The day after my first run in vibram fives I was walking around like a 70 year old granny. My calves were stiff and sore! Most barefoot blogs suggest starting with 1/4 mile or so but I figured with the extra protection on my feet I could go further. After a few days everything felt fine so i started doing 2 mile runs once a week for the first month. By the end the calf pain had gone away and everything felt great, except for a bit if top-of-foot pain every so often. My stride was smoothing out, nice clean fore/midfoot strikes, rapid cadence (180 per min), and I felt light and speedy like a rabbit. When I would run in my regular shoes I felt like a dinosaur lumbering along, doused with sweat. I've heard claims that barefoot or minimalist shoe running is more efficient and I could really feel it on the runs. For reference, during this time I was doing two or three runs a week in my regular shoes, and ran a few half marathons.
After the first month I picked it up to 3 mile runs once or twice week, though twice a week was a bit much and my feet would ache a little. After two months I tried five miles and my love affair with the vibrams came to an end. As I mentioned earlier, my big toes are a bit snug in the vibrams in order for my little toes to fit. It was a bit annoying and uncomfortable but I put up with it. In the vibrams, there is a bit of a lip or a seam right at the base of the big toe slot so your toe fits in nice and snug. However, on my five mile run I noticed an ever so slight rubbing of my toe over that lip. As I began to sweat more my toe began to slide around more and more and by the end of the run I had a nasty blister. I know this was partially due to me pushing off a bit with that foot (it is a little crooked after breaking my ankle in the fifth grade) but I could see that that seam was going to be a problem. Also, I felt that the toes gave me less freedom of movement, not more. I'm sure I could have tried out toe socks or tape but the shoes just were too problematic. I hadn't given up on minimalist shoes but I was ready to start looking for an alternative shoe. I'm not sure why I didn't try barefoot running at this point but the fact is I was just too chicken
After the first month I picked it up to 3 mile runs once or twice week, though twice a week was a bit much and my feet would ache a little. After two months I tried five miles and my love affair with the vibrams came to an end. As I mentioned earlier, my big toes are a bit snug in the vibrams in order for my little toes to fit. It was a bit annoying and uncomfortable but I put up with it. In the vibrams, there is a bit of a lip or a seam right at the base of the big toe slot so your toe fits in nice and snug. However, on my five mile run I noticed an ever so slight rubbing of my toe over that lip. As I began to sweat more my toe began to slide around more and more and by the end of the run I had a nasty blister. I know this was partially due to me pushing off a bit with that foot (it is a little crooked after breaking my ankle in the fifth grade) but I could see that that seam was going to be a problem. Also, I felt that the toes gave me less freedom of movement, not more. I'm sure I could have tried out toe socks or tape but the shoes just were too problematic. I hadn't given up on minimalist shoes but I was ready to start looking for an alternative shoe. I'm not sure why I didn't try barefoot running at this point but the fact is I was just too chicken
