Different running shoes between training and races?

Different running shoes between training and races?

On this episode of Ask Coach Parry we chat to Lindsey Parry about the choice of using one pair of shoes to train in and a different sort of shoe for races and how this can affect your performance. and today’s question comes in from Sean.

Lindsey, a question on shoes from Sean, he says he’s currently running in the New Balance 1080V4s, he loves them but was thinking of getting a second pair of running shoes and was thinking of looking at something a bit lighter like perhaps the Fresh Foam, also from New Balance. His question is, should he rather get the same pair of running shoes for races and training, or can he change between the two and do a rotation?

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Lindsey Parry: Ja, look, you certainly can use lighter shoes for races and depending on the shoe itself, they will lend themselves to shorter or longer distances. So the problem with moving between the two shoes that he’s talking about is that they have different heel/toe jobs. So you’ve got an 8mm drop versus the 6mm drop. That 6mm drop, I would be comfortable for him using those as racing shoes for anything up to 10km, but once you move into 21 and especially into the marathon, I don’t think they’ll provide enough support, particularly if you’re doing most of your training in a shoe with an 8mm drop.

The build-up to a Marathon

Of course, if it’s that one main race that you’re training for in the year, for example, if you’re training for a marathon on the 5th of December, you’re quite a performance kind of athlete going for a fast time, you could gradually build up in that racing shoe and then use it as a once-off in that long, hard marathon knowing that your legs are going to be shredded afterwards, but that’s okay, because you’re getting a performance benefit out of having a much lighter shoe and I would often do that for example, with using something like the RC1400, so that’s a racing shoe, but it’s one of their race shoes with that little bit more cushioning.

It’s very light, but it has a 10mm heel to toe drop, so I feel like my calve and my Achilles don’t take a bashing if I take it up to a marathon distance, but then they have other shoes in their range, like the RC5000 which I would never use for more than a marathon.

So definitely, it’s not a problem inter changing between races and your normal training shoes. Stick to the bulk of your volume in your training shoes because those will help to protect your legs a little bit and then you get that feel good feeling when you’re running in a very light performance shoe on race day.

BB: Brilliant Sean, thank you, I hope that helps, Lindsey, thank you for your time today. Don’t forget, if you have a question you’d like answered, just get to coachparry.com, that’s the website to get to.

You can submit it there and who knows, we could be answering yours on the next edition of the Ask Coach Parry podcast.

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