Depends how much you value the 4%…someone cut a toebox out of them on that there internet - some blogger guy.
I think If you make the cut, your foot may slide out, but that’s just my opinion.
Why risk knackering your toe on a training run? Wear some different shoes that fit properly!
Warning - fun police.
Before shelling out on a new pair, listen to the Clean Sport Collective podcast with Kara and Adam Goucher.
Absolutely ruins Nike.
That Kara Goucher seems to be on a mission against Nike though, to the point I think it’s almost damaging her credibility
As a good will gesture Nike have sent me a 20% discount 
Although now the marathon has past I’m not as interested in the VF4 or NEXT%. I’d like some fast and light short distance shoes (5-10km), and read good things about Streak but they’re not showing on Nike app 
. Any other alternatives?
That’s odd, they’re not even on the proper website?
I’m assuming you mean the Nike Zoom Streak 7?
Yep or the lighter version Zoom Streak LT 4.
Anyone have a rule of thumb for when they are ‘done’.
I’m not sure what I am looking for in them being worn out, or still good to go, after 100km?
(I’m slightly notorious for keeping the same pair of shoes until they have holes in so perhaps not the best judge of a used pair of trainers)
This review gives some guidance to the deterioration of the originals (pre-flyknit) in terms of pictures.
https://fellrnr.com/wiki/Nike_Vaporfly_4%25
I think it’s fair to say that the foam has optimal performance when new (or relatively new), but in his 300 mile update he still talks about “missing the spring of the vaporfly” when he switches to other shoes
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thanks - that’s really helpful
I’ve done 182km in my blue ones and They’re feel totally different to the orange ones (which have done 48km)
They feel “flat”
Deffo still have a spring, just feels like they spend more contact time on the ground.
That’s just my opinion.
The blue pair feel more like a newer pair of Zoom Flyknits.
Couple of my mates tried their new Next% at Leeds 10K today, they’ve used other flats before but not the 4% or Next%.
Both were really impressed and were faster than they’d expected, by quite a bit, although there’s no evidence to back this up of course and the placebo effect also helps, but they said the run was smooth and they were really springy.
I’ll be keeping my eye open for a discounted pair over winter but I’ve not got many target road races left so no rush.
Jeff
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I still think the Nike price is the best, as you can simply return them no questions asked.
Come Manchester marathon, I’m going to be super cheeky and get a pair to train in during the last six weeks, send them back at two weeks out, then get a race pair.
Which I’ll keep for Bolton (using my 4% for Staffs)
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i have just run an untrained 3.23 at the Mallorca Long Course weekend in the shoes…probably couldn’t have managed that without…
But i have now completed a video analysis on a runner wearing them and it changes the way she ran considerably…
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So are there still magic shoes available under £100, or is it only the 4% and NEXT models that are the legendary winged sandals of Mercury?
In what way?.. I know I need more hip and knee drive, and i’m working on it, with efforts to stop pelvic tilt, and strengthen/stretch my hip flexors, and wonder if a pair of these might help, by giving me a bit more return on my push off and pulling leg through.
it is changing the way in which her feet engage with the ground…
There didn’t look like there was much pace fade on your run JC. Do you think the shoes reduced fatigue, in the latter part of the marathon? What would you have expected your finish time to be without the magic boots?
Thanks - no, i held on quite well despite lots of fatigue from the bike…my two slower miles were both where i stopped at an aid station…
The shoes certainly worked their magic - they did however start to affect the way that i ran - very sore left Achilles and tight calf with 10 miles to go…
But without the shoes I could have been as much as a minute slower per mile…i probably would have had to have walked…
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How do you see that compromise playing out long term? Are those aches easing off quite quickly, to the point where you consider them effective race only shoes, or do you see the changes they cause as unhealthy in the long run such that you’d think twice about using them in a marathon again?
I imagine some of the issues could be solved by greater conditioning to whatever changes the shoes result in, but I imagine most of us are not in a position to run in shoes of this price all the time.