What was YOUR experience of minimalist running?

[Andrew]

I'm looking for some feedback from other runners who have ran in minimalist footwear - testimonials etc.

My wife and I are writing a webpage about minimalist running which will be published next week (we author www.myrunningtips.com )

We have about 2 years experience - my wife runs exclusively in minimalist footwear while I do most of my running barefoot nowadays and VFF at other times

The research papers and anecdotal evidence circling the web are mostly about runners who got injured (metatarsel fractures, for example) and we have little said about runners who have had a positive experience when going minimalist (maybe you have?)

As we understand it the underlining issue with the runners who injured themselves was that they failed to transition slowly enough for the bones and muscles to recover - in fact many of the runners we read about continued to run their normal weekly mileage (30-40 miles) when transitioning to minimalist footwear... oh my..!

I'm sure there are runners on here who have had good and bad experiences from running in minimalist footwear and with this in mind I wondered if you would share these experiences with us...

[Our own experience of running in minimalist footwear has been good. I have personally overcome an old knee problem by running both barefoot and minimalist vs conventional shoes. My wife Julie has had less ankle troubles - she used to have support bandages on her ankles constantly when she ran in padded shoes, now she has been bandage free for many months]

- BUT rather than giving our readers the benefit of only our own experiences, we also need some feedback from folks like you to give us a more complete picture

So feel free to tell us your experiences (good or bad) and be sure to include as much detail as you wish.

Thanks in advance for your replies

PS. I will link my page to this page when the posts appear, I won't just use your posts on my site.

Andy and Julie
from
www.myrunningtips.com

 

[Hobbit]

Hi Andrew,
I usually run barefoot skin to ground but I do own a couple of minimalist shoes (VFF, Merrell and Xero) which are mainly used during the cold season (the Xero also in summer to get me over difficult patches of trail - I carry always a pair with me on my barefoot runs)
I think a couple of months skin to ground experience is necessary to develop good form and transition safely - afterwards the use of minimalist shoes is less a problem than without the skin to ground training.
But even though I do encounter problems when wearing minimalist shoes: quite often my feet hurt after a run (same distance as usual) in min shoes. And I feel that my running form is different with something on my feet. Which probably explains the hurting: different running form uses different muscles and puts strain on different parts of the foot.

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

My experience was great. I was a 15 year shod runner that went straight to running barefoot. I donated my two pairs of running shoes to Goodwill so I was forced to run barefoot, no matter what. I started my transition in September 09', then in December I bought my first pair of Vibrams because I wanted a safety net for winter, and since I had no previous experience with winter barefoot running. My first year was not completely smooth, I had my share of injuries, aches and pains. TMTS didn't exist in my book so I learned the hard way.

Coming up on 4 years of running barefoot with over 3000 barefoot miles, the journey continues on.

 

[Zetti]

My experience....shoes are tools....use as necessary.
Living in Mid Michigan....usually not that necessary...I am still getting a hang of winter bf running and use huarache when I get too cold....otherwise
Min shoes are my last resort.....running shoes are not a resort...

 

[Tristan]

I've had mixed results. I used VFF's for casual wear and walking a couple months before I started barefoot, but never ran in them. For running I went cold turkey barefoot, but started from scratch (worked my way up very slowly from a couple hundred feet!). The first winter came a few months later and I did use the same VFF's I walked in for running during the cold months. At first I had some top of the foot pain, I think at first I pushed the mileage just a bit too much with them. But I backed off and kept my runs slow and easy and didnt have any issues the rest of that winter. But my miles were only in the 2-3 range. As soon as spring rolled in the VFF's came off. Many months later, I got a couple pairs of minimalist sandals, and used them on some rough roads just for short stretches. And thats when the underfoot cramping started that plagues me now with minimalist shoes. The next winter, on many of my runs in minimalist shoes, I would get cramps under my arch. I think I was just so used to barefoot that the lack of sensation was throwing my form off. Realize by this time my runs were longer, and faster, and was pretty used to barefoot. I tried multiple completely different minimalist options from VFF's to sandals to Merrels to VivoBarefoot. Pretty much the same result with painful cramps under my foot, sometimes while still in my warmup even. Also had to do with the cold I believe. Not 100% sure what all was happening last winter, but finally went barefoot again in spring. But this time I tried to maintain running every once in a while minishod since I thought I might have to race that way on a trail run sometime. And after a couple seasons of running in sandals once every couple weeks or so and I seem to be doing good in them now, at least with my slow and easy pace on trails.

Oh and to step back for a moment (sorry) last fall I tried my modified VFF's as the temps were starting to cool down. It wasnt cold enough to need them, but figured I'd start getting used to them, and tried them on one of my sprint days. Thought it would be a good test - since the sprints on my rough road are the worse on my soles anyhow, and I thought I'd probably wear the VFF's on a 4 mile race I had quickly approaching. All seemed good and I was hitting some pretty fast for me at the time paces. Next day, feet were in pain! Apparently I was hitting the ground to hard on the outside of my foot, probably due to the lack of tactile sensation in my feet. I really thought I hurt em bad, and the pain lasted nearly a couple weeks I think. I never saw a doc, but they got better and probably 3 weeks or so I was back 100% so I think I just bruised em and hopefully didnt break or seriously damage anything.

So mixed feelings about minimalist. Its just so easy to over do it, even after you've got used to being barefoot and strengthened the feet up. At least for me.

Except for the occasional trail run, I mostly use minimalist for casual wear when I need something on my feet, like going to restaurants, shops, or work.

 

[Wayne Whiting]

Minimalist shoes allowed me to run to far too soon. A five mile run in VFF gave me blood blisters under the first metatarsals. Xero shoes gave me sore calves after two runs of 4 and 5 miles. I threw the VFF away and only wear the Xero shoes into restaurants. I haven't endured a New York winter yet, so not sure what that will bring.

 

[Andrew]

Sorry I haven't posted back sooner, some really good responses thank you.

Thought I'd let you know,

We have written 2 pages about minimalist running since I posted last but the page I want to link this thread with has been put on the "back burner" for a month. We just need to polish up on some research before we finalise the page and these things can take time

In the meantime we have published 2 pages regarding minimalist running - one which explains the best way to make the transition to a minimalist shoe and another which is a guide to buying them:

http://www.myrunningtips.com/minimalist-running.html

http://www.myrunningtips.com/minimalist-running-shoes.html

Feel free to have a look!

I'll pop back when we publish the "minimalist running debate" page ;-)

 

[Bill Garrett]

I started barefoot and then switched more frequently to minimal toward the end of last summer when I burned my feet so badly on the hot streets that it took two weeks before I could run again. I'll admit, my preference for distance running is what keeps me in minimals as there's some forgiveness for bad landings when it comes to hot spots. That said, I'm aware enough of the bad habits possible to pick up in minimal shoes that I haven't gone through injury periods.

 

[Wayne Whiting]

I like Vibrams when I'm on a boat. For running they take too long to put on.