Well, my brief stint on concrete didn’t hurt at all and seemed to go well, so tomorrow I’m going to try a longer run on the indoor track here. I can’t see a specific benefit to it this early on experimenting with it (but then again, from the descriptions it does sound like it takes a while to get used to it), but the fact that it’s something new and a challenge does interest me.
Despite the fact that I do enjoy running on a casual basis, I’ve always had a horrible time finding shoes that fit my fat hobbit feet right and have invariably gotten odd pains and injuries from the lack of a good fit. So while I do remain a little skeptical, I’m hopeful this might become a new way to enjoy running.
When I started last spring I started with the first running bit layed out in the previously posted guide as I’m Canadian and don’t wear shoes in the house (now look what I’ve done!. The hilarious results were that the first couple of sessions took only a few minutes. I’d tell my wife I was going out for a run and as far as she knew I never left.
The newness, challenge and increased focus (on where I was putting my feet when I run on somewhat rooty trails) are what kept me interested. Sounds like you’re on your way, Peeta.
Just a small correction: The VFF Bikilas do not have neoprene uppers. The uppers are polyamide (a synthetic like Nylon, but stretchier; Nylon is a polyamide, but not all polyamides are Nylon, specifically). The stretch polyamide is lighter weight, stretchier and more breathable than Neoprene. Neoprene provides better thermal protection and is the upper material of the Vibram FiveFinger Flows. The VFF Flows are great for cold weather, but if your feet sweat in them, they will stay damp, so socks are helpful to wick moisture away from the skin and prevent blistering. Also, they won’t keep your feet dry if you are running in wet conditions, but they will repel water a little better than the Bikilas do. The Flows are not as great in the summer unless you’re a rafter or someone that spends a good deal of time in cold water, as they are hot, but the Bikilas breathe quite nicely.
The downside to running in the Flows is that they have the same soles as the KSOs and don’t offer the comfort of a 3mm wicking insole and 4mm outsole pods that provide traction and slightly better protection.
Sorry, I’m a shoe geek as well as a happy Vibram wearer.
Here are the Injinji socks Meatros mentioned. During the winter, they have done a pretty good job for me of insulating and keeping blisters at bay. I own a few of the Coolmax micros and minis, and a nuwool (love!) pair. The nuwool is noticeably warmer in the chilly weather, but they don’t come in minis or micros.
I have shifted my stance to some extent on this issue.
I’m not convinced that minimalist shoes are the key rather a change in footplant is the factor in reducing seemingly shoe related injuries.
I don’t think it’s for everyone. I, for one, would be a poor candidate despite being a midfoot runner.
It’s possible the long trend in more cushioned shoes is driven by runners who overstride and thus have a heavy heel strike that no shoe could fully absorb.
I do wonder if a midfoot plant is natural at slower paces. I even ran with a (light) heelstrike at slower than 7:30/mile pace though my plant was still under my center of gravity and was still almost flatfooted.
I do think injuries can be reduced even with typical shoes by paying attention to footplant and choosing a proper shoe. Cisco’s experience shows how the wrong shoe can really mess up a runner. I do feel he was recommended a shoe that was totally wrong for him by a huge magnitude.
Even Vibram’s website says the shoes are not for overpronators and that a long adjustment is needed.
Am I a minimalist? I found a pair of shoes that works for me and bought a bunch of pairs and I replenish them when I run out. I wear shoes until they have holes in them. I have no idea how I plant my foot or position my toes or manage my upper body. I put on my shoes and I go out for a run and I’ve never had an injury that took me out for more than a day or two in twenty years.
Be careful not to overdo it right away, in any case. After experimenting with running up and down my block a few times over a few days, I decided to go for a short (for me) run of 3 miles. This was pre-Vibrams, so I was truly barefoot, but running up and down the block had seemed easy enough and I figured 3 miles was short enough to ease in. After a mile and a half I had huge blood blisters in the soft thin skin right behind the balls of both feet – and was now a mile and a half from home, so had to turn around and limp back.
Point being, you may not realize how “soft” the skin on your feet is, until you’ve already got blisters, so take it easy your first several times out. Your feet have never interacted with the ground in this way before, so they’ll be adjusting both in terms of using new muscles (and the accompanying soreness), and in terms of skin coming into contact with the ground, repeatedly, for the first time ever.
There are some issues that it pays to put a lot of thought into. The long-term care and maintenance of your feet, joints, and ligaments is probably one of them.
I first tried barefoot running when I forgot my shoes at the gym. I had been reading a book which dicussed it and I figured why not try it out on the treadmill.
I had previously been running with a traditional bouncy, heal strike running form. That doesn’t work barefoot since the heel strike is very uncomfortable. I was quickly able to shift to landing on the forefront of my foot. What I found was that my whole body pose changed.
With shoes, my whole body would move up and down, bam, bam, bam on the ground. I could easily hear my motion with each footfall producing a thunk on the treadmill. But with the barefoot style, I became very quiet. My upper body did not move as much and my footfalls were almost silent on the treadmill.
It almost feels as if just my legs are spinning like wheels. Imagine being on a treadmill and holding on to the handrails to support all your weight. Your feet would effortlessly spin as they moved along the treadmill. That’s what it feels like.
Now when I run on ground with that same barefoot style, it feels like all my motion is straight ahead. With a traditional heel style, I felt like I was taking a path like a bouncing ball with a lot of up and down.
I think the benefit of barefoot is that it gives you the feedback which allows you to get into a much better running form. But once you have the form, you can do the same thing in shoes. It may not be faster, but it is much less painful and susceptible to injury. I think that is important if you are running for exercise or running down elk. You need the ability to run for a long period of time without hurting yourself. The barefoot running style does that.
Here’s a site which has pictures/videos of the pressure profile of landing with your heel vs the ball of your foot: Biomechanics of Foot Strike (scroll to the bottom of the page)
You can see that the heel strike has an immediate vertical pressure spike. That force is trasmitted straight up through your body. Constrast that with landing on the forefoot (as you do barefoot), the pressure goes up more gradually.
I kept this in mind! I used the indoor track today so it had a little more give to it than concrete and was probably kinder to my feet. All told I only did about a mile today, but that was probably a good cut off point at this stage. Usually after a mile is just when I’m really getting into it, but after a mile I could feel things hurting in ways they don’t normally hurt so I stopped shortly after. I don’t think I injured anything at all. It just feels like I’m using my calves more or in a different way and so they feel like I ran much further and harder.
No blisters yet, at least. The longer run today did give me more of a chance to take stock of my form, though, and that was good.
I ran my half marathon today in my Vibram FiveFingers Bikilas with Injinji toe socks. Saw a few other runners in VFFs and answered a few questions about them by random people who noticed. No problems whatsoever. Everything felt great after the race and neither my feet or legs were tired.
I did trip over a road button (or something) early on that I hadn’t noticed at the end of a median during a turn because I wasn’t paying attention. Abraded a hole through the fabric on my first toe just behind the TPU. Turns out it went all the way through my sock; my toe was fine though. (Scraped up my knee pretty good, too.) So, don’t fall down in them. Guess, I’ll have to get a new pair. I’ve got probably a bit over a hundred miles, maybe 125, on them at this point. They are beginning to feel significantly looser than when I bought them. I might go down a size on my next pair.
Also, they don’t keep your feet warm at all. Even standing on cold pavement or concrete is uncomfortable because it feels like the cold just soaks right through the soles. Beats completely barefoot, though, IMHO. This is not to say that I’m planning on wearing something else. Pseudo-barefoot is working just fine for me.
After experimenting with running up and down my block a few times over a few days, I decided to go for a short (for me) run of 3 miles. This was pre-Vibrams, so I was truly barefoot, but running up and down the block had seemed easy enough and I figured 3 miles was short enough to ease in. After a mile and a half I had huge blood blisters in the soft thin skin right behind the balls of both feet – and was now a mile and a half from home, so had to turn around and limp back. 
Beats completely barefoot, though, IMHO. This is not to say that I’m planning on wearing something else. Pseudo-barefoot is working just fine for me.