There has been a recent tidal wave of broken records in the running world, from the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase to the women’s mile. (In the latter event,  Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon just set a new record at 4 minutes 7.64 seconds.) And according to sports scientists, part of the reason for this spate of broken records is that runners are getting more accustomed to their “super shoes,” as Amby Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston marathon and former Runner’s World editor wrote in The New York Times.

Super shoes refer to the maximally cushioned running sneakers that often contain a carbon or plastic plate in the sole—the advanced foam and construction returns energy back to the runner’s foot when it hits the ground. Their popularity with the pros has also trickled down to the normies. According to Burfoot, even the weekend 5k-er could benefit from race-day super shoes.

But it's still a bit of a mystery how they improve running so much. One new theory is that the energy return allows runners to train harder. This goes against previous conventional wisdom, including that of Runner’s World, which recommended in 2021 that you should be “saving super shoes for super important runs.”

The logic of using your race day shoes to train makes sense: you should train the way you race. If you’re running with a different gait in your training sneakers, you might not be getting the full advantage of high-tech super shoes. The more you run in them, the more you adapt to them, as Geoff Burns, a physiologist and biomechanics expert with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, told the Times. Some runners also report needing less recovery time when using super shoes for their regular training, which makes sense, given all that cushioning.

The case against running in these shoes every day is also compelling: for one, they’re expensive—the latest Nike Vaporfly will run you $250, for example—so you might want to parcel out their mileage sparingly. Second, less-cushioned shoes may help strengthen the smaller muscles and tendons in the foot, which may be less engaged in super shoes.

But if you have a pair of super shoes and an inclination to run in them, you don’t have to be so precious about the occasions in which you use them. If they help you get through a tough interval workout (and feel good the next day), that might be just as good as a race-day PR. The science isn’t totally clear yet, so you may just want to listen to your legs.

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Ashwin Rodrigues is a freelance writer. He often covers health, fitness, and things you might've heard on a podcast. He previously worked at Morning Brew as a business features reporter. Even more previous than that, he was a staff writer on the culture team at VICE. His byline can also... Read moreXRelated Stories for GQRunning