"I received a pair of the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% the day after release and tested them at my faster tempo paces at 8:11 for 4 miles on a hot day at 6,800 feet. My effort on the tempo run and comparisons to other runs on the same roads indicates that, at least for me, the claim of a potential 4 percent improvement in running economy may be in the ballpark. Three days later, and a bit tired, I raced them in a downhill 10K race in Salt Lake City at 4,800 feet. I averaged 7:07 per mile and won my 60-64 age group in almost the same time as my finish five years ago and only a minute slower than eight years before when I was in superb shape and ran two 1:35 half marathons."
http://running.competitor.com/2017/07/shoes-and-gear/mid-packer-runs-nike-fastest-race-shoe_166470
Midpacker buys pair of Nike's $250 Vaporfly 4% and thinks they may actually improve him by 4%
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There's nothing I love more than midpacker scoffing.
Not in a sarcastic way either. I mean, why does the classic midpacker look to at every single gimmicky thing to tweak, when just boring, standard, good training, will make 99% of the difference? Midpacker madness. -
starting to hear this as well more so from the midpacker of same effort with faster times on regular days. I'm just as skeptical of their claims and possible placebo effect but will wait to see how things come along.
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Many mid packers are going to claim they make a difference simply because they won't be willing to admit that they just paid an exorbitant amount for shoes that don't make much of a difference.
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LetsRun.com wrote:
"I received a pair of the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% the day after release and tested them at my faster tempo paces at 8:11 for 4 miles on a hot day at 6,800 feet. My effort on the tempo run and comparisons to other runs on the same roads indicates that, at least for me, the claim of a potential 4 percent improvement in running economy may be in the ballpark. Three days later, and a bit tired, I raced them in a downhill 10K race in Salt Lake City at 4,800 feet. I averaged 7:07 per mile and won my 60-64 age group in almost the same time as my finish five years ago and only a minute slower than eight years before when I was in superb shape and ran two 1:35 half marathons."
http://running.competitor.com/2017/07/shoes-and-gear/mid-packer-runs-nike-fastest-race-shoe_166470
Were both of you blowjos not totally doughy and out of shape, I'd suggest you actually buy a pair and go see for yourself. -
Tomandjerry wrote:
Many mid packers are going to claim they make a difference simply because they won't be willing to admit that they just paid an exorbitant amount for shoes that don't make much of a difference.
Yes -
The author is a full-time gear reviewer. He definitely didn't pay for the shoes.
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1000 Yassos wrote:
The author is a full-time gear reviewer. He definitely didn't pay for the shoes.
This exactly.
Also - Sam isn't some random mid-packer looking for a gimmick - he is a shoe and gear reviewer. He tried the shoes out so he could write about how they perform and feel for interested consumers of running media. (That's us.) He writes articles like this for every new shoe. I think the acknowledgement that he's a mid-packer was a nice touch, because the shoes' benefits for him will be a lot more relatable to most of us than their benefits for Kipchoge.
Even for Letsrun, this is a really Letsrunny response to this. -
Classic Letsrun fake news.
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The best way to test these shoes would be to do intervals with them and switch them out every other interval and compare.
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We can make fun of midpackers, but there might be something about these shoes. It could be a huge advantage having that spring plate embedded in foam.
Haven't the elites wearing them in the last few marathons crushed the competition. Even 1% faster is significant.
These could be the LZR swimsuit of running. Time will tell. Let's wait and see. -
Marketing is a powerful tool.
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The best test wrote:
The best way to test these shoes would be to do intervals with them and switch them out every other interval and compare.
Agreed. Why not do this? If he's a full time shoe reviewer, he's pretty bad at reviews. -
The best test wrote:
The best way to test these shoes would be to do intervals with them and switch them out every other interval and compare.
Isn't the best way to check heart rate at different paces. Almost like a HADD test? -
objective view point wrote:
We can make fun of midpackers, but there might be something about these shoes. It could be a huge advantage having that spring plate embedded in foam.
Haven't the elites wearing them in the last few marathons crushed the competition. Even 1% faster is significant.
These could be the LZR swimsuit of running. Time will tell. Let's wait and see.
Guess what? The MAJORITY of lrc are midpackers/don't run. Many of the site base here couldn't run 10k at 7.07 pace to save their lives. -
This would actually be really easy to test. Just wear the (allegedly) faster shoe on your left foot and your regular shoe on your right foot. Run on a track and if the shoe makes your left leg go faster you should traverse from lane 1 to lane 2 after a few laps.
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Here is the race in question:
http://www.deseretnews.com/marathon/results/2017?event=3
44:10 seems a pretty good 10k for a guy 60 years old although the course has "a gradual 600 feet total elevation drop". Is that a lot? I don't run many 10ks. The overall winner ran 28:58. It looks like his track PR is 29:38:
https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/4534051/Utah_Valley/Jason_Lynch.html -
If it's a net 600-foot downhill and if my math is right (182.88 / 10,000) then it's an average grade of 1.8%.
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rosshm16 wrote:
If it's a net 600-foot downhill and if my math is right (182.88 / 10,000) then it's an average grade of 1.8%.
-1.8% if it's going downhill. -
he's 60+, how do you know he's a mid packer, you pretentious jerks
