Breaking in new shoes?

robinph

How many miles would you put on a pair of shoes before racing in them?
How many miles before running a marathon in them?

It's often said to break them in would take 100'ish miles, but if you are only going to be getting 500 miles out of a regular pair of training shoes that is quite a way into the life of the shoe before you run the marathon on them.

Now I use different shoes for racing than for training, and different racing shoes depending on the terrain as well. But I'd quite happily race a 5km or 10km on a pair straight out of the box. Before a half I might look to have done a couple of training runs on the shoes first, but I'd generally be partway through the lifespan of the shoes anyway and have done a few 5km or 10km races. I have bought new shoes within a few weeks of a marathon previously and then not had much racing miles put on them before the marathon, but once I've done a couple of training runs in them to confirm that they feel the same as the previous pair I'll be good to go so may only have 15 miles on them before hand.

I'm sure that none of the elites are running around 100+ miles in their race days shoes before a big marathon. They probably only got handed the shoes the evening before from the sponsor in the hotel anyway.

Why are we thinking that putting so much wear on the shoes before a race is a good idea?

Enduro

robinph wrote: »

How many miles would you put on a pair of shoes before racing in them?
How many miles before running a marathon in them?

Why are we thinking that putting so much wear on the shoes before a race is a good idea?

0 (once I know the make and model work for me),
0 (once I know the make and model work for me),
What's this "we" business?

robinph

Enduro wrote: »

What's this "we" business?

Just seen it mentioned on another couple of threads recently as a tip for newer runners. Would probably advise people to "break in" new shoes as well myself, but then thought about it for a moment and I don't, so why tell others to.

But it would seem to be odd if "we", the running community, told people to not break them in first. It's all part of the "don't try anything new on race day" line that we'd also trot out on a regular basis.

Clearlier

robinph wrote: »

Just seen it mentioned on another couple of threads recently as a tip for newer runners. Would probably advise people to "break in" new shoes as well myself, but then thought about it for a moment and I don't, so why tell others to.

But it would seem to be odd if "we", the running community, told people to not break them in first. It's all part of the "don't try anything new on race day" line that we'd also trot out on a regular basis.

I probably wouldn't want to run in a brand new pair even if they were a make and model I was comfortable with. The chances of them causing a problem are tiny but it's an easy one to avoid if there were to be a manufacturing defect.

Another point again where I think that the risk is very small (but why take one when can easily avoid it) is that experienced runners have a pretty consistent running pattern, if Enduro has worn a make and model before and they've given no trouble it's about as certain as the earth is round that a new pair will give him no trouble. There's a small chance that a newer runners gait will have changed over the course of a couple of months - perhaps they've gotten a bit stronger and aren't pronating as much so the stability shoes that they had aren't really suitable any more.

I can and have advised people not to worry about changing their runners just before their goal marathon but if there's a small risk that's easily mitigated it makes sense to me to do that mitigation.

Enduro

I would definitely agree that it's a good idea to try any pair of shoes out before racing in them for all the above good reasons... but I suppose my thinking would be its far from a showstopper, especially if you are already familiar with the specific type of shoe. I've definitely become more relaxed about it over the years.

I like to think that the reason for that is that experience has taught me that my feet (possibly "our feet", but I can only speak for n=1) are a lot less needy than the sports shoe marketing departments would have us believe! However I'd also guess that cumulative years of running has adapted my (our!) feet to be able to handle the differences between different shoes with far less (or no) issues.

adrian522

I think its a little different if you are going for the same make and model that you have used previously, however for me at least that is usually not the case. When I come to get a new pair of shoes, either it's a different model than previously or a different version number.

In either case I'd like to get some wear out of them, particularly at least one long run in them before using them in a marathon.

Rantan

I bought my current pair of shoes the day before a 23m lsr. No issue, coz they were about my 5th pair of that shoe. With a new pair I'd try a variety of distances before I'd give them the all clear..couple of 5m then an 8 or 10m before I'd try a long.

sconhome

robinph wrote: »

It's often said to break them in would take 100'ish miles, but if you are only going to be getting 500 miles out of a regular pair of training shoes that is quite a way into the life of the shoe before you run the marathon on them.

I think this is more of a legacy from when it was 'one structure fits all' in terms of running shoes and there was an expectation of 'having' to break in shoes both in softening shoes up so they were pliable and allowing the body time to adjust.

These days with the ranges being so broad and there being many different levels of cushioning (from firm to outright plush) as well as the technical engineering differences (guidance lines, flexible soles, anatomic fit etc etc) the 'breaking in' period I recommend to people is wear them at home for an hour or two simply to ensure there are no seams irritating your feet and then off you go running.

Once the shoe is complimentary to you and not contrary there should be no breaking in needed.

Ososlo

AKW wrote: »

I think this is more of a legacy from when it was 'one structure fits all' in terms of running shoes and there was an expectation of 'having' to break in shoes both in softening shoes up so they were pliable and allowing the body time to adjust.

These days with the ranges being so broad and there being many different levels of cushioning (from firm to outright plush) as well as the technical engineering differences (guidance lines, flexible soles, anatomic fit etc etc) the 'breaking in' period I recommend to people is wear them at home for an hour or two simply to ensure there are no seams irritating your feet and then off you go running.

Once the shoe is complimentary to you and not contrary there should be no breaking in needed.

That's exactly what your colleague in Ballymount said to me last year !

clear thinking

Wear them a few times, if you get loads of blisters or niggles you've been sold the wrong shoes. a bit of vaseline on the blister points on your sock will fix that kind of problem.

iAcesHigh

Yesterday I've done Half Ironman in Athlone and when I got there I realized I forgot my running shoes in Dublin, but I did manage to by a new pair of different make and model than mine (I use Nike Flyknit). I tried them before the race for like a minute to see if size fits and said - let's give it a go since they actually seemed really comfortable, light and like a good fit for me. When I came to the run part everything was fine for the first 7 km, next 7 km they started to feel kinda weird and for the last 7 km lap I started to feel small pain on the outside of my right leg and on tendoms around both "heels". I'm sure I would be faster with "my" shoes, but it actually wasn't as bad as it could've been, and today the pain is a bit harder but nothing one can't handle.

After this I just reconfirmed myself, if I use same make and model I would do a week of training in them before hoping to sub 21km race, or 2-3 weeks for 21+ km races just so that the shoes shape themselves to my feet. For the new make and model I would add 1-2 weeks if everything is fine for both cases...