Poll: How much faster is your Marathon PR in super shoes vs. “regular” shoes?

I would love to know. I ran 2:49 in 1990. 4% comes out to 2:42-2:43. And that doesn't take into account the benefit I would have gotten from training in them and recovering faster.

We would really need a huge data base to be anywhere near accurate and then there are other factors such as weather.

Just curious, what are your racing shoes of choice when excluding super shoes? What do you look for in a race shoe?

I’ve been running in the “regular” Adidas Adios for the past decade or so (though I didn’t run much from 2016-2021). They seem to work, so I have 8 pairs of the same shoe that I rotate for all runs

Hence, my hesitation to try any new shoe, including super shoes.

2:24 high in normies
2:19 first time I wore VF
PB is now 2:15

I would say, I would be a 2:19 guy in normal shoes.

I think they’re about 8-10 seconds per mile for any event. I did a workout of tempo miles on an oversized indoor track and putting them on took my tempo effort from 5:05 to 4:56 at the same heart rate. That was only 3 days later too.

Cut the crap all of you. Only one responder on here has given his PB's in both traditional and cheater. We don't want speculative tempo runs - we want actual race results with actual times in both traditional shoe and cheater.

It is really quite simple.

How none of you raced in both traditional shoe AND cheater?

I have, but the comparison doesn't tell you that much because things are never equal.

I ran 2:53 in a pair of Brooks Launch, then I ran 30 seconds slower in a pair of Vaporfly Next% 2's. But that's comparing a very flat course with Boston; and my first marathon to my third; and a great marathon build-up to a so-so 10K-focused buildup; and being 47 to being 50 years old. Even though super shoes are great, you can't isolate what they do from a couple of race times.

I am often around 10-20 seconds per km faster in my Saucony pro 3's (Plated) than my Saucony triumph 20's and Asics novablasts (non plated) on a run.

10 seconds per mile seems about right for me over 5k - half.

I dont run mara's but based on my enemies results it seems to hold and give more to runners where it would be the exhaustion that got them, whether through inexperience or wrong body type.

I'm a non/low-responder to super shoes, at least the ones I've tried. I think I have some gait imbalances, and over long distances it seems like super shoes intensify them. I have a marathon in regular Adios 4s that's within a minute of my super shoe time (similar weather, slightly harder course with the super shoes but I was quite a bit better trained). I've never felt the "leg-saving" nature that everyone talks about from training in them.

My advice would be to try some out. Most people seem to love them, but it's frustrating to hear everyone talk up how incredible they are only to not have the same experience.

I have the same results from Saucony Pro 3 and Ride 16's.

Ran 2:50 in the old adios and 2:33 in the vaporfly, but evidently that difference isnt all from the shoe.

OK- I raced in traditional racing flats and two weeks later was 30 seconds faster (5K) with super shoes.

2:25:51 in "normal" racing flats (age 33)

2:26:00 in VF3 (age 38)

2012 - First Marathon - Nike Frees (Recommended by a high schooler working at Dick's Sporting Goods - I had no idea what I was doing)

Results: 2:41:xx Full // 1:19:xx Half

2013-2016 - 2 Marathons per year - Nike Pegasus, Brooks (no memory of model, but they were traditional trainers.)

Results: 2:38:xx to 2:40:xx - Could not crack 6-flat avg for the life of me // 1:15:xx Half

2017-2018 - Joined a club. Learned a bit more about actual training - Nike Flyknit Racers and Adidas Adizero Adios.

Results: 2:33:xx Full (3 times) - Could not crack 2:30 for the life of me // 1:10:xx Half.

Sub-2:30/Sub-1:10 was the lifetime goal. Those times seemed godlike to me. If I heard you ran 2:20-2:24, I assumed you ran seriously at college, or were some kind of sponsored/semi-pro.

2019 - Nike 4% (the blue ones) - Breakthrough...

Results: 2:26: xx (2x in 3 months that Spring) + 2:23 that Fall // 1:08:xx Half

I never hit a wall. It felt like a completely different game. I was shocked at how easy things felt in the first half of the race, and I negative split the crap out of everything that year

2021 to 2024 - Vaporfly, Alphafly, Saucony Elite

PRs: 2:18:xx // 1:06:xx... (most races: 2:22:xx / 1:08:xx)

I used to see sub-2:30/1:10 as a "shoot for the stars", lifetime goal. I can't imagine ever running over 2:30 again with these shoes. It really is a completely different game. Post-marathon recovery used to take up to a full month. Now I'm back in sometimes under a week. You can race a marathon a month if you want. It's awesome.

The way I describe it is that the "wall" is no longer a "wall". It's more of a sand pit. Pre-shoes, you'd hit mile 20, and your legs would turn to wood. Lifting your leg was a struggle, a every foot strike into the pavement sucked away more and more life from your stride. Your 5:xx/mi pace would slip to 6:xx without you noticing, and then immediately you'd fall to the 7/8s, and all the motivation in the world couldn't get you to pick it back up because your legs were just gone. That doesn't happen anymore.

I've found that as long as I don't quit on myself in those final miles, if I was running 5:20s, my blow-ups just turn into bouncing along at 5:50s-6:00s for the final 10K. The shoes provide this little bounce with each step even after your legs are gone, and that little bounce can help you keep a cadence going even when your muscles are spent. That's where I've seen the biggest difference.

The thing that really fascinates me is the guys with sub-2:20s pre-super shoes who have PR'd in many shorter distances since then, but cannot go sub-2:20 anymore. I know a few cases like that. Maybe they're trying to make too big of a jump?

In summary, I got to 2:33 / 1:10 without them - 2:18 / 1:07 with them...

My experience is that they are helpful to almost everyone up to a point. But if you start to fall apart in a race and lose your form, they do more harm than good after that point. Just a matter of when that point hits and whether the benefit gained up to that point offsets the negative after that point. I've tried several different supershoes and they are all inherently unstable. That instability is going to catch up to you if you aren't on your form. YMMV.

Chill bruh. Are you afraid you’re going to have to accept your inflated PRs were due to cheat shoes?

2:40:10 for my debut marathon in Saucony kinvaras - fresh off of collegiate training (training 80 mpw - long runs of 17 miles but nothing marathon specific)

2:35:30 5 years later in Next% 2s (full time job now, training is 50-60 mpw with marathon specific tempo runs of 20-23 miles)

Felt fitter in college when I ran 2:40 - I think the thought that the shoes are worth 3-4 minutes is accurate.

Are you going to accept your inflated PRs due to better tracks? I mean, I ran on cinder...you cheaters today get a nicer faster surface.