A recent occurrence has led me to become a bit of a running shoe geek and over in the Hoka Clayton thread, Slowman posted
i think the clayton is the hot race shoe for most triathletes. the tracer will be used by pros, tho i don’t know that it should be (esp for 70.3 and longer). we had a pretty good deal going with the bondi as the trainer and the clifton as the racer. it might now be the vanquish 2 as the trainer and the clayton as the racer.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone with real knowledge of endurance sports reference a shoe by qualifying the comment with “for triathletes” or “for runners”.
All this got me thinking. I do understand that things like a heel loop can help with faster transition times, but those items aside, are there shoe designs that would better suit a runner that is out there running 5-7 days a week versus a triathlete that may only be logging 3-4 runs a week? Would the dedicated runner have developed better stabilizer muscles? Or am I just over thinking this and should switch to decaff after 12:00?
-More shoe for a given difference (since we are running fatigued). For example, my 70.3 tri shoe is more like the shoe I’d use for an open marathon.
This thought never crossed my mind, but I really like it.
Running is my strength and I probably wouldn’t wear my Hoka Cliftons for an open marathon, but I do all my long runs in them and am probably doing my upcoming Ironman marathon in them. I am comfortably able to hold a decent pace in them and don’t feel nearly the wear on my body afterwards. In my previous 2 IM run splits, I felt my limiting factor wasn’t my heart rate/leg turnover/speed, but just overall leg fatigue/pain. I did those races in Newton Gravitys, and I just don’t think they provided the support I needed. By that time in the day, your form is going to break down, and not having much cushion at all in the heel is going to cause a lot of impact fatigue. The Cliftons are comparable to the Newtons in weight, but provide significantly more cushioning that I think will help me be able to put together a stronger last 10k, just by preventing the muscular fatigue earlier in the run.
Depends on the race. I considered drainage a hug priority, and I felt that a lighter shoe would help retain my run mechanics longer. I’m of the opinion that one my leg muscles are trashed, they are trashed and no amount of cushioning will prevent that. But if my hip flexors and hamstrings can function a little longer, I can run faster for longer since my energy output is limited. I tried this at Kona and ran in A6’s. IN the end, they were a 1/2 size too small. But I don’t feel like cushioning was ever a limiting factor. My limiter was I think my weight and cooling capacity.
A ‘runners’ shoe is a shoe worn during running. A ‘triathlete’s’ shoe is one worn during triathlon - and probably needlessly more expensive. They can be on in the same, as they often are for those of us who do open running races and occasionally dabble in triathlon.
There is nothing fundamentally different about running in a triathlon vs running a standalone race. And I’ve never found a “triathlon-specific” running shoe that I felt was worth a damn for racing. So I just put elastic laces on my regular running flats and go.
If they’re not smooth enough on the inside, I guess that’s a difference. But only time in that might ever cost me is in a half when I’d lose a few seconds putting on socks. For anything of 10k or shorter (sometimes even a half), I’ll go barefoot and deal with blisters afterwards. For an IM marathon, I’m putting on socks no matter what.