Metabolic cost of level, uphill, and downhill running in highly cushioned shoes with carbon-fiber plates
Public Deposited- Abstract
Abstract
Background
Compared to conventional racing shoes, Nike Vaporfly 4% running shoes reduce the metabolic cost of level treadmill running by 4%. The reduction is attributed to their lightweight, highly compliant, and resilient midsole foam and a midsole-embedded curved carbon-fiber plate. We investigated whether these shoes also could reduce the metabolic cost of moderate uphill (+3°) and downhill (–3°) grades. We tested the null hypothesis that, compared to conventional racing shoes, highly cushioned shoes with carbon-fiber plates would impart the same ∼4% metabolic power (W/kg) savings during uphill and downhill running as they do during level running.
Methods
After familiarization, 16 competitive male runners performed six 5-min trials (2 shoes × 3 grades) in 2 Nike marathon racing-shoe models (Streak 6 and Vaporfly 4%) on a level, uphill (+3°), and downhill (–3°) treadmill at 13 km/h (3.61 m/s). We measured submaximal oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production during Minutes 4–5 and calculated metabolic power (W/kg) for each shoe model and grade combination.
Results
Compared to the conventional shoes (Streak 6), the metabolic power in the Vaporfly 4% shoes was 3.83% (level), 2.82% (uphill), and 2.70% (downhill) less (all p < 0.001). The percent of change in metabolic power for uphill running was less compared to level running (p = 0.04; effect size (ES) = 0.561) but was not statistically different between downhill and level running (p = 0.17; ES = 0.356).
Conclusion
On a running course with uphill and downhill sections, the metabolic savings and hence performance enhancement provided by Vaporfly 4% shoes would likely be slightly less overall, compared to the savings on a perfectly level race course.
- Creator
- Date Issued
- 2022
- Academic Affiliation
- Journal Title
- Journal Issue/Number
- 3
- Journal Volume
- 11
- Last Modified
- 2024-01-30
- Resource Type
- Rights Statement
- License
- DOI
- ISSN
- 2213-2961
- Language
Relations
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