Quote Originally Posted by Neil A Stewart View Post
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.