First marathon, target somewhere around 4:15, currently 55 km a week in one daily trainer with about 400 km on it. A plated racer is roughly EUR 250 here and that is most of my remaining budget for the block. I'd rather spend it on a second training pair if the plate isn't going to do much at my pace.
I raced my first in a plated shoe with no long runs in it and got a hot spot at 28 km that turned into a limp for the last hour. Whatever you race in, put at least two long runs through it first. That rule is worth more than the plate is.
Owned three plated shoes, kept one. The two I regret were bought for the idea of the shoe rather than for a specific race, and both aged out sitting in a box. The foams don't especially enjoy being stored compressed either.
Terse: second trainer. Race in your better trainer. Buy the plate for marathon two, once you know whether you even like the distance.
Mild disagreement with everyone above. If this marathon is a one-off bucket-list thing and you want the day to feel special, buy the shoe and enjoy it. Just don't pretend it's the efficient use of the money, because it plainly isn't.
This is the most self-aware answer in the thread and it's the one I'm actually chewing on.
@slowmiles_kat · 8mo ago · 2 replies
Plated racers do work at 4:15, just less dramatically than at 2:45, because the return scales with how hard you're loading the foam. The stronger reason to skip it is lifespan: those shoes typically give up somewhere in the 240-480 km range, so EUR 250 buys you one race and a handful of workouts. A second trainer at EUR 130 buys you the whole block.
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@two_week_notice · 8mo ago
And the 400 km trainer will be well past useful by race day if it stays your only pair. That's the actually urgent purchase in this post.
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