Vaporfly 2 vs Alphafly 2 for Marathon

Hello,

This weekend I will run the London Marathon, aiming to improve my PB of 2:42. I am 1.80m and 60kg. I'm by nature a forefoot striker, I.e. my heel basically never touches the ground.

I have both a pair of new Vaporfly 2 and Alphafly 2 shoes from a big Nike Sale last year. I also had some old Vaporflys and Alphaflys that I used in training.

In training, both shoes felt good and I could not see a measurable difference in performance. I probably had a slightly better feeling in the Vaporfly. It feels faster and more reactive, while the Alphafly almost has a bit too much cushioning for my taste and feels heavier. However, it provides more stability and is softer on the legs, while the Vaporfly is quite hard. So I'm not sure how the final 7km will feel here. My advantage is that I'm not that heavy with 60kg.

Does anyone here have experiences with these two shoes and any recommendations? Not sure if either of these shoes has particular advantages compared to the other for forefoot strikers.

I feel that the elite runners have slightly shunned the Alphafly 2. Many runners used the Vaporfly 2 when the Alphafly 2 was already available. But obviously Kipchoge ran the world record in them, so it can't be that bad.

MarathonBen wrote:
Hello,
This weekend I will run the London Marathon, aiming to improve my PB of 2:42. I am 1.80m and 60kg. I'm by nature a forefoot striker, I.e. my heel basically never touches the ground.
I have both a pair of new Vaporfly 2 and Alphafly 2 shoes from a big Nike Sale last year. I also had some old Vaporflys and Alphaflys that I used in training.
In training, both shoes felt good and I could not see a measurable difference in performance. I probably had a slightly better feeling in the Vaporfly. It feels faster and more reactive, while the Alphafly almost has a bit too much cushioning for my taste and feels heavier. However, it provides more stability and is softer on the legs, while the Vaporfly is quite hard. So I'm not sure how the final 7km will feel here. My advantage is that I'm not that heavy with 60kg.
Does anyone here have experiences with these two shoes and any recommendations? Not sure if either of these shoes has particular advantages compared to the other for forefoot strikers.
I feel that the elite runners have slightly shunned the Alphafly 2. Many runners used the Vaporfly 2 when the Alphafly 2 was already available. But obviously Kipchoge ran the world record in them, so it can't be that bad.

I've worn both mostly for testing/evaluation purposes - so not for a super high amount of miles, but enough to give you a POV.

I really don't like the AF compared to the VF. It is as you said heavier, and to be quite honest it's overbuilt. The resiliency of the airbag doesn't even match that of the straight zoom X and it just loses efficiency and feel with all the extra layers (including cement). I worked for a brand that tested both in running economy and the VF was just over a percent more efficient/economical than the AF.

At 60kg and your level of ability (which is really high) I doubt you would be having too many issues with the VF in the final kilometers of a marathon - especially when compared to what you probably ran in for years prior to this evolution in footwear.

As for Kipchoge and the AF? Well don't believe everything you see. Yes he was wearing a makeup of that shoe in Vienna/Austria - but it was vastly different (think foam, plates and even the airbag) to what we can buy in stores and online. Go with the Vape.

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