person wearing grey nike sneakers

Running with Hoka

I have been running regularly for almost 2 years now. Below is my experience running with different Hoka shoes.

Hoka Arahi 6

Hoka Arahi 6
Hoka Arahi 6

These were my first “proper” running shoes, recommended by Ashish. Before this, I was running with very cheap shoes and suffering from constant ankle pain. Running with Hoka Arahi 6 completely solved the ankle pain problem.

However, I forgot to replace them in time, ran almost 800 km in them and the ankle pain came back. So I decided to replace them with another Hoka.

Hoka Bondi X

Hoka Bondi X
Hoka Bondi X

My first choice was to buy the same shoe yet again, but then I saw a huge discount on Hoka carbon plated shoes and decided to “upgrade” my shoes.

The first impression of carbon plated shoes is that they are completely stiff and it is impossible to bend them with your hands.

Running with the Hoka Bondi X is an experience in contradiction. Running in carbon plated shoes feels like running downhill; the boost provided by the carbon plate is noticeable instantly.

6K Run Hoka Arahi 66K Run Hoka Bondi X
Hoka Arahi 6 vs Bondi X 6 km stats
Splits with Hoka Arahi 6Splits with Hoka Bondi X
Hoka Arahi 6 vs Bondi X 6 km splits

As you can see, the Bondi X shaved off full 2 minutes from my 6K run, which is nothing to sneeze at.

The other side of the contradiction is that the Bondi X are so soft, it feels like running through molasses. Even 1km into my run, my calves and thighs felt like they were on fire.

Surely, when I do a heart rate comparison between my last Arahi 6 6K run and my first Bondi X 6K run, I see that I spent significantly more time in the upper zones.

Heart Rate 6K Hoka Arahi 6Heart Rate 6K Hoka Bondi X
Hoka Arahi 6 vs Bondi X 6 km heart rate

After a few runs, the shoes became noticeably less soft, but they still remained difficult to run in. Soon, I also started getting soreness in my knees, so just after 100km, I decided to replace them again.

Hoka Clifton 9

Hoka Clifton 9
Hoka Clifton 9

These were my third Hokas. Unlike the Bondi, these immediately felt more responsive while running, but not as much as the Arahi. I did miss the boost provided by the carbon plate, but the burning in my calves caused by the Bondi was gone. And the good part is, they have been holding up and not degrading over the past few months.

6K Run Hoka Clifton 9
6K Run Hoka Clifton 9
Splits with Hoka Clifton 9
Splits with Hoka Clifton 9

It couldn’t match the lap times of the Bondi-X but at least I didn’t feel like I should stop running, anymore.


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2 thoughts on “Running with Hoka”

  1. I(rather my mom) also found them as good pair of shoes. I on other hand enjoy a pair of Brooks. In Sydney there is an outet called Athletes foot who recomended us these shoes based on our style of walking. Check if you got some similar store in Thailand.

Talk to the dawg, yo

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