Vibram Fivefingers Anyone???

[Twister]

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

Totally agree Terry

[Terry the Tortoise]

I've managed to get hold of the new FiveFinger TREKS from the US for under £100. The Treks won't be available in UK until next year and they will be priced at around £160-£200, so it will still be cheaper to buy this way.

First thing you need to do is register with shopUSA. How this works, is that they provide you with a delivery address in the US. You order something and have it dispatched to this address. They will then forward it on to you for a fee (which they don't take until they dispatch). The best bit is, that although you pay a fee, its far far less then paying all the duty etc you normally would have to.

Then email Anne Fekete ([email protected]) at GSS Gear. They provide gear for military and government agencies, but you won't find the Treks on their website. All you need to do is email Anne and she will help you with the order from there. She's very helpful and provides great customer service. If you mention my name (Terry Conway), it should help with the process.

You should receive your new TREKS around 10 days after payment

I paid $145 in TOTAL, which works out at around £90! I can't promise you it will be that cheap for everyone, GSS Gear gave me an amazing discount due to who I work for. Any questions, PM me.

[batmonkey]

Then email Anne Fekete ([email protected]) at GSS Gear. They provide gear for military and government agencies, but you won't find the Treks on their website. All you need to do is email Anne and she will help you with the order from there. She's very helpful and provides great customer service. If you mention my name (Terry Conway), it should help with the process.

Terry, I don't know what your discounted price works out as, but another option for readers is citysports.com. Their list price for the Treks is $124.95, but there are two good coupon codes -- FALLISHERE gets you $20 off, while INSIDERCS gets you 15% off your largest item (ie. $18.75 off a pair of Treks).

Citysports won't ship overseas, but they can ship to shopUSA for $5 (if I recall correctly) so you'd pay $109.95 (£66.58) plus shopUSA's forwarding fee. You can buy online with a UK credit card; just put as much of your UK billing address as possible into their US-address-shaped form, and make up the rest.

I bought my Treks from Citysports and had a relative in the US forward them to me. Very happy. Chose the same size as my regular KSOs and they're just right.

[Terry the Tortoise]

I went to citysports first, but they are very low on stock. Only have large sizes when I checkwed last

[batmonkey]

I went to citysports first, but they are very low on stock. Only have large sizes when I checkwed last

They list all the sizes now, but there's no obvious indication of their stock levels. I got mine a month or more ago, perhaps beating the rush. :-)

Loads of people on Barefoot Ted's list have bought Treks from there and been satisfied; that's where I heard about the coupon codes etc.

[Terry the Tortoise]

Haha...typical! They just didn't have the stock when I asked. GSS Gear are very good though.

[Neil A Stewart]

I have been running in my five fingers sprints for around 6 months now. I find them great to run in. My only issue is that i haven't been able to match the times i'm capable of in normal trainers. I suspect that this may be due to my stride being shortened slightly by the FFS. This applies to both flat road running and fell running.

Has anyone else found a similar issue?

Cheers,
N

[batmonkey]

I have been running in my five fingers sprints for around 6 months now. I find them great to run in. My only issue is that i haven't been able to match the times i'm capable of in normal trainers. I suspect that this may be due to my stride being shortened slightly by the FFS. This applies to both flat road running and fell running.

Has anyone else found a similar issue?

Cheers,
N

Yes, and it can be frustrating.

Alternating between regular shoes and FiveFingers/barefoot can mean that your gait never fully adapts, and during that time it's still possible to bomb around in running shoes, while the barefoot gait feels a bit stilted. Is this your situation?

If you *do* switch fully, it still takes a long time for your gait to adapt. The more you run completely barefoot, the faster it adapts.

Within a couple of weeks of switching fully from racing flats to FiveFingers in June I matched my 10k PR of a month earlier, but my training prior to the switch was unsustainable, with various injuries, and my poor form soon became obvious.

Now, after several slower months without "real" shoes, I feel like I'm finally learning good running form and building up a sustainable core of speed again.

I've consciously decided to suspend the aggressive craving for high performance for a while. I'm in it for the long term, and I'm sure the speed will return. The speed I felt in shoes was obviously artificial if I kept getting injured. I reckon I sprint faster in FiveFingers/barefoot than in shoes, and the sensation of running extremely fast is so much more natural now.

[runningfool]

Yes, and it can be frustrating.

Alternating between regular shoes and FiveFingers/barefoot can mean that your gait never fully adapts, and during that time it's still possible to bomb around in running shoes, while the barefoot gait feels a bit stilted. Is this your situation?

If you *do* switch fully, it still takes a long time for your gait to adapt. The more you run completely barefoot, the faster it adapts.

Within a couple of weeks of switching fully from racing flats to FiveFingers in June I matched my 10k PR of a month earlier, but my training prior to the switch was unsustainable, with various injuries, and my poor form soon became obvious.

Now, after several slower months without "real" shoes, I feel like I'm finally learning good running form and building up a sustainable core of speed again.

I've consciously decided to suspend the aggressive craving for high performance for a while. I'm in it for the long term, and I'm sure the speed will return. The speed I felt in shoes was obviously artificial if I kept getting injured. I reckon I sprint faster in FiveFingers/barefoot than in shoes, and the sensation of running extremely fast is so much more natural now.

Interesting observations.

I'm hanging up my VFFs for the winter. I started off dabbling in full barefoot running earlier in the year and really enjoyed it. I then had a break from running due to a back injury but when I restarted I got some VFFs which I've enjoyed running in. Whilst at first I thought I was still running in the "barefoot" style, I've come to realise that full barefoot is probably the safer way to get going. I've now got tender feet after a long trail run in my VFFs. It was stupid I know but it was the VFFs that made it possible for me to overdo it.

I think putting *anything* on your feet, no matter how minimal inevitably changes the way you run and I think I'll do better by building up my barefoot mileage and using my VFFs for those occasions when it's just too prickly for barefoot running but only after I've build a good base.

[Skids]

I'm a big fan of vivo barefoot casual shoes, and stumbled upon these:

http://barefootrunner.co.uk/vivobare...oes-sneak-peak

OK, so they're unlikely to be any good for off road, but they do look very cool (rather than just plain freaky) and will clearly present a real challenge to the fivefingers 'monopoly'.