Yep,Originally Posted by Dru
They smell something close to wood chip. It less stinky with Injinji socks, though after a longer period I have give them a cycle in the washing machine as well.
Yep,
They smell something close to wood chip. It less stinky with Injinji socks, though after a longer period I have give them a cycle in the washing machine as well.
You should read this thread on another forum:
Yeah VFFs are funky...but sometimes not in the good way
http://birthdayshoes.com/forum/index.php?topic=20.0
Remember seeing this on dragon's den - http://www.klenzuk.com/ - at about £200, not suggesting individuals should get one, but you might be able to persuade your local leisure centre or running shop to get a coin-op one?
I've run exclusively in FiveFingers (KSOs) and barefoot since early May. The FiveFingers are great on the road, and also for relatively smooth trails.
Now, the new trail version ("KSO Trek") isn't available in Europe yet, and is set to be very expensive -- you can pre-order it for 190 Eur, if you look around.
However, I just got a pair of Treks shipped from the US (for $105 + shipping), and ran yesterday's Ceiriog Canter in them, much to the amusement of my fellow runners.
They're light and supple, with just enough protection from stones, and plenty of grip for all but the most slippery surfaces. Weaknesses include a tendency to collect clumps of grass between the toes, and a long drying-out time, but the experience of running in them is so enjoyable that I'd still pick them over all-out fell shoes whenever possible.
I wouldn't use the Trek model for road-running, though -- the thinner-soled regular models feel nicer.
My impressions...
I've been running in VFF Classics for about a month now. Not very much as I've been getting over severe sciatica problems but thankfully that seems to be in the past now.
I bought them as I'd experimented with full barefoot running earlier in the year and enjoyed it but running fully barefoot excluded me from too many of my running venues. I think I probably could run many road races fully barefoot but around where I live there's a huge range in tarmac quality so even to run on roads, I was looking for something that would let me enjoy most of the benefits of barefoot running without the drawbacks.
I've now done speedwork in them and some trail runs and really love them. They add another dimension to my running and even when it's uncomfortable, I find I'm enjoying my running more. At the weekend I attempted a 20 mile trail run in my VFFs which was a tad ambitious as my longest run since my 6 month lay-off was just 9 miles the weekend before (and longest run in VFFs was 6 miles).
The first 10 miles were just brilliant, the next 5 got progressively harder due to foot tenderness and at 17 miles I bottled out and put on some regular shoes that I'd been carrying. Given that the trail was littered with stones of all sizes and stacks of Beech mast sticking up like bl**dy clatrops I don't think I did too badly.
My feet are definitely tender today but given my inability to do things in moderation, that's no more than I deserve. ;-) On the whole though I think I got a lot more out of running in the VFFs than tender feet.
At present I'm alternating between ordinary running shoes and my VFFs but ultimately I'd like to be able to run trail ultra events in them.
I've also found that rough trails get progressively harder on the feet in the regular FiveFingers. The big advantage of the Treks is that they have just enough plating under the forefoot to stop the rocks from pushing through at the foot so hard.
I've concluded that a lot of the foot soreness I get running trails is due more to the unaccustomed strains of free foot movement than the impacts; even the thicker-soled Treks make all the tendons in the foot work much harder than in regular shoes.
I was tempted when I heard about the Treks but I'm concerned that they represent one end of the slippery slope back to full running shoes.
My view is that the point of the VFFs is to give *just enough* protection to prevent penetrating injuries but not so much that you change your running style significantly from full barefoot running. I'm aware even with the Classics that I don't run in exactly the same way that I do barefoot.
My plan is to continue in my Classics on trails on see if my feet adapt or otherwise get used to the surface before I go down the route of looking for more protection. Dunno if I'll stick with the plan ultimately but I feel it's more in keeping with my view of the barefoot philosophy.
Each to his own however.
Agreed. I'm hooked on pure barefoot and the regular VFFs, so I was hesitant to get the Treks, not least because it's harder to maintain the correct gait even in regular VFFs than barefoot.
I was struck by Anton Krupicka's treatise on minimal footwear; as a top trail ultrarunner with an impeccable gait who runs a lot of training miles barefoot, he ended up reluctantly concluding that he needed trail shoes:
"Well, because I've found that running on rocky trails does indeed require a bit of protection, too, if I want to be able to run as fast as I possibly can over that terrain. Up until July of 2006 I was doing all of my running barefoot, in water socks, or in the H Streets or some XC flats."
I certainly run faster over rough ground in the Treks, so I guess I've traded off feel for speed, just as I think many barefoot runners use thin VFFs to go faster on certain rough surfaces.
It's an interesting time to have feet. :-)
I guess speed may be the crunch factor for me too. I'm happy that I run faster on roads in VFFs but I don't want to run slower on trails because of my shoe choice.
Even tribes way back when would still of worn some form of protection for certain terrain and/or conditions. There's plenty of evidence around such as animal skin shoes and hardened leather sandals. The main point is that they weren't made to "correct" or "improve" the biomechanics of how we walk or run. They were simply designed to keep feet warm in the winter and "protect", not cushion the sole over rough terrain. With VFF’s, there is nothing in their design made to help with “pronation” etc, they just offer protection. Admittedly as soon as you put anything on your feet, it will affect the natural biomechanics, but they’re a hell of a lot better then heavy trainers!
So...it's not really all about going barefoot (although if you can, do!), more about getting our feet out of the shoddy casts we've been made to believe are necessary to run and enjoy yourself
Just a thought
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