Vibram FiveFingers - A nice idea but...

I saw a review on Michael Hyatt's site of his experiences with Vibram FiveFingers. I thought this would be a good opportunity to update my own review.

I have had my FiveFingers for almost 2 years now. Initially I was using them as my exclusive running/training shoe. I bought them in January and ran in them exclusively until April when I experience some foot problems. This actually turned out to be a fracture caused by repetitive stressing of my foot bones.  This was a prime example of training in them too hard to quickly. While I thought I was easing my way slowly enough into longer distances, the break tells a different story.

Once I recovered from my break (8 weeks later) I took a hiatus from my Vibrams. I was a little gun shy. Eventually I pulled them on again a couple of months later and remembered why I loved running in them. However, I have kept them as a secondary part of my training. I run in them on a semi-regular basis as a supplement to my training rather than a primary trainer.

There is no doubt that barefoot running is a fabulous way to work muscles that you forgot you had and it has help modify my stride so that I no longer have knee issues. However, I am not convinced that it is the best option for long distance or technical running. I do multi-day adventure racing,  I need a rock solid shoe that I can forget about.

I have since settled on Solomon XT Wings 2 as my primary shoe. They are a stellar trail running shoe and are almost bomb proof for long hard races. I will continue to use my Vibrams but probably not frequently.

VFF: Top of foot pain

I've had my first real problem from barefoot running (in my Vibram Fivefingers). I noticed the other night after a 14k trail run that I had some considerable foot pain on the top of my right foot. I assumed that I had twisted my foot on the run.

After a week of rest I decided to have a go at the Lincoln 5k Road Race. I wore my Fivefingers. I had a good race and felt good about my performance but soon had an even worse onset of pain on the top of my foot.

After a bit of research I have found that top of foot pain is fairly common in barefoot running. I have a feeling that I've gone a little too hard with my VFFs and I'm now paying the price.

I'm going to take a couple of weeks rest and then start back very slowly on short runs. I'll probably stick with my regular shoes for now on longer runs until I feel more confident in my foot strength.

Here are a couple of good links about this problem:
http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1186
http://barefootjason.blogspot.com/2010/02/vibram-top-of-foot-pain-connection.html
http://www.runnersworld.com/community/forums/runner-communities/barefoot-running/top-of-foot-pain-warning-newbies

VFF - Mud & Ice and Rocks oh my

Tonight I gave my Vibram FiveFingers Flow their biggest test yet.  This wasn't an exceptionally long run, at around 13km, but it was the most technical. The route that we took started with 3km of easy trail, progressed up a large hill and then the last half was on hard backwoods trails.

Being New Brunswick in the spring, the terrain for the backwoods section was a mixture of mud, ice, slush, snow, and even some sharp rocks on one section. This was a true all around test of the shoes!

The temperature was around freezing and much of the trail was snow or ice covered. The Flows kept my feet very warm. Several times my feet ended up in streams and slushy puddles but my feet were never cold.


I found the shoes exceptionally good for areas where technical running was required while straddling streams, hopping across rocks or traversing fallen logs.

The only area where the shoes really don't do well is on smooth ice. Several downhill sections were icy and the shoes do not grip well at all in these conditions.

As a result of this muddy run I have to wash my VFF for the first time...but that's just a good sign that they're being used!

Vibram FiveFinger Shoes

I finally bought myself a pair of  Vibram FiveFinger Flow's last month. I was originally going to get a pair of KSO's but changed my mind because I thought the Flows would be better for cold weather running. I am in Canada afterall! I bought them while on a trip to Florida at Fit2Run in Tampa. The sales guy really gave me confidence in the purchase. He's been wearing a pair for 6 months and raved about them.

I've been running for the last few months as training for the upcoming Race the Phantom adventure race.

I don't really expect that I'll be able to run a 36hr adventure race in my FiveFingers but I do hope that they strengthen my feet and calves.  Since the race also has a kayaking section they should come in handy for that section of the race though.

I have a couple of shorter events that are coming up that will be a good test for the shoes. A 5k race in April, a 5 hour adventure race later in April, an 8 hour adventure race in June and a 58k run of the Dobson Trail in June. I'll test them at progressively longer distances and see which of these I actually end up wearing them in. 

I've done a few runs in the FiveFingers. All of the posts that I've read say that you should take it easy for a while until your muscles build up. I'm having a hard time with this. Every time that I go out they feel so good that I just want to keep running! I haven't done anything too far with them yet but last time out I did 7k and could hardly walk the next day because my calves were so sore! I really need to pace myself or carry another pair of shoes to throw on after the first 4 or 5 km. I think I should be up to 10k in them by the end of the month and my calves should be able to stop a bullet!

I've had the shoes in a pretty good variety of conditions already. My first run was in Florida on Cocoa beach. The Flows did a good job keeping the sand out. My last run was back in Canada and had a mixture of snow and mud (Oh Canada!). Again, the Flows kept my feet clean and also surprisingly warm. The temperature that night was around 2C. I think I'd be comfortable trying them at -5C for at least a short run.

I'll post more comments as a get more miles on these.