Now that we all know about the function and how the Vaporflys work. We must discuss whether or not the shoes should be banned. The IAAF released a statement on the Vaporflys and any other carbon-plated shoe. They said that they would permit the use of these shoes in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but they banned the use of prototypes that were not available to everyone, like the Aphaflys Kipchoge broke 2 hours for the marathon in.

I agree with the IAAF’s stance. Everyone should have access to the best shoes possible. Like every other well known professional athlete, good professional runners are sponsored. A company gives the athlete money for the athlete to wear and endorse the company’s product. A lot of these companies are shoe companies and for runners shoes are the most important and only form of equipment. So to have the best, most innovative shoe would help runners the most. When the Vaporflys originally came out, the runners sponsored by the other companies couldn’t run in them because the other companies didn’t want their runners wearing a rival company’s product. Because of this, Nike and their runners have been dominant in marathons ever since the Vaporflys came out. In 2018, of the 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors, which are the 6 biggest, most renowned marathons in the world, 5 of the men’s winners and 3 of the women’s winners wore Nike shoes. Nike continued its dominance in 2019 with all 6 of the men and 4 of the women winning in Nikes. 

Other shoe companies have been going crazy trying to replicate Nike’s Vaporflys, and now in 2020, they have finally created their own carbon fiber plate based shoe. All the relevant running shoe companies, Brooks, Asics, Hoka, New Balance, Adidas, Saucony, have made their own rendition of the shoe. 

Now every sponsored, professional runner has a carbon plate based running shoe thus evening the playing field. Even amature runners can use them if they are willing to drop a sizable amount of money.

About a month ago there was a discussion within the International Association of Athletics Foundations (IAAF) about the Nike Vaporfly Next%s. The IAAF were thinking about banning the shoe from competition. Their argument came from the fact that the shoe provided an unfair advantage for runners and not all athletes had access to the shoe.

Nike’s original carbon fiber plated, ultra foam shoe claims that the shoe makes runners 4% more efficient when they hit the ground, which could translate to whopping minutes off their marathon time. But Nike, in 2019, released their second version, the Vaporfly Next% that supposedly increase efficiency anywhere from 4 to 6%. This efficiency is due to the design of the shoe. To begin, Nike used a new type of foam Pebax which is even lighter than more traditional foam and at the same time provides even more cushioning and energy return. The second part of the shoe is the carbon fiber plate which is sandwiched in the middle of the foam. The plate runs from the midfoot all the way up the forefoot. The science behind the plate is that it acts as an extension of your foot. The plate is placed under the toes and basically negates the need to use the stabilizing muscles in the toes. While the energy expended by your toe muscles seems negligible initially, over the course of the approximately 55,000 steps in a marathon that energy expended can add up. 

The Vaporfly Next%s were made for elite runners in the sense of their running gait. The most efficient way to hit the ground with your foot is landing at the midfoot to forefoot and most elite runners strike the ground that way. The geometry of the shoe made for a midfoot to forefoot runner. Also, the shoe has a very soft heel with little stability, which is crucial for a more casual runner who heel strikes. The Vaporflys have caused controversy in the running world due to Nike’s cutting edge innovations.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.