Feeling the trail: physiological and affective responses to a prolonged trail run with advanced footwear technology foam

While trail running has seen the growing use of advanced footwear technologies (AFT), most scientific investigations have evaluated shoes in laboratory settings under non-fatigued conditions. This study compared the effect of two footwear foams on running economy and affective responses before and after a prolonged trail run, as well as their impact on performance. Fourteen trained male trail runners completed two sessions with shoes allocated in a randomized and counterbalanced order. The two shoes tested differed in their foam proprieties with the AFT foam being softer, more compliant and resilient than the traditional foam. Each session involved a 90-minute trail run performed at a clamped rate of perceived exertion of 14/20. Running economy, affective valence and arousal were assessed pre- and post-prolonged run. Performance was assessed as the distance completed during the task. No differences in running economy or affective responses were observed between the two footwear conditions before and after the prolonged run. No difference independent of timing were identified for affective valence and running economy, although a tendency for higher pleasure was reported with the AFT foam (p = 0.088). Similarly, no differences in distance covered were found between shoes conditions. However, exploratory analysis revelated an interaction effect between speed and footwear across time, with better speed preservation from the first to the last loop with the AFT foam. The prolonged trail run induced significant physiological (increased VO₂, HR, RER) and affective (lower valence, increased arousal) changes, reflecting fatigue-induced shifts in metabolic and affective states. While the shoes did not induce changes in running economy in a field setting, they may offer benefits in terms of running experience and fatigue preservation.