ipull400watts wrote:
Well, that depends a great deal on what the outsole is made of as well, but I understand. A characteristic of many racing flats is a harder and more ridged outsole. I feel this allows the runner to run harder and feel it less on his feet, during races. I find it interesting that people claim (seen no true evidence) that they run softer in Hokas. I've always found I run "softer" in less shoe. From some research I've seen, if we run on a softer material we simply land harder. I believe this was from a test that measured impact forces of people running over ground they could not see. When they were suddenly switched to a softer surface, their unconscious started landing harder. The same thing may happen in shoes.
But in the end it all comes down to what's comfortable.
I defintely run "softer" in Vibrams than in padded shoes. I actually feel that running "too soft" is slower, and you can see it in all the folks running gingerly in Vibrams on pavement (and generally slow). I can wind it up and run 3:45-4 min per kilometer pace in vibrams on grass, but I would say I am running "hard" as in pounding the grass, pre loading my leg and pushing off....not gingerly touching down, but when I get on hard surfaces, I need more padding and would not be able to run that fast on pavement in vibrams. I can see Hokas simulating being on grass....you're just carrying the padding around with you. Having never run in them, I don't know what the ground feel would be like.