Midsole Bike Cleat & Running Performance

I’m still often asked if I have the cleats on my cycling shoes in the midsole position as I first reported here in January of 2007 and then followed up with more posts in December, 2007, and December, 2009. (There have also been a number of comments posted by readers which you can also find by simply doing a search—right side of home page—for “cleat.”) The answer to the question is “yes,” I still use a midsole cleat position. I have my shoes custom made by D2 Shoe to accommodate this position.

I’ve suspected for many years now that the greatest benefit of midsole cleats may actually come on the run following the bike leg in a triathlon. The reason for this line of thinking is that a midsole cleat requires less work by the calf muscles to pedal the bike thus allowing these primary mover muscles for running to be fresher when the run begins in a multisport race. Now there’s new research that supports this.

Carl Paton at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand recently sent me the abstract for his latest study which addresses this matter (Paton, C.D., T. Jardine. 2011. The effects of cycling cleat position on subsequent running performance during a simulated duathlon.) The paper is unpublished as of this writing but Carl mentioned that it would be submitted to a journal soon

In this study Paton and Jardine had 12 well-trained, competitive triathletes do 2 bike-run experiments. The bike portion was 30 minutes to be done at about 85% of VO2 max (roughly anaerobic threshold for well-trained athletes). They then immediately started a treadmill run of 5.5km at a maximal, self-paced effort. For one of the experiments they used a normal, traditional cleat placement on the cycling shoe—under the ball of the foot. For the other experimental condition they wore a shoe with a midsole cleat. The order of the experiments was randomized. (I don’t know this, but I suspect the subjects were unadapted to the midsole cleat position.)

Run times were significantly faster (2.2%) with the midsole cleat position as compared with the traditional position. Oxygen consumption was slightly but insignificantly higher in the runs following the midsole cleat experimental ride. Using more oxygen would be expected if they were running faster. There were no other significant differences or noticeable trends between metabolic variables during the cycling phase of the 2 experiments.

This is the first study I’ve seen that addressed this effect of midsole cleats on running performance. I’ll keep watching for more. If you know of any such studies please send them my way. Thanks.

Comments

[james thompson]

Re: Adam Story. I am a bike fitter working with a Morton's Neuroma client. We've had a local machinist create an elongated Speedplay platform (longer than the SP aftermarket extender). We'll let you know. My question to Joe (awesome Paleo Diet book btw) is: how does mid-sole cleating affect knee plumb line (move it back or forward, keep it the same?) James T Gainesville FL Bike Works of Jonesville

[Joe Friel]

James T--Knee stays the same relative to pedal.

[Thomas McDaniel]

Joe,
I am in the middle of getting a paper together for publication, but it will likely be a year before this happens....snails pace is the way to journal publication! "The affects of cleat placement on muscle recruitment strategies of cycling". Much cleat placement research is unfortunately fairly invalid due to too many uncontrolled variables, and too many assumptions made. The research is usually conducted by mechanical engineers with no physiology background or physiologists with no biomechanical background, and neither group have bike fitting backgrounds.
But in saying this, I must also be critical of my research in that it was a cross-sectional design and not allowing for a full adaptation period. But there is good reason for making the leap!! Regardless of metabolic responses that riders get so caught up in (which I will be addressing with PhD work, but will likely be minimal) , there are more important concepts to consider that are long-term consequences of traditional cleat locations. Most of my fit colleagues simply refuse to acknowledge this type of thinking.
Bicycles are inherently not designed to optimize the motor programs instilled in humans, nor due current cleat-pedal interfaces facilitate the most optimal anatomical function of the musculature around the hip, knee and foot. As a result, we form movement patterns that negatively affect our day-to-day lives that most of us never notice. While this will be the future of my PhD and I cannot spill the beans just yet, what I will say is the kinetic-chain response of current models promotes quad overuse. We simply cannot access the most beneficial muscles of our bodies with current cleat locations.
I believe there is a significant lack of acknowledgement of how the nervous system affects bike fit, but will be dedicating my life to pursuing not just comfort and performance, but long-term implications of muscle imbalances and negative influences on the nervous system, caused by our ignorance of it's relationship to the bike.
Thank you for all your contributions to cycling!!
Thomas McDaniel M.S. Biomechanics

[Joe Friel]

Thomas--That's great. I'm glad to see that someone is interested in pursuing this topic with research. Much needed. I'm still surprised that no shoe companies have offered such a model. I look forward to reading it some day. Please let me know if I can be of help in some way.