HOKA CARBON X: Looks Lithe Moves Lithe

"This shoe is built to be fast."  

These are the words used by HOKA's Footwear Design Director Matt Head to describe the latest shoe offering of one of my favorite running shoe brands.  Reading his words in a Runner's World article, this got me curious and interested about the HOKA Carbon X.  Imagine, this was the shoes worn by elite ultrarunner Jim Walmsley to smash the 50-mile record with a time of 4:50:08 (an average of a barely human 5:48 min/mins for close to 5 hours) in a HOKA event last May 4.    

HOKA's Footwear Design Director Matt Head

Spectators cheering Jim Walmsley at the Project X event in Folsom, California last May 4 where he set  the fastest 50-mile time.

HOKA ambassadors Mai Bautista and Icar Hiponia in action at the debut of the Carbon X in Philippine soil last June 1 in the HOKA All Star Run at Subic.   

Thank God for the assistance of HOKA  road an trail ambassador Mai Bautista, I was able to order online    from Toby's late last month.  After 16 days, the much-awaited pair finally arrived this June 6. When I opened the box and saw what was inside, I thought of calling it "Snow White." So white, so beautiful, so lithe. 

Fresh out of the box, my "Snow White" impresses.

So lithe, yet  the Hoka Carbon X  is not lacking in cushioning.  Correction.  It is so lithe yet luxuriously cushioned.  Like with most of the earlier  Hoka shoes, this new model is equipped with  Hoka's signature max cushioning Metarocker sole.  How luxurious?  Top of class luxurious as the photos would show.

The max cushioning of the HOKA Carbon X is evident. It is as tall as a 5 peso and 1 peso coin. 

Side by side, the cushioning of the HOKA Carbon X is more luxurious than other max cushioning shoes that I regularly use: the HOKA Elevon;  HOKA Challenger ATR; and ALTRA Paradigm.   

The cushioning of HOKA Carbon X is as thick as the grand daddy of all maximum cushioning shoes - the MBT Zee 17 but it is almost 5 ounces lighter. 

HOKA and MBT  shoes have a common DNA: thick-soled, highly-cushioned behemoths with rockered bottoms.  But if the Zee 17  moves like a Joe Frazier , the Carbon X floats like a butterfly ala Muhammad Ali.     

But despite having a cushioning as bulky as that of the MBT Zee 17, the HOKA Carbon X is significantly lighter. It weighs in at 8.70 oz. versus 13.30 oz.  for the MBT behemoth. How does it do it? While the outsole and midsole are lavish, the upper is practical austerity. The shoe is constructed of a lightweight and breathable single-layered mesh which is assisted by a Lycra tongue gusset that prevents tongue migration for enhanced stability.  Everything about the upper is thin.  There is a very thin, highly breathable stretch bootie connecting tongue to midsole. The heel and achilles collars are lightly and softly padded.

This is one highly breathable, drainable upper.  Perhaps it is even non-water absorbing.  

The outsole is an injected rubberized foam. The carbon plate is seen through the cavity just ahead of the heel.

Looks lithe. But will it move lithe? Lithe as in nimble. Will it make a notoriously sluggish runner like the Bicolano Penguin nimble and fast?

Only one way to find out. On the road. In the next 3 days since the new pair arrived, I ran with it 3 kms inside our village, 5 kms inside Manila Memorial Park, and 7 kms inside Camp Aguinaldo. These are routes and distances that I regularly ran so  the time and pace I can compare with previous ones. Accessing my Garmin database, the results look promising. 

Running lithe with the HOKA Carbon X.  Lithe like occasionally floating in the air. 

Running 3kms with the HOKA Carbon X this Friday, my time was faster compared with a 3km run (same route) earlier last Tuesday  wearing an ALTRA Paradigm.  My min/mile pace  (12:54) wearing the HOKA Carbon X was faster by more than 2 minutes. 

Running 5kms with the HOKA Carbon X this Saturday, my time was faster compared with a 5km run (same route)  last week  wearing a HOKA Elevon.  My min/mile pace  (12:46) wearing the HOKA Carbon X was faster by almost 1 minute. 

Running 7kms with the HOKA Carbon X this Sunday, my time was faster compared with a7km run (same route)  last Wednesday  wearing a New Balance Hierro.  My min/mile pace  (12:40) wearing the HOKA Carbon X was faster by almost 2 minutes. 

No heel striking for me with this baby.

 As my 3 runs with the HOKA Carbon X would show, it seems like I am moving faster, more nimble (of course, in a relative sense given the very slow baseline data).  By no means this is backed by scientific evidence. More like anecdotal evidence.  From a subjective point of view, I like to run more with the HOKA Carbon X.  Maybe because it is a new pair of shoes.  Perhaps. Or perhaps because of the new carbon technology. What exactly is it?  Let us take the words of HOKA's  Director of Design. In an interview with Evening Standard, Matt Head spells out the benefit - "The primary function of the carbon fibre plate is to help the Carbon X maintain the shape of its aggressive Meta Rocker over long miles.  The Meta Rocker is designed to allow athletes to move through their gait cycle as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and the added carbon fibre plate has been created to prevent it from breaking down or otherwise changing form, allowing the athlete to maintain as efficient a stride as possible for as long as possible."  

There are  2 caveats that I need to mention.  First, the HOKA Carbon X is not priced like your regular running shoes. Second, given its light construction, I doubt the durability of the HOKA Carbon X.  With a mileage of just 15 kms, I could see already some wear and tear on the outsole as the photo would show. In the interest of transparency, allow me also to declare that the Bicolano Penguin is quite on the heavy set (by my height) and therefore has a punishing tendency when it comes to my running shoes of all brands. 

The look of the outsole after 15 kms. 

There are no perfect running shoes nor perfect running brands.  But the appeal, for me, of the Carbon X is that it is a reflection of HOKA's dedication to innovation. 

Innovation is such a sexy word these days. The word comes from the Latin innovationem, noun of action from innovare. The Etymology Dictionary further explains innovare as dating back to 1540 and stemming from the Latin innovatus "to renew or change."  Innovation can therefore be seen as the process that renews something that exist.

What exist for me since I started this sport more than a decade ago is the faith that running makes the impossible possible. After reading about Jim Walmsley break a 36-year old record in a HOKA Carbon X, that faith in running is renewed yet again.

Time to fly ladies and gents.   

In the words of HOKA's Matt Head, "as a brand we pride ourselves on enabling everyone to run in our product."  He must have meant "...enabling everyone (elite or otherwise) to fly in our product."