How often should you use “Racing Shoes”

PEG

JV
I feel like this question used to be obvious as there were major trade offs with racing flats. First it was cushion. You had paper thin racing flats that destroyed your legs during a race but who cared because they were light and fast during the race. Then you had the Vaporfly that wore out really quickly due the midsole. So you pretty much used them for races only (and maybe a test run workout before). However, now we are getting the Endorphin Pro, Hyperion Elite 2, etc. I’ve even heard that the Alphafly lasts longer as it has more rubber and the zoom air pods that may help extend the life of the shoe. So if these can take 200-400 miles now are they only for racing? I admit I’ve been doing long runs in the Endorphin Pro just for the fun of it and the shoes are holding up well past 100 miles and I don’t plan on stopping wearing them for long runs. I don’t have any races to save them for anyway. Certainly it is a lot of money for “just” a training shoe. But if it’s a really fun training shoe you can also race in and still get a good lifespan out of the shoe... I would say it’s kind worth it. Especially with training shoes like the FuelCell TC and Air Zoom Tempo NEXT% also costing $200.
So... what are your thoughts? Also I am curious if anyone has put some mileage on the NB RC Elite as that is another shoe that looks like it could possibly handle good training and racing mileage.
 

Joe

Administrator
Staff member
There's a few thing to consider here. If your long run is a tempo effort, I'd say sure use a carbon plated flat - but if it's supposed to be an easy long run, then having a shoe that encourages faster running is not really a great idea. If you're doing double days, not sure your easy morning shake out run in a carbon flat will work out long term. For recovery runs and runs intended to be run at an easier pace it makes a lot of sense to get an overly cushioned, heavier, less snappy model to essentially remind you to slow down and not beat you up. If it was me trying to be fast again, I'd use a flat for my 2-3 primary workouts each week and have another model or two for the other runs.

Joe
 
While I've generally used different shoes for different types of runs, I recently picked up a pair of the New Balance RC Elites and I liked them so much that I basically decided that I am going to do the vast majority of my runs in them, mainly because every time I wore a different pair of shoes, I thought, "Why aren't I wearing my RC Elites?"

I have a pair of the New Balance FuelCell TCs that were my main running shoes for the last few months, and I've put nearly 300 miles on them so I've decided to make those my "easy day" shoes and use my RC Elites for everything else. I actually picked up another pair of RC Elites, just so I can switch between them.

So far, I've only put 75 miles on one pair and 22 miles on the other pair, so I am not sure how they will hold up once I put a few hundred miles on them, but I am not particularly concerned about it because if they wear out, I'll be happy to just keep buying them until something better comes along.

I realize that using the same shoes for almost all of your runs is probably not recommended, but I like the RC Elites so much that I just can't help myself!
 

jimmylwo

Newbie
The frequency of using racing shoes in your training should align with your goals and the durability of the specific shoes. While traditional racing flats were often reserved solely for races, modern racing shoes like the Endorphin Pro, Hyperion Elite 2, and Alphafly offer greater longevity and versatility. Incorporate them into key workouts, tempo runs, and races to optimize your performance.
 
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