Many runners (even a coach on our staff who will go unnamed) have and continue to make the mistake of not training enough in the shoes they race in. There’s a great section in Jack’s book on this topic and he makes it very simple to understand why you should never make this mistake.

I’m convinced that some training should be done in racing shoes for two reasons:

  1. Each type of shoe has its own economy characteristics, and to take full advantage of these characteristics you must do some actual training in the shoes.
  2. Each type of shoe has its own mechanical characteristics, and it can be disastrous to never train under the same conditions that you’ll face in a race.

It’s hard to document how many injuries have resulted from wearing “new” shoes in a race, shoes that fit and function differently from those used in practice. To never wear racing shoes in practice is like never training at race pace. It’s always risky to let any conditions of a race be completely foreign to you, and that includes wearing shoes whose effects on your economy and your feet are unpredictable.