What we know, and don’t know, about training in carbon-plated shoes

Lately, carbon‑plated running shoes, those springy, foam‑stacked wonders, have become nearly ubiquitous, and elite race results seem to be rewriting themselves.

Yet beneath the speed and hype lies a question worth asking:

At what point does chasing performance start to compromise long-term health?

Listen, I'm just as guilty as the next person when it comes to training in carbon plated shoes, I love how much speed they give me, and how efficient they are, they're also very expensive, so why not get as much use out of them as possible, not just during races?

Let’s look at the evidence and what it might mean for our training.

The Best Running Shoes, Right Now

From daily training miles to trail ultras and race-day PRs, these are the best running shoes of the year (so far) that I personally rely on and recommend after thousands of miles of real-world testing. This is the ultimate running shoe rotation.

Alastair RunningAlastair Dixon

A leap forward in running technology

Since their debut around 2016 with Nike’s Vaporfly, carbon‑plated “super‑shoes” have reshaped long‑distance running.