I've recently purchased a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, which is fair to say an unusual-looking piece of footwear.
In essence, the Five Fingers strip away all the cushioning, motion-control, thick rubberised soles of conventional running shoes, and tries to allow your feet to be as close to barefoot as possible. The individual toe compartments are to allow your toes to remain free and to spread out and help support your feet.
Some of you may have come across the barefoot debate, which pits the conventional school of thought that your feet needs all the support provided by all the advanced footwear that we have now against the more unorthodox view that our feet are naturally meant to assist us in our running and we should therefore run in our bare feet.
There is a lot of literature out there on the internet and I came across all of this really when I went online to find out more about why my knees hurt. I had been clocking in more and more kilometres as I've been running quite reguarly the last few years. I have very flat feet (i.e. bad overpronation) and it didn't seem like I would be able to find good running shoes. I was overjoyed 3 years ago when I found out that a lot of shoe companies had specific motion control shoes which would help prop up my fallen arch and to help provide more stability. Thick and solid rubber reinforcements would be built in to the shoe's arch area to assist in this. It felt good running in these shoes, especially when it helped to stop my ankles from feeling sore due to the overpronation. I loved my pair of New Balance 1223.
As I continued running, I noticed that I started to feel a lot of pain in my knees. The pain would definitely occur during my longer runs but even during my weekly shorter runs, I would feel the pain right on my knee cap. This led me to start doing research online on this pain and that is when I started to come across a lot of pages speaking about the benefits of barefoot running. It seemed completely counter-intuitive. How could running on your barefeet, especially mine with my flat feet, actually be good for my legs?
The pain from my running has still not gone away, even with a purchase of new more-cushioned running shoes specially for my flat feet. The more I thought about it, I thought what the heck, let's try this barefoot theory out. I wasn't prepared to go completely barefoot (and I've already come across quite a number of runners who were already going barefoot even at the marathons I was at) and so I wanted to try the Vibram Five Fingers.
A little bit difficult to find in Malaysia and the distributor, Innovatez, seemed to only have outlets in Singapore. The place that seemed to have the most number of stock was at Outdoor Life
at Novena Square. I picked up my black pair of KSOs (the model name for my pair of Vibrams, they stand for Keep-Stuff-Out) when the new stock came in, and they were selling really well. Mine was the last pair to come in my size 41. All the other 41s were all sold out. They cost S$199 but with 10% discount if you pay in cash
So I eagerly opened the box to try them out.
They look very much like the booties that you can wear when you go scuba diving. They hug your feet and the sizing is a lot smaller than your normal shoes. It is advisable to go and try the shoes out in person and get your feet measured with the Vibram sizing scale (which i did at Outdoor Life).
You can see the think rubberised sole and with grooves to mimic the sole of your foot.
How has the running been so far? It was a fun experience running in them the first time. The Vibrams are meant to be used barefoot so no wearing of socks. It'll be impossible to wear normal socks anyway due to the toe compartments, but you can wear toe socks and then wear the Vibrams over. It takes a bit of practice to get used to wearing them on although I've gotten the hang of it.
If you've never worn any sort of minimalist footwear before, the first thing you'll notice when walking out with the Vibrams is the fact that you can actually 'feel' the ground. You notice the different bumps and textures of the ground, whether running on rough patches or over grills. That makes the running a lot more interesting.
You become a lot more aware of how your feet are landing and you also automatically change the way you run. You no longer are able to take long strides and maintain the heel-strike method like in normal running shoes. With hardly any cushioning, landing on your heel first is going to really hurt. You will automatically start taking a lot shorter strides and I start to lean forward a little bit more. I can't see my legs extending in front of me and I start to land almost feet flat on the ground or landing on the middle of the foot before pushing off. This is supposed to be the recommended midfoot strike that most runners are supposed to use. Not quite sure if I am doing it correctly but I am definitely running differently than before.
The first thing I notice is that my calves now start to ache very quickly. In my normal running shoes, my calves don't feel taught but now, after about 2km, I can start to feel my calves getting a bit sore. This is supposed to be the normal transitioning stage for barefoot runners where your legs are now using different muscles to help support your feet. My ankles also start to get sore quite quickly. This is my usual ankle soreness before I started to use my motion control shoes to prop up my arch. I am hoping that these two aches start to go away as I get used to running in my Vibrams.
Running without any socks also makes parts of my feet blister slightly from rubbing against the Vibrams. While the Vibrams are by and large very smooth inside, my feet did take about 2 runs to start to adjust to the lining inside, and with part of my feet feeling a bit chaffed. I am not that worried about this as my feet seem to be adjusting already and I don't feel any pain.
What about my knee pain? Well, I still feel that dull ache on my left knee. I am guessing that it will not magically disappear right away, even with the Vibrams, but I am trying this out for the long term to monitor how it goes.
I can't quite manage my normal mileage at the moment, as the soreness in my calves and ankles really cut short my runs to about 4-5km before I have to stop. I will keep monitoring my progress and then maybe report back here again in the near future.
In essence, the Five Fingers strip away all the cushioning, motion-control, thick rubberised soles of conventional running shoes, and tries to allow your feet to be as close to barefoot as possible. The individual toe compartments are to allow your toes to remain free and to spread out and help support your feet.
Some of you may have come across the barefoot debate, which pits the conventional school of thought that your feet needs all the support provided by all the advanced footwear that we have now against the more unorthodox view that our feet are naturally meant to assist us in our running and we should therefore run in our bare feet.
There is a lot of literature out there on the internet and I came across all of this really when I went online to find out more about why my knees hurt. I had been clocking in more and more kilometres as I've been running quite reguarly the last few years. I have very flat feet (i.e. bad overpronation) and it didn't seem like I would be able to find good running shoes. I was overjoyed 3 years ago when I found out that a lot of shoe companies had specific motion control shoes which would help prop up my fallen arch and to help provide more stability. Thick and solid rubber reinforcements would be built in to the shoe's arch area to assist in this. It felt good running in these shoes, especially when it helped to stop my ankles from feeling sore due to the overpronation. I loved my pair of New Balance 1223.
As I continued running, I noticed that I started to feel a lot of pain in my knees. The pain would definitely occur during my longer runs but even during my weekly shorter runs, I would feel the pain right on my knee cap. This led me to start doing research online on this pain and that is when I started to come across a lot of pages speaking about the benefits of barefoot running. It seemed completely counter-intuitive. How could running on your barefeet, especially mine with my flat feet, actually be good for my legs?
The pain from my running has still not gone away, even with a purchase of new more-cushioned running shoes specially for my flat feet. The more I thought about it, I thought what the heck, let's try this barefoot theory out. I wasn't prepared to go completely barefoot (and I've already come across quite a number of runners who were already going barefoot even at the marathons I was at) and so I wanted to try the Vibram Five Fingers.
A little bit difficult to find in Malaysia and the distributor, Innovatez, seemed to only have outlets in Singapore. The place that seemed to have the most number of stock was at Outdoor Life
at Novena Square. I picked up my black pair of KSOs (the model name for my pair of Vibrams, they stand for Keep-Stuff-Out) when the new stock came in, and they were selling really well. Mine was the last pair to come in my size 41. All the other 41s were all sold out. They cost S$199 but with 10% discount if you pay in cash
So I eagerly opened the box to try them out.
They look very much like the booties that you can wear when you go scuba diving. They hug your feet and the sizing is a lot smaller than your normal shoes. It is advisable to go and try the shoes out in person and get your feet measured with the Vibram sizing scale (which i did at Outdoor Life).
You can see the think rubberised sole and with grooves to mimic the sole of your foot.
How has the running been so far? It was a fun experience running in them the first time. The Vibrams are meant to be used barefoot so no wearing of socks. It'll be impossible to wear normal socks anyway due to the toe compartments, but you can wear toe socks and then wear the Vibrams over. It takes a bit of practice to get used to wearing them on although I've gotten the hang of it.
If you've never worn any sort of minimalist footwear before, the first thing you'll notice when walking out with the Vibrams is the fact that you can actually 'feel' the ground. You notice the different bumps and textures of the ground, whether running on rough patches or over grills. That makes the running a lot more interesting.
You become a lot more aware of how your feet are landing and you also automatically change the way you run. You no longer are able to take long strides and maintain the heel-strike method like in normal running shoes. With hardly any cushioning, landing on your heel first is going to really hurt. You will automatically start taking a lot shorter strides and I start to lean forward a little bit more. I can't see my legs extending in front of me and I start to land almost feet flat on the ground or landing on the middle of the foot before pushing off. This is supposed to be the recommended midfoot strike that most runners are supposed to use. Not quite sure if I am doing it correctly but I am definitely running differently than before.
The first thing I notice is that my calves now start to ache very quickly. In my normal running shoes, my calves don't feel taught but now, after about 2km, I can start to feel my calves getting a bit sore. This is supposed to be the normal transitioning stage for barefoot runners where your legs are now using different muscles to help support your feet. My ankles also start to get sore quite quickly. This is my usual ankle soreness before I started to use my motion control shoes to prop up my arch. I am hoping that these two aches start to go away as I get used to running in my Vibrams.
Running without any socks also makes parts of my feet blister slightly from rubbing against the Vibrams. While the Vibrams are by and large very smooth inside, my feet did take about 2 runs to start to adjust to the lining inside, and with part of my feet feeling a bit chaffed. I am not that worried about this as my feet seem to be adjusting already and I don't feel any pain.
What about my knee pain? Well, I still feel that dull ache on my left knee. I am guessing that it will not magically disappear right away, even with the Vibrams, but I am trying this out for the long term to monitor how it goes.
I can't quite manage my normal mileage at the moment, as the soreness in my calves and ankles really cut short my runs to about 4-5km before I have to stop. I will keep monitoring my progress and then maybe report back here again in the near future.
8 comments:
Glad you've got your first pair of VFFs!
A couple things:
- you can wear socks in Five Fingers, you just need to get five-toed socks like those sold by Injinji
- take it VERY slow. There are multiple things going on as you transition to VFF-style or natural running. For one, your gait is changing along with your form. Simultaneously, you're using your entire leg and foot to absorb impact as smoothly as possible.
You might like to look at some of the recent barefoot running research released and covered in the news by Dan Lieberman. There's a lot of good material in there to start on.
But expect the transition period to take a few weeks or even months. It takes quite awhile to rehab your feet from years of "foot cast" walking and running. Best of luck and happy VFF'ing!
Wow these look great!
Will try and get some then try them out when the weather gets warmer.
Justin: Thanks for all the tips, looking forward to running more in my Vibrams. I did read about the Lieberman research, very interesting stuff in there.
love to see this discussion! It’s great to see you all working through the issues and also, it’s great to see recommendations for testing. In the end, it’s what your actual users do and prefer hat should be your biggest driver in making these decisions.
get stage from home
Hi guys may check it out here
http://stylemanstore.blogspot.com/search/label/LATEST%20VIBRAM%20FiveFingers
Great thing pal, like to see more updates of VFF from you!
bro,i'm having the same issue as yours! flat feet,overpronate, arch pain and whatnot..struggling to find a suitable shoe to minimize this plantar fasciitis(i guess it's the name of that pain)..how can i contact u? for a little chat and idea exchange maybe?? my email is mangachinana@gmail.com..hope u can reply me ..thanks,man!
bro,i'm having the same issue like u, flat feet,overpronate, arch pain (plantar fascitis is the name of it i guess)..struggling to find a suitable shoe..came across yr blog and i saw some hopes on my probs..can we have a little chat & exchange ideas on it? this is my email : mangachinana@gmail.com..hope u can reply me..thanks =)
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