mojodragon

from what I can tell so far, it's better for your joints, after your muscles adjust to the new style. shoes don't allow your foot muscles to react to the run, you just force all of the impact up to the knees. after just 4 miles of barefoot, I can already feel tightness in my ankles and calves.

I ran another mile barefooted today. This was a loop in my neighborhood. There was just one point that I got worried, where I saw some glass on the sidewalk. I made it through ok, though. The only part that really hurt was the muscles around my ankle, and the middle toe on my left foot. I'm really thinking about getting those VFF shoes, so that I can run further. I want to get to where I can do the whole marathon barefooted, but that's likely to take me a year at this pace! I haven't even gone 2 miles at once yet!

Total BR miles to date: 5

telekinetic

I went hiking/trailrunning in my VFF's today, went about 5 miles. They were great...the only oddity was that I didn't have as much heat resistance as I was used to, and if we were taking a break, I had to stand in the shade.

We went out to the San Tan State park, home of Boob Mountain.



Crompsin, here's some side shots.




As you can see, the heel cup isn't totally flush. I could possibly go down a size, but because my heel doesn't touch the cup now, it doesn't bother me.

The flexibility of these shoes is amazing. Here's me picking up a rock with them.



It was a great day for trail running.

Plan9

NICE! Yeah, huh... mine kinda fit like that. I wasn't happy with it. Maybe I should reevaluate?

Thank you so much for the specific pics, bro. You're the man with the feet!

I'm SO envious. You look like you're having a great time with your toe-shoes.

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telekinetic

My feet feel well stretched, more than anything. This is the first major offroad excursion they've been on in the VFF's, and they're still not used to articulating the way that they were required.

The Injinji socks were amazing, I don't think I could have done it without them. Very tiny little bits of sand and pebbles somehow managed to find their way into the shoes, but the Injinji's kept them from roughing up my feet. It was so weird...I didn't realize how precise the fit on them was until I got to the end of the trail, thankful for a chance to pour out 'all that sand and rocks that got in'...which amounted to about an 8th of a teaspoon for both shoes.

Plan9

Oh, the Injini socks are recommended by numerous users online for just that reason... until you get rock hard foot flesh.

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dirtyrascal7

Well I ran 2 miles barefoot tonight on the treadmill. It was awesome. I could feel the difference it makes in all the muscles below the knees. I'm going to have a sizable blister on my right big toe, however.

I was wondering if anyone has tried out the Nike Free series? They don't have toes like the VFFs, but they are supposedly very flexible and lightweight and made to simulate barefoot running. I'm intrigued.

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Plan9

This was covered.

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Whatever you can carry.

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dirtyrascal7

Ah... thanks. Not sure how I missed that.

After reading that, and seeing a few reviews on other sites, I am no longer interested in them. Apparently, aside from the fundamental design flaws, they fall apart relatively quickly.

I'm currently trying to find a pair of Puma H. Streets, but that is proving difficult b/c they are discontinued.

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mojodragon

I ran another two miles on Tuesday. I wrote to another barefoot runner, to get a little advice. He said to take off the bandaids from my toes as soon as I can, because I need to learn how to lift my toes when I run. So, I checked to make sure that my toes had mostly healed, and then took off the bandaids to run. I hadn't thought that I should lift my toes when running, because they give you a lot of balance. I tried a few times, to keep them off the ground, and I don't think that's what he meant. So, I started to think about it for a bit. Having run around this track barefooted 10-12 times, I felt pretty comfortable taking some of my concentration away from the ground in front of me, and went into a sort of trance, where I attempted to lessen my body weight as much as I could, to kind of float above the ground. It may have been only in my mind, but I think I accomplished a lighter tread for a brief period of time. It seemed like I should have been landing harder, because I was lifting more with each step (and therefore going higher in the air), but it was a bit softer. When I came to the point of the track that I have to watch very closely for pine cones, pebbles, and bird poo, my steps landed a lot harder. And, as for the toes, I think I'm supposed to let them hit the ground for balance, but lift them before pushing off with that foot. Sort of spring off the ground, instead of pushing. At any rate, I did need a new bandaid on one toe of each foot after I was done. Also, the pads of my feet are starting to feel bruised. I decided to take a day off on Wed.

Thursday: I decided to try out the indoor track at the gym at UNO. It's very similar to a basketball court, but I don't think it's as springy. I'll have to check out the difference some time. Anyway, I don't think I like that track. First of all, it's way too short. Each lap is 1/10th of a mile, and the short ends are the length of one basketball court. I had thought it wouldn't be as rough on my feet as the outdoor track, and that I could get more overall distance (still trying to work the muscle groups), but turning actually hurts a bit more than running on concrete. I only did a mile in there, and then went outside for another mile. Tonight, I got a new sensation. The tops of my feet are feeling bruised. Weird, huh? The mile on the outdoor track didn't tear up my feet at all! No new blisters, no scratches, nothing! I noticed that I stepped on more pebbles and various sharp tree parts during my cool-down walk around the track - walking in the same lane that I had run in!

BR Miles to date: 12

dirtyrascal7

I still have a few blisters on my right foot from the couple miles I ran last week, but yesterday I got my pair of Puma H. Streets that I ordered off ebay. They are awesome... they weigh nothing and they're almost shaped like a pair of low heels, although obviously without the actual heel part. As you might expect, this encourages you to land on the balls of your feet rather than your heel. I feel like I could run forever in them, although last night I only had time for 2.5 miles.

I can already tell that my calves and ankles are stronger. I have been trying to "spring" off the ground as much as possible, similar to what mojodragon mentioned above. It does feel like you're almost floating on the ground rather than pounding the ground with each step.

__________________
"Tie yourself to your limitless potential, rather than your limiting past."

"Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him."

xxxafterglow

Hey dirty,

With the Pumas do you get any knee/hip pain? I'm still running in trainers but I've been trying to roll more on the touch and uptake rather than flat pounding - I think it's been helping but I can't wait to switch over to something more natural.

Anyone want to weigh in on running flats like the H Streets vs Five Fingers?

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Uh huh her.

dirtyrascal7

My hip muscles were really sore after the first time I ran barefoot, but I was purely barefoot then and I think it was due to the fact that you don't use those muscles as much during "normal" running.

The Pumas basically have zero padding in the soles. They obviously have more than the Tandy leather kits mentioned above, but for an actual shoe, they are as minimalist as you can get. I haven't tried the VFFs, so I can't do a proper comparison, but I am more than happy with the Pumas.

__________________
"Tie yourself to your limitless potential, rather than your limiting past."

"Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him."

mojodragon

I went running over the weekend, in Kansas (2 miles), and on Tuesday during lunch (4 miles). I've noticed that my feet are hurting more, above each arch (on top, not the bottoms). They feel bruised and sore inside my feet - it's hard to explain, but I think I may have given myself stress fractures from overuse. I'm taking a little while off, to try to heal. I've noticed also that I'm supinating my right foot when I walk, and I can't seem to stop. I did that when I was healing from a rolled ankle, too. Anyone ever do anything like that?

waltert

looks like that stop at 12...I'd probably need a 13.5

Push-Pull

Just thought I'd give this thread a bump....

Just recently found out about the VFF's, and am absolutely loving them. I am spending entire weekends in these shoes and am now up to 5 mile runs with them every other day. (I want to go barefoot, but all I have around here is dirt/gravel roads and my feet aren't up to that. Yet. I'm working on it.) Anyway, I'm finding that this simple change in clothing has had significant benefits in how my feet feel. Even that nagging knee thing I used to get about 3 miles into a run is gone. Shin splints? Nope. Sore feet? Only that good "I just worked out" feeling.

Wondering if anyone else has anything to report on this front?

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Wrexify

I'll re-bump as I just purchased my first pair of VFF's a few weeks ago.

I was originally skeptical of the minimalist running movement. Everyone I talked to seemed to scoff and brush it off as a "hippie fad" that would soon pass. After a few weeks of wearing my VFF's, I can easily say I've never enjoyed running more than I do now.

I decided to buy the KSO's because I like the idea of "keeping stuff out" of my shoes and they seem to have the simplest strap system. Excellent choice so far; these are the style I would recommend if you want the VFF that will do it all. I wish I had waited a bit longer for the Bikilas, but who knows how long until those are widely available.

Anyway, as previously stated, you definitely need to ease into wearing these things for running. I spend most of my leisure time barefoot already, but that wasn't nearly enough to prepare my muscles for barefoot running. Expect some sore calves at first!

I did TONS of research leading up to my VFF transition and now I don't think I can ever look back. I'd recommend Vibram Five Fingers News, Reviews, and Fan Forums - Birthday Shoes as a starting point. They have a lot of great articles and reviews to get anyone interested in barefoot/minimalist running.

I'm open to suggestions and techniques from anyone else who's made the transition, looking forward to hearing them. Happy barefooting!

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