Carbon-fiber plated shoes are helping nearly all runners at all levels run faster. The longer strides with less effort, the typical benefit from these shoes, have propelled elites to quickly break long-lasting world records and amateurs to set PRs they had not thought possible. There is another advantage to these shoes, though, that some are starting to catch onto.

Surrounding the stiff carbon-fiber plate is a high-tech foam (e.g. PEBAX, TPEE, etc). This thick layer serves partly to protect your body from the increased force which you are now landing with. The net effect being that you often feel just less ‘beat-up’ after running in carbon-plated shoes. A quicker recovery is what has driven many elites, and some amateurs, to simply run in these shoes all the time, even for easy runs. This contrasts with others, who save their supershoes only for race day, mainly to avoid wear and tear and thus delay the need, and expense, to get a new pair.

Though finances are certainly an important factor in deciding when to wear your over-priced moon boots, perhaps consider keeping your old pair for easy runs, when your legs need a break. This may just allow you to put in one more quality workouts per week, or handle a combination of quality AND volume that takes you to the next level.