Vibram Five Fingers Pt. 2

Since we last spoke, I've been in my VFF's a few times. First, I wore them out on the streets for about a 40 minute run. This was all concrete through Balboa Park. I will say that for the most part I loved my experience in them. Feeling the ground underneath my feet was amazing. The VFF's allow you to feel quite stable on the ground. 2 down points: My big toe on both feet started to burn near the end of the run. I had to alter my stride for the last 15 minutes of the run. I did not however develop a blister. Perhaps this is to be expected with any new style running shoe. I must note however, this is not due to the stride. A couple of weeks ago when I went out for a run, on concrete, in socks only, this did not happen. Also, I noticed that the interior bottom of the shoe becomes slighlty slippery once your foot begins to sweat. This did not prove problematic as the shoe is snug to your feet. The best part was that the VFF's didn't smell a bit after I took them off my very sweaty, wet foot!

Friday, I wore the VFF's to Cabrillo National Monument for a light hike/tide pool adventure. I felt as though I discovered a new world! The VFF's were amazing on the trails. With your feet basically touching the ground with every step it is an amazing feeling. The stability on the trails was perfect. Not once did I ever feel my ankle might role or I might lose ground. Once we got to the tidepools, the VFF's lost many points. My VFF's are the KSO's. They are obviously not ment to be worn when wet. Now, I realize that tidepool destinations are slippery by nature but my 2 friends wearing good old sneakers showed not nearly the amount of slippage that I was. The KSO VFF's simply do not have enough traction for terrain like this. Not to worry, for me at least, I am almost never hiking around in tidepools!

Overall, I really like them. There currently isn't another option for a barefoot experience.

3/16/10
This note would not have made it in this post had I published this yesterday but today I went for another run in my VFF's. They held up great, however, my calves are still not recovered from this weekend. I made it only about 1 1/2 miles and then had to walk the last 1/2 mile. Getting used to this new forefoot stride takes a bit but I'm getting there. While I still noticed a tiny bit of interior slippage when walking, the VFF's held up great today!

Until the next post...

Michael Luongo, Personal Trainer at Large : )