By Zoey Pittman
By Zoey Pittman
A growing trend in the runners’ world is that carbon fiber plated shoes make you a faster runner, but it is not solely the carbon plate that makes you faster, it is just a small piece of the puzzle.
In July of 2020, Nike released their shoe line, Alphafly, that is made using carbon-fiber plate and changed the pace for runners.
Although the Nike Alphafly shoes have become one of the most popular racing shoes for marathons, Nike was not the first to decide to use carbon fiber in a shoe. It has actually been years before it became a trend.
Brooks was actually the first running shoe company to use carbon fiber in their Fusion and Fission shoe line in 1989. The plate was placed in between the midsole foam and then outsole rubber.
“The advances of the carbon is that it provides a stability platform from the responsiveness of the foam,” said Phillip Howe, who is the owner of Howe2Run.
A common misconception is that it is the carbon fiber in the shoes that are making runners faster, however that is not the case.
“The carbon plate is not what makes the shoe faster, it's the foam. The fastest shoes have the best foams,” said Marc Cameron, who is the general manager for Howe2Run.
With Nike using the ZoomX foam in the Alphafly shoe, it absorbs more bounce from the runner and the carbon fiber plate gives the runner the snap that is needed to pick their feet up off the ground quicker.
“It is the marriage of the two that makes it great,” said Howe.
What the carbon plate does is help the forefront flexion of the foot coming off and landing on the ground, which is then the responsiveness from the bounce, into the foam.
While discussing how Nike Alphafly works, the question came up of why the shoe was banned from major marathons?
Cameron and Howe had a disagreement on what was the illegal stack height for a super shoe that an elite athlete can use while racing a major marathon.
“They did not ban any super shoe, but they had to change the stack height after Eliud Kipchoge’s ‘Breaking 2’ project with Nike because he was racing in a 44mm shoe,” said Howe
However, Cameron had a different opinion on the matter…
“No, Eliud Kipchoge did nothing illegal during the race. After he finished the marathon, racing in a 42mm shoe, that is when the regulations for the shoe’s stack height came about,” said Cameron.
Cameron and Howe started to argue about what the real reason was for these shoes to almost be banned. Their debate was whether or not the Olympic runner, Eliud Kipchoge, running the marathon on the Formula One race track, Autodromo Nazinale in Monzain Italy was racing in an Alphafly that was 44mm or 42 mm
“He was racing in the Alphafly with a 42mm stack height. Nike created the ‘Breaking 2’ project and was the main sponsor for the race. After the race was over, that was when they set the legal stack height limit for super shoes,” said Cameron.
The two eventually agreed to disagree, with Cameron having the final say that the shoe Eliud Kapchoge was racing in was a 42mm stack height.
Nike Alphafly’s shoe has shown to give runners a 2-4% betterment of race and recovery time. Because of how the shoe helps give the runner a snappier cadence and a foam with more receptivity, it takes some of the stress off a runner’s body.
“The hype over the last four years has statistically proven to be true,” said Cameron.
The price for this racing shoe can range from $220 to $275, and the life span of the shoe is not built for longevity. After about 250 miles to 300 miles, the shoe starts to wear down.
“The carbon breaks down faster than the foam does in the shoe. It still has the punch even after the carbon is worn down,” said Howe.
Because of their low mileage rate, Nike Alphaflies are not typically used for everyday training, but can depending on the runner.
“At the end of the day, it's not about the shoe, it’s about the athlete. The shoe is simply a tool,” said Howe.
When a runner trains in Nike Alphaflies, they become used to the intensity of the bounce in the shoes. They develop muscle memory of how the shoe operates with their body, which can be a good thing for race day.
But, if the runner only uses them sporadically during their training cycle, they will see the advantage Nike Alphafly has to offer them on top of race-day adrenaline.
“Runners, even down to the citizen level, who like to perform at races, are willing to spend the money for the betterment of their performance,” said Cameron.
Since Nike released Alphafly, runners of all levels have seen the benefits from the shoe.
“Everybody puts tremendous amounts of effort into their goals and these are the tools to help push you above your goals, and statistically these shoes are proven to push you past that edge,” said Howe.