000168393 001__ 168393
000168393 005__ 20260204153544.0
000168393 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.3389/fphys.2025.1713902
000168393 0248_ $$2sideral$$a147833
000168393 037__ $$aART-2025-147833
000168393 041__ $$aeng
000168393 100__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-9191-9033$$aMuñiz-Pardos, Borja$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000168393 245__ $$aAdvanced footwear technology in well-trained athletes: methodological insights from outdoor running
000168393 260__ $$c2025
000168393 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted
000168393 5203_ $$aBackground: Advanced footwear technology (AFT) is reported to elicit an approximate 4% average improvement in running economy (RE). However, a large inter-individual variability remains unexplained, and limited research examined the impact of AFT during outdoor running. The aim was to compare the physiological, biomechanical and perceptual responses of 36 well-trained athletes to running outdoors using three different AFT and a traditional racing shoe.
Methods: Thirty-six well-trained athletes (19 males and 17 females) had their maximal aerobic capacity (
˙
V
O2max) and anaerobic threshold (AT) determined in laboratory conditions and were familiarised to the different shoe running conditions. Within 7 days, athletes ran 4 × 6 min running bouts, paced outdoors at 95% of their individual AT with 10 min recovery, in three different AFT conditions and a traditional flat. Oxygen uptake (
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V
O2), heart rate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), lactate, shoe perception, and biomechanical responses were compared between the four running trials.
Results: No differences were observed in the RE between shoe conditions, with a great inter-individual variability (range: 12% impairment to 14% improvement in RE). This variability was accompanied by a significant
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V
O2 order effect across exercise bouts (bout 2 lower than one [-1.1 mL/kg/min, p = 0.002]; bout 3 lower than 2 [-0.8 mL/kg/min, p = 0.027]; no differences between bouts 3 and 4). This variability was likely due to methodological issues such as one squared-wave RE measurement per shoe condition or the lack of a mirrored experimental design, among others. There was no order effect in other physiological or biomechanical variables. No significant differences were found in lactate, heart rate or rate of perceived exertion between running trials. Biomechanical responses to the different shoe conditions were also highly variable. One of the advanced AFT shoes showed a greater strike angle (+2.07°; p = 0.001), with no other significant differences between shoes conditions.
Conclusion: The large variability in the physiological response to AFT may be explained by methodological considerations. A minimum of two-bout RE measurements, the use of a mirrored order, a sufficient familiarisation with shoes and experimental designs, among other considerations, seem crucial to enhance the ecological validity and reduce data variability.
000168393 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/S72-23R
000168393 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es
000168393 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
000168393 700__ $$aAngeloudis, Konstantinos
000168393 700__ $$aZelenkova, Irina
000168393 700__ $$aGuppy, Fergus M.
000168393 700__ $$aMarco-Contreras, Luis A.
000168393 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-0520-1640$$aGomez-Bruton, Alejandro$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000168393 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-0137-9900$$aLozano-Berges, Gabriel$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000168393 700__ $$aPitsiladis, Yannis
000168393 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-7215-6931$$aCasajus, Jose A.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza
000168393 7102_ $$11006$$2245$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Fisiatría y Enfermería$$cÁrea Educación Física y Depor.
000168393 773__ $$g16 (2025), [14 pp.]$$pFront. physiol.$$tFrontiers in physiology$$x1664-042X
000168393 8564_ $$s2310077$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/168393/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada
000168393 8564_ $$s2418666$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/168393/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada
000168393 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:168393$$particulos$$pdriver
000168393 951__ $$a2026-02-04-13:15:08
000168393 980__ $$aARTICLE