100+ Miles a week and Shoe Cost

Where do you get those numbers? I do about 90 a week and I get a new pair every month. So I usually spend around 80 a month on trainers (discounts from RR for using my bro's VIP and find an online coupon to go with it). Not so bad. Why would you be changing shoes after 200-250 miles? Most last around 400.

I learned a number of tricks.

1. Use Shoe Goo

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I coat the outside of all my shoes with Shoe Goo in the spots where I wear them down fastest. I do this when they are brand new. It dramatically adds to the life of the shoes, even regular trainers. However...

2. Go minimal

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All though high school and college, I wore normal, thick trainers. When I finally started doing higher mileage, I found I had to switch to LESS shoe in order to keep from being injured so much. The irony is that racing flats are generally (not always be generally) cheaper than trainers. They don't have all the marketable gimmicks. Also you find that when you are not relying on the cushioning of the shoe (because it has none), the shoe lasts a hell of a lot longer. So you get more shoe for less.

If you think you CAN'T go minimal, ignore this. Seriously, I don't care about the subject enough to try to convince people to run like this. All I know is it worked for me and the fringe benefit was spending less money on shoes.

3. Get good at finding deals

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Once you find a shoe you like, scour the internet for coupons, sales, etc. Sometimes you can get last year's version a lot cheaper. Regardless, once you find them on sale, buy in bulk

I get adidas shoes online or at a local outlet store for under $40 a pair. They tend to last a lot longer for me than any other model so I can usually get at least 600 miles out of them. Rotating at "end of life" helps.

That's less than 7 cents per mile...pretty cheap.

Can someone explain why rotating shoes extends the life? It seems you will still run the same number of miles on them. Maybe it will take longer for a given pair of shoes but you still have to buy a second pair of shoes. example:1st pair -> 2nd pair in series would take say 2 months.Rotating 2 pairs would take 2 months.

pumpkin wrote:

Rotating at "end of life" helps.

That's less than 7 cents per mile...pretty cheap.

Just a thought here wrote:

Can someone explain why rotating shoes extends the life?

It doesn't. That's a myth

I run in lightweight trainers (Asics Speedstars). Maybe it's just me, but I never really keep track of shoe mileage. I always have two pair of shoes that I rotate every other day in training. If I had to guess, I put 800-1000 miles on each pair of shoes. I know I need another pair of shoes when I start getting shin splints, that's usually my tell-tale sign. I never understood the theory of shoes only lasting 200-300 miles. If I followed that, I'd be broke.

Regarding the rotating shoes issue, I feel that in the 24 hours you are using the "other" pair of shoes, it gives the insoles time to "spring back". If you run in the same shoes everyday, the insoles may spring back for the first few weeks, but at a depreciating rate. Maybe after two weeks of daily running, the insoles only bouce back 75%, after 3 weeks maybe 50%...and so on. I believe that rotating shoes just extends the time to depreciation for shoes, thus lasting longer.

I have no scientific knowledge to back this up, just what I believe.

Ditto on the racing flats. I regularly get 1000+ on Nike Marathoners, with the limiting factor being holes in the upper. Last pair, which I used this summer, got me about 1300 miles. Not everyone can do this, but its worth a try.

Find a team or get sponsored. There's probably a group in your area that can get you shoes from a specific brand at cost.

Average_Joe wrote:

It doesn't. That's a myth

exactly.

Just a thought here wrote:

Can someone explain why rotating shoes extends the life? It seems you will still run the same number of miles on them. Maybe it will take longer for a given pair of shoes but you still have to buy a second pair of shoes.

The relaxation time for the polymers in the midsole is not on the order of hours, so the whole "decompression" argument is bogus. Rotating doesn't help.

Omicron wrote:

For those of you who train at or higher than 100 mpw, how do you manage the high cost of trainers? I am considering increasing my mileage over the next year to include about 12 weeks around the 95 - 100 mile range but at that volume I would need to buy 2 pairs of shoes a month, right?

How do non-sponsored, high mileage runners offset or manage this cost and is the cost of shoes a factor in terms of preventing or incurring injury for this group of runners? I guess $180+ a month isn't that bad for someone training year round who has a decent job..

This has got to be a troll, I can't believe that there's anyone who buys new shoes every 200 miles.

If you can go minimal you'll be able to go well over 1,000 miles in a pair of shoes. There's very little cushioning to wear out. I've probably got about 1500 miles on a pair of Piranhas right now.

If you can't go minimalist, take out the original insole and add a Spenco. Your shoes will last for ages. And get shoes on close out, on sale, etc. There are cheap sources around.

what is Spenco? (serious ?)

They are a company that makes insoles. Pretty sure you could gather that by context alone.

Rotating doesn't extend the life OF THE SHOES. It just allows you to run a little longer in crappy shoes WITHOUT getting hurt.If I ran every day in 600+ mile shoes, I can definitely feel it in my feet and legs = cumulative effect. But if I only run in old shoes a day or two a week and alternate in some fresh shoes, I'm fine.Make sense?

Just a thought here wrote:

Can someone explain why rotating shoes extends the life? It seems you will still run the same number of miles on them. Maybe it will take longer for a given pair of shoes but you still have to buy a second pair of shoes.

example:

1st pair -> 2nd pair in series would take say 2 months.

Rotating 2 pairs would take 2 months.

pumpkin wrote:

Rotating at "end of life" helps.

That's less than 7 cents per mile...pretty cheap.

HRE wrote:

And get shoes on close out, on sale, etc. There are cheap sources around.

HRE:

I've gotten advice to not buy "old" shoes because the cushioning material breaks down over time. What is the general age limit for buying closeout shoes? Can I buy last year's closeouts? How about shoes form 2 years ago?

I am not HRE but FWIW I have running shoes I've owned for 8+ years but barely used. On the rare occasions I DO use them, they seem every bit as cushioned today as they were when I bought them. I'm sure there is a limit but you are not going to hit it buying online, unless (possibly) its from eBay

I am not a very high milage runner anymore but I get tons of minutes in with cross training in addition to my running. I'd say now I run around 60mpw at the max. I weigh about 150lbs and my shoes last about 600 miles. I commonly run in the Axioms or 1140s, but I used to run a lot in the New Balance 540's. However, I also use an orthodic so that seems to extend the life of my shoes quite a bit. Before I would have to rotate out of a pair of shoes around 400 miles or so. So if your the right canidate for an orthodic, they may help extend the lifetime of your shoes. But thats not what their for either.

pumpkin wrote:

Rotating doesn't extend the life OF THE SHOES. It just allows you to run a little longer in crappy shoes WITHOUT getting hurt.

If I ran every day in 600+ mile shoes, I can definitely feel it in my feet and legs = cumulative effect. But if I only run in old shoes a day or two a week and alternate in some fresh shoes, I'm fine.

Make sense?

I do the same thing (running in shoes once a week that have 1000+ miles in them). But the argument you'll get from a lot of running store people is that the shoes need more than a day to "decompress" after you run in them.