Vibrams Five Fingers!

[urbanamish]

45+ on the age scale. I am going to go pull the trigger on a pair of something this afternoon. Knees are wearing... If this does not work, it will be non-impact only from now on. Wish me luck.

I am leaning towards the Merrels. I have their hiking shoes and love them. I have tried on the VFF, and they seem like a pain in the @$$ to wiggle the toes into.

I'll drop a sit-rep once I run in them a few times. I am sure it will take some getting used too.

Good luck with the Merrels... I have a pair of Trail Gloves, and love 'em. I don't wear them as much as my VFF's, but they are great for road runs or trail runs. I prefer them on trails, due to the extra protection in the mid foot. Very lightweight and flexible, zero drop from heel to mid foot. I've had good success with and without the Injinji socks w/ the Merrels. Running with no socks in the Trail Glove is great, until 8 or 9 miles, I start getting a bit of a hot spot up on top where the laces interface with the upper, behind my big toe.


I hope you're successful in your transition to minimalist shoes.

[tiger seven]

Thanks! I was actually leaning towards the true glove. After reading your post, I did some research. To add to what you mention, the extra ventilation of the trail gloves will be better for the Texas heat.

I went out after lunch and bought a pair... I feel like I will be wearing them everywhere from now on unless I am at work. I think I will break them in with socks, then transition to no socks. I can tell that running in these things will be a trip... Hopefully not literally. I'll start off with maybe just a 1/2 mile to see how it goes.

Sounds like a great plan! I suggest downloading this free digital copy of "The Barefoot Running Book" by Jason Robillard. He's giving these away himself, so no need to worry about it being an illegal download or anything. I put this link in one of the other running threads but forgot to put it here. Lots of useful info in there to help you work on your form and avoid injury.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mvlk66bp7i5lh7a

Good luck and have fun!

Derek

[mike boufford]

I may never wear VFFs but I can say that the research did a lot of good in improving my foot strike while running. I was doing way too much heel strike and things were starting to hurt. Footwork is definitely improving, now if I can just improve my mile times I'll be all set.

The Merrells are interesting. I have a pair of Moabs that I use for just about everything except running and they are super comfortable without socks.

[munch520]

I saw these at Dick's the other day. They remind me of the knee-high, rainbow, 5-toe socks that my sisters used to wear. I thought to myself, "I'd rather have a a sister in a whore house than be seen in those". Maybe I'm missing something, are they that comfy?

I thought the same thing when I saw them first. It was actually at a gym and I remembered thinking how much it'd suck to drop a weight on your foot wearing one of those...not that sneakers add much more protection.

I'm tempted to give these a try though..

[orionz06]

I saw these at Dick's the other day. They remind me of the knee-high, rainbow, 5-toe socks that my sisters used to wear. I thought to myself, "I'd rather have a a sister in a whore house than be seen in those". Maybe I'm missing something, are they that comfy?

Those are not VFF's, they are some god awful copy made by Fila.

The Vibrams are very comfy and worth checking out.

[Adam0331]

Finally did some substantial running with my VFFs. I've gone to the gym with them before and did short 1-1.5 mile runs but the past week I started bumping it up to 3-4 miles.

I find myself having to correct my stride/foot strike though. I'm trying to get that mid foot strike but I do tend to land on my heels a bit much because that's what I'm used to with conventional running shoes and it feels "natural" I suppose. I'll have to work on that.

My calves are quite sore, is this normal?

[orionz06]

Yes, your calves are acting like a suspension, so to speak. Walk very slowly and feel the muscles moving as you walk. Heel toe transmits a lot of force to the knee, mid foot uses the muscles as a suspension.

[photosniper]

Finally did some substantial running with my VFFs. I've gone to the gym with them before and did short 1-1.5 mile runs but the past week I started bumping it up to 3-4 miles.

I find myself having to correct my stride/foot strike though. I'm trying to get that mid foot strike but I do tend to land on my heels a bit much because that's what I'm used to with conventional running shoes and it feels "natural" I suppose. I'll have to work on that.

My calves are quite sore, is this normal?

If you are running on the treadmill, put a bit of Incline into your settings, it will force you to use a mid or ball of the foot strike. After a week or two doing this, you'll do it on flat ground too.

[Adam0331]

Thanks guys. Took a few days off, about to go for a run right now.

[5cary]

45+ on the age scale. I am going to go pull the trigger on a pair of something this afternoon. Knees are wearing... If this does not work, it will be non-impact only from now on. Wish me luck.

Good luck! I made the switch to barefoot (VFF KSO's) and really like it. I'm also 45 and my kness were *done* from high mile high impact running.

I am, however, one of the TMTS victims (self inflicted). I ruined my Achilles tendon (I have a thread on it - good advice in there).

My knees stopped hurting in the VFF's, but for the love of everything holy, TAKE IT SLOW. I have not been able to run at all for weeks now, trying to get this healed up. Saving the knees does no good if you wreck your feet in the process.