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Shoes: age vs miles (Read 1028 times)

    Silly question: In the past, I have only gotten ~250 miles out of my shoes before needing to replace them. I bought a new pair of running shoes in December. Since I have spent since mid Jan injured, they only have about 80 miles on them. Unfortunately, it sounds like its going to be a while before I can run again. (Or run any real distance if I am lucky.) Am I going to need new shoes because they are going to be old even though they arent going to have a lot of miles on them? If I expect that, I will start wearing them around town and to work now. Otherwise I will "save" them for running. (My current retired pair is getting pretty worn down, even for non-running running shoes.)
      The conventional wisdom is that shoes break down due to time as well as due to mileage. I have a hard time believing this one though, which is why I have a pair of Nike flats from 2003 in my closet that I still break out for track workouts once in a while. They perform just fine and are quite comfortable whenever I use them. I find it hard to believe that a shoe made from a variety of synthetic fabrics, rubbers and plastics, sewn with nylon thread and glued together with space-age adhesives will break down in that amount of time. I bet if--when I died of natural causes many decades from now--I was buried in those Nike flats and someone dug up my body 100 years later, the flats would be largely the only thing left and that a person with the stomach for it and a size 9.5 foot could pull them off the skeletal remains of my feet and wear them in a 10k race that day with no ill effects. On the other hand, a lot of my shoes end up becoming "around town" shoes long before their time. The aforementioned Nike flats have only avoided this fate due to their sheer ugliness.

      Runners run

        Blush I have never tracked the mileage of my shoes, I just get new ones when they start to look worn...or when my aunt shows up with new sneakers for me from the New Balance outlet in Maine (she does that once a year).

        Michelle



        jEfFgObLuE


        I've got a fever...

          The conventional wisdom is that shoes break down due to time as well as due to mileage.
          I think it's not so much that they break down with time as it is the materials harden and lose their compressibility. If you've ever brought out a *really* old pair of sneakers, they can seem almost crunchy and have no flexibility. 100 years from now, someone could pull those racing flats off your skeletal remains and run with them, but they'd be sore afterwards. I one raced in a pair of 9 year-old racing flats that I dragged out after about 7-years of retirement, and I paid for it afterwards. Racing flats are the worst case scenario because they're so minimalistic to begin with -- I think you can get away with a lot more on trainers. Now all that being said, I think runners will almost always wear a pair of training shoes out due to mileage long before they get to the point of age-related issues. Cheers, Jeff

          On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

            Good point about the compressibility, jeff. But I actually think that you'd feel the effects with trainers more than flats. Flats offer so little cushioning to begin with--I think this is part of why they "keep" so well. When I use those old flats for track workouts, its precisely because I don't want a lot of cushioning--I want responsiveness and to feel the track under my foot. Anyway you got the point of my hyperbole, which was that any purely age-related degradation in running shoes probably takes years, not a few months off due to injury.

            Runners run

            jEfFgObLuE


            I've got a fever...

              I want responsiveness and to feel the track under my foot.
              Drifting slightly OT, but man I just love the feeling of putting on the spike/racers, hitting the track, and cranking up the RPM's. I need to get my hammy healthy so I can hit the track -- I miss it!

              On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

                Wow! Thanks for the quick answers folks! I think I will keep my running shoes in the cloest. It sounds like I may or may not need to replace them when I start running again (I would rather buy new shoes than hurt myself again!!!), but it sounds like there is a good chance they will still work, especially for the really short runs I expect to be starting with. Besides, it would just be too depressing right now to wear them to work!
                  abbaroodle---- How are you feeling these days any how? Any changes?

                  Michelle



                    abbaroodle---- How are you feeling these days any how? Any changes?
                    My back and shoulders and arms are killing me!!!! And I am super frustrated. GGGRRRRrrrrrrr!!!!!
                      Looking at your log, I can see why you are so frustrated, you are VERY active with all the running and training that you do. Don't rush things though. You want to make sure your recovery is complete so you can get back to your "grrrrrr release"! Smile

                      Michelle



                        abbaroodle----I love the picture of you and your sister and mom on the Inca Trail in Peru. Do you travel often?

                        Michelle



                          Its all Trent's fault. (It seems like I can blame a lot of things on Trent - probably even being in Nashville is partly his fault, if I understand correctly. And a few other peoples. Hehe.) I didnt run a year ago, but now I am addicted and suffering from withdrawal. Actually, I never considered myself active - I thought of myself as busy. I am bad at sitting still, and love trying new things. And compared to folks I know, I barely ran. But then again, it seems like you can no longer run a marathon and be cool - now you have to do a triathalon, and at least a half-iron man at that. So I guess us Americans and make everything excessively large. Travel: Again, I dont consider myself a frequent traveler, but I have been lucky to go some amazing places! (Did you notice the banana tree in my avatar? From Boca Manu, Peru, in the Amazon basin. ) My parents figured out a while ago that if they went places we wanted to go and they paid, we went. I am such a sucker - it works every time! But then again, I'm not complaining or turning them down! (This time, I planned to go to Switzerland and the next thing I knew my parents and sister were also going. Which is really cool, but kind of weird!) Man I can't wait to get away from town and spend the next week sitting and not having to move much!
                          JakeKnight


                            Its all Trent's fault. (It seems like I can blame a lot of things on Trent -
                            Blaming Trent is always a good option. I approve.

                            E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com
                            -----------------------------

                              Blaming Trent is always a good option. I approve.
                              Trent also gets a lot of credit for things too....like my running and being in Nashville and all that kind of fun. You know, it might actually my brother and his fiancee's fault that I run - now that I think about it, I started because they were going to come down and do the CMM-Half and said they would do it with me. Trent, however, e-mails me back - my brother and his fiance seems to think that there is no internet in Switzerland! (He works at a university and does computer-related stuff, so I doubt this is the case. Big grin )
                              Jill_B


                              I fly.

                                Hurry up and get better already. We have running to do!

                                Bring it on.

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