I believe the ‘general’ rule of thumb is 500 miles, but what about at my weight (I’m a tad heavier than others)? I run with Asics Kayano shoes.
I hear 350-500 miles from most people who I trust on this issue. I hear 500 more often than I hear lower numbers, but that’s generally coming from people who are pretty light.
When my shoes hit around 400 I can start to feel the difference (I usually run in Asics or Sauconys). That’s when I generally buy a new pair and start alternating the pairs on workouts until the old pair hits 550 or so, then I retire them for good. I’ve got nothing but subjective n=1 experience for this course of action, but I feel like I can get a little extra mileage out of the end of the shoes’ life if I’m not wearing them for every workout at the end…likely it’s just that my feet and ankles aren’t as sore on ‘new shoes’ days, and so I’m willing to put up with the old pair for a little longer than I would if I used the old ones on every run.
Highly variable.
I get rid of my Altras, Kinvaras at 500-600km. Tri shoes (Altra 3-sum) at 400km. Trail shoes are usually unkillable (Xodus, Peregrine are 1000km+ for me).
When I start to feel a difference, I round up to the next 100km and then put them in garbage.
I get about ~350 miles out of my Asics GT2000 IIs, I’m 160lb. I know most people get more out of their shoes but I seem to have sensitive knees.
I used to get more out of the Asics GT 2140-2160s but they got retired.
That ‘rule of thumb’ is a total myth with no evidence behind it.
You can run in your shoes as long as you want. Folks saying “I get pain after X miles” are usually highly subjectively unreliable - to date there is zero evidence that any shoe, no matter how new, how old, how built up, and even how absent (no-shoe) can significantly decrease pain and injury in run training.
It is true that after a bunch of miles, your midsoles with get more flattened out and the soles will wear down gradually, but that should not affect your running whatsoever, especially given how excellent and durable modern running shoe materials are made.
I have a pair of Brooks Adrenalines that is now 6 years old - it’s got at least 1000 miles on it, and it still works great.
The reality though is that after about 700 miles, the shoe upper will get really ratty looking, and you’ll also develop some funky smells that you can’t wash or even bleach out. I change my sneakers due to 1) cosmetics, and 2) rips of the upper. I have never had to change them because I was feeling pain or discomfort during running.
I actually do A/B testing all the time when I’m about to change shoes. I’ll get the new shoe, and compare it to the old one. What you don’t want to do is get seduced by the soft, supple padding of the new shoe - you want to compare the feeling of hard running during the run as well as after the run, over weeks. When you start doing it that way, the differences disappear for the most part between similar shaped/sized shoes.
I’m 190-195 and I usually get 350 good miles on my Kinvaras. I’ll then use them for running on trails for another 50 or so, then they are permanently retired.
I’ve gone up to about 500 and didn’t really notice the aches and pains increasing…until I put the new pair on, then I could immediately tell.
I run in Asics GT-1000 3s… I have a flat wide foot and it’s one of the only shoes I can find in a 4e. I replace mine at around 350-400. I do it before I even begin to feel knee or foot pains. My mentality is that I can always replace shoes… not my feet or knees.
I’ll use my old shoes for mowing the lawn, fishing trips, etc. My last pair I used race morning as my throw aways so I wouldn’t have to walk barefoot before the swim.
To each his own though… happy running.
That ‘rule of thumb’ is a total myth with no evidence behind it.
You can run in your shoes as long as you want. Folks saying “I get pain after X miles” are usually highly subjectively unreliable - to date there is zero evidence that any shoe, no matter how new, how old, how built up, and even how absent (no-shoe) can significantly decrease pain and injury in run training.
It is true that after a bunch of miles, your midsoles with get more flattened out and the soles will wear down gradually, but that should not affect your running whatsoever, especially given how excellent and durable modern running shoe materials are made.
I have a pair of Brooks Adrenalines that is now 6 years old - it’s got at least 1000 miles on it, and it still works great.
The reality though is that after about 700 miles, the shoe upper will get really ratty looking, and you’ll also develop some funky smells that you can’t wash or even bleach out. I change my sneakers due to 1) cosmetics, and 2) rips of the upper. I have never had to change them because I was feeling pain or discomfort during running.
I actually do A/B testing all the time when I’m about to change shoes. I’ll get the new shoe, and compare it to the old one. What you don’t want to do is get seduced by the soft, supple padding of the new shoe - you want to compare the feeling of hard running during the run as well as after the run, over weeks. When you start doing it that way, the differences disappear for the most part between similar shaped/sized shoes.
Good points. I ask because at my last HIM, my feet were just sore. I didn’t have that during training runs. I do have three pairs, but seem to favorite my white Kayanos. Being white, they do look dirty pretty quick, but I wash them a lot. No I don’t pee down my leg. 
Generally, the EVA foam takes about 24-48h to “decompress” after each run.
If you do 4x or more runs per week, they’ll get used up much more quickly.
Assuming your gait was properly evaluated, you’re likely a pronator and when the EVA foam breaks down, you foot will be “pushed” to the outside by the medial posting in the shoe. This can throw your body out of alignment (ankle/knee/hip chain) and increase the chance for injury, especially your hips and IT bands.
Alternating 2 or more pairs will allow you to prolong the life of your shoes.
tl;dr - it depends
That ‘rule of thumb’ is a total myth with no evidence behind it.
You can run in your shoes as long as you want. Folks saying “I get pain after X miles” are usually highly subjectively unreliable - to date there is zero evidence that any shoe, no matter how new, how old, how built up, and even how absent (no-shoe) can significantly decrease pain and injury in run training.
It is true that after a bunch of miles, your midsoles with get more flattened out and the soles will wear down gradually, but that should not affect your running whatsoever, especially given how excellent and durable modern running shoe materials are made.
I have a pair of Brooks Adrenalines that is now 6 years old - it’s got at least 1000 miles on it, and it still works great.
The reality though is that after about 700 miles, the shoe upper will get really ratty looking, and you’ll also develop some funky smells that you can’t wash or even bleach out. I change my sneakers due to 1) cosmetics, and 2) rips of the upper. I have never had to change them because I was feeling pain or discomfort during running.
I actually do A/B testing all the time when I’m about to change shoes. I’ll get the new shoe, and compare it to the old one. What you don’t want to do is get seduced by the soft, supple padding of the new shoe - you want to compare the feeling of hard running during the run as well as after the run, over weeks. When you start doing it that way, the differences disappear for the most part between similar shaped/sized shoes.
Oh no, here we go again…those shoes according to you had 1000 a year and a half ago, and you put on 2000 per pair a year ago…whoops sorry, my bad, thats right you get 4000 per pair without the bottoms wearing out.
I easily get to 800-900miles on my shoes (Mizuno Waverider) before changing them out, and its usually due to tears developing in the upper. Marketing is the only reason to change a shoe much sooner…
Jack
He gets 4,000
.
Ok, then 1000 miles 2 years ago, probably at least 1400 miles by now (it’s not my only pair.) Still works great, NO foot/leg pain, which is no surprise, considering there is no shoe that reliably cures that. The upper is so nasty and crusted now, but it’s still going.
That ‘rule of thumb’ is a total myth with no evidence behind it.
You can run in your shoes as long as you want. Folks saying “I get pain after X miles” are usually highly subjectively unreliable - to date there is zero evidence that any shoe, no matter how new, how old, how built up, and even how absent (no-shoe) can significantly decrease pain and injury in run training.
It is true that after a bunch of miles, your midsoles with get more flattened out and the soles will wear down gradually, but that should not affect your running whatsoever, especially given how excellent and durable modern running shoe materials are made.
I have a pair of Brooks Adrenalines that is now 6 years old - it’s got at least 1000 miles on it, and it still works great.
The reality though is that after about 700 miles, the shoe upper will get really ratty looking, and you’ll also develop some funky smells that you can’t wash or even bleach out. I change my sneakers due to 1) cosmetics, and 2) rips of the upper. I have never had to change them because I was feeling pain or discomfort during running.
I actually do A/B testing all the time when I’m about to change shoes. I’ll get the new shoe, and compare it to the old one. What you don’t want to do is get seduced by the soft, supple padding of the new shoe - you want to compare the feeling of hard running during the run as well as after the run, over weeks. When you start doing it that way, the differences disappear for the most part between similar shaped/sized shoes.
I had a nagging problem with the outside of my right ankle from about February to April or May. Saw my ART guy a couple of times, even went to the orthopedist and nothing was helping. I ordered a new pair of the same model of shoes (Saucony Guides) and boom, problem was gone in days. There is no explanation for that unless it was the old shoes. Problem hasn’t come back since.
n=1, I know.
The points are only good for biomechanically neutral runners; the other 90% of runners have limited shoe life that is around 500 miles.
The limiting factor is compression set of the midsole; usually occurring at the heel, but also occurs under the ball of the foot or even middle of the foot (for people with flat feet). Remove the sock liner, and check to see if the area under the ball of your foot is compressed relative to the rest of the forefoot area. If it is, that forces you “roll in” on each foot strike.
Similarly, pronators will crush the medial part of the heel. Put your shoe on a table at eye level. Put some pressure in the shoe where you heel hits. Does the shoe appear “normal”? (if there is a vertical seem down the back of the heel, is it actually vertical?) It helps to have a new shoe to compare to. If the upper is tilting in greater than 5-8 degrees, I’d start looking for new shoes.
The problem is that if you run on an a surface that is always uneven, always in the same direction, you will get injured. That is the problem created by compressed midsoles. (Imagine running across a hill, not up or down the hill. You know the feeling of stress created being on that slant? That is what happens with compressed midsoles.)
This whole pronator/neutral classification has been pretty thoroughly debunked (<- click on link). And that’s just one of several later studies showing this, but it’s no surprise to anyone who works in science, as that whole classification was mostly made up by marketers, not peer-reviewed research. If there actually were peer-reviewed journal articles showing good results, you’d better believe it would be all over the running shoe ads.
As for changing shoes to alleviate pain, the placebo effect is strong. It is far more likely that just using a different shoe (not necessarily a new one) would have altered the load in the pressure areas just slightly enough to feel better.
There is also no evidence whatsoever that people are getting more injured by running on worn-down midsoles. (The angle is so slight with modern running shoes that it’s probably irrelevant, or else you’d be see a lot of these injuries in heavy shoe users.)
There are researchers and podiatrists making entire careers out of debunking this stuff.
Dude, you told me in a post you use two pair of shoes and put 2,000 per year on each shoe, and get 4,000 per pair
.
Dude, you told me in a post you use two pair of shoes and put 2,000 per year on each shoe, and get 4,000 per pair
You have a better memory than mine.
Ok, I’ll let you have whatever number you want, but it’s def over 750 and almost certainly over 1000 (if not a lot more) for those old shoes. I don’t log my shoe miles, so i’ll leave it to you internet detectives to get the details straight.
Try this experiment: Take some shoe goo and a pair of old shoes. Use the Shoe Goo to “simulate” a broken down midsole by building up the lateral portion of the shoe by 1/4 inch. This is about the compression you get in a really broken down shoe. Go run 8-10 miles. Report back.
You’ll have plenty of time to report, because the injuries cause will likely mean you won’t be running for weeks.
Generally, the EVA foam takes about 24-48h to “decompress” after each run.
If you do 4x or more runs per week, they’ll get used up much more quickly.
Assuming your gait was properly evaluated, you’re likely a pronator and when the EVA foam breaks down, you foot will be “pushed” to the outside by the medial posting in the shoe. This can throw your body out of alignment (ankle/knee/hip chain) and increase the chance for injury, especially your hips and IT bands.
Alternating 2 or more pairs will allow you to prolong the life of your shoes.
tl;dr - it depends
I took a run form session at my local running store. I’m flat footed and need stability, hence me using Kayano (I am a pronator). I have 300 miles on my Kayano’s and my feet just ached after my last HIM. I have an Oly this weekend. I’ll break in a new pair before then and see how it goes, although I don’t anticipate a 10k being long enough to cause issues.