How Much Do Heavy Running Shoes Slow You Down?

Yes, heavier running shoes do require more energy than lighter running shoes, but does that necessarily translate to slower running times? Researchers at the University of Colorado believe they have found the answer, and it is yes, but not much. Science Daily reports that the researchers put 18 runners on a treadmill, wearing shoes that looked identical, but weren’t. One one pair was normal, but each shoe of another pair was 100 grams heavier, and a third pair was loaded with 300 grams of lead pellets per shoe. (An apple weighs about 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces.) Treadmill tests measuring oxygen consumption showed that the energy costs of the runners rose by about 1 percent with each extra 100 grams of shoe weight. Next, the  runners ran 3,000-meter (about 2-mile) time trials on an indoor track in each of the three shoe pairs once a week for three weeks. Unaware of the differences in shoe weight (the researchers insisted on putting on and taking off the shoes for the test subjects), the runners ran roughly 1 percent slower for each 100 grams of lead added to the shoes in the 3,000-meter race. The researchers suggest that one implication is that elite marathon runners wearing shoes 100 grams lighter than normal could potentially run about 57 seconds faster. The current men’s world record is 2:02:57, set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in 2014 while wearing shoes that weighed about 230 grams — just over eight ounces. One problem with that theory, they warn, is that when shoe mass is reduced, by compromising cushioning for example, it doesn’t mean you will run faster. Cushioning also reduces the energetic cost of running. The bottom line: lighter is not always better.

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