How many miles are folks getting out of carbon super shoes for racing before retiring them/converting them to a training shoe?
I have about 100 miles on a pair of Next%s and am trying to decide if I should get a new pair for racing this season. They still look good, but I think they’ve probably lost a bit of pop. I’ve used them exclusively for racing to date and have babied them.
I have a bit of a hard time justifying a new pair—especially since I’ll be using them only for Tris this season, no open running events—where I feel like you see the biggest bang for the buck with these shoes.
Curious of other folks’ experiences.
As always, depends.
55kg vs 100kg
Smooth runner vs pounder
One shoe vs another
I’m 86kg and the Next% foam loses pop after 200km for me. Meanwhile the Saucony Endorphin took about 800km to lose less pop, in comparison to the Next%.
I have used a pair for a season of racing then they become training shoes. As training shoes I am getting 400+ out of the Nikes. Over 550 miles on the 4%, 450 on flyknit 4%, and have 2x Nexts with over 200. Now I haven’t raced much the last few years so one of my Nexts have been a race shoe since 2019 since I haven’t done a big race since then.
Couple hundred miles for the Alphafly’s. Once their used up throw some Shoo Goo on the worn out parts of the soles and use them as uptempo trainers.
FWIW, the Alphafly’s are the absolute gold standard for racing shoes, but the Adidas Prime X is an unbelievable trainer that has lasted me >1000 miles. So soft and bouncy, very little soreness following even the longest runs. Not the fastest shoe, but IMO worth the $250 since it lasts twice as long.
I’ve had numerous customers have 400-500 miles on the Saucony End Pros and they are still going.
Typically we see ~ 250 miles out of the Next% or Alphaflys before customers feel like they just don’t have that pop. The Endorphin pro’s maybe 50-150 more.
These shoes are such a low cost performance advantage that when in doubt about their effectiveness just replace them.
When you factor in the potential time savings, on the low end you’re looking at a few seconds per mile and the high end I’ve seen as much as :20/mile for a few of my athletes/athletes I consult with on shoes*.
- :20/mile is not the norm fyi.
Typically we see ~ 250 miles out of the Next% or Alphaflys before customers feel like they just don’t have that pop. The Endorphin pro’s maybe 50-150 more.
These shoes are such a low cost performance advantage that when in doubt about their effectiveness just replace them.
When you factor in the potential time savings, on the low end you’re looking at a few seconds per mile and the high end I’ve seen as much as :20/mile for a few of my athletes/athletes I consult with on shoes*.
- :20/mile is not the norm fyi.
I can verify easy :15 a mile for me from generic $75 Brooks trainers to an Endorphin Pro.
I hit up that Saucony sale and shelved the Pros for fun stuff and use the Speeds for training runs.