It's Got to Be the Shoes : The Scientific Reason "Super Shoes" Make All Runners Faster

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Runners of all levels are all running significantly faster race times today than 5 years ago.

The reason: running shoes with a high stack height of highly responsive running foam combined with a full-length plate.

As much as we’d like to think training methods have improved in the past 5 years, the quantum leap in performance all runners are enjoying clearly demonstrates “it’s got to be the shoes.”

What these “super shoes” do is substantiality increase running economy, which in turn allows runners to run faster speeds for longer durations.

Running economy is the oxygen cost of running at a specific speed. Runners with good running economy use less oxygen to run at a specific velocity compared with runners with less optional economy.

Training influences running economy, but so does surface.

Running on springy surfaces tends to improve running economy, but running on hard, stiff surfaces can increase oxygen costs and thus may have a negative impact on the economy. (1)

Runners with a better economy will work at lower percentages of VO2 Max for various speeds than a runner who requires lots of oxygen and therefore has poor economy.

The percentage of VO2 Max associated with a particular pace has a strong effect on how long the speed can be sustained. When fit runners cruise along at a pace that is approx. 82% of VO2 Max they can complete a marathon before slowing or stopping. At 94% of VO2 Max most highly trained runners cannot go further than 5K before slowing (2)

Therefore, being able to run in a quality way at a lower performance of VO2 Max prolongs a runner’s stamina at a specific pace, which shows good running economy is highly advantageous for runners and why the running economy improvement super shoes offer runners is so significant to enhancing performance.

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