V 13 N. 49 Are the New Shoes Really That Good?

 A recent article in Track and Field News shoes a graphic presentation of the performance gains made after the two year layoff from international competition due to covid and the advent of the new carbon fiber plates in running shoes.  There is a strong indication that middle distance and distance runners have been major beneficiaries of this technological development in recent times.   

Another article in the NY Times indicates that the gains are up to 4% improvement due to effects of the Nike Vapor Fly.  Greater gains possibly in slower runners but even good runners are getting better due to technology.  

It should also be noted that there is no definitive study that conclusively proves or even strongly indicates that you get a 2% or 4% boost.   Least I can't find any that have been published  and peer reviewed.  

I of course looked at my mile PR to see what 2 % and 4% were worth.  But a more interesting comparison was looking at Roger Bannister's first sub four  (3:59.4) and also Herb Elliott and Peter Snell's PR's.  

Where would we have been with those carbon fiber shoes on a modern surface instead of chewed up cinder tracks 50-60 years ago?  Some of the tracks with a bit of clay mixed in were significantly better, but only a few were really fast.  Lets not even try to factor in better training regimes and nutrition and a team psychologist, advanced weight training methodology, and transfer portals and NIL.  How much advantage per 100 meters in an 800, 1500, 5000, 10,000 could we expect?    And in other events, like hurdling where those old hurdles really slowed you down when you grazed or hit one.  After each practice my hurdling roommate's legs were scraped raw and bleeding on the back of the thigh of his lead leg, and the trail leg just above the knee was always bruised and scraped from those old wooden hurdles.

A 4% advantage would bring a 4:10 mile down to 4:00.  Or the same speed over 110 yards at a 4:10 mile pace would give you a 0.625 second advantage each 110 yards.  Wouldn't hurt to have that extra boost would it?

Anyway here are what Sir Roger and Sir Peter,  and Herb (only an MBE) might have run with these new shoes and this does not take into account the new track surfaces.  Although I think there might be some co-dependency between the shoe and the running surface.

                   Personal                            w/2% boost                      w/4% boost 

                      Best         

Bannister     3:59.4                                   3:54.6                           3:49.8

(Iffley Road)

Elliott           3:54.5                                  3:49.81                           3:45.12

Snell            3:54.4                                  3:49.7                             3:45.02

Throw in the other factors I mentioned earlier, plus the fact these guys were working to educate themselves or feed families and there was no prize money on the line, and  they might have done even better in today's world of financial incentives.

George

Wilfred Schnier
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   There has to be some benefit because 97 NCAA Division I milers broke 4:00 this winter.