Too many types of shoes? (Read 151 times)

There's a magic number in the sporting goods world, and it is $2500.

 

Some people would spend that on a decent treadmill to get them through the winter months!  My most extravagant running related purchase was Air Relax recovery boots for £600.  My Vaporflys were expensive, but worth it!

Skim, you make good points but I think you over analyzing just a bit. I would be willing to bet that less than 50 people in the country have a separate shoe to race a 5K, different for a 10K, different for a Half, different for a Marathon.....I don't see marketing this specific either.

 

My take is that if you are a newbie stick with a good shoe that works for you. Once per week, I would throw in your older model shoe that you are retiring. Mix this in on a shorter run even if the same brand/model. It will have different wear patterns and can alter your stresses a tad. Which is good. It also allows your other shoes to bounce back an extra day.

 

Once you get past newbie stage and start racing more and adding in work outs and multi pace work in training you can mix in a lighter trainer.  I use Brooks Ghost as my everyday trainer and long runs and will mix in Saucony Kinvara for tempos or interval work. This shoe is lighter and less heel to toe drop. I also race longer events in Kinvara. If I am racing a 5K or 10K, I use my Saucony Fast Twitch. It is lighter and faster.... no doubt in my mind but I only may bring those out 1-2 times for some fast work before race lead up. Most runners would be nust fine racing in the Kinvaras and have 2 types of shoes.  I occasionally run non muddy trails and generally will use my older higher miles shoes which work fine as trails are less pounding or impact on body so an older shoe that has lost some cushioning still works fine.

I probably am over-analyzing.  I wouldn't know how many people would have 4-5 different pairs of racing shoes (my guess would be more than 50), but I do know that if you read/watch shoe reviews, they definitely differentiate among different distances.  It's common for them to say that a shoe is OK for up to 5K, or up to 10K, or up to 10K/half marathon, or up to a half marathon, or up to a half or full marathon.  How many people actually follow that advice, I wouldn't know, but the idea is definitely out there.  If there are fewer than 50 people who use different shoes for different distances, it's probably because relatively few people seriously race 5Ks to marathons or don't want to spend that much money just for race shoes, not because shoe companies and reviewers don't promote the idea.

But that aside, I think your use of Ghost, Kinvara, and Fast Twitch makes a lot of sense--and also agree that even just the Kinvara for racing and Ghost for everything else would be adequate for most people.

  

Serious question for you: why do you use lighter shoes for workouts (which I assume are intervals, repeats, track work, etc)?  What's the benefit?  I ask as someone who doesn't do a lot of speed work other than race-pace runs and some fartleks.  I've always just done them in what I considered training shoes and have never felt the need for anything lighter.  In fact, wouldn't it be beneficial to do speed work in heavier shoes so that on race day the shoes feel lighter?

The idea of using heavier shoes (like a ring in baseball) is certainly interesting. I think the most obvious example of this by shoemakers is the ZoomFly and the VaporFly. I do all my uptempo training runs in my ZF and only race in the VF. Part of the reason they're heavier is that the ZF is meant to be more durable than the VF. However, one of the benefits I see is exactly what you're saying: when I put on the VF, they feel so much lighter even though they have a similar bouncy feeling.

heavier shoes change your gait by being larger weights at the end of a pendulum. There's probably not a lot of training benefit by being heavier than your racing shoes, because slightly different mechanics are used. If that was the case, then everyone would be wearing ankle weights (and throwing out their knees!).

 

Ever notice that you have choppy steps when you put on lightweight racers for the first time in months? Your body is used to the trainer's weight at the end of your leg swinging it further (simplified explanation).

 

The main benefit, and reason, that trainers are heavier is because they are built to be more durable. Racers MIGHT have 150 miles of usable life. Most training shoes are at least 350, if not 500+.

 

Best method is to do some workouts in racers every once in a while so your body is accustomed to them. Personally, I won't train in "heavy" shoes, there's no reason to. There are many great training shoes that weigh less than 9oz, some less than 8oz. I won't even consider a shoe over 10oz anymore. Unless it's for injury recovery, like Hoka Stinsons (allowed me to keep running while PF healed up over 3 months).

What you say about heavier shoes changing running gait sounds reasonable, though I think differences of 2-3 ounces would be pretty negligible, unlike 2-3 pound ankle weights.  And I think the body/legs would adjust pretty quickly to wearing lighter shoes.

I agree that there's no need to wear 12-13 oz. shoes as your everyday, do-it-all trainers, and that's certainly not what I'd advocate.  For my size 9, I think of 10 oz. as the upper limit of what I'd use for everyday trainers, though being 9 oz. or slightly less would be even better.  (The exception would be if I could snag slightly heavier shoes at a great price.)  For example, I'm loving the 9 oz. Reebok Floatride Energy (v1) right now and I can use this for every type of training run.  If I weren't interested in a PR, I'd even use it for a race.  But for chasing a PR, I'd want to use a different pair that weighs between 6.5-7.5 oz.  I think most people could effectively use just two types of shoes, though obviously it's not as fun as having different shoes for each type of run or race.

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