How long do your shoes last?

Shoe, avg. mileage, and body weight? wrote:

What shoe do you use for the bulk of your mileage? How many miles do you get out of them? How much do you weigh?

Im 185 lbs and I must not run very gently. I go through shoes pretty fast. NB beacons fealt pretty toasted after about 125 miles. Saucony ride 10, might have went 200. Brooks ghost maybe 250 ish. I'd like to get 300-400 out of a pair of shoes after paying an arm and a leg for them.

I definitely get less than I used to out of my shoes. I used to run about 700 miles in my Saucony Guides. I could have gotten more but at the time I was sponsored by them, nothing much but free shoes were part of the package, so I didn't worry about pushing them to their limit. Now after about 500 or 550 miles my Saucony's are literally falling apart. The rubber on the front of the shoe all of a sudden wears much faster and goes to almost nothing very quickly. The fabric in the heel of the shoe always rips where the heel of my orthotic rubs(this never happened 3 years ago but always does now). Even the fabric on the side of the shoes becomes torn regularly. Nothing has changed significantly in my weight or training.

A friend told me the rubber on the bottom is designed to break apart to let you know you need new shoes now. I'll be honest all these issues seem more like an effort to force you to buy new shoes after a certain point. If a company makes shoes that last too long then they aren't making money off customers.

I think the OP is saying that the shoes FEEL dead after not so many miles. They might not look worn or be falling apart, but the cushion/spring is gone.

I'm loving my Nike Pegasus Turbo with the new ZoomX foam, but they are feeling a little dead after 250 miles. No wear and tear, though. Treads and seams are fine.

I usually run hilly trails in Hoka Challengers and get 800-1000 miles. I weigh 160.

I'm 155 and rotate between a pair of Clifton 5s, Peg 35s, and Adidas Solar Glides. I typically get 400 out of a trainer by the time I start feeling like its dead.

140lb, 50ish mpw most of the time, and I routinely put 1000+ mi on trainers. Right now I'm rotating three pairs of Pegs, two pairs with about 1000, one pair with just over 100. Honestly can't really tell the difference between the feel of the highest and lowest mileage pairs. The higher mileage show wear on the outer rubber but aren't worn through to the foam, and are otherwise in fine shape.

Shoe, avg. mileage, and body weight? wrote:

What shoe do you use for the bulk of your mileage? How many miles do you get out of them? How much do you weigh?

Im 185 lbs and I must not run very gently. I go through shoes pretty fast. NB beacons fealt pretty toasted after about 125 miles. Saucony ride 10, might have went 200. Brooks ghost maybe 250 ish. I'd like to get 300-400 out of a pair of shoes after paying an arm and a leg for them.

I am 148 lbs. Also I rotate shoes so that may make my results different.

Current stable of shoes:

Altra Tmps 1.5 - 226 (Retired)

Trail shoes. These didn't last for me. They are toast. From the outside they look good but the shoe just broke down internally on me and feel terrible. They were great at first.

Peregrine 9's - 260 miles

Trail shoes, this pair has held up really well. Still feels good and no rips or tears.

Nike Kiger 5's - 30.7 miles

Trail shoes again. Brand new pair just moved into rotation. Doesn't help you.

New Balance 880 - 180 miles

Road shoe. Still has plenty of life left in them.

Nike Lunar Trainer - approximately 400 miles each (retired)

Road shoes. I had 2 pairs of these at the same time that I rotated. I didn't track specifically which one I used for each run so this is an approximate. The foam cushioning gave out way before the shoe was bad. I used them as walking around shoes after they were retired.

All that to say that generally I get 250-400 miles on a pair. I am a bit injury prone so I buy new shoes once I can feel the shoe degrading. I think that is a big part of the variation you are going to get from person to person. How beat up of a shoe can they handle? When I was younger I would run on the same shoe until the exterior had issues, a hole in the mesh, the rubber bottom worn off ect. I bet I had some shoes that made it 1000 miles. I just can't get away with that now that I am older. A $120 pair of shoes is worth saving me hundreds of dollars in physical therapy.

Grenio wrote:

I think the OP is saying that the shoes FEEL dead after not so many miles. They might not look worn or be falling apart, but the cushion/spring is gone.

Super weird.

I am 160 pounds, and I don't even think of changing out shoes until Strava tells me I have 500 miles on them. Then, I think about it and keep running in them because they feel fine.

I will eventually toss them if the sole is worn right through, but ever because of "cushion/spring."

But I am a real runner, wearing lightweight trainers only, so I don't really look for "cushion/spring" to begin with.

6 ft 5 and 175, middle distance runner, mainly 40-60 mpw but sometimes up to 80 mpw. Currently running in Flyknit lunar 3 with about 2000 miles and hope they last a few hundred miles longer. Use it for all sessions apart from fast intervals (some asics racing flats for 64-68 s laps and spikes for anything close to or below 60 s laps).

A retired 3:52 miler/olympic semi-finalist I occasionally trained with, often admired my very nice running form. Maybe that's one reason shoes usually last very long, together with mainly forefoot striking which makes heel cushioning less important and degradation much slower at the same time.

Shoe, avg. mileage, and body weight? wrote:

What shoe do you use for the bulk of your mileage? How many miles do you get out of them? How much do you weigh?

I run only in Hokas. I have two pairs of Clifton 3s, one pair retired, one pair has a race left in them, both have 1000+ miles.

My Clifton OGs have nearly 400 miles and feel fresh.

My Clifton 5s are approaching 200 miles and probably have another 800 miles on them.

I have a pair of Machs that have a paltry 90 miles but I only wear them for racing.

Just got a pair of Hupana 2s in the mail today, looking forward to see how long they'll last.

I run 50-55mpw and weigh 120lbs.

YMM(definitely)V

I wear minimalist shoes, so I can use them till they're falling apart and structually unsound. (Cushioning, etc. is not a factor.)

I'd estimate about 5000 miles.

They start looking ratty around 2000, but still work fine.

P.S. but I only weigh 135lbs and run 25 miles per week atm.

Y'all crazy wrote:

I wear minimalist shoes, so I can use them till they're falling apart and structually unsound. (Cushioning, etc. is not a factor.)

I'd estimate about 5000 miles.

They start looking ratty around 2000, but still work fine.

Underrated aspect of minimalist footwear. They last forever because, well, there really isn't much to them to wear out to begin with!

I'm 155-160 lbs and I start to feel the shoes die around 250-300 miles. I really wish I could go until 400-500 so it would be easier on my wallets.