Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition

Sep 15, 23 12:39

Post #1 of 15 (1440 views)

I love the feel of running in Nike Vaporflys (I have the v2, haven't tried v1 or v3), but I'll be darned if the tongue isn't the most finicky thing. Sometimes takes me nearly a minute per shoe just to fix all of the weird wrinkles that occur when I put my foot in. Which really kills their appeal for triathlon, since the goal is to put them on quickly in transition.

I have a race coming up soon, so I've "sewed" the edge of the tongue to the upper using dental floss. Another kind of thread would probably be fine, I had floss on hand and it's a little stretchy which is nice. It seems to work pretty well -- no more wrinkles.

Anybody else have a solution for avoiding Vaporfly tongue issues in transition?

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 13:01

Post #2 of 15 (1417 views)

I’ll be watching. Got a pair of Vapor and a pair of Alpha on deep discount at a Dick’s outlet (benefit of wearing a 15). The Vapor tongue is tricky.

Alpha on the other hand is incredible in T2. Credit to Todd Buckingham - he told me to take the laces out. Easiest T2 shoe I’ve owned.

Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 13:19

Post #3 of 15 (1393 views)

My solution with the vaporfly is to pull it as well as I can and then forget about it. It hasn't bothered me too much to be honest, even the times that it came all wrinkled. If I don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.

The alphafly doesn't have that problem.

Last edited by: marcoviappiani: Sep 15, 23 13:20

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 13:26

Post #4 of 15 (1384 views)

Using lace locks, I pull the tongue out, fold it back on itself (about two inches) over the laces. This allows for a quick entry. Then after foot entry I pull down the lace locks while unfolding the tongue. Also just wondering about cutting off the top two inches and sewing the tongue on the sides.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [MI_Mumps] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 13:54

Post #5 of 15 (1347 views)

MI_Mumps wrote:

I’ll be watching. Got a pair of Vapor and a pair of Alpha on deep discount at a Dick’s outlet (benefit of wearing a 15). The Vapor tongue is tricky.

Alpha on the other hand is incredible in T2. Credit to Todd Buckingham - he told me to take the laces out. Easiest T2 shoe I’ve owned.

What did you replace the laces with with the Alphaflys? Curious.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 14:03

Post #6 of 15 (1338 views)

I have the same shoes. I figured out a good way to do this and now have no problems . . . as easy as any other shoe! When I pull the shoes on I use my thumbs and fingers #3 & 4 under the "wings" of the tongue, and fingers #1 & 2 on each side of the V on top of the tongue. Did that make sense? Practice it a few times and it will be natural and fast.

David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [lightheir] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 14:04

Post #7 of 15 (1333 views)

lightheir wrote:

MI_Mumps wrote:

I’ll be watching. Got a pair of Vapor and a pair of Alpha on deep discount at a Dick’s outlet (benefit of wearing a 15). The Vapor tongue is tricky.

Alpha on the other hand is incredible in T2. Credit to Todd Buckingham - he told me to take the laces out. Easiest T2 shoe I’ve owned.

What did you replace the laces with with the Alphaflys? Curious.

Nothing. Thats the beauty of the Alphafly. You dont need any laces at all.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [Mugen_EP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 14:57

Post #8 of 15 (1302 views)

Mugen_EP wrote:

lightheir wrote:

MI_Mumps wrote:

I’ll be watching. Got a pair of Vapor and a pair of Alpha on deep discount at a Dick’s outlet (benefit of wearing a 15). The Vapor tongue is tricky.

Alpha on the other hand is incredible in T2. Credit to Todd Buckingham - he told me to take the laces out. Easiest T2 shoe I’ve owned.

What did you replace the laces with with the Alphaflys? Curious.

Nothing. Thats the beauty of the Alphafly. You dont need any laces at all.

MIND BLOWN

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [Mugen_EP] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 15:12

Post #9 of 15 (1287 views)

Yeah the Alphafly looks really nice in this sense. Almost pulled the trigger and bought some, but reviews for the AF2 weren't great, and I've heard it's kind of narrow through the midfoot which I suspect would bother me. Hard to justify the price, too, when I already have the VFs that I like pretty well.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 16:12

Post #10 of 15 (1256 views)

For my vf’s,
I lace it up one less hole than you do and place the shoe in transition with the tongue pulled straight up so that when I grab the shoe, it’s already flattened

Putting the shoe on fast is a two hand job but is much quicker this way

Hit t2
Sit, grab a shoe with both hands-thumbs toward the inside of the shoe, put the foot in and push down w toe pointed, let go, grab the lock lace and pull to desired tightness

Next….

Go

Better w a little practice, of course
Good luck

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 16:45

Post #11 of 15 (1238 views)

I have found that the fastest way to deal with all of this in T2 is to slow down, breathe, and just calmly put shoes on.

I always see people freaking out trying to save a couple seconds in an IM... and that usually just makes it worse.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [Dan Funk] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 17:03

Post #12 of 15 (1225 views)

Nobody said anything about IM...

But since you brought it up, I've grabbed 3rd place by 2 sec in an IM, and missed 2nd place by about 2 minutes in that same race. So even for long distance, every second and minute matters for some of us.

The Vaporfly tongue is a pain in the butt even when you are calm and have no time pressure. Like I have had to spend nontrivial time on it before my open run races too.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [marcoviappiani] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 19:27

Post #13 of 15 (1153 views)

I agree with the comment above about giving the tongue a slight pull and not worrying about it. An imperfect tongue has never bothered me during a race (or a race-simulation training session). That said, I am sure that it could if I didn't try at all and left it too wrinkled

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 22:10

Post #14 of 15 (1080 views)

Alphafly doesn’t need shoe laces. However I don’t think it is a good Ironman shoes. It doesn’t ‘roll’ when your legs are done. VF on the other hand is the perfect roller for Ironman.

Re: Taming the Vaporfly tongue in transition [latkin] [ In reply to ]

Sep 15, 23 22:18

Post #15 of 15 (1074 views)

I went to Walmart and bought several plastic shoe horns and place one in the shoe in t2. Grab the tongue, stick foot in , and slide out horn. Works with socks or without with lots of body glide on foot.

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