In order toimprove running performance, you have to treat many aspects with the utmost care. The greater your ambitions, the more thorough and all-around your preparation must be. The first points to take care of are training, dietary discipline-which includes both daily and supplementation-and mental and motivational aspects. Then add to this first group the part devoted to improving your efficiency such as technique exercises and all of these can help you reduce the energy cost of your movements. In addition to these aspects, a major innovation has been introduced in recent years: the contribution of technology. The most interesting results were achieved with the improvement of footwear. Advanced cushioning systems, carbon plates in the midsole are innovations that can change your performance.
How important are shoes?
The importance of shoes is related to the type of exertion you sustain during running. If you think about it, at each step the stresses you have to bear are very high. The total weight you control at each ground contact, depending on your rhythm, varies between two and three times your body weight. The contribution from muscles and tendons is important but also traumatic. Trauma is not only at the muscle and joint level but also, for example, in the cardiovascular system. With each step, red blood cells (hemolysis) found in the sole of the foot are destroyed, and this phenomenon could cause, in the long run, anemia with related difficulties at the level of oxygen distribution in the body.
High-efficiency footwear is intended to promote propulsion by reducing the effort to be sustained. The goals are twofold: to reduce the energy-muscle expenditure and to amplify the elastic response of the pushing phase. From a certain point of view When you run your legs have to work like a spring. They must accumulate energy in the stance phase and then release it in the push phase. The development that is constantly being done on these shoes aims precisely at optimizing this movement. Maximize your drive while reducing energy expenditure as much as possible. It is a technological system to instantly improve running economy that would require a lot of training and a lot of technical and methodological application.
Insights related to downhill running were also developed. If you routinely run on hilly trails or trails you know that the downhill is often more challenging than the uphill. This occurs not only because a large amount of energy is required to brake and control your weight but also because the impact with the ground becomes even more traumatic causing more muscle micro-injuries than when running flat.
Traditional shoes and high efficiency shoes
To understand the effect of these high-efficiency shoes, many comparative tests have been conducted, but there is no better thing than a direct comparison. Given the same conditions and preparation, you have to do the same exercise with two different models of shoes: one traditional and one hi-tech. The test performed in the specific study was a three-minute incremental step workout with 30 seconds of recovery. Every three minutes the speed was increased by 1 km per hour, and in the recovery blood was taken to measure lactate accumulation.
The analysis was twofold. In addition to blood sampling, maximum oxygen consumption was also calculated, an interesting figure to evaluate, particularly at the same speed and using two different types of shoes. The results in this test were very significant. The maximum oxygen consumption does not change if you use different footwear. Of course that depends on your characteristics, training level, age etc. However, the test showed that for the same amount of oxygen consumption with the high-efficiency shoes, a higher speed was achieved. The result was obtained both as the maximum peak speed in the incremental test and in the sustained speed at a level of 3mmol lactate. The variations found are in the range of 0.3 to 0.5 km/h. Variation is as important as any improvement in your performance. But what is most significant is that this progress is achieved with the same preparation just by changing the shoes used.
For the purposes of your race performance, this is a significant achievement because these shoes are able to bring about an improvement in your results. As I have explained other times, your performance depends on the fraction of maximum oxygen consumption you are able to use in a given distance and your running efficiency. Shoes can intervene in the latter aspect. In a marathon this technological input can increase your average speed by about 0.35 km/k. The benefits are not identical for all runners. If you are an elite athlete with already high running efficiency, the benefits are certainly less. And likewise if you are new to running, still a few pounds overweight or have inefficient running dynamics in your stance, push etc. you are probably not yet able to take full advantage of the benefits of this footwear.
A second very specific analysis was performed to evaluate the support of these shoes on athletes who had suffered muscle damage typical of downhill running. To test this, a series of athletes were proposed to run downhill to produce muscle micro-injuries. Immediately afterwards, the same athletes ran on the flat with normal footwear or with high-efficiency footwear. Again, the reduction in the energy cost of the technical gesture typical of the new shoes made the athletes achieve better results than using a traditional shoe.
So if you decide to invest in the purchase of these shoes, you stand a good chance of gaining performance benefits. Always remember to try on the shoes you buy well to make sure you choose the correct size first, which can vary from model to model and especially from brand to brand. But you also need to make sure, when you change models, that the shape of the shoe fits well with the characteristics of your foot. No use getting a high-efficiency model if they are not comfortable and suitable for your running.
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