Interesting you say this as I felt the same thing. I could feel the carbon fibre plate flexing at the FRONT of the shoe when I tried the zoom fly flyknit, but they otherwise did nothing... leads me to believe the carbon fibre plate is for those who strike off on their toes or simply run very fast. If I go hard I can push out a 5.30 minute mile but I can't maintain it over a race... so what's the point.