Why the Hoka? Part Two: Reviewed

In the last post, I went over some of the reasons the Hoka exists, as well as how it fits into current trends in running shoes. Here, I'll relate some impressions from my own experience.

Of the two pairs of Hokas that I own, I mostly use the Stinson Tarmac. The other shoes I currently run in are Saucony Kinvaras. The picture below gives an idea of the difference in construction, with the Kinvaras clearly much, much thinner.

Hoka Stinson Tarmac, left, toe to toe with Saucony Kinvara.

When I put my Hokas on for the first time, they felt, as you might expect, pretty odd. Having more EVA foam than I was used to between my foot and the ground meant that my foot could flex more, even when I was standing still. All the little micro-corrections my foot was making had to be amplified, because the foam soaked up a bit of each movement. If you've ever stood on one of those half-Bosu balls at the gym, it reminded me a little bit of that.

The shoe itself, however, wasn't moving at all. The sole is quite flat and wide from side to side, and the foam wraps up and around the bottom of your heel, so it's a stable shoe, despite being tall. Also, the upper has very little stretch, so I felt well locked-in.

The sole of my Stinson Tarmac. Mostly rubber-coated

A few years ago, I spent quite a bit of time changing my running form away from a heel strike. I now strike mid-foot, and having a shoe that allows me to do that is important to me. The Saucony Kinvaras that I mentioned before have 4mm of drop from heel to toe. That's pretty small, and it's very easy to strike mid-foot when I wear them. Running in the Hokas feels, in that way, quite similar to running in my Kinvaras. The drop from heel to toe is 6mm in the Stinson Tarmac (and less in some of Hoka's other shoes). It's close enough that I can keep my running form the same. If I focus. More on that in a moment.

The sole of my Kinvara. A little foam and not much else.

Where the Hokas do differ significantly from any other shoe I've used is in my tactile perception of the ground. I'm used to knowing how hard I'm landing and how hard I'm pushing off while I run, based on how hard it feels like I'm pushing off and landing. Running in Hokas, that feeling is muted by all the cushioning.

So, you ask, is that good or bad?

Well, I didn't enjoy it very much at first. After my first Hoka run, I found some of my old leg problems starting to crop up again - especially a pain in the back of my knee that I associate with overextending my leg while I run. After thinking it over, I suspected that I had been overextending my leg because I was trying to get the same feeling of solid pressure against the ground that I'm used to getting in my other shoes. All that cushioning was getting between me and the ground, so I was launching myself with each step and ruining whatever good running form I've managed to scratch together over the last few years.

With that suspicion in mind, I tried again. This time, I focused more on leg movement, deliberately ignoring my feet, and it went just fine - I felt no strange pains afterward. Since then, I've gotten used to how it feels when I'm running properly in the Stinsons and I don't have to focus on good form so much. And I have kept on running in them.


Finally: Things I like and don't like.


There are some things I particularly like about running in Hokas versus my Kinvaras. Because of all that beautiful cushioning, I can run farther without my feet feeling bruised. If I take a break to walk or stretch, the first few steps afterward aren't a ginger easing back into the running groove.

I like that they're a stable shoe (again, despite how tall they are). I've never felt like I was about to roll an ankle going around a corner or stepping off a curb.

If I were to draw one mark against them, it would be that they aren't nearly as lively as my Kinvaras. This also has to do with how much cushion the Hokas have. The Kinvaras are much more nimble for short, fast runs. I do feel like a little bit of power is absorbed by the Hokas' cushion along with all that impact absorption, so I don't use them for short runs (like the last-minute run before work or bedtime).

I think Hoka makes a fantastic shoe for what I call my "endurance trot" (because for anything over a certain distance, I believe "trot" more accurately describes what I do than "run"). At that speed, I don't need nimble shoes, I need something that lets me keep running.