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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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* {{H:drop}}. Normally the massive drop of the Vaporfly, which I measured at 12mm, would cause me all sorts of issues when running, but I've got on surprisingly well with it. Part of this might be that the 12mm drop is reduced to 8mm when worn, and might be even less under the impact of running. I have had issues with my heel scraping during the float phase of my stride, but this is not as bad as other shoes. If I'd have had to guess at the drop (something I can generally do fairly well), I'd have put the drop at about 4-5mm. That's more than I'd like, but not problematic.
* {{H:structure}}. The structure of the Vaporfly comes from its carbon fiber plate. There doesn't appear to be any attempt to reduce pronation, and the carbon fiber plate actually seems to actively increase pronation. I have not dissected my pair, but it feels very much like the carbon fiber plate doesn't extend under the ball of the foot. Instead, it seems like the plate runs the full length of the shoe, but only under the four outside metatarsal bones. Towards the end of a marathon length training run the edge of the plate can become quite uncomfortable, and I've had some soreness from it. Under load, the ball of the foot is lower than the other four metatarsal heads, something I normally find when a shoe is worn out due to the midsole foam collapsing.<br/>[[File:Vaporfly (2).jpg|center|thumb|300px|This is the edge of the carbon fiber plate, which seems to be about the same on either side.]]<br/> [[File:Vaporfly (3).jpg|center|thumb|300px|From the side, the profile of the carbon fiber plate follows the purple line I've drawn, not the black line that you might expect.]]
* {{H:flexibility}}. The Vaporfly's carbon fiber plate obviously reduces its flexibility. It's far from the least flexible shoe I've tested, but the carbon fiber plate makes it more of a spring, where most maximally cushioned shoes tend to be rigid. As noted above, I'm surprised how little I noticed the toe off spring. I've tested the [[VKTRY Insoles]], which is an aftermarket carbon fiber plate that you can put in existing shoes. I found the benefits of VKTRY were hard to notice, but it's hard to detect things that can make a significant difference to your running performance. After all, 1% difference in running economy can be the difference between success and failure in a race, but I doubt you'd ever be able to perceive the change. The carbon fiber plate in the Vaporfly is fairly deep in the midsole, so there are no issues with it feeling hard under foot, which is a major downside to the [[VKTRY insoles]]insole.
* {{H:outsole}}. You can see the hard rubber outsole as the black areas on the sole of the Vaporfly. The outsole seems to be fairly hardwearing, and after some miles it's fairly grippy. It's not as good on gritty asphalt as the plastic nubs you get on Japanese racing shoes, but it's better than I expected. The outsole is placed so that most of the contact areas are protected, but there's still a lot of exposed midsole that's softer.
* {{H:shape}}. The Vaporfly shape doesn't match the human foot, so the toe box compresses the toes. I found the Vaporfly is not as bad as most running shoes, but it did give me toe blisters until I [[Shoe Dissection| cut open the toe box]]. {{H:TryCuttingShoes}}.<br/>[[File:Vaporfly Toe Box.jpg|center|thumb|300px|The toe box cut open.]]
File:Nike Vaporfly 200 Miles (3).jpg
File:Nike Vaporfly 200 Miles (4).jpg
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=Update After 300 Miles=
Another 300 miles have gone by quickly and pleasantly. The degradation of the Vaporfly has continued slowly, without any "falling off the cliff" that sometimes occurs. I've cleaned up the shoes a little more carefully for the photos below, and you can see that the midsole has a thin white plastic layer over the slightly more yellowed foam. The level of abrasion of the exposed midsole is surprisingly limited given the mileage. The black rubber outsole is even less abraded, and most of it looks entirely untouched. The midsole foam continues to collapse, but the collapse under the carbon fiber plate is far less than it would be without it. This means that the margin around the outside of the shoe where there's no plate is noticeably lower, and the area under the ball of my foot is depressed several millimeters. It's interesting when I swap back to "normal" running shoes. The extra support under the ball of the foot with fresh shoes is dramatic and feels really weird, but the big difference is how much I miss the spring of the Vaporfly.
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File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (6).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (7).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (1).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (2).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (3).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (4).jpg
File:Vaporfly 300 Miles (5).jpg
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=A Comparison with other Recommended Shoes=
{{:Shoes-include}}
