Shakedown Street
There are a number of videos on youtube that show how to test shoes for wear outside of wear patterns.
Do you track the milage on the shoes? I have some shoes that last for me 400 miles, and others I am lucky to get 225 out of a pair.
I would not run a race in brand new shoes, at least have a couple training runs in them, or some treadmill miles. This might just be me, but I like to know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the shoe/lacing that would cause something nasty like heal slipping, etc during a race. FWIW a lot of sources say the new types of shoes with newer materials do not require a break in period.
Started-5/12, RWOL refugee,5k-24:23 (1/12/13),10K-55:37(9/15/12),HM-1:52:59(3/24/13)
I can tell I need new shoes when my knees and shins start hurting.
For me, I have a hard time telling if the shoes feel different. I can never tell if it's the shoes that make parts of my legs sore, or simply too many miles one particular week, or too fast a pace. So I tend to extend the life of my old shoes to 600-800 miles, just in case there is still life in them, because I am cheap. But I make sure to alternate them with 2 or 3 good newer shoes, so that in a week, I won't do more than 1 or 2 runs with very old shoes, and they are never my LRs. I rotate between 7 or 8 shoes at the moment. Three are very new, about 3 have average mileage on (200-300) and 2 are very old, but still feel sort of ok. Keeping track of mileage is important I think.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
I'm with you Lily, I kind of have a hard time telling when a pair is worn out ... I got 700+ miles on my previous ones. I'm a mid-foot striker and tread wear is really light so I can't go by any visual cues. It's only when I rotate to a newer pair that I can tell a difference on the longer runs. Once that happens I keep the old ones in the stable for shortish runs and especially rainy conditions.
Train smart ... race smarter.
I know my shoes are done when my knees get a little achy after a short run. I just ordered 2 new pairs.
So far I haven't been able to tell by feel. I haven't actually complete retired a pair yet for mileage but once I get to about 300 miles, I buy a new pair and delegate the 300 mile pair as my short, easy runs and then keep an eye on the tread. The weird thing is that right now I have a pair at 300 and a pair at 465 that have almost identical wear, and I figure I'll get another 50, maybe a little more. The only difference I can think between the two is that the first 300 miles on 465 pair were all on indoor track, while most of the mileage on the 300 pair have been street pounding. There are some good youtube videos on telling when the tread on your shoes is shot, and I expect that will be what retires mine, not feel.
Mmmmm...beer
I watched a video on how to gauge if your shoes are worn out, and one of the things they said to look for is if the outer sole (usually a darker color) is worn down to the midsole (usually white/lighter). Not too long after watching that, I noticed the balls of my feet starting getting sore, and sure enough, right under the balls of both feet I had worn down to the midsole. Ordered up new shoes that night.
-Dave
My running blog
Goals | sub-18 5k | sub-3 marathon 2:56:46!!
Petco Run/Walk/Wag 5k
I was a heavy heel lander before switching to BF & minimal shoes (VFF Sprints, Saucony Hattori's, and socks). I would go thru shoes in under 300 mi, I tracked miles using RA. The right shoe's rear rt corner would wear down to nothing in that time. I was likely compensating for bad left calf by using right foot more than left.
bob e v 2014 goals: keep on running! Is there anything more than that?
Complete the last 3 races in the Austin Distance Challenge, Rogue 30k, 3M Half, Austin Full
Break the 1000 mi barrier!
History: blessed heart attack 3/15/2008; c25k july 2008 first 5k 10/26/2008 on 62nd birthday.
when there is a clearance on runningwarehouse...
PR's : HM 1:51:15 - 5K 21:27
This. My knees only hurt when my shoes are getting too many miles on them.