Shoes that I have worn. My impressions. Would I buy another pair?

Let’s face it. There are 100’s of shoe reviewers on the net. There are Youtube channels out there that big that they have a paid subscription for their premium content. There are elite runners and and professional people all with impressive CV’s to the like I could never hope to have.

Well after working in a Shoe shop “ALLEZ Sports” for exactly 1 week. I have come to the conclusion. As good as all those elite runners are. They really don’t have the foggiest idea what it is like to be a sub elite average shoe smoe on the larger end of what is considered to be a runner.

So what will you possibly get from looking and listening to a review from me. Well I get around on a daily basis on the low to middle range of 80 kg. I am not a fast runner. I am training for an Ironman at the moment but my long runs are done at around the 5:50 - 6:00 min per/k pace. My effort pace is 5 min/k pace. I am no gazelle. But from my limited experience there aren’t too many gazelle’s looking for a good pair of runner that will suit them.

To start this series off I am going to go through all the runners that I currently have in my rotation and the ones that I have recently retired.

So what is on the list of shoes that I will be reviewing?

2020 Hoka One One Rincon 2.

This pair is 260 km old and straight out of the box was one of my favourite shoes to run in. At $199 retail that is a pretty fair price for a light weight shoe that offers plenty of protection while still feeling responsive.

I have used this shoe purely as an everyday trainer. It has handled everything I have thrown at them well with minimal fuss. The longest run I have done in them is 22 km and living in the Sunshine coast during summer much of my running is in heavy rain and running through large puddles of water. The shoe’s main draw back for me was that it doesn’t drain water very well and the ample heel counter takes quite a bit to dry.

They are a very comfortable shoe and great to run in. However they do wear quite quickly. This is where being a heavier guy shows as by the time I hit 150 km in these shoes the sole was quite scuffed and now at 260 km there is significant wear. It however doesn’t seem to affected its ride quality and I still feel the shoe is offering the similar comfort and support as it did on day one.

My foot feels secure in the shoe and doesn’t move around a lot. I use a heel lock lacing pattern and I find for training this eliminates most foot slippage and save the toe nails a bit more.

I take a size 11 US in Hoka and this shoes fits me true to size.

I will attempt to score the shoes in different categories.

Fit: 6/10 I felt the toe box is quite narrow. I have a very narrow foot and I had trouble getting comfortable wearing Injinji socks and even standard socks I still felt my little toe getting squashed in a bit I ended up with a blister between my big toe a few times in standard socks. But the main body of the shoe is great with the lacing being snug and easy to adjust.

Weight: 8/10 Given the size of the sole. This shoe is surprisingly light.

Run feel: 7/10 It is a no nonsense shoe that can do everything from the long run to tempo efforts. I would not be surprised to see this on quite a few feet in Ironman races.

Durability: 5/10 They wore out way too quickly. The rubber placement on the sole is sparse to save weight. I’d like to see a little more to get a few more K’s out of them.

Comfort: 7/10 Other than the toe box this is a comfortable shoe that fits my feet well.

Overall Verdict: 6.6/10 I really liked these shoes when I first got them. But with the sole wearing so quickly the shine literally wore off pretty quickly. That said they are a great shoe as a trainer to even Ironman race day for people looking for a bit more protection with out adding a lot of weight to the shoe like its big brother the Hoka Bondi. A little extra rubber on the sole would pick the verdict up quickly and a bigger toe box similar to that on the Clifton and I think I would almost certainly be running in these in my next Ironman.

NIKE NEXT% TEMPO

I’ll say straight off the bat. I probably shouldn’t have bought these shoes. They are a high performance shoe for as the name suggests fast tempo runs. My problem is that my tempo runs are slower than good runners slow runs. But I bought then anyway and I must say I enjoy running in them. They do feel like a light fast responsive shoe that is surprisingly comfortable under foot. The shoes in the picture have 180 km on them and as you can see in the picture the tread pattern still has lots of life left in them. I have seen the AIR ZOOM pads lose pressure however on shoes with only 250 km on them.

I have used these shoes on longer tempo runs and also for some threshold or Zone 4 efforts. They love to go fast and when you are up on the fore foot where the AIR ZOOM pad is the shoe really feels like a highly tunes sports car. AS you can see on the heel there is a decent amount of rubber on the sole so you can get away with heel striking.

There are in my opinion quite a few down sides to these runnners, they detract on what I feel detract from what could be a near perfect shoe for long distance triathlon.

The lacing system is poor at best, abysmal at worst. with only 4 eyelets to clamp down with, I find I have to over tighten the remaining laces to get s snug feel and because of the way they are set up I am unable to do a heel lock and as such I find that I get a bit of foot slippage and can cause some discomfort in toes.

The rubberised sole while being sturdy and good wearing has a real problem on wet surfaces. I have nearly had my feet slip from under me a couple of times. Going around corners can be a little treacherous in the wet so be careful.

Score Time

Fit. 6/10 This fit well length wise but I found due to the lacing system and my narrow foot getting a good snug feel on the shoe very hard to achieve with out actually feeling each lace pulling in to me.

Weight. 8/10 While I don’t have a set of scales. These shoes feel light and for the amount of padding through out they are as light as you need them.

Durability. 8/10 for me these things are lasting sensationally. There is lots of tread left on the sole and the mid sole still has plenty f pop in it.

Comfort. 6/10Due to the lacing system I find the comfort is let down quite a bit. IF it were purely how comfortable is the mid sole to walk around on it would be a 9/10 for sure. I do how ever find as with the Zoom Fly 3’s there is no stability in the heel of the shoe at all and if you are a bit fatigued at the end of a race and start heel striking a rolled ankle is a real possibility.

Overall verdict. 7/10 If this shoe fixed the wet weather grip issues and put a few more lace holes in it. I think I would almost certainly use these for my race day shoe for an Ironman. The plushness of the shoe and forgiveness on the sole make it a great option to go long in. Especially if your budget wont stretch to the Nike Vapour Flys or you just don’t want a carbon plated shoes.

Hoka One One Clifton 7

My current Clifton’s the ones shown below are just on 150 km old. It had been a while since m last pair of Clifton’s and I forgot just how comfortable they were to run in. At $239 retail that is a pretty fair price for a shoe that is reasonably light that offers this much protection to your feet and still likes as an older long course triathlete can do all of the faster interval sessions that gets thrown my way.

It has handled everything I have thrown at them well with no fuss at all and have really been a joy to run in. The longest run I have done in them is 28 km. They were a dream to run in over that distance and as far as being comfortable during the last 5 km where in other shoes I have felt pretty beat up my legs were actually quite fresh which I realise is a lot to do with training but at the feet level my feet had no hot spots or discomfort what so ever.

As far as their wear life so far so good, with the mid sole show some wear but over all they are holding up really well and I can see these shoes comfortably handling over 400 km of life.

The lock down of the Clifton is great. The new heel counter feels magic on my feet. I have super narrow feet and often struggle to get a shoe to lock in properly with out nearly pinching the shoe closed at the lace holes. But in these my foot feels secure in the shoe and doesn’t move around at all. This shoe size on this one is a size 11 normal width and it feels right.

Clifton score card.

Fit: 8/10 I felt the toe box fits me nicely. I can comfortably wear my Injinji toe socks and not feel like my toes are getting squished together. The main body of the shoe is awesome with the lacing being snug and firm with no pressure spots.

Weight: 8/10 The Clifton has a substantial sole but given this the shoe is actually really quite light.

Run feel: 8/10 It is a no nonsense shoe that can do everything from the long run to tempo efforts. This is the catch all shoe that suits nearly every one unless you are a very heavy pronator that needs a lot of help protection yourself.

Durability: 8/10 So far these shoes seem great. At 150 km I can see these shoes lasting at least 400 km. Which for me is a huge number considering I am a heavier runner that tends to beat shoes up quickly.

Comfort: 10/10 I honestly can’t fault these shoes for comfort. I can wear them for anything from running my long runs to working on my feet for long periods of time.

Overall Verdict: 8.4/10 I really, really like these shoes. They can be used for everything from an everyday trainer through to Ironman race day for people looking for a bit more protection with out adding a ton of weight to the shoe. They don’t have the pop of the Carbon Soled shoes but they aren’t designed to have that so that really is an unfair comparison. I expect to see more than a few of these out on course at my next Ironman race.

Hoka One One Caron X

My Carbon x’s the ones shown below are just on 385 km old. Yep that’s right 385 km. This is one of Hoka’s race offerings with a carbon sole and it has lasted an 80 kg plus triathlete for almost 400 kilometres already and quite frankly, they are still great to run in. These shoes when they came out were $289 retail, significantly less than Nike Vapour Fly’s. This shoe again was likely too good of a shoe for someone my pace. But you know us all the gear and no idea types. Well we have all the gear and NO IDEA. To my credit though I bought these shoes knowing full well they weren’t going to magically transform me in to the next Jan Frodeno.

I have seen the reviews done on this shoe from other running blogs and video channels and many of them were mixed at best. But the big thing I noticed on all the less favourable reviews they were generally from relatively light people and pure runners. For me. As a middle aged on the heavy side long course triathlete I have to say I loved these shoes. There is plenty of padding under foot, but light and comfortable.

I raced my 4th Ironman in the Carbon X’s and even though it wasn’t my fastest run. Taupo Run course is a lot more challenging than Cairns for a bigger bloke. It was the first Ironman that I had completed where my feet weren’t destroyed for the next week or so. Previous races have kept my up at night with the level of foot pain post race. Wearing the Carbon x shoes I had no foot pain the following day, which is a big plus in my mind. I have over the last 3 months also been running in them for some longer Brick runs in training and again they just take everything that I have thrown at them and I have never had any foot or calf issues whilst wearing them.

As far as their wear life as I previously mentioned. Nearly 400 kilometres already and even though there is some evident wear in the outer sole they still feel great to run in and will continue to use them for the foreseeable future for some faster tempo sessions and again more brick runs.

The lock down in these is great, with the caveat that as they are my triathlon race shoes they do have elastic laces in them. My foot always feels secure in the shoe when compared to previous shoes I have worn where I would invariably get blisters because the shoe wold move around on my foot due to not being able to get the elastic laces tight enough with out cutting circulation off. The new heel counter is quite flimsy to help reduce weight and I have heard of people haing issues with blisters from them but I have never had any dramas with mine. I wold say that the main draw back with these shoes is that the toe box is quite small and I have to wear a thinner sock to make sure I can give my toes a bit of room. This shoe size on this one is a size 11 normal width and it feels right.

The Carbon X has since been superseded by the Carbon X2 and is on special in the shops and on the Hoka Australia Website. I have seen them for as low as $199. I can tell you honestly if your local shoe shop has a set in your size and you don’t mind Hoka. This is a cheap pair of race Carbon plated shoes that will last you for ages and be a great shoe in your rotation.

Carbon X score card.

Fit: 7.5/10 The main body of the shoe is awesome with the lacing being snug and firm with no pressure spots. The only real negative from my perspective is the toe box is too small and my toes can get a bit of rubbing occasionally that can cause some blistering.

Weight: 7.5/10 The Caron X is quite a light weight shoe, for the same size shoe as my pair of Clifton’s according to my scales they are 100 grams lighter. The Carbon X was never designed to be an ultra light marathon race shoe to go up against the Nike Super shoes. It was always meant to be more of an ultra endurance shoe more for ultra road marathons and for Ironman marathons where you carry more fatigue in to the run and need a shoe with more forgiveness in it.

Run feel: 9/10 I love running in this shoe. It is comfortable, yet light and lively enough for a guy my weight where I can feel like a racer and not get beat up by a shoe that can’t support me in the closing stages of the marathon in an Ironman.

Durability: 10/10 So far these shoes seem great. At nearly 400 km out of a race shoe. There would be no other race shoe come anywhere close to the life I have gotten from these shoes. Again I have used these often tipping the scales at 85 kg yet here they are still performing well.

Comfort: 8/10 The only fault these shoes for comfort is the toe box being too small. By the way this has been rectified in the X2. I will be reviewing them after Ironman Cairns. For the Carbon X though I can wear them for anything from running my long runs to racing 1/2 to full marathons coming off a hard bike with zero issues from soreness from my feet.

Overall Verdict: 8.4/10 I love these shoes. They can be used for everything from a fast tempo run trainer through to Ironman race day. If the shop I go to had a pair of these in my size for $199.I would already have another pair of these sitting in the cupboard waiting for my current pair to wear out one day. If you can find a pair on special and they suit your foot. My opinion you’d be mad no to buy them.