I have a lot of friends in the sport who race in flats and some (myself included) who race in trainers. Is there that much benefit to racing in lighter flats over a heavier training shoe? I do almost exclusively Olympic distance races at the moment, but there is a half coming up near the end of the summer. I feel like the support of a heavier shoe would be beneficial in a longer race, but a lighter shoe would give a slight advantage for sprints and oly’s. I used to run cross and track in spikes so I’ve run in race shoes before, but obviously you wouldn’t wear spikes for a tri.
I wear Nike Zoom Structures. Any recommendations for good flats are also welcome.
I race in flats for short course and find I can get somewhat close to the same pace as running open 5 and 10K (depending on fitness of course!)
Previous to this year I raced in the Brooks T7, super light and relatively easy to slip on with bungee type laces. The downside is they are unforgiving as you’ll feel everything under foot. This year I’ve changed shoes to Pearl Izumi and plan on racing in the Road N0, first race of the year is this coming Saturday so I don’t know yet how they’ll do, sad to say I haven’t trained in them but plan on a few short easy runs this week before the race.
The closest thing to a flat i wear for racing is the NB1400. Pretty darn light, minimal cushioning up front but 10mm drop means it isn’t bad when you get tired at the end of a long race and lose running form a bit. I wear it for up to halves. Other than that I would rather have great support than save a few extra seconds. (don’t wear the NB1400s without socks!). My 40 year old body wouldn’t want much less.
A lot of depends on the style and pace to which you are racing. When I was much younger 20-40 years old and doing all of my races at 5:15 to 5:45 per mile the light weight flat under 6 ounces is certainly advantage It was always thought that the tipping point for men was sub 6 minute pace. Now at age sixty i run in a 7-8 ounce flat to race. The pace certainly adds to the risk reward angle of this question. If someone is running over 6 minutes per mile the slightly heavier flat will give a combination of speed and protection. You see people in triathlons running 10 minutes a mile in sub 6 ounce flats racing flats. These people would be much better in a performance trainer.
A racing flat will hug your foot better than a training shoe if you are not wearing socks.
I have no business wearing 6-7 oz racing flats any more but they just work better for me in a
triathlon with no socks so that’s what I wear usually.
Recently I have purchased a pair of Sketchers Go Run 4s but have not ran a step in them yet. It seems
like they will work well with no socks and are pretty light. However, I do feel bad about jumping on the
Sketchers bandwagon.
I’ve done a few running races this year in the n0, but I use the N2 for my daily miles. The n0 are great for speedwork and 5/10km races. I did try them out in a half marathon but I found my calves/feet were beat up for a few days afterwards which wouldn’t have happened in the n2. The pearl shoes are pretty awesome barefoot, will be doing a sprint tri in them this weekend.
I did use NB1400s last year and I think they have more cushion than the n0s.
Cool, thanks for the intel. I’ve been training in the Tri N1 and Tri N2 all year so far, sockless up to 8 miles without a problem so I’m fairly confident the Road N0 will work fine sockless as well.
I’ve worn Piranhas for everything up to half marathon distance over the last 2-3 years (previously wore the Nike Mayfly for the same distances).
They feel fast. I have no data to show that it is any faster, and for all I know on a less-efficient runner flats may be the shoe equivalent of Tufo tires.
I also have no evidence of this, but I do feel like my lower legs/knees got a bit more beat up with the Piranhas than with the DS Racers. I had a theory for a while that I actually ran slower in the Piranhas on hillier courses because I tended to pull back my pace on the downhills to save my knees a bit.
I’ve worn Piranhas for everything up to half marathon distance over the last 2-3 years (previously wore the Nike Mayfly for the same distances).
They feel fast. I have no data to show that it is any faster, and for all I know on a less-efficient runner flats may be the shoe equivalent of Tufo tires.
I also have no evidence of this, but I do feel like my lower legs/knees got a bit more beat up with the Piranhas than with the DS Racers. I had a theory for a while that I actually ran slower in the Piranhas on hillier courses because I tended to pull back my pace on the downhills to save my knees a bit.
This.
On a hilly course I find flats actually slow me down. I think my form falls apart somewhat on the downs and I go into a bit of a protective mode.
I do all of my running in Brooks Pure Cadence, which are pretty low drop at 4mm and pretty light at about 8.5oz. They work well for me at all distances, sprint up to 140.6. They seem to do enough of all things well to work as an all rounder, for a low drop pretty lightweight shoe they have a decent amount of cushioning.
I’ve run a half in every day running shoes to performance trainers to flats.
My best and most comfortable halfs have been in the DS Racer and Saucony Fastwitch. Both are classified as flats but they are a 7 oz shoe not a 4 oz.
While I have run in lighter, I don’t think I’m not a good enough runner to benefit from the lighter weight of the 4 oz flat and I have not gone faster while using them.
With that said you need to see what works for you. I have training partners that are much faster than me but run in a cushioned shoe while others that run in a 4 oz flat.
You’re going to need to ease into a lighter shoe, do some shorter runs, do some longer runs and see what happens. Don’t expect to know what you need by next week.
Lighter shoes that work for me:
Asics DS Racer
Asics Fuji Racer
Saucony Fastwitch
Saucony Type A4
Mizuno Hitogami