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If you’re sticking with the swoosh no matter what, the best Nike running shoe for road-to-rail sessions is the Pegasus Trail 3.See how the Kigers did in our testing: including a watery cave with terrible wind noise. Other great all-rounders I’d rate ahead of the Terra Kiger include the Saucony Peregrine 12, which does a great job on muddy ground, the lightweight Hoka Torrent 2 and the comfortable Salomon Sense Ride 4. I was testing it at the same time as the excellent Hoka Speedgoat 5, which costs only £5 more and is lighter, yet far more cushioned, and has a fantastic outsole that can handle almost any terrain. Perhaps the main problem the Nike Terra Kiger 8 has is the strength of its competition. Is The Nike Air Zoom Terra Kiger 8 Worth It?
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It’s firmer than I like for a shoe that isn’t nimble or all that quick, and the grip creates doubts that stick in the mind when slick terrain comes along. The problem is that it wouldn’t be my first pick for any kind of trail run. On a 16.5km run – mainly on smaller forest trails with some deep mud and sharp descents on loose ground – it provided the grip and cushioning needed, and I have done faster running in the Terra Kiger 8 at the end of progression runs happily enough.
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Since that all sounds like a daming appraisal of the shoe, I should reiterate that it did a solid job on all my runs. I never slipped over but the small amounts of lateral movement I’d feel regularly did not inspire confidence and I would slow down on any kind of wet ground as I didn’t feel I could rely on the grip. On wet ground, particularly slick rocky tracks, the shoes are unpredictable. Those hard lugs feel like they will last a lifetime, but they don’t always provide great grip. That’s especially the case in the forefoot where you can feel the hard lugs through the Air Zoom pods. Instead, it’s a firm shoe that can feel harsh when running long stints on harder ground. That’s not heavy for a trail shoe, especially as it has fairly deep outsole lugs, but given that weight I’d expect a more comfortable, cushioned ride. It’s a versatile shoe that can go fast or slow on a range of ground, but it’s neither enjoyably cushioned nor especially nimble and quick, partly because it weighs 309g (my UK 8.5). That’s largely because it doesn’t excel on any front. While there was nothing truly terrible about running in the Terra Kiger 8, I found it a hard shoe to love. My longest run in the shoe was 16.5km and I did a mix of easy and fast runs in the shoe to see how it felt at different speeds. I ran 50km in the Terra Kiger 8 covering different terrain, including well-maintained forest paths, narrow and muddy single-track trails, gravelly canal towpaths and road. (Image credit: Nick Harris-Fry / Future) (opens in new tab) How I Tested This Shoe
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