Would really like to hear your opinion on these lightweight running shoes…
-Have you seen improvements in your race times?
-Do you wear your orthotics/custom molded inserts with them?
Typically, if you need orthotics, you need more support than racing flats or light trainers may give you. Fit > light is true in running as it is in cycling. there are some that give support, but look for support and cushion over weight.
My favorites are the Zoot Ultra series. Lightweight, but with cushion and support. They have 3 in the line–light, cushion, and supportive.
I don’t recommend true racing flats: for most triathletes, our speeds and distances are more suited to lightweight trainers than flats. Flats assume you’re running efficiently and being light on your feet. Most of us (fast and elite not included) ran too slow and bulky after a bike ride and need the extra cushion and support in trainers or lightweight trainers than flats.
i cant fit my orthotics or super feet into my 5k races. i suppose the platform is too narrow.
lightweight trainers are pretty awesome though. id wear a flat for anything under a half marathon.
Would really like to hear your opinion on these lightweight running shoes…
-Have you seen improvements in your race times?
-Do you wear your orthotics/custom molded inserts with them?
There is a weekly aquathon series here in LA, every thursday night there would be a 1000m swim and 5k run. I had thought about trying race flats for a while, and at a previous race Brooks was showing off the T4 (they were a sponsor of the series). I found a deal online, got a pair, and tried them out at the next race in the series. That took me from a 30:24 5k on that course to 19:30 . At the time, I didn’t even know I was going that fast - it felt just like the pace I was running the week before, I just felt the pavement a little more.
I wear my orthotics in my Zoots for longer races, but the high arch in the T4 doesn’t really work with them, it will depend very much on the shoe. I’ve worn the T4s up to a 1/2 marathon.
I found a deal online, got a pair, and tried them out at the next race in the series. That took me from a 30:24 5k on that course to 19:30 .
If that’s not a typo then they will be selling a sh*t load of these shoes.
A whole minute in a 5k is more than I would have guessed, but I think it’s possible.
The gains don’t just come from the weight difference alone. The training shoes cushion your impact by absorbing energy that’s not returned to your push-off. It’s like riding a bike with 50psi or using rubber crank arms. I don’t think many people have any sense of how much speed is lost by the cushion.
Unless you’re already a really good runner, I don’t think you’ll see any improvement going from a lightweight trainer to a racing flat. You might even be slightly slower due to the additional stress on your legs (especially your calves).
I know I saw zero improvement going from Skylons to Katana Racers. I run the 10k in 37’ and there are plenty of runners around here that are under 33 and are not wearing flats… Me, I decided not to wear them again until I am under 35.
There are usually too many variables to compare races, even on the same course (fitness, weather, hydration, etc.). The shoes may have helped, but there may have been a drop in time anyway.
But, I was referring to the 11 minute improvement she claimed. 
I completely missed that!
The formula we used to use was a savings of 2sec./mile per each ounce a shoe is lighter (so going from 11oz. trainers to 6oz. racers would net 5sec./mile). Running is a strength to weight ratio sport so any weight reduction helps, but shoes help more because the feet are constantly being lifted/dropped, accelerated/decelerated.
I certainly feel faster with them, but I’ve been racing with flats/spikes since Jr. High so I can’t really comment on what racing in trainers is like.
I have been racing in racing flats for over 20 years and I am convinced I am considerably faster in them than regular running shoes. How can less weight on your feet not be faster? I don’t wear orthotics and I seldom race longer than a 10K these days.
There are usually too many variables to compare races, even on the same course (fitness, weather, hydration, etc.). The shoes may have helped, but there may have been a drop in time anyway.
But, I was referring to the 11 minute improvement she claimed.
…she?
I have very good notes for that race series. The two races were 3 weeks apart, same course, temperature difference was only 2 degrees. No real change in training at the time, and certainly no indicators in training of this kind of change.
Since then I’ve seen similar performance in flats vs. training shoes.
Every now and then I forget to bring my racing flats to track practice. I find it harder to keep up in my trainers. No numbers, but subjectively clearly faster.
…she?
Sorry. I mistook the name in your sig. quote as yours.
I do seem to have my fastest runs in my lightest flats (Saucony Type A2) and no, I don’t put anything in them. But I don’t have orthotics. I wear lightweight flats for everything but my long run.
You wrote 30:24. Did you mean 20:24?
You wrote 30:24. Did you mean 20:24?
No, I did not mean 20:24.
you are claiming a shoe swtich sped you up from 9:47 miles to 6:15 miles
That is so utterly impossible that if you insist upon it fruther I will be force to smasht he coke can here beside me in anger!
Not if these were the shoes he was using before:
maybe he trains in New Balance?