Discussion: Five Fingers Shoes running questions

(Already have a five finger shoes thread, but this is different questions so I thought I'd start a new one).

Went for first run tonight in my new FF. A couple questions come to mind:

1) when I running, I felt like I was striking the ground on the front ball of my feet. Sort of feel like a gazelle, cause when you're running, pusing to hit on the ball, rather than the heel. Sound about right? Since the stride seemed so different, I'm worried I'm over emphazing or something.

2) Bit of a struggle to put on (I know its the right size, I tried 2 different sizes). Any suggestions/tips to get the toes into the toe slots?

3) I was trying to explain to a friend, what the benefits were. Its essentailly that they force you to run on the ball of your feet, which means instread you aren't striking on the hell where all the pressue goes back up your leg, potentailly causing injury? Is this right?

Cheers, Ryan

I have run over 30 hours barefoot and 23 hours in Vibram FF this year, mostly since the summer. Go to http://runningbarefoot.org/ for a good resource on running barefoot. I believe you can get injured if you try to use VFF before learning to run barefoot. For the past 3 months I have run pretty much every run either barefoot or with VFF, now I struggle to get comfortable in my old cushioned running shoes, and even run in my VFF on the road. The changes necessary for foot strike and tendon muscle changes and strengthening take a fair amount of time to used to and I am still running generally slower on my runs than I did with shoes, but I am injury free and like the changes that have taken place in my running form.

Running barefoot gives you the sensitivity in your feet to get a better feedback and will help keep you from doing too much too soon. I have also run barefoot for the past two years as a supplement to my running, so take it slowly, or you can get injured

1) Yep. Just don't run like you're tiptoeing.

2) Put them flat on the floor, and then work on getting the toes in first before putting the heel on. Other than that, give it time, eventually your toes will divorce each other and be okay with separating.

3) It works the many small muscles in your feet that don't get used very much in regular running shoes. Also, as you mentioned, it helps you change your form to a mid-foot strike, since its nigh impossible to heel strike when barefoot. So rather than employing essentially the brakes when you land with your heel, you are keeping your momentum going forward.

Also, they look slick and the ladies will definitely want your number (or at least where you bought them)

1) Barfuss- bzw. Vorfuss-Laufen verlagert die Problemzone vom Knie zur Achillessehne.
2) Beim Vorfusslaufen übernimmt die Wadenmuskulatur die Schlagdämpfung. Ohne vorgängiges exzentrisches Training der Waden werden diese nur sehr langsam in ihre neue Rolle wachsen.

Just for the record, your heel shouldnt be hitting the ground first unless your braking/slowing down, even coming downhill.
Land mid foot (just behind the ball of your foot) so that you use the muscles of your foot and calf properly (Think of them as a bungy cord storing energy to release when you push off) If you land on your heel first you loose that energy (up through your leg, causing injuries) and make the calf to work harder (causing more injuries)
If you want to know more about running and how to do it properly get Running:
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-Biomechanics-Exerc...)

I'd recommend you start slow (I don't mean by that that you must run at slow speed, but more like build up your time in those shoes). It seems like it's a totally new technique for you, so your calves and plantar fascia are not used to that kind of effort.
Give them time to get used to it by doing only 20-30 minutes at a time wtih a few rest days in between. Otherwise you may end up with a bit of a strained lower leg.
My 2 cents

turbo and trav (both on on AP) areusing these shoes and logging about it to some extent.

Also, Spaff was one of the earliest adopters in the Ontario trail running community. And Crash wore them in the race where she qualified for the World XTerra Championship.