Following my enjoying a lease of Hoka shoes during a half-marathon last year, with some noticeable improvement during the race but a highly specialised design preventing its use in other circumstances, I took again advantage of a running brand offer for free trial of one of their shows. Indeed, Asics offers a 90 day trial period on their gear, provided a registration, and I tested their (top model) MetaFuji Trail shoes during our trip to Guadeloupe, both on coastal paths and hiking trails. They proved rather light, well-fitted to my feet, pretty (with a picture of Fuji-san!) and sturdy enough for a month of daily runs (with no noticeable wear), but not particularly reactive on road (where was the carbon plate!) and both unstable and slippery on rocky trails as those around Basse-Terre. In fact, I ended up the vacations with a sharp return of my hamstring pain, possibly connected with relying on that shoe the whole time (and possibly due to heavy volumes since May!) I thus cleaned the pair and sent it back when I returned home (under the 90 day limit)…
Archive for Hoka One One
Fuji [and back]
Posted in Mountains, Running, Travel with tags Asics, Basse-Terre, Fuji-san, Guadeloupe, Hoka One One, Japan, running shoes, Soufrière, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, trail running, volcanoes on September 19, 2025 by xi'anUTMB, c’est parti/andiamo!
Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Alps, Chamonix, Courmayer, France, French Alps, Hoka One One, Italian Alps, Italy, Orsières, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, trail running, ultratrail, Ultratrail du Mont Blanc, UTMB, Valais, Vale d'Aosta on August 25, 2025 by xi'an
Pegasus bridge half marathon [1:26:26, 114/5227, 1/109 M5M and first over 55]
Posted in pictures, Running, Travel with tags 1000 years, bagpipes, Caen, Courir en Normandie, D Day, glider, Hoka One One, Les Courants de la Liberté, M5M, Malherbe, Normandie, Normandy, Pegasus bridge, road race, WW II on June 22, 2025 by xi'an
Tough race when compared with last year despite good weather conditions (if quite warm), and bagpipes at the start, maybe due to overtraining. I barely managed to keep my first position in the M5M category, by a mere 2s, not that I was aware of the threat to my crown! The briefly leased Hoka One One shoes did not particularly help this time (or maybe they did!). This was my last half marathon in the M5M category (if my first race on invitation) and I am thus glad I could end up on a winning note, if not on a podium since only scratch winners are rewarded that way. Hopefully, I will get re-invited for next year.
trialing a Porsch[o]e
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel with tags Annecy, Boulogne-Billancourt, carbon plate, competition, design, detailed balance, foam protection, France, French Alps, Hoka One One, Maori language, running shoes, semi-marathon, trail running, ultramarathon on December 5, 2024 by xi'an
The running shoe company Hoka (One One) is known *among runners at least) for its oversized soles that allow more cushion than competitors. (It was created in Annecy, French Alps, for local trailers, before being bought by an American group. The name of the brand means flying on Earth in Maori.) I had never tried any of their shoes, primarily due to the cost of the fastest ones, but in the days after Marseille-Cassis, I saw an add mentioning a free return after a 30 day trial and thus decided on testing a (pricey) competition model, the Cielo X1. Advertised as the fastest in their collection (with no mention made of any car brand!)I received the package a few days prior to my Boulogne half-marathon.
The shoe is highly unusual (for me), in that its soles are far from flat and make walking with then unpleasant. (When I travelled to Boulogne, I had to jog to keep my [detailed] balance!) The design is intended for (aggressive) forefoot attack, followed by a bounce from the talon created by a massive carbon plate. The upper part is also original, with a light but tight slipper that stabilises the foot inside the shoe. When I first tried them (the day they arrived), I was most puzzled and did a first short 8km run to check I could at all run with them. And realised that even without trying, I was running at a higher pace, especially downhill. The next day, I pushed a bit harder on my 10km route and noticed the same improvement, hence got confident that I should use them for the Boulogne half-marathon. Post-race, I remain convinced them helped in keeping a below 4mn pace, if not enormously (with a 90 second gain compared with 2023), as my muscles started protesting about half-way. But the end of the race was not as dreadful as usual, possibly thanks to the shoes, possibly thanks to a higher training volume. Will I keep the shoes? At that price, I am afraid not! But this was a great experience (and I will keep looking for sales in the coming months).
