible is just a big 'ol stack of pebax, so that also looks interesting.
I wear the pro or speed almost daily. wear my zoom steak 7s for tempos or track work. neither of the endorphins feel special to me. just feel like a solid daily trainer. I do feel faster in the streaks. maybe mental?
the only shoe I have ever heard people refer to as having that pop are the nikes. are others having a different experience?
My understanding of the technology is that Pebax, used previously as a hard plate like Mizuno's wave plate, is now blown into a foam that is extremely light, bouncy, and returns a lot of energy. So, you can have these crazy stack heights without excessive weight which return a lot of energy and aides in propulsion. Reebok has had a Pebax midsole in Floatride for a while now. The plate is less of a spring and moreso helps the Pebax to do its job.
So I think the differences amongst the shoe companies is the type and amount of midsole foam, type and amount of plate and other things. Obviously this combination is uber expensive. Somehow runners have decided that paying well over $100-200 is ok for a pair of performance based running shoes. My typical running shoes over the last decade have been Nike Flex and similar shoes for no more than $60-80. Not performance based shoes, just your run of the mill discount cheap running shoes.
I think biomechanics also plays a large role in how much affect you get from the technology with forefoot strikers getting the most benefit.
One claim I've heard is that the modern foams keep performing longer than EVA -- not just Pebax, but also to varying extents TPUs like Boost and Fuelcell, and supercritical EVAs like Hyperburst. Just anecdotally that does seem to be true, but the Nikes are pretty fragile so YMMV.
So if I'm able to workout in e.g. the Streakfly for 500+ miles, that's a nice advantage over something like the Streak LT that felt dead at 250 and gave me hot spots on the balls of my feet where the foam compressed to nothing.
One claim I've heard is that the modern foams keep performing longer than EVA -- not just Pebax, but also to varying extents TPUs like Boost and Fuelcell, and supercritical EVAs like Hyperburst. Just anecdotally that does seem to be true, but the Nikes are pretty fragile so YMMV.
So if I'm able to workout in e.g. the Streakfly for 500+ miles, that's a nice advantage over something like the Streak LT that felt dead at 250 and gave me hot spots on the balls of my feet where the foam compressed to nothing.
On the other hand, a lot of them have nearly nonexistent outsoles to keep the weight down, so you can be running on foam within 150 miles. (This problem isn't limited to supershoes. Look at something like the Kinvara. Of course the shoes are light--you left off the outsole!)