I wear the same size in both X-Talon 212 & F-Lite 230.Quote:
Originally Posted by bfluc
And the new X-Talon 190 .
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I wear the same size in both X-Talon 212 & F-Lite 230.Quote:
Originally Posted by bfluc
And the new X-Talon 190 .
Met up and ran (barefoot of course!) with Chris McDougall last week. Really fascinating and down to earth guy.... much less evangelical than I expected and very positive/realistic about the latest wave of minimalistic/natural shoes. Agrees completely about the grip issues, especially on wet grass, of the Vibrams. Insider, he was very interested in what you guys are up to.
Chris Mc Dougall acknowledges that we have always been on the right track HEREQuote:
Originally Posted by nikalas
Went for my first run the other day in VFF KSOs. Very educational indeed. It is very apparent which part of the foot strikes the ground first and how that changes over time and gradient.
I am only just a mid foot striker where as I would have said I was a definite mid foot runner.
Shortening your stride length and upping cadence downhill lessens the obvious impact of downhill heel striking with no cushioning
The underfoot protection even over rough and stoney ground seemed fine althought the grip on wet grass and mud would be in the 'scary' category.
I did a 35min off road run in the wet, maybe a bit long for the first outing and my knees did feel funny towards the end, but no soreness after.
My plan is to run once a week in them and see what happens over time. I got some orthotics last year which really helped the sore knees which had developed from doing more super long fell races and BG training. But my knees are not as good as there were 2 years ago so am hoping that some barefoot running, stretching and use of orthotics (wether permanently or temporarily) will all combine to sort me out.
On the subject of descending. I think a lot of fell runners would benefit from training in VFF. I see time and time again runners bombing down hills with a straight lead leg (just look at any set of fell running photos and it'll be the majority of runners doing this). Now its obvious why, cause we want to reach out for the ground in front of us, but this almost always forces the heel strike. Now couple this with the forces that are magnified when we run downhill and it is no wonder that most fell runners complain about sore knees.
Joss knew what he was talking about when he said try and bend the knees on descent. We have to start thinking of our legs a pair of shock absorbers, when wearing minimal shoes for running you will bend you legs more automatically, you will land midfoot and you will have a shorter stride.
If you then practice this technique on descent you will become a descending machine. Yes there is no grip with the VFF, but I've found that if you find the sweet spot, the point where momentum and footstrike are in perfect balance with your mass then you will not fall over. it is a leap of faith and you have to go for it, you have to lean a bit downhill too. It can feel a bit disconcerting. It also feels quite utterly amazing.
i have a pair of vff kso treks. once you adopt a barefoot running style they are good. ran from top withens to the conduit above the waggon and horses and they felt great. if you want to know about the running style take a look at the book born to run and find chris mcdougal/barefoot ted and others. sorry if these have been mentioned before, haven't read the whole thread. the uk prices are crazy, i found mine (yes i know) from china, looking at the pics of the real one's i can't find any differences.
Ragarding running style someone on another forum suggested viewing the video on this webpage http://www.mattmetzgar.com/matt_metz...ing-video.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by haworth hobbler
the video looks good, if you dig around the web pages of barefoot ken bob and barefoot ted you will find similar advice. it feels strange to run forefoot first but is a very soft landing for your foot if you are bare foot or nearly. you will find your calf muscles will be sore if you do too much at once, but with time you running should feel better. many now feel shoes are a runners enemy: they cause more problems than they are meant to solve. 2 million years of upright running cannot be ignored!
Thirty years of running shoe technology has brought us no further forward.
More cushioning;same amount of injuries.
HERE