How do you decide when to replace your running shoes?

Ultima_Morpha

I'm a "new" runner; less than a year into it. I wore my first pair of shoes for a bit more than a year doing less impactful activities and at a much higher weight. I replaced them a few months back and realized today that they have more than 500 running miles on them. I felt like they had lost some of their responsiveness but I'm not necessarily experiencing more joint pain or other discomfort after running.

I've ordered a new pair and realize that since I am running 5-7 days a week that I should probably rotate a couple of pairs. My "usual" run is 10 miles in all sorts of weather.

Do y'all replace religiously after a certain number of miles or do you go by how you feel?

AdrianChr92

I usually have new shoes by 500 miles. I usually start googling for shoes at about 300 miles though and jump on it if I see any good sales. If you feel they lost their responsiveness I'd say it's time to at least search for new shoes. Don't wait for joint pain to do that

MobyCarp

The common wisdom is 300 to 500 miles, with some models being good for more miles than others. That having been said, different runners wearing the same model shoe get varying mileage out of them. The thing is, shoe wear sneaks up on you.

I put 500 miles on my first pair of trail shoes, then retired them from running and now use them for lawn mowing and snow shoveling. I was concerned about the tread; the shoes still felt okay for running. In hindsight, that pair may have had another 100 miles in them.

I rotate 3 pair of road shoes, all Saucony Kinvaras because I've done well with that model. When I start feeling a twinge somewhere in my legs or ankles after running in the blue pair that I don't feel after running in the white pair or the grey pair, that's a clue that the blue pair needs to be retired. I try not to have two pair with very close mileage on them, so I will pick up on when the highest mileage pair needs to be retired. It is variable; I've got anywhere from just over 300 miles to just over 500 miles out of the Kinvaras.

Even though I buy the prior year's model cheap, running shoes still cost more per mile run than car tires cost per mile driven; but waiting to retire them can be even more expensive in terms of medical costs and time spent not being able to run.

kristinegift

I rotate between 5 pairs of shoes, so they all get lots of bounce back time and can last much longer than if I just wore 1 or 2 pairs every day. 600 is pretty much my limit for my daily trainers; 300 for my lightweight and more minimal shoes that have less cushion to start with. Some of my pairs with 600 miles feel wrecked and are out of the rotation, and some still feel decent and I just wear cushier socks. I put in 200-250 miles per month during a training cycle, I end up buying new shoes every 2-3 months as others get phased out.