They have added grooves to the rock plate in the sole to increase flexibility and make the shoe less “slappy.”The upper is less structured and made with seamless material for a “soft, natural feel on the foot.” I did get some hotspots when running sockless in the original Trail Glove so hopefully this will alleviate that problem.They removed two of the OMNIFIT lace closures to mimic the closure system in the women’s Pace Glove. They say that this should ease getting the shoe on and off an allow for better forefoot splay. They also had reports that the bottom 2 closures put pressure on the top of the foot in some Nike Air Vapormax Womens runners and Nike Air Max 90 Femme that contributed to the decision to make this change.Other than the above changes and some cosmetic updates, this is largely the same shoe that people have come to love. They did make a point to tell me that they did not alter the arch contour since they get a lot of positive feedback about how it contributes to the glove-like fit that the shoe provides. I’ve never been bothered by the arch contour in the Merrell Barefoot shoes, but I know some people don’t like it. Appears more like it than don’t since it has not been changed.In 2011 I decided to tackle six 100 mile races in a single year. One of the biggest sources of stress leading up to the first race was deciding which shoes to wear. I had recently discovered Altra, and had fallen in love with the Altra Instinct. After completing the Western States 100 in the www.amolan.es Instincts www.matthieugranier.fr I was contemplating using Hokas for the next race, the Vermont 100. The race was only three weeks after WS and it consists of mostly hard packed dirt roads. I wanted the extra cushioning of the Hokas, but really wasn’t a fan of the Hoka uppers and was concerned with getting blisters.What I wanted was an Altra shoe with a Hoka sole. Since that didn’t exist, I built it. It wasn’t easy – I took a pair of Hoka Mafates (I hated the upper of that shoe), separated the upper from the sole with a band saw, and glued the Hoka sole onto a pair of Instincts. I called it the “Altrahoka”.Getting my hybrid shoe induced blisters lanced at mile 70
Unfortunately, I didn’t get it quite perfect and ended up getting pretty severe blisters during the race (you can read my 2011 VT100 race report here). After 70 miles I changed back into a Nike Air Max 2017 Womens pair Nike Air Presto Femme of standard Altras and finished the race in a little Nike Air Vapormax Mens bit over 20 hours.I know that Brian from Altra saw my post and the pictures of my hybrid creation, and was surprised last November when Altra posted pictures of a new maximum cushioning shoe called the Torin. Now I’m not going to say that I was the catalyst for that shoe, but it was nice to see that I wasn’t the only person who wanted a shoe that was both flat and highly cushioned.As soon as the pictures of the Altra Torin started showing up on the internet, it seemed like every question related to how it compared to the Hokas. In my opinion, it doesn’t. And that’s not a bad thing. Hokas are low drop, maximum cushioned (ie: squishy) running shoes (and I have run a lot of miles in various Hokas – I even ranked the Hoka Bondi Speed as my top trail shoe of 2012). The Torin fits Nike Air Vapormax Donne into its own category, and it’s a category that I’ve been waiting for somebody to fill for a long time. The Torin is a zero drop, well cushioned running shoe with a 28mm stack height. And for me, it’s a home run!
