#Altra escalante racer series

A little cushioning provides a little extra protection, allowing for your muscles to work more on propulsion than shock absorption. There is only so long you can go running in a super lightweight and firm shoe.

Now that is also partly because those two companies sponsor the most runners, but also because they are still fast and cushioned. They are definitely not the lightest shoes out there (mid 6 oz to 8 oz) but they are the most frequently used marathon racing shoes.

#Altra escalante racer series

The Nike Vaporfly 4% and Adidas Adios series are great examples of this.

There is an optimal balance between cushioning and lightness in a racing shoe. On the other side of the fence, we know that the more cushioned a shoe is, the great impact and joint loading a runner experiences as demonstrated by a recent study out of Oregon State (Pollard et al., 2018). In fact, other studies (also by Rodger Kram that I am having difficulty finding at the moment) have also demonstrated that while there is a 1% increase in VO2 max demands per 100g additional weight in the shoe, there is a cut off to where that is effective. Rodger Kram PhD back in 2012 demonstrated that running barefoot versus a lightweight cushioned shoe showed no metabolic advantage over each other (Franz et al., 2012). As seen by a recent trend in increased cushioning in elite racing shoes, that may not be the case. Many runners, who are usually more biased toward minimalist and barefoot running, will argue that one should have the lightest possible shoe in order to run fast.

At the same time, we want as much protection as possible (relatively) to try to keep our legs fresh over long distances. As athletes, we generally want the lightest possible shoe. Finding the optimum level of cushioning for a marathon shoe is an interesting conundrum.