Carbon-Plate Super Shoes

What they do

Researchers call them advanced footwear technology. An expert statement describes them as typically having soft, springy midsole foams, embedded curved stiffening elements, low mass and a rockered shape¹. The plate is not the whole story: a meta-analysis of 48 crossover studies (878 participants) found that these shoes lowered oxygen consumption, but neither bending stiffness nor midsole energy return alone did, and the authors suggested the benefit arises from the properties working together. The authors rated the evidence low or very low certainty for nearly all outcomes².

The expert statement puts the saving in energy cost at approximately 2% to 4%, and the corresponding performance improvement at 1% to 3%¹. Race results are in the same range. In 99 world-class men with 971 marathon performances from 2012 to 2021, marathon speed was 5.441 m/s in these shoes against 5.386 m/s in traditional shoes, which the authors translate to 1.0% or 79 seconds³. That compares races and runners across years, so it cannot show cause. For a race goal, plan on something in the 1% to 3% range and not on the best case. See the guide on race goal-setting.

Who gains most

The benefit varies a lot between runners, and the studies cannot tell you in advance which kind you are. In 64 participants (half of them women) running at 70% of their peak-oxygen-uptake speed, running economy improved by 4.13% on average, with a range from 2.62% worse to 11.01% better. 53 runners cleared the authors' 2.5% threshold and 11 did not, and the authors concluded that few factors explained the variation⁴. Some runners gain little.

Slower runners are not excluded. In 14 moderately trained runners (6 men and 8 women) tested at 7.5, 9.0, 10.5 and 12.0 km/h (8:00 to 5:00 per kilometer), oxygen cost was lower in these shoes than in a traditional shoe by 5.4 mL per kilogram per kilometer (interval 3.9 to 6.9), and the difference did not depend on speed⁵.

The benefit shrinks uphill. In 12 competitive male runners on a treadmill, a plated racing shoe beat a control shoe by 4.22% on the flat, 2.42% at a 3% incline, 1.05% at 6% and 0.52% at 9%. The authors concluded the shoe gives its greatest benefit on flat courses⁶. On a hilly or trail course, expect less.

Breaking them in

Go slowly, because these shoes load the foot differently. The expert statement says they can redistribute loading, potentially increasing metatarsal and tarsal stress while reducing tibia and possibly Achilles tendon loading, and that injury risk remains equivocal with limited high-quality data¹. A 2023 article described five navicular bone stress injuries in highly competitive runners using plated shoes and suggested a slow, gradual transition. It is an opinion piece with a case series⁷.

So start with a few short easy runs, add a short race-pace piece, and build from there over several weeks. Keep your regular trainer for the rest of your runs. Do not make race day the first run in a new pair.

Using them in training and on race day

Save them for race day and for race-pace sessions, and do everyday runs in a regular trainer. The sessions in the race shoe teach your legs and the shoe to work together. No study shows that wearing them every day helps. The expert statement mentions emerging evidence of less muscle damage and soreness that could support more training volume or quality, which is not a finding that daily use is better or worse¹.