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In this week's episode we sit down with New Balance Research Engineer, Ben Hazelwood, to discuss what goes into testing and evaluating some of the best shoes on the market. We reference a few different studies in this conversation and we've linked them here:
Papers on modeling marathon performances by Michael Joyner:
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1991.70.2.683
https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-2539-1381
Paper about foot strike and response to super shoes:
https://www.ovid.com/jnls/acsm-msse/abstract/10.1249/mss.0000000000003411~the-influence-of-super-shoes-and-foot-strike-pattern-on
An abstract from Ben's master’s:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19424280.2025.2489682#d1e145
Getting Technical with Russell Wells
Carbon Plated and Elated: The Super Shoe Revolution
The "Truth" about racing with Sam Truax
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Check out more of our shoe specials here:
Getting Technical with Russell Wells
Carbon Plated and Elated: The Super Shoe Revolution
The "Truth" about racing with Sam Truax
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🎧 Created, Written, Edited, and Produced by hosts: Francis Criscione & Brian Coven
🎙️ Guest: Ben Hazelwood
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"49: New Balance Nation with Ben Hazelwood" is an episode of The Zone 2 Podcast. Runtime 50 min. Published May 27, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.