I’m really tempted to try Hokas, but the price tag is a bit high still. Really want to write them up!

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I have no desire to try them but I wonder if HOKAs work because there’s so much cushioning that they’re more resistant to compression along the edge of the midsole.
Maybe the problem with neutral cushioned shoes for some people is the
steep heel-to-toe offset combined with cushioning that is just plentiful and soft enough
to be “unstable”. The HOKA does have a fairly low drop that’s similar to minimalist shoes.

I think you might be on to something. I’ve been running in the Hokas for a few months now, and I have several hundred miles on them. It’s a weird ride at first. They feel like they have both elements of stability and instability at the same time. I wore orthotics for years, and yet I don’t need them in the Hokas. Also, I suffered from achilles tendonitis that was getting debilitating, and now it seems to be clearing up. I’ve gone from 3 days per week to 5 days running. I perceive more of a forefoot strike, although as we know what you perceive or believe about your footstrike is rarely true. My feet has always been sensitive and react badly when the mileage gets up to about 30 miles per week. I’ve tried all of the known brands and styles of shoes. I just about wrecked my feet in Nike Frees. From the recent minimalist movement, excessive cushioning seems to have been demonized. But maybe the current crop of shoes is simply implementing cushioning wrongly. Perhaps the Hoka way of doing cushioning is the correct implementation. And it looks like New Balance has got a Hoka clone on the way. We shall see.

Amazing, isn’t it! Lots of runners wearing them at the VT100.

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Pete Larson’s Web Links:
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HOKA have marketed themselves really effectively in the ultra scene in the past year. I personally find them hideous, both to look at and conceptually.

I do wonder if they are selling to a those that wants a quick and easy solution to foot discomfort. Going the minimalist route by contrast specifically is about increased ground feel and requires foot and low leg strengthening.

Long term I can’t help but feel the HOKA runners are going to become weaker, less coordinated and more injured because of the lack of quality feedback.

While short term (first few years) the minimalist will probably be the ones suffering more during transition, but longer term should be better off.

People can debate this all they want, but all I know is that people like Anton Krupicka don’t heel strike, and going the minimal, barefoot-style route has taken me from being a really shitty runner to a much better one who can run a lot farther with no discomfort.

Yes, no sock. I lean toward calf because a good soleus stretch usually eases the ache immediately.
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They are not the Frankenstein shoes people think they are. The heel drop is only 4mm. On the trails and street they really are fatigue sparing. At 11.5 oz, I do wish they were lighter. I’d love to see a Kinvara-weight Hoka with zero drop.

I have actual thought about the possibility that a largely rigid sole with significant rocker built into the shoe might be good for alleviating stress on the plantar fascia. I believe this will be because the toes will never flex significantly late on stance, and the rocker the center of pressure on the foot would stay further aft late on stance.

The HOKA fits this model of shoe quite well, the foot is effect isolated from the ground and the normal motions and loading we’d place on our feet.

While the HOKA might alleviate the stress on the plantar fascia and allow one to keep running. Allowing a foot to have a relative rest may help helping in the short term.

With a longer term injury I believe one would need to actively stress the plantar fascia to encourage strengthening of the plantar fascia. This looks to be what helped you overcome you plantar fascia problems.

For me resting up doesn’t seem to help too much, and doing too many up hills and steep descents causes a regression so I’m trying to slow increase the amount of hills and the stimulus for adaptation.

So if heel-toe drop in footwear is such a significant factor in foot strike, then a foot strike study that doesn’t take footwear into account isn’t very meaningful in my opinion.

It looks like they were measuring other things as well, but as far as looking at foot strike without considering footwear, it just seems pointless.