HOW MUCH FASTER CAN CARBON SHOES MAKE A COMPLETE BEGINNER RUNNER?
Published: 18/09/2026 | By: Ben Felton
Our ambassador Ben Felton, aka @ben_is_running, put them to the test – using his girlfriend Meg as the guinea pig. Two 5Ks. Two different shoes. One surprising result: 52 seconds faster in the carbon super shoes. But was it the shoes, reduced fatigue, or something else? Read Ben’s full experiment to find out.
Carbon racing shoes took the running world by storm back in 2019 with the release of the Nike Vaporfly 4, arguably the first super shoe of its generation. Since then, world records have tumbled, from the sub-2-hour marathon all the way down to the 5K, with all the major running shoe companies now offering a carbon-plated racing shoe. Designed for elites but now worn by millions on the start lines of their local road races, these shoes have become a common sight in the running world.
This got me thinking: could carbon-plated running shoes actually make a complete beginner faster? That’s where the idea came in to convince my girlfriend Meg to become my guinea pig for our very own super shoe experiment. All I asked of her was to run two 5Ks: one in a typical non-plated daily trainer and the other in a top-of-the-range racing shoe. The results were pretty astonishing.
These carbon shoes have become commonly known as ‘super shoes’, with some studies suggesting a 4% improvement in running economy. These shoes share some similar characteristics, including a carbon plate, a highly responsive midsole foam, commonly made from compounds such as TPU or PEBA, which offers high levels of energy return, and a stack height as close to the World Athletics legal limit of 40 mm as shoe companies can get.
The combination of these three features results in a shoe designed for all-out speed. There is no doubt they are incredible tools for elites to push their boundaries, but how would Meg, who can run a 5K in around 31 minutes, find them? Surely, they couldn’t shave minutes off her best? Or could they?
The two shoes that featured in our testing were the daily trainer, the New Balance 1080 v15, and the carbon racing shoe, the New Balance SC Elite v6. The major differences between these shoes were that the first is non-plated and features a soft, protective midsole, whereas the latter features a carbon plate and a highly responsive, bouncy midsole.
To see just how much faster the SC Elite v6 could make Meg, she ran a 5K in each. To try to give each shoe an equal chance, these 5Ks were run three days apart on the same course, at the same time of day. The conditions were basically identical and, to make things as unbiased as possible, I removed Meg’s watch so she had no idea of the pace she was running or the time in which she finished. She was effectively running blind. I also fitted her with a heart-rate monitor as a second comparison to time.
The Results:
5K – New Balance 1080 v15
Time: 31:26
Average Pace: 6:17 per KM
Average HR: 177
5K – New Balance SC Elite v6
Time: 30:34
Average Pace: 6:07 per KM
Average HR: 179
After two all-out 5K efforts, the results revealed a 52-second difference, which translates into a 2.8% improvement in finishing time – pretty significant.
The biggest difference, however, was not the 10-second-per-kilometre improvement, although that is pretty wild when you put it that way, but in the pace Meg was able to achieve in the later stages of the effort. Her last kilometre in the SC Elite v6 was 5:36 per KM, whereas in the 1080 v15 she hit just 6:08.
The results from this experiment revealed – albeit with a sample size of one – that super shoes can potentially make a beginner runner faster. It could also be argued that the super shoe reduced fatigue, allowing Meg to run faster towards the end of her effort.
This correlated with her overall impression, as she said: “In the carbon shoes, it felt much easier to run faster throughout the 5K and I could maintain a more even effort, whereas in the daily trainers my pace felt all over the place.”
Now, not to get too nerdy, but this idea of reduced fatigue is something that has been studied, with a recent paper by a world-renowned running clinic finding that super shoes “yield up to 22% less fatigue compared to standard racing flats.”
This combination of potential fatigue reduction and increased running efficiency certainly supports the name of these so-called super shoes. Given these findings, the difference over longer-distance events such as half and full marathons could potentially be even more significant.
If you are a beginner runner reading this and thinking, ‘I 100% need a pair of carbon shoes,’ one piece of advice from a more experienced runner would be to use them sparingly. I strongly believe that a runner of any ability can benefit from a carbon shoe; however, it’s worth noting that the majority of your training should not be done in them.
The carbon plate offers incredible energy return, but this comes at the cost of a very stiff, unforgiving ride. Whether that makes them more or less suitable for a particular runner will depend on the individual, so I’d say, as a general rule, save them for speed sessions and race day – think once or twice a week.
For daily runs, a shoe like the 1080 v15 offers more support and cushioning and, although it’s not as fast, it’s much more suited to lots of happy miles.
That’s where a good shoe rotation is always worth the investment.
