Racing Flats v Minimalist

A racing flat is essentially a lower profile running shoe without the structure and support of a distance shoe. If you run relatively quickly, have a neutral gait and are efficient (don’t heel strike), running flats are awesome. A ‘barefoot’ shoe is designed to be as low profile as the foot itself and supposedly mimic the foot’s natural strike pattern. The difference in drop (heel to toe) is normally as follows:

Racing Flat (normally 4mm to 7mm drop)
E.g. New Balance RC5000 (16mm heel to 11mm toe) — http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-NB5KM2.html

Barefoot / Minimalist (0mm drop)
E.g. New Balance Minimus (8mm heel to 8mm toe) — http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-NBMR1.html

So the difference between a racing flat and a ‘minimalist / barefoot / zero-drop’ shoe isn’t much other than the latter is flatter and the price is fatter. Essentially they do the same thing; minimal structure, very light (normally less than 200g), lower profile and for shorter distances. Both of these styles — racing flat vs barefoot — are great but I prefer a racing flat for running on roads as they have a little more cushioning.

< Note on heel stack — depending on your gait and whether you pronate or not, you could run in a racing flat up to half marathon, or even marathon, distance but this would be dependent on fitness. As you tire when running, you begin to lose ‘form’ as your leg muscles and hips tire, at this point you may begin to heel strike as a result of slowing. At this point — normally from 10 miles onwards — a shoe with a little more under the heel may be beneficial so as not to put too much force through the achilles and hamstring. >

My favourite shoes are as follows, but ultimately it comes down to what fits you as different brands come up in different sizes (Adidas narrow, Mizuno wider). My picks are:

Marathon — Adidas Adios 2 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-AADI2M4.html)
Half Marathon — New Balance RC1600 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-N1600M2.html)
10k — Saucony Type A5 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-STYP5M5.html)
5k — Mizuno Wave Universe 4 (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-MUNI4M3.html)

Other really popular shoes:

Mizuno Wave Musha (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-MMU5M1.html) — note these have a little bit of arch support

Saucony Kinvara (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-SKN4M2.html) — this is more of a zero drop shoe but designed like a flat

Brooks T7 Racer (http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-BT7RCM1.html) — this comes with stack but is lightweight.

All brands will make a lower profile shoe. I’d also really recommend inov-8 as they make shoes with the runner in mind (wide toe boxes and lightweight but durable materials) eg the X-233 — http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-I8X2332.html

Also check this page for racing flats categorised by weight: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpage-MRAC.html?SHOW=NOBRAND&ctype=comp

All the links above are from US site runningwarehouse.com which rocks as it gives so much more detail than UK sites — including heel drop, cushioning, recommended distances and shoe weight.

Enjoy!
TBR