Best/Better Shoes for Older Legs

I'm an old Adidas, Mizuno guy but at my age now I stick with ON and the Asics Cumulus. They are holding up to my "new" gait and extra pounds.

I'm not into the new stack extra pillow shoes like the Hoka, guess I'm too old school for all that.

They have their flaws, but concrete doesn’t feel hard in Invincibles. Maybe add a pair to the rotation. Or some other ultra cushioned shoe.

Hoka isn't necessarily more cushioned, and cushioning isn't necessarily the determining factor. I tried the Arahi for a while because it matched the level of pronation I had, but the sole is pretty firm, and the combination of firm sole and lower heel drop wasn't a good fit for me.

I really like Brooks, especially the Glycerine for added cushion and now the Adrenaline for extra stability. But these days I need a better match with pronation, so I'm wearing NB 860s. I wish it came in a more cushioned version.

Also, how many miles are you putting on your shoes? Try getting newer shoes more often and see if that helps.

These days I do all my easy/recovery runs in Hoka Bondis or NB Fresh Foam X Mores. I'm 57 and the extra cushion makes a huge difference in how my legs feel at the end of the week.

I typically get 400 - 450 miles out of shoes, but replaced my last pair of Pegasus at 375 or so. I've been thinking about some Hoka Bondi. I've also been curious of ON are good running shoes or just trendy among suburban dad/moms, but not actually quality for running.

Same here - use both these shoes on all easy runs. I prefer the fresh foam more over the Bondi.

Asics Novablast 2 are my goto easy run shoes and I think they do a great job keeping the legs from getting beaten up.

ZoomX is better than Zoom if you’re trying to keep the legs fresh.

To OP: I'm very similar to you. 42, trained in Bostons and Pegasus for years, and around 40 my calves and sometimes hamstrings (not to mention feet/ankles) were often just in a perpetual state of soreness. Not hurt/injured, just generally sore until warmed up on the run (and always gimpy getting out of bed).

I've since swapped to mostly Nike Invincibles for easy mileage and various plated shoes for workouts (Endo Speed, Rocket X) with decent success.

What has been the 100% game changer for me has been using compression boots daily. Sometimes 10-15 minutes before runs, ALWAYS 30-40 minutes after runs. Within 2-3 weeks of starting last July, my calves had loosened and I was startung runs fresh again. I went into Berlin as across-the-board healthy as I've been in the last few years and PB'd by over six minutes.

Needless to say, the calf recovery had downstream impact to other historical areas of minor niggles / strain (ankles, tendons, etc.). I'm using the Therabody Air jet boots (somewhat ironically, the ones the brojos started pimping on podcasts a few months back), but I imagine one pair is as good as the next, as long as they are reliable and you are diligent about using them. If you don't mind dropping a few $, they are worth a shot. YMMV.

Nike Zoom Fly making old men feel young.

Invincibles are expensive, if you want to keep shelling out. Mine had too tight of fit in the toe-box. That got accentuated as the foam compressed-out more in the forefoot, increasing the downward slope from heel-to-toe. They didn’t compress-out evenly in the heel between the left and right shoe.

I need to run on dirt over 75 percent of the time, and inexplicably have to start out fast, rather than ease into runs, to get going. If on concrete, I have to start out uphill. If I start downhill on dirt or concrete it's no-go.

I have a cushy shoe or two, but mostly old shoes with hundreds or over 1,000 miles that most would consider flat/not much cushion left. I pick and choose depending on how I feel on a particular day.

At my age (53), I've actually found that I need to seek out more impact for my legs feel healthy. In the winter, when I'm running flatter routes (hilly trails less accessible in the winter due to many becoming ski trails) and on the treadmill, I get way more niggles. My legs feel much better and much stronger after doing a few big days in the mountains and getting big eccentric work on the downhills as well as the obvious uphill work too. I have been trying to get at least one day a week in the mountains with 3000-6000 ft of climbing and the same amount of descending. It takes two or three times 3000ft descending for the legs to feel really strong and not get sore at all even doing 6000 ft descending.

I am >60, run 25+ mpw and have these shoes in my current rotation -

Long runs - Saucony Endorphin Shift

Tempo/threshold - Hoka Mach 5

Easy runs - Skechers GORUN Ride 10

I run almost exclusively on concrete and blacktop and my legs feel fresh throughout the week. I am, however, only running 3 days a week.

I think I agree with you on the fresh foam, just curious as to how long they will hold up. I've got a pair of Bondi 7s with over 1000 miles on them and they still feel pretty good.

40 year old here averaging around 70mpw. Nike Invincible is a game changer. You don’t want to do a workout in them, but for any easy running they are the best. I’ve ran in every major brand of shoe (other than Hoka) over 10 years and Invincibles are the absolute best for those days when you just need to bang out some easy/moderate miles.

I like racing in Vaporflys but once they get to around 150 “race only” miles, I’ll start using them as my fast day shoes.

This, along with some stretching, Normatec boots and a lot of Theragun to the calves keeps me going.

I held of on being any On shoes for a very long time. Purchased a pair of Cloud Monsters and I like them. The fit is better for my feet and I thought the soles were just a gimmick but they do offer a lot of cushion without being too much like a marshmellow. There are a lot of shoes now with good cushioning. The new Saucony Triumph, the new Nike Vomero, the Brooks Glycerin. The last model of a lot of cushioned trainers are using foam which is much lighter and close to 40mm stack height. Sidewalks are worse than asphalt

Slow down your easy days and start picking up heavy sh1t. Heavy deadlifts and squats do a master’s runner good.

I wore Pegs as well for years & years but have gravitated towards the Vomero and Invincible for the extra cushioning. The Invincibles, in particular, make a huge difference in terms of cushioning.