Are racing flats relevant?

You can run in the epic react? I like them, but solely as a walking around shoe. Way too much heft.

Honestly I'm not as familiar with the racing flats on the Nike side of things yet. I do basically all my easy to tempo stuff in Peg Turbos which I think are great. I'm getting a pair of Zoom Fly 3's and a pair of the 4%'s next week so I'll let you know how those feel. However those will be the lightest Nike shoes I've worn.

Beyond Nike though, hell yes they matter. I used to wear Brooks quite a lot, and the difference between say the Launch or Revel vs the Hyperion is crazy. The hyperion is just so much lighter. Used to love the adizero adios boosts by Adidas too. Having the lightest, but bounciest thing possible on your feet for speed matters.

Zoom Streak LT 4

vaporfly is fine for 5k races. You'll run faster than you would in trainers. You could get a pair of streak lts or other light flats, but how many serious 5k races do you actually do. For most people 5ks are almost more of a workout as they train for longer distance road races. Although if you use the lighter flats for multiple purposes, eg track work, maybe short tempos, it might be worth it.

I've done 1000 metre and 1 mile time trials in VF 4% and in Saucony Type A8. To the second, there is zero difference between these two for this distance. I have not done a 5k race in either shoe but my time trial experience in these two shoes tell me that there would be little advantage to wasting the (extremely mileage-limited) VFs on 5k races when racing flats would do the identical job a 1/3 the price.

I was extraordinarily impressed by the VFs during my most recent marathon but I am not sold on them for shorter distances.

I use the Zoom Streak LT4 for track speedwork (anything from 12x400 up to 2x5000) I have only raced in the Vaporfly 4% (1st and 2nd generation Flyknit) for all of my races from 5K to marathon since the 2017 Chicago marathon. Does anyone think there would be an advantage to using the Streak LT4 for an upcoming 5K road race over the Vaporfly? I am going to stick with Vaporfly for races 10K to marathon.

One situation where I would take a traditional flat over the Vaporfly in races is if there are lots of turns. They're just so bad at cornering. High stack height + soft foam + zero support in the upper = you're gonna have a bad time on anything but straightaways.

rolled ankles wrote:

One situation where I would take a traditional flat over the Vaporfly in races is if there are lots of turns. They're just so bad at cornering. High stack height + soft foam + zero support in the upper = you're gonna have a bad time on anything but straightaways.

Quite right. Very good shoes but very bad for sharp turns.

good flat wrote:

Zoom Streak LT 4

used the zoom streak LT 3 for years for all runs. The LT 3 was good, with the LT 4.... I kept blowing out the upper, and was feeling the rocks under the sole. Switched to the Zoom Rival Waffle Spikeless, cross country shoe. No lie, I run all my runs in these, including 10 mile training runs, and even trail runs.

Bruin1996 wrote:

I use the Zoom Streak LT4 for track speedwork (anything from 12x400 up to 2x5000) I have only raced in the Vaporfly 4% (1st and 2nd generation Flyknit) for all of my races from 5K to marathon since the 2017 Chicago marathon. Does anyone think there would be an advantage to using the Streak LT4 for an upcoming 5K road race over the Vaporfly? I am going to stick with Vaporfly for races 10K to marathon.

Yes, you should use the LT4. No question.

LT4 through at least 10k, IMO.

Wolf's Bane wrote:

vaporfly is fine for 5k races. You'll run faster than you would in trainers. You could get a pair of streak lts or other light flats, but how many serious 5k races do you actually do. For most people 5ks are almost more of a workout as they train for longer distance road races. Although if you use the lighter flats for multiple purposes, eg track work, maybe short tempos, it might be worth it.

There is at least one study that shows Vaporfly 4% is quicker for 5000m and 3000m too, even compared to a standard Nike spike.

I'm not sure about the 5k just being a warm-up for longer races. I've been racing for 45 years+ and am a lot better in the 3/5k range than longer. I target 5k in training, very rarely race over10k or further. If I did a half marathon, that would be the one I treated like a workout.

Not OP, but can anybody recommend a performance type shoe that has a deep and wide toebox? Tried Kinvara, Launch, Pure flow, and some NB flat at my local running store. My feet suck.