Hoka - EVO Speedgoat

I have and not a great fit unfortunately. Still a little tight in the midfoot. I’m sure they’d break in fine, but wasn’t my glass slipper out of the box lol

good eye! Yes. they did well during the race. when I switched to the Speedgoats at mile 50 is when my feat started to hurt. maybe that was the speed goats, maybe it would have happened anyway. I don't know. but my feeet were feeling pretty good for the first 50 in the Mafate X.

I’ve run my last two pairs of Challengers into the ground. Probably a bit too much with my last pair at almost 1,400k! I have had bad “luck” with my previous Speedgoats where the inside of the back of one felt really odd and rubbed against my Achilles loads. No issues with a newer pair. My latest Challengers feel a bit less tight on my feet but maybe I need to change my lacing.  That happening twice to you doesn’t just feel like bad luck though. 

I’m on my third pair of Hoka Challengers as they’re great for the majority of what I do, with a pair of Speedgoats for harder terrain. They last pretty well too with my most recent ones going for 1,200k before I retired them and I still use them for walking.  (I’m not a Hoka fanboy but whenever I’ve been into a shop to try new shoes, I’ve still always preferred these ones). 

I have a love/hate relationship with Hoka. I've had two amazing pairs of Challengers and a pair of Speedgoats but I've also had a pair of each I've had to ditch because of severe rubbing on my Achilles. Same size and fit as what I've had before so can't find any reason for it. But I've yet to find shoes I like better than those models.

I use goretex running shoes as my daily walking / running shoes on rainy and snowy days. It used to be Adidas Supernova, which had amazing grip and survived for a long time until the midsole snapped in half. Then Hierro v6 which were super comfy, but started showing wear and tear of the upper after only 6 months. I moved to hoka speedgoats, which are not known for their durability, but I found 2 pairs in price of 1, so I thought a set would last me long enough. Indeed the vibram lugs after 18 months of using mostly on hard surfaces were destroyed on one side. And that may happen in general to trail shoes with big lugs instead of more asphalt oriented outsole. Despite some opinions, their traction on wet or icy asphalt is very good. The only specific situation when they turn into slipgoats is when I come from very low temperature and step on wet concrete like puddles of melted snow in a garage. There is yet another option. Couple of years ago my wife bought herself Reebok Work n Cushion. They were quite comfy, ridicuosly cheap and simple oldschool shoes. There are other brands making shoes for work. Something like Hoka transport, which can have interesting upper with its cordura lining plus the rich midsole.

Ah, thanks. Good additional info there! I tend to keep a few different shoes in my drop bags or with my crew during the really long races. I've found that really high stack shoes (Speegoats, Zegamas for me) work well early in the race, but as my muscles fatigue, my form degrades, and my turnover starts to suffer, I want a little bit less shoe. The big stack shoes make me stumble and trip! When that becomes a problem, I go down to a smaller stack shoe. Like most things shoe related, I think you'll have to experiment a bit. Over the years, I've grown further and further toward using exclusively high stack shoes both training and racing. I've been testing out different stack heights in training more recently, simply to remind myself that other options exist and can work in the right situation. If you feel like your shoes might be holding you back, give a new strategy a try.

I saw lots of Speedgoats when I did it. If the Matafe are pretty much the same, go with them. Or just buy another pair of Speedgoats.

Never waterproof, they don’t breathe as well and if they get wet inside they take significantly longer to dry. There’s a very narrow set of conditions where they’re useful. Trail runners > boots, the majority of boots just don’t provide any meaningful ankle support. If you want to see boots that actually have decent support you can look at mountaineering boots, but you wouldn’t want to hike in those. The “meta” has definitely shifted to trail runners. I’m partial to Hoka Speedgoats but visiting an REI or a specialized running store will help you get fitted.

Hoka Speed Goat On my 4th pair. I have had the waterproof ones and the regular.

Altra LP's are quick-drying. My problem with them is that while they're super comfy have a pretty shallow footbed, my feet/ankles would ache after a long day on rough terrain, backpacking with about 35lbs. I've since switched to Hoka Speedgoats and all that is a distant memory. Super cushy, excellent grip with the Vibrams, and they're okay at drying out, though not as good as the LPs. No, they won't last forever but the payback in end-of-the-day comfort is huge to me.

I had the aching feet with the LP4s and moved to Hoka Speedgoats and never looked back. I can hike all day with the softer Hokas and my feet never ache like they did with the Altras. I occasionally wear my LP4s around the house and yeah, I do miss the airy toe box, but functionally, I don't think I'm missing anything with the Hokas.

I use Speedgoats for almost all my hiking and backpacking; I have pairs of both non-Goretex and Goretex, and the Goretex ones are only used in the real wet conditions, or when I'm out and about on a rainy day doing errands or yard work. If it's snow/slush/excessive mud, I'll move up to Salomon 4D GTX boots and usually gaiters.

The first trip I did with Hoka Speedgoats was a 26 mile backpacking trip, in the rain. They weren't waterproof (not really necessary with trailrunners, even in the Pacific Northwest). They were fabulous. No foot problems despite them being wet for the 5 hour trail. Hokas are super popular, as are Topo Athletics, Altra, Brooks, Salomon, though each definitely has its own fit characteristics. I've gone from boots to Salomons to Altras to Hokas.

The first trip I did with Hoka Speedgoats was a 26 mile backpacking trip, in the rain. They weren't waterproof (not really necessary with trailrunners, even in the Pacific Northwest). They were fabulous. No foot problems despite them being wet for the 5 hour trail. Hokas are super popular, as are Topo Athletics, Altra, Brooks, Salomon, though each definitely has its own fit characteristics. I've gone from boots to Salomons to Altras to Hokas.

Same; trailrunners 98% of the time unless I'm snowshoeing or on super wet/muddy/slushy conditions, of if I'm going to do a lot of side-hilling over loose scree where my feet/ankles/lower legs might be imperiled by moving ground/rocks. I just did 25 miles last week over granite, roots, rocks, dirt, and very happy with trailrunners (HOKA Speedgoats) w/ ankle gaiters to keep debris out. I was carrying a 30lb backpack. Sure, the trailrunners will wear out faster than boots, but my feet were completely pain, ache, and blister-free. That said, I used to hike in Altra Lone Peaks, and while they were super comfy and airy, at the end of the day, my feet/ankles ached badly. Once I switched to HOKAs, all that disappeared immediately. My first time ever wearing Speedgoats, I did 26 mile r/t backpacking trip and my feet were completely fine. Anecdotally, the only time I've significantly sprained my ankle was when I was wearing full, over-ankle leather boots (Vasque St. Elias). Just hit a rock wrong and my ankle went full over. I've done the same (hitting a rock) in trailrunners countless times, but their lower profile (lower heel/rise) means I had a lower fulcrum and could easily recover. I also think that with boots, you can become overconfident with how you're bombing down rugged terrain and while most of the time, it's okay, but if you start to turn an ankle, you're going to go way over and cause more damage than if you were going more carefully as you would need to with trailrunners. Again, that's my anecdote.

You'll probably see more trail runners than hiking shoes on the trails. Not sure where, exactly, they draw the line between the two. I've been in trailrunners for several years now, and after Salomon XA Pro 3Ds and Altra Lone Peaks, I'm very happily a Hoka Speedgoat backpacker/hiker. So, so comfortable, grippy. No, they're not nearly as airy as the Lone Peaks, but a lot more comfortable over many miles and rough terrain. I'm on the heavier side for my height, too, so I appreciate the extra cushion.

If there's travel over a good bit of snow, I'm wearing gaiters; either full-calf gaiters, half-gaiters, or even just dust gaiters like dirtygirl gaiters. I prefer to hike in trail runners (HOKA Speedgoats) and keeping the snow from getting into the shoe is a huge benefit. Plus it keeps my legs drier and warmer. There's nothing better than finishing your hike back at the trailhead or at camp with relatively warm and dry lower legs and pants vs. snow-sopped everything.

Used to be on the Salomon bandwagon until about six years ago; went to Altras for a while, then landed on Hoka Speedgoats. Super comfy, very grippy, and a shoe you can wear all day, every day. While I have GTX version to use around the house and on some hikes here in the wet Pacific Northwest, I prefer non-GTX in nearly all other cases.

I had three versions of speed goats prior. The midsole on the speed goats is softer. Grip is about the same. I like the upper on the brooks a tiny bit better. The big difference is the toe box (for me). My biggest issue with speed goats has always been the toe box being too narrow, but I could never find another trail running shoe that had a soft midsole, good grip, and durable, so I kept coming back to speed goats. The Brooks has most of what speed goat offers, plus a wider toe box.