Shoe Review: Vibram Five Fingers@20KMish

After wearing in my Vibram Five Fingers Sprints for around 21 KMish real outdoor run, I thought I owe to do a review of this footwear.

Looks: Strange.  Something you get used to.  You will definitely get second or weird looks from the crowd.  Socks that have its “toes” has been exisitent in the shops before.  And this one is just like them but it has rubber soles.  People will think you are running in a weird kind of shoes.

Comfort: Not comfortable in a way if you are used to shoes are meant to protect and cushion your feet from the ground.  Comfortable in a way that it feels like you are not wearing any foot wear at all.  If you like being barefoot you will like it.

Safety:Not if you are running in a non familiar route with nails, pins and broken glass.  Twigs/branches, pebbles and gravel can be painful when you tread on them and you are not used to being barefoot outdoor.  Oh be careful too when you are just using this when going out, someone might just tread on your toes.

When Running: More difficult compared to when you are wearing running shoes.

No bounce effect: Your feet does all the work of pushing yourself off the ground.  Your toes help you take off, thus first few months while getting use to it you get toe blisters.
Form: It forces you not to run on your heel as you would be consciuos of not hurting your heel.  Thus the conclusion of barefoot footwear makers that it correct the running form and prevents injuries brought by heel strike.
Pain: It gets painful in the achilles after your first run, and few more runs until you get used to it.
Effort: When running you feel more tired (same thing I felt when I did the barefoot softsand runs, how come I am so puffed yet I am going on a slow pace?).  You work on your musles with more effort bigtime.  Your feet muscles, calf, ankles, quads.  This I say would be the basis why they say it gives your feet and legs more strength.
Distance: Wear in till you are trained to do longer runs.  It is not like when breaking in your new running shoes that you feel comfy then you can run longer, expect soreness and tightness WHILE running in them that will take time for you to run the distances you have been comfortably running in with shoes.

Ease of use: it takes your at least 3 -5 minutes or I shall say longer time when you wear your running shoes.  When wearing, start from small toe moving along to the big toe.  Adjust the velcro straps at the back till you get the right fitting.  After 2/3 times of use, it gets easier that you just slip your feet in easily like wearing thongs/slippers.

Maintenance: You can wash them directly in mild cold water cycle in your washing machine and hang air dry them naturally.

Price: Expensive.  199AUD++ for the VFF Sprints in retail stores, 79-100AUD for VFF Classic, 200AUD++ for VFF  Flow/KSO.  Cheaper ordered online, however make sure  if you are planning to buy one to get yourself fitted in one of them as the sizes are not the usual shoe size you think you are before ordering online.   I did have to do trials 3 times before I decided to get myself one.

So why am i running in them again? I am hoping to get myself less injury prone if I get my feet and leg muscles get trained to be stronger.  I say as of today i don’t think I will be breaking any PBs with the VFFs when I wear them to races this 1st year of use.  I am pairing my shoes with the New Nike Frees I also just bought which is “like-barefoot-running”.

I don’t think everyone will love them.  So far?  I love them 🙂 I use them just not for running but for anywhere.

Follow the chronicles of the second skin to my paws

alert_osc2.log