I'm surprised there aren't more studies targeting the 3:30 to 4:15hr marathon individuals, since they comprise the largest percentage of runners (and I suspect disposable income). As an older, way past his prime, runner looking to finally break sub 4hrs, if you told me (with supporting data) that X,Y, Z shoes might save you 2-3mins and greatly improve your recovery time post race...price wouldn't be an option. It would be more...."TAKE MY MONEY!!!" Great video and collaboration!
@K flub it's always a matter of taste of course. I have got the adidas pro too. I think the alphaflys just make your legs suffer less than the others. But its a very specific ride, you either love them or you hate them I think.
@K flub Strange enough some people think it's for fast runners only. I was listening to an ex pro commenting on a race last weekend and he stated that it's only useful above 15 kmh. I was flabbergasted. I think one of the engineers working on the nike project stated that they are actually more useful to the slower runners.
This is the best running shoe comparison I've seen yet. Great journalism, really doing the digging to bring fantastic research into the public light. As others have said, I hope you keep heading in this direction with your content. Thanks Dustin for sharing your work with us.
thanks, you generally have really good content but this was by far the most interesting one. Please stay on this topic, would love to hear more. Personal, subjective comparisons between shoes are interesting but getting some objective data is so much better. You touched on it a little but I think important to remember that there are so many more aspects like stability, fit und running style that may make one of the worse economics shoes the best overall fit for some individuals.
Thanks Phil. We do this on the side from our day jobs and it's genuinely ace to get feedback like that. On the shoes, we'd 100% agree there's more to whether you can perform in a certain pair of shoes. You can't beat a pair of shoes you just feel right in. But the study definitely suggests some shoes don't offer the RE benefits regardless of biomechanics.
apart from RE the difference in leg tiredness makes the big difference for me. Ran my past Ironman first time with the alphafly and I found the shoe just amazing. It bounces and its just more friendly to your legs than most other shoes. My training shoe NB V3 has kind of the same soft feel to the legs but obviously not comparable speed wise
Very interesting. My subjective experience confirms his findings. I use the Rocket X as my training shoe and the vaporfly next %2 for race day and I can 100% feel the difference in running economy.
This is interesting data but it seems to me that the real issue with testing on a treadmill vs on the road is not the surface hardness but the fact that running on a treadmill involves keeping up with a moving surface rather than pushing yourself along the road. I'm very surprised no one asked this question. Aren't the mechanics of treadmill running quite different from road running for this reason? If these shoes have been developed to perform best on treadmill tests, do we really know how running economy is effected in real road running?
Very good video! I just bought the Hoka Carbon x2, I was hoping for a good long run shoe BUT its a big failure, the foam is rock firm, no energy return. On youtube everybody said its soft foam, so I will never trust any youtuber review anymore.. The best shoes I used is the Vaporfly and Alphafly, no competition for these two (havent tested the Metaspeed Sky yet). Adidas Adios pro v1 was little firm at first but the foam after 100km much softer and I love it now. The v2 was softer straight away BUT because of the cutaway or/and the energy rods my feet feeling the rods pressure points, after 10km its very uncomfortable. The most underrated shoe (on RUclips) is the Zoom fly 3, comfortable and good energy return, its just a little bit heavier but its not a racing shoe.
. There are carbon plated shoes then there is the Nike Vaporfly Next%! I opted for the next% over the alpha flys for the weight and I like the simplicity of the next% over the alpha with the air bubbles Each PB at 48 years older from 5k to the Marathon were in the Next%. Great video!
Really enjoyed the comparison. I find my Alphaflys and Vaporfly shoes excellent for protecting my bad knees. So irrespective of the gain (think Alphafly makes 20 sec per mile difference) I pick Alphafly just to run pain free!!
Right now I'm trying to improve my running economy with, you know, losing fat :D Once I reach my goal there (15% body fat) maybe then I'll reward myself with a supershoe. :D
I’d heard about this study so it was great to here it direct from Dustin. Very informative and some great follow up questions you two had for him. Well done 👍
I am not an elite runner, but I have been running for as long as I can remember. I run around 50 to 55 miles a week. I am not a scholar either, but this video confirmed my opinion about the carbon fiber plated shoes. It's the foam that matters. I have them all, all of them, all brands :/ The only two shoes that make difference in my running, are the two mentioned in the video. Vaporfly-Alphafly and the Asics metaspeed sky, although the Asics leave my right calf sore and tight. Thank you so much for the video.
I’ve been lucky enough to have run in the CarbonX 1, Alphafly, Adios Pro 1, Metaspeed Sky, RC Elite 2 and Prime X. Alphafly definitely feels like you get the most out of it for the same effort but my times in the Adios Pro for 10+ mile runs is almost the same even though my feet prefer the Nike. The ASICS is at least as fast for me and faster for 5-10km. Hoka was definitely the worst for me, by a long way, I’m much faster in my endorphin speed.
I’d like to see the endorphin speed tested so we can see the difference between carbon plate and the nylon plate. I don’t know if Science will back it up but I definitely run faster in my endorphin speeds compared to other non plated shoes even when I’m not aiming for speed and I’m just on easy run.
Am I wrong that Alphafly are a result of Kipchoge requesting more forefoot cushioning? I upgraded from NB Rebel V1 to Endorphin Pro V1 - I couldn't resist the massive Black Friday discount. I really like them. Comfortable, smooth, forward roll, fast...I use for 5k dry road only so far and am improving my parkrun PB.
I just broke out the VaporFly 2 after putting them to bed after the last marathon - ran 2 with VF2 in this last year. As fast as this shoe is I was determined I was going to race in the Zoom Fly 4 next as I'm able to maintain marathon-like pace longer after around the 30k mark. Yesterday's 10 mile marathon pace training run in the VaporFly was and is always absolutely and statistically easier (As well as the Endorphin Pro and Zoom Fly 3/4, but not as much), experience says I need something more stable for Napa Marathon. So what will I do..... Ah, screw it, just bought the Alpha Fly's! Hey, when you train as hard as I do but are always right at the edge of a BQ, like @Tim Trehnolm said: "TAKE MY MONEY!"
I get really confused when someone says “when you run slow” without defining what “slow” is. Do they mean “slow” according to the person running 8:00 mi/min? 6:00 mi/min? 10 mi/min? By weight and height? Why not just say if you don’t fall into x, y and z categories, the the probability is that carbon plated shoes are probably not going to help you shave off that 2%-3%
So this is a great question. With reference to this study, there's clearly a specific pace applied in the trials that's a fast pace. Subsequent tests will look at slower paces. But in terms of shoe reviews, often slow/fast is used as synonym for with good or bad form essentially and this is relative to you.
Awesome, I’d seen the stats on Instagram, thanks for bringing this here with more insight. Just anecdotally as you’ve ran in them, (Nick at least?) compared to the others, where do you think the Puma deviate nitro elite would sit?
I do not think the surface and environment conditions is a factor if all shoes went through the same tests and the same conditions . The only variable which could really affect efficiency is on the runner (day to day performance changes , and running style of the runner) , another is which shoe went first ( runners tend to fatigue more as the days go by within the week , thats if the tests were done within a week or two with the whole shoe rotation ). But it is what it is . Maybe do it again but with a reverse rotation (worst economy first to best economy shoe last) or 1 shoe tested per week with a week of rest between shoes (but again "runners lifestyle" within different weeks would be another factor). But i think the results are good enough.
He mentioned that the shoe tests were done twice, with the shoes randomised on each occasion to minimise the order effects. That seems pretty reasonable to me.
@@glyndonwakeman7420 yes that sounds very reasonable . I thought the vapor or the meta would take top spot due to the weight of the alpha. Also surprised that the NB didn't fare as well also (i guess too soft maybe ) .
Personally I think the thing that makes you run faster, better, longer is proper training over time. The shoes I believe are largely psychological. Having said that, I have pretty much every hype running shoe on the market but still spend 97% of my running time in my workhorse shoes and do the occasional flat out/race run in the super expensive stuff. Is it fun? Yes. Are they necessary? Not really. To this day my third fastest 5k is still in a pair of cageless ultra boosts in the rain (when you have to race but don’t want to get your expensive shoes wet and dirty!).
The fact is that shoe companies did not design their supershoes with non-elites in mind. If you can run at a cadence of 180-200spm with 1.6-1.8m stride length then yes, the shoes are gonna work for you at full potential.
@@BugattianVeyronian nah, not really. Kipchoge ran 2:04:00 with insoles that didn’t even stick to the shoe and he bled for over 10miles in those minimalist shoes. He has also ran various marathons in the 2:04-2:08 range with alphafly. So in summary, super shoes don’t really account for all that much in performance. It’s mostly psychological. Just because it feels good doesn’t mean it will make you run faster. What makes you run faster? Stronger ankles, and tendon strength. Running shoes are tools. People have used inferior tools to accomplish the same task with equal efficiency. Just a matter of preference. Each their own.
@@RunForPeace-hk1cu I'm not sure if you see the problems in your statement. The whole purpose of this study or any similar ones is to prove whether these shoes improve running economy. Shoes that provide more comfort and midsole that gives more energy return improve your running economy so your muscles don't work extra hard whether it's to prevent your legs/feet from getting injury from the impact or provide assistance upon toe off with a little extra snappiness at the forefoot. When shoes improve your running economy, your body responds to that with lower heart rate and lesser muscle fatigue. Like I mentioned, the elites have insanely high leg turnover and long stride length, in response to that, lighter shoe, carbon fiber plate that provides extra snappiness at the forefoot and higher stake height, are these rocket science? Certainly not. Does making better shoes neglect the fact that runners need stronger muscles and tendons to perform better, no!
“To fatigue” is fairly common in cycling studies. It’s typically done at high effort rather than a longer, gradual fatigue. It is subjective when people stop, but the results can be statistically significant.
This shoe research was awesome! Appreciated this vid as a shoe nerd and a practitioner of performance improvement and statistics. Also offered some confirmation of my positive experience with the MetaSpeed Sky. Fast and fits great!
Constructive criticism coming your way. Pretty amazing that these tests always exclude Adidas? I mean every freaking time. How come? To sponsor American brands even more ;)? I just have a feeling that the Adidas Adios Pro probably is up there with the asics sky and perhaps even Nike and I´m certain it's a lot better than any shoe Hoka offers because they're still stuck with ordinary EVA. This becomes even more interesting when it's almost 1/3 cheaper than Nikes racing shoes. Come on, please include Adidas and perhaps even Puma and just throw away Hoka already. They're still riding on their Clifton and Bondi "Revolutionary max cushion" success from 7-8 years ago. Thank you for the content and info you provide us.
Hi Roope, there's no other agenda here apart from availability of the shoes at the time of the tests. The team worked on small research budgets and that limited the number of shoes they could purchase also. Dustin has since done some n=1 testing on himself in the Pro 2 and admits he would have liked to get it into the main study. There's a crowdfunding link in the caption and any support for future research would enable the team to cast a wider net for sure.
@@TheRunTesters Thanks for responding so fast and a great answer as well. It was a bit of a cheap joke from my side, excuse me ladies and gents. Even if it's clear that in all these different tests I´ve read about, or seen in videos they've all excluded Adidas. Coincidence? Perhaps and probably. Still think it's valuable info just because the Alpha are like 100 euros more than the Adios Pro 2. Money that could be spent on a decent or good neutral trainer like the Reebok Symmetros (always on discount), Endorphin Speed or why not Supernova plus (haven't tried this one though).
I'd like to hear what the baseline shoe was. If it were a Peg 37 vs a Takumi Sen flat, I'd think the difference in running economy numbers would fluctuate. The original baseline Nike shoe I think was the Streak 7 for their original 4% improvement. You could literally throw on a Razor 3 and crush the running economy over that shoe.
I own Next% 2 and Adios Pro 2. I also ran in Hokas. Vaporfly is by far the best. That shoe just works out of the box. Adios requires some getting used to (both in how it feels to wear and to run), but is a great shoe also. Hoka I would avoid, I don’t think they are worth the money. Just get Saucony Speed or Pro as your training shoe.
We kind of had the same questions and there's a section in the vid where we discuss treadmill vs road. In terms of injury, this study wasn't designed to address that question. It's an incredibly complex topic when it comes to shoes. Which is why you'd be hard pressed to find a company (aside from Nike with the Infinity study and that was dubious) that has any genuine research to say X or Y shoes cut injury risk. So many variables when it comes to the key causes of injury in runners. First brand who can point to science and say 'these shoes cut injury in runners' make a lot of money we'd imagine.
How did cadence and ground contact time vary across shoes? Does going to a super foam change one’s stride over time as measured by such? For example, do the super foams encourage greater contact (what sprinters negatively call mush)? Does one adapt better or worse? How do the shoes affect muscle fatigue? Things that may not show up at 5 or 30 minutes may at 60, 120, 180, etc.
Hi Adam, in the study (linked in the caption) Dustin and the team looked at some of the biomechanics too. And when Kieran interviewed him for his piece for WIRED he mentioned: “If you look at the trends for the higher responsive shoes, people are running in them with slower cadences, more vertical oscillation, and longer stride lengths,” says Joubert. “So it's like people are using that extra energy return to lengthen their stride a little bit. Whereas normally, we think of things like a faster cadence, less wasted vertical oscillation, and a little bit shorter stride as the normal correlates that we would associate with good economy.” Fatigue is an interesting one. Guess it's a bit harder to measure beyond subjective reporting but Dustin did mention the potential to do some blood sampling to look at muscle breakdown too. But this study wasn't designed for that.
@@TheRunTesters I do have the original study but I guess I’ll have to read it more closely. I’d be curious to see if and how stride mechanics change over long term usage. As someone who used to be a stride runner but has converted to a cadence runner over many years, and who is a power runner (trails baby), I prefer the firmer ride of Saucony over the squish of NB, for example.
I have no numbers but the I would be shocked if the RC Elite V2's economy was not higher than V1 due to the increased foam and more aggressive angle on the plate.
So if one shoe, or a couple shoes, definitely result in better running economy, why wouldn't you use those shoes for all runs (except easy day work)? I've decided that training in the AlphaFly is allowing my running to become more efficient vs other shoes. Recovery is much better vs other shoes as well for me so definitely worth the spend. Also getting 400-500 miles out of mine so cost/mile is really similar to other shoes.
This is one of the points Dustin makes. Guess one of the reasons is the durability of the more expensive shoes but if you feel you can get the mileage and you're moving better, feeling fresher after, it's a no brainer to use them.
@@TheRunTesters Surprisingly, I still hear the old myth of wearing heavier shoes for training so that your race shoes will feel lighter come race day. Meanwhile, you are training inefficiency and potential injury. I somewhat related the muscle memory of running to golf. If you can get the correct mechanics down, you can repeat that over and over. Shoes that promote running economy are a no brainer to me.
Have a worse foot strike in the nike shoes compared to adidas adios pro and endorphin pro, and there was that guy running london marathon in rubberboots
No, your feet has some cushion around 1-5mm so lets say that's your foam in this example. That's not gonna give much energy return, its probably around 30-50%. The benefit of barefoot is to have no extra weight on your legs plus running economy can be better (not for everyone). Downside is that your feet will bleed out of hundreds cuts from debris on the road.
@@TheRunTesters yes. I like them actually but find the big increase in stack since my last shoes (Takumi sen 3 and on cloud boom) quite unstable. Think i need to get used to them.
@@TheRunTesters ps in shop I was comparing the endorphine pro and the echo and liked both. Didn’t try the alphafly. I sort of wonder if actually I’m just not fast enough to merit any of them!!!
IMO some of these shoes are way over priced. Not sure if your study shows folks who are "non-responders" like myself. They have zero impact on my race times and actually hurt my feet.
Alphaflys are a fail for Nike in my opinion. Look around the marathons this weekend, there were next to none in the top 20 Amsterdam marathon. I didn’t see a single pair just walking around. I’m not mixing with pros though😂. Looks like anyone with a choice, especially the sponsored athletes, go vaporfly over alphafly most races.
Oh wow look, another video where we don't care about Adidas. Interesting results, obviously some bias involved. Is that Adios Pro 2 review still coming or what :P?
What an odd comment. We speak in the video about how the study was unable to get hold of certain shoes at the time, and they have tested the Adios Pro 2 since but not with multiple runners. Did you watch that bit? We're still working on the Adios Pro 2 review, I (Nick) was also able to get hold of it but only in the last week or so. We did also have a section on the Adios Pro 2 in our carbon shoes round-up where we talk about Kieran's testing. Basically, we test and review any Adidas shoe we get hold of. Just like any other brand. If it's harder to get Adidas shoes, the reviews will take longer to do.
@@TheRunTesters Would certainly have been nice/useful if they had tested the Adizero Adios Pro 1 that's been available for nearly a year now ? Certainly much longer than the Asics they tested.
@@TheRunTesters Is it really that odd though? Let me explain... I asked a couple months back where the review was if i remember correctly, and back then it was the same reason, that they weren't available yet. But i believe all versions of the shoe have been available all year round perfectly fine (prime x had some issues though). Especially in UK and Europe. They even had an overstock of the first red-white version. And now there's multiple colorways available. So i was just wondering where the review was staying. Also i just ran my first marathon in them (also my first marathon ever, Amsterdam marathon, 3:59 sub-4, super happy about that), so i'm super curious to hear what you all think. Fair enough, i didn't watch this whole video, again because it felt like Adidas was left out of the talks again, although obviously this is not the fault of the run testers. And most comparisons and videos i see on the channel just barely talk about the adios pro, not even the first version. I've dipped my toes into other brands of shoes because i hear how different they are compared to the adidas shoes. And since Adidas works well with me, these opinions matter for me. So it's the content i'd like to see. But you gotta agree with me that Adidas is simply not getting the same amount of love. While the nike shoes are almost compared to everything. Adidas gets barely mentioned. Even in the "Best Running Shoes 2021" video, the mention of the adios 1 isn't there, let alone the adios 2. Instead we are talking about the Ultraboosts there. The heaviest max cush shoe ever made. I'm craving more adidas opinions.
I'm surprised there aren't more studies targeting the 3:30 to 4:15hr marathon individuals, since they comprise the largest percentage of runners (and I suspect disposable income). As an older, way past his prime, runner looking to finally break sub 4hrs, if you told me (with supporting data) that X,Y, Z shoes might save you 2-3mins and greatly improve your recovery time post race...price wouldn't be an option. It would be more...."TAKE MY MONEY!!!"
Great video and collaboration!
Just go for the alphafly Tim. I am a 3:30 runner 80kg and this shoe is the best you can get for this category in my opinion
@@gengar678 Ya, just told my spouse to lock it in for my x-mas present so I'm forced into a spring 2022 marathon training block. LOL
@K flub it's always a matter of taste of course. I have got the adidas pro too. I think the alphaflys just make your legs suffer less than the others. But its a very specific ride, you either love them or you hate them I think.
@K flub Strange enough some people think it's for fast runners only. I was listening to an ex pro commenting on a race last weekend and he stated that it's only useful above 15 kmh. I was flabbergasted. I think one of the engineers working on the nike project stated that they are actually more useful to the slower runners.
I haven’t used the alphaflys, but I love the vaporflies. They were the shoes that took me sub 4. I went from 4:12 to 3:48 in the vaporflies.
This is the best running shoe comparison I've seen yet. Great journalism, really doing the digging to bring fantastic research into the public light. As others have said, I hope you keep heading in this direction with your content. Thanks Dustin for sharing your work with us.
Thanks. We enjoy doing this stuff so glad it’s being well received.
thanks, you generally have really good content but this was by far the most interesting one. Please stay on this topic, would love to hear more. Personal, subjective comparisons between shoes are interesting but getting some objective data is so much better. You touched on it a little but I think important to remember that there are so many more aspects like stability, fit und running style that may make one of the worse economics shoes the best overall fit for some individuals.
Thanks Phil. We do this on the side from our day jobs and it's genuinely ace to get feedback like that. On the shoes, we'd 100% agree there's more to whether you can perform in a certain pair of shoes. You can't beat a pair of shoes you just feel right in. But the study definitely suggests some shoes don't offer the RE benefits regardless of biomechanics.
apart from RE the difference in leg tiredness makes the big difference for me. Ran my past Ironman first time with the alphafly and I found the shoe just amazing. It bounces and its just more friendly to your legs than most other shoes.
My training shoe NB V3 has kind of the same soft feel to the legs but obviously not comparable speed wise
Very interesting. My subjective experience confirms his findings.
I use the Rocket X as my training shoe and the vaporfly next %2 for race day and I can 100% feel the difference in running economy.
Ours too on the Alpha/Vapor/Metaspeed Sky trio.
I should add that the Rocket X is a great shoe, it just isn’t the Vaporfly!
This is interesting data but it seems to me that the real issue with testing on a treadmill vs on the road is not the surface hardness but the fact that running on a treadmill involves keeping up with a moving surface rather than pushing yourself along the road. I'm very surprised no one asked this question. Aren't the mechanics of treadmill running quite different from road running for this reason? If these shoes have been developed to perform best on treadmill tests, do we really know how running economy is effected in real road running?
It's a good question and we do ask the question about treadmill vs road.
Very good video!
I just bought the Hoka Carbon x2, I was hoping for a good long run shoe BUT its a big failure, the foam is rock firm, no energy return. On youtube everybody said its soft foam, so I will never trust any youtuber review anymore.. The best shoes I used is the Vaporfly and Alphafly, no competition for these two (havent tested the Metaspeed Sky yet).
Adidas Adios pro v1 was little firm at first but the foam after 100km much softer and I love it now. The v2 was softer straight away BUT because of the cutaway or/and the energy rods my feet feeling the rods pressure points, after 10km its very uncomfortable. The most underrated shoe (on RUclips) is the Zoom fly 3, comfortable and good energy return, its just a little bit heavier but its not a racing shoe.
Glad you enjoyed it Sandor and thanks for adding your own insights here. Always interesting to hear how people find these shoes.
. There are carbon plated shoes then there is the Nike Vaporfly Next%! I opted for the next% over the alpha flys for the weight and I like the simplicity of the next% over the alpha with the air bubbles
Each PB at 48 years older from 5k to the Marathon were in the Next%. Great video!
Feels like a lot of people have that same feeling about the Alphas and Vaporfly. Congrats on the full suite of PBs by the way. 👍
Really enjoyed the comparison. I find my Alphaflys and Vaporfly shoes excellent for protecting my bad knees. So irrespective of the gain (think Alphafly makes 20 sec per mile difference) I pick Alphafly just to run pain free!!
Glad you enjoyed it Dave. And happy you've found shoes that let you run pain free. We're all for that, carbon plates and superfoams or not.
Right now I'm trying to improve my running economy with, you know, losing fat :D Once I reach my goal there (15% body fat) maybe then I'll reward myself with a supershoe. :D
Amen to this.
This is an awesome video, I'd like to see the Adidas Adios Pro 2 V the Next% 2
I’d heard about this study so it was great to here it direct from Dustin. Very informative and some great follow up questions you two had for him. Well done 👍
Glad you found it insightful Davin.
I am not an elite runner, but I have been running for as long as I can remember. I run around 50 to 55 miles a week. I am not a scholar either, but this video confirmed my opinion about the carbon fiber plated shoes. It's the foam that matters. I have them all, all of them, all brands :/ The only two shoes that make difference in my running, are the two mentioned in the video. Vaporfly-Alphafly and the Asics metaspeed sky, although the Asics leave my right calf sore and tight. Thank you so much for the video.
Thanks for the insights. 👍
Loved this interview! Were the subjects blinded to the shoes as they were running in them?
Hi Shannon, glad you liked it. We don't think they were but we'll check with Dustin.
Very interesting! Great content!! Thanks guys!! Alphaflys for me! 😀
Glad you enjoyed it Andrew.
I’ve been lucky enough to have run in the CarbonX 1, Alphafly, Adios Pro 1, Metaspeed Sky, RC Elite 2 and Prime X. Alphafly definitely feels like you get the most out of it for the same effort but my times in the Adios Pro for 10+ mile runs is almost the same even though my feet prefer the Nike. The ASICS is at least as fast for me and faster for 5-10km. Hoka was definitely the worst for me, by a long way, I’m much faster in my endorphin speed.
maybe the best video on your channel!
Thanks Emir, glad you like it
I’d like to see the endorphin speed tested so we can see the difference between carbon plate and the nylon plate.
I don’t know if Science will back it up but I definitely run faster in my endorphin speeds compared to other non plated shoes even when I’m not aiming for speed and I’m just on easy run.
Am I wrong that Alphafly are a result of Kipchoge requesting more forefoot cushioning?
I upgraded from NB Rebel V1 to Endorphin Pro V1 - I couldn't resist the massive Black Friday discount. I really like them. Comfortable, smooth, forward roll, fast...I use for 5k dry road only so far and am improving my parkrun PB.
Definitely a very informative video! Thank you so much for the great content!
Glad you enjoyed it Pedro.
Fantastic review and research thank you
Glad you enjoyed it Luis.
Top quality video. Thanks guys!
Glad you like it
Great angle guys - loved it
Nice one Nick, glad you enjoyed it.
I just broke out the VaporFly 2 after putting them to bed after the last marathon - ran 2 with VF2 in this last year. As fast as this shoe is I was determined I was going to race in the Zoom Fly 4 next as I'm able to maintain marathon-like pace longer after around the 30k mark. Yesterday's 10 mile marathon pace training run in the VaporFly was and is always absolutely and statistically easier (As well as the Endorphin Pro and Zoom Fly 3/4, but not as much), experience says I need something more stable for Napa Marathon. So what will I do.....
Ah, screw it, just bought the Alpha Fly's! Hey, when you train as hard as I do but are always right at the edge of a BQ, like @Tim Trehnolm said: "TAKE MY MONEY!"
Haha good luck with whatever shoe you go for in the end! Let us know how it goes
I get really confused when someone says “when you run slow” without defining what “slow” is.
Do they mean “slow” according to the person running 8:00 mi/min? 6:00 mi/min? 10 mi/min? By weight and height?
Why not just say if you don’t fall into x, y and z categories, the the probability is that carbon plated shoes are probably not going to help you shave off that 2%-3%
So this is a great question. With reference to this study, there's clearly a specific pace applied in the trials that's a fast pace. Subsequent tests will look at slower paces. But in terms of shoe reviews, often slow/fast is used as synonym for with good or bad form essentially and this is relative to you.
Thank you! Yes this was a really good interview!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
Awesome, I’d seen the stats on Instagram, thanks for bringing this here with more insight. Just anecdotally as you’ve ran in them, (Nick at least?) compared to the others, where do you think the Puma deviate nitro elite would sit?
I wish he could have tested the Adidas Adizero Pro 2
Very happy subscriber today. Great work y’all
That's what we like to hear.
I do not think the surface and environment conditions is a factor if all shoes went through the same tests and the same conditions . The only variable which could really affect efficiency is on the runner (day to day performance changes , and running style of the runner) , another is which shoe went first ( runners tend to fatigue more as the days go by within the week , thats if the tests were done within a week or two with the whole shoe rotation ). But it is what it is . Maybe do it again but with a reverse rotation (worst economy first to best economy shoe last) or 1 shoe tested per week with a week of rest between shoes (but again "runners lifestyle" within different weeks would be another factor). But i think the results are good enough.
He mentioned that the shoe tests were done twice, with the shoes randomised on each occasion to minimise the order effects. That seems pretty reasonable to me.
@@glyndonwakeman7420 yes that sounds very reasonable . I thought the vapor or the meta would take top spot due to the weight of the alpha. Also surprised that the NB didn't fare as well also (i guess too soft maybe ) .
Personally I think the thing that makes you run faster, better, longer is proper training over time. The shoes I believe are largely psychological. Having said that, I have pretty much every hype running shoe on the market but still spend 97% of my running time in my workhorse shoes and do the occasional flat out/race run in the super expensive stuff. Is it fun? Yes. Are they necessary? Not really. To this day my third fastest 5k is still in a pair of cageless ultra boosts in the rain (when you have to race but don’t want to get your expensive shoes wet and dirty!).
The fact is that shoe companies did not design their supershoes with non-elites in mind. If you can run at a cadence of 180-200spm with 1.6-1.8m stride length then yes, the shoes are gonna work for you at full potential.
@@BugattianVeyronian nah, not really.
Kipchoge ran 2:04:00 with insoles that didn’t even stick to the shoe and he bled for over 10miles in those minimalist shoes.
He has also ran various marathons in the 2:04-2:08 range with alphafly.
So in summary, super shoes don’t really account for all that much in performance. It’s mostly psychological.
Just because it feels good doesn’t mean it will make you run faster.
What makes you run faster? Stronger ankles, and tendon strength.
Running shoes are tools. People have used inferior tools to accomplish the same task with equal efficiency. Just a matter of preference. Each their own.
@@RunForPeace-hk1cu I'm not sure if you see the problems in your statement. The whole purpose of this study or any similar ones is to prove whether these shoes improve running economy. Shoes that provide more comfort and midsole that gives more energy return improve your running economy so your muscles don't work extra hard whether it's to prevent your legs/feet from getting injury from the impact or provide assistance upon toe off with a little extra snappiness at the forefoot.
When shoes improve your running economy, your body responds to that with lower heart rate and lesser muscle fatigue. Like I mentioned, the elites have insanely high leg turnover and long stride length, in response to that, lighter shoe, carbon fiber plate that provides extra snappiness at the forefoot and higher stake height, are these rocket science? Certainly not. Does making better shoes neglect the fact that runners need stronger muscles and tendons to perform better, no!
@@BugattianVeyronian or it could just be smart marketing used to sell lots of shoes.
@@1234EggNogg no matter how smart you are, you need something that actually works to make your marketing works.
Have you considered measuring time to fatigue?
“To fatigue” is fairly common in cycling studies. It’s typically done at high effort rather than a longer, gradual fatigue. It is subjective when people stop, but the results can be statistically significant.
Are there any carbon shoes for the wider foot available? I ordered the Alphafly but they were way too narrow… had to go back!
This shoe research was awesome! Appreciated this vid as a shoe nerd and a practitioner of performance improvement and statistics. Also offered some confirmation of my positive experience with the MetaSpeed Sky. Fast and fits great!
Glad you enjoyed it Carlo.
Please make a review on Nike zoomfly4!
I can not buy running shoes without your review (-:
We're on it Haran.
Constructive criticism coming your way. Pretty amazing that these tests always exclude Adidas? I mean every freaking time. How come? To sponsor American brands even more ;)? I just have a feeling that the Adidas Adios Pro probably is up there with the asics sky and perhaps even Nike and I´m certain it's a lot better than any shoe Hoka offers because they're still stuck with ordinary EVA. This becomes even more interesting when it's almost 1/3 cheaper than Nikes racing shoes. Come on, please include Adidas and perhaps even Puma and just throw away Hoka already. They're still riding on their Clifton and Bondi "Revolutionary max cushion" success from 7-8 years ago. Thank you for the content and info you provide us.
Hi Roope, there's no other agenda here apart from availability of the shoes at the time of the tests. The team worked on small research budgets and that limited the number of shoes they could purchase also. Dustin has since done some n=1 testing on himself in the Pro 2 and admits he would have liked to get it into the main study. There's a crowdfunding link in the caption and any support for future research would enable the team to cast a wider net for sure.
@@TheRunTesters Thanks for responding so fast and a great answer as well. It was a bit of a cheap joke from my side, excuse me ladies and gents. Even if it's clear that in all these different tests I´ve read about, or seen in videos they've all excluded Adidas. Coincidence? Perhaps and probably. Still think it's valuable info just because the Alpha are like 100 euros more than the Adios Pro 2. Money that could be spent on a decent or good neutral trainer like the Reebok Symmetros (always on discount), Endorphin Speed or why not Supernova plus (haven't tried this one though).
I'd like to hear what the baseline shoe was. If it were a Peg 37 vs a Takumi Sen flat, I'd think the difference in running economy numbers would fluctuate. The original baseline Nike shoe I think was the Streak 7 for their original 4% improvement. You could literally throw on a Razor 3 and crush the running economy over that shoe.
So the baseline shoe was the ASICS Hyperspeed.
I own Next% 2 and Adios Pro 2. I also ran in Hokas. Vaporfly is by far the best. That shoe just works out of the box. Adios requires some getting used to (both in how it feels to wear and to run), but is a great shoe also. Hoka I would avoid, I don’t think they are worth the money. Just get Saucony Speed or Pro as your training shoe.
We'd tend to agree.
What a great piece of content SCIENCE 💙💙💙
Glad you enjoyed it Ernesto.
Is treadmill less stressful for the joints than roads? Are there brands that are better against injury?
We kind of had the same questions and there's a section in the vid where we discuss treadmill vs road. In terms of injury, this study wasn't designed to address that question. It's an incredibly complex topic when it comes to shoes. Which is why you'd be hard pressed to find a company (aside from Nike with the Infinity study and that was dubious) that has any genuine research to say X or Y shoes cut injury risk. So many variables when it comes to the key causes of injury in runners. First brand who can point to science and say 'these shoes cut injury in runners' make a lot of money we'd imagine.
@@TheRunTesters great to finally see some solid scientific research.
Hi there no I have understood it that softer shoes (foam or high stack hight) easier on the muscles, firmer is better for the joints.
How did cadence and ground contact time vary across shoes? Does going to a super foam change one’s stride over time as measured by such? For example, do the super foams encourage greater contact (what sprinters negatively call mush)? Does one adapt better or worse? How do the shoes affect muscle fatigue? Things that may not show up at 5 or 30 minutes may at 60, 120, 180, etc.
Hi Adam, in the study (linked in the caption) Dustin and the team looked at some of the biomechanics too. And when Kieran interviewed him for his piece for WIRED he mentioned: “If you look at the trends for the higher responsive shoes, people are running in them with slower cadences, more vertical oscillation, and longer stride lengths,” says Joubert.
“So it's like people are using that extra energy return to lengthen their stride a little bit. Whereas normally, we think of things like a faster cadence, less wasted vertical oscillation, and a little bit shorter stride as the normal correlates that we would associate with good economy.”
Fatigue is an interesting one. Guess it's a bit harder to measure beyond subjective reporting but Dustin did mention the potential to do some blood sampling to look at muscle breakdown too. But this study wasn't designed for that.
@@TheRunTesters I do have the original study but I guess I’ll have to read it more closely. I’d be curious to see if and how stride mechanics change over long term usage.
As someone who used to be a stride runner but has converted to a cadence runner over many years, and who is a power runner (trails baby), I prefer the firmer ride of Saucony over the squish of NB, for example.
I have speed 2s and vaporfly 2s asking santa for the alphaflys. Wish me luck! 🤞👍👌
Have you been good?
@@TheRunTesters always 😇.. they would be wasted on me tbh. But i think for a full marathon they are meant to be the bestest!!
I have no numbers but the I would be shocked if the RC Elite V2's economy was not higher than V1 due to the increased foam and more aggressive angle on the plate.
Hopefully Dustin can get that one in the lab at some point too.
Do you have a link to the research article?
Link in the caption.
Super interesting, thanks 🙏🏻
Glad you enjoyed it Sander, thanks for watching.
Very very interesting. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Matteo.
So if one shoe, or a couple shoes, definitely result in better running economy, why wouldn't you use those shoes for all runs (except easy day work)? I've decided that training in the AlphaFly is allowing my running to become more efficient vs other shoes. Recovery is much better vs other shoes as well for me so definitely worth the spend. Also getting 400-500 miles out of mine so cost/mile is really similar to other shoes.
This is one of the points Dustin makes. Guess one of the reasons is the durability of the more expensive shoes but if you feel you can get the mileage and you're moving better, feeling fresher after, it's a no brainer to use them.
@@TheRunTesters Surprisingly, I still hear the old myth of wearing heavier shoes for training so that your race shoes will feel lighter come race day. Meanwhile, you are training inefficiency and potential injury. I somewhat related the muscle memory of running to golf. If you can get the correct mechanics down, you can repeat that over and over. Shoes that promote running economy are a no brainer to me.
I know Dustin. Good guy. Consider giving to his research.
What John said 💪
It’s the same as shoes of different sizes, the efficiency changes due to weight, thankfully most of these shoes are the same weight for the same sizes
Quality content
Have a worse foot strike in the nike shoes compared to adidas adios pro and endorphin pro, and there was that guy running london marathon in rubberboots
He ran 2 hours 58 min it was world record,pretty sure he was brittish, would be fun to hear why
@@alexandernielsen7040 wow that is just trolling the rest! 🤣👌
I was overtaken in 38 degree heat in berlin by a guy in a massive teddy outfit. And he was shaking hands with the crowds on each side.. he broke me! 🤣
What was your time? Thats some new level of showman 🤣
He was British and did it to raise money. Said his feet were macerated after!
Regarding the foam.. Nike says energy return 87 percent.. FuelCell was 70 percent .. Is bare foot 100 percent?
No, your feet has some cushion around 1-5mm so lets say that's your foam in this example. That's not gonna give much energy return, its probably around 30-50%.
The benefit of barefoot is to have no extra weight on your legs plus running economy can be better (not for everyone). Downside is that your feet will bleed out of hundreds cuts from debris on the road.
Wowwwww. Really wish I’d seen this before I coughed up £££££ for my Ons last week. :-/
Ha ha, sorry about that! Boom Echo?
@@TheRunTesters yes. I like them actually but find the big increase in stack since my last shoes (Takumi sen 3 and on cloud boom) quite unstable. Think i need to get used to them.
@@TheRunTesters ps in shop I was comparing the endorphine pro and the echo and liked both. Didn’t try the alphafly. I sort of wonder if actually I’m just not fast enough to merit any of them!!!
IMO some of these shoes are way over priced. Not sure if your study shows folks who are "non-responders" like myself. They have zero impact on my race times and actually hurt my feet.
Alphaflys are a fail for Nike in my opinion. Look around the marathons this weekend, there were next to none in the top 20 Amsterdam marathon. I didn’t see a single pair just walking around. I’m not mixing with pros though😂. Looks like anyone with a choice, especially the sponsored athletes, go vaporfly over alphafly most races.
It's true, runners do seem to go for Vapors more. A few of The Run Tester team among them too.
Oh wow look, another video where we don't care about Adidas. Interesting results, obviously some bias involved. Is that Adios Pro 2 review still coming or what :P?
What an odd comment. We speak in the video about how the study was unable to get hold of certain shoes at the time, and they have tested the Adios Pro 2 since but not with multiple runners. Did you watch that bit? We're still working on the Adios Pro 2 review, I (Nick) was also able to get hold of it but only in the last week or so. We did also have a section on the Adios Pro 2 in our carbon shoes round-up where we talk about Kieran's testing. Basically, we test and review any Adidas shoe we get hold of. Just like any other brand. If it's harder to get Adidas shoes, the reviews will take longer to do.
@@TheRunTesters Would certainly have been nice/useful if they had tested the Adizero Adios Pro 1 that's been available for nearly a year now ? Certainly much longer than the Asics they tested.
@@TheRunTesters Is it really that odd though? Let me explain... I asked a couple months back where the review was if i remember correctly, and back then it was the same reason, that they weren't available yet.
But i believe all versions of the shoe have been available all year round perfectly fine (prime x had some issues though). Especially in UK and Europe. They even had an overstock of the first red-white version. And now there's multiple colorways available. So i was just wondering where the review was staying. Also i just ran my first marathon in them (also my first marathon ever, Amsterdam marathon, 3:59 sub-4, super happy about that), so i'm super curious to hear what you all think.
Fair enough, i didn't watch this whole video, again because it felt like Adidas was left out of the talks again, although obviously this is not the fault of the run testers. And most comparisons and videos i see on the channel just barely talk about the adios pro, not even the first version. I've dipped my toes into other brands of shoes because i hear how different they are compared to the adidas shoes. And since Adidas works well with me, these opinions matter for me. So it's the content i'd like to see.
But you gotta agree with me that Adidas is simply not getting the same amount of love. While the nike shoes are almost compared to everything. Adidas gets barely mentioned. Even in the "Best Running Shoes 2021" video, the mention of the adios 1 isn't there, let alone the adios 2. Instead we are talking about the Ultraboosts there. The heaviest max cush shoe ever made. I'm craving more adidas opinions.
Sorry Des... had you been an Nike athlete, you would have been running in the Olympics this past summer.
Nike is Nike
We're not 100% sure what you're getting at here. But we appreciate the comment.