I have written about shoes once earlier, where I listed down some main things to consider when picking the running shoes, you can find it here.

What are the differences of running shoes and training shoes, and when to use them?

Like the name say, racing shoes are designed for racing, when speaking the road races, such as marathon, these shoes can be 100-200g lighter than normal training shoes. They are designed for minimal support as all extra cushioning add weights. 100-200g weight doesn’t sound much, but it can make huge different when racing long distance and amount of step are a few tens of thousands.

If you have pronation/supination or need any extra support while running don’t use racing shoes. They are worth to try, but don’t try them the first time during the race. Do couple long training run and if you feel okay, you might consider to use them in the race. Again remember if you feel any discomfort or your pronation is severe racing shoes might lead the injuries.

It’s recommended use racing shoes, when racing or when doing fast quality session, otherwise use training shoes, as they support more feet. If you are slower runner or overweight don’t use racing shoes, as it can lead injuries and they won’t probably even offer any advantages to you.

Many shoes brands have nowadays, performance shoes, which are somewhere between racing and training shoes, these shoes are lighter than training shoes, but have more support and cushioning than racing shoes. These are a good option for marathon race. I personally recommended use racing shoes if you are fast runner without any problems like pronation. So let’s say you are sub 3:00 marathoner and seeking a new PB, go for it and test. If you are a slightly slower or need a little bit support try performance shoes. Sub 4:00-4:30 and slower can run marathon training shoes, as they provide better support. Often slower marathoners take more time to recover to marathon as they spend more time to run it. Their number of steps are higher so they experience impact of the ground multiple times.