Page 134 - Men’s Health - USA (December 2019)

Altered
Carbon
The speedy substance that’s
transforming running-shoe design and
making people race faster.
BY BRETT WILLIAMS
Nike ZoomFly 3
With a full-length carbon-fiber plate and a
layer of plush React foam, this roughly nine-
ounce shoe suits runners who want a re-
sponsive, propulsive trainer that launches
them into every stride on tempo runs and
shorter-mileage races. $160; nike.com
8 December 2019 / MEN’S HEALTH
HE FIRST RUN I went on in
a pair of Nike’s ZoomFly 3’s
T felt different. I planted my
foot, pushed off, and was propelled
forward, as if I had stepped on
a hidden power block in a video
game. The energy came from a stiff
carbon-fiber plate in the midsole,
which flexes and drives you along
the track, and springy energy-
return foam. Feeling fast makes
me run even faster. Shoe compa-
nies are leaning into this mind-
body connection more than ever.
In 2017, Nike dropped the $250
Zoom Vaporfly 4%, which it said
improved running economy over
its previous marathon shoe by
4 percent. (Independent tests con-
firmed it.) Then, this past October,
Eliud Kipchoge ran a sub-two-
hour marathon in custom Nikes
rumored to improve performance
by 7 percent. This tech is trickling
down to less expensive shoes,
and rival companies are also
looking to carbon for an edge.
New Balance’s FuelCell 5280
($200), designed for mile racers,
has a carbon plate that uses
unidirectional fibers, so it can
twist and bend side to side but is
rigid from heel to toe. Hoka One
One’s Carbon X ($180) is more
workhorse than speed demon,
and the carbon-fiber plate acts
as “a lever, rather than a spring,”
says Gretchen Weimer, Hoka’s
vice-president of product. When I
took on my first 20-mile training
session in the Carbon X, I felt as if
I only had to establish a consistent
pace, then let the shoes do the rest.
But how much is in my head,
and how much is on my feet?
“Wearing something that you
think will make you faster will
give you a mental boost,” says
Alex Hutchinson, Ph.D., author
of Endure. “When you think
you’re going to be successful,
that changes your actions in a
subtle way that makes it a self-
Jonathon Kambouris
fulfilling prophecy.” Works for
me, and maybe you, too.