Still VFF

I am still running VFF. I use the track still the most to run VFF. I have done some pavement. It's harder on me for sure. I guess it's age because my daughter runs VFF all the time anywhere and has no problems at all. So my advice would be to start now--the younger the better.

I'm getting closer to the 500 mark. I don't know what happens when I hit that mark, but it's got to be something great!

Weather!

I has still been too windy and cold here to run outside much. I can handle the cold, but the wind shuts me down. I am happy for the excuse though to run the track as it's given me time to condition my legs and feet to barefoot. If I had a lot of trail to run I'd be okay, but I don't. So my feet will need to be strong before I can handle the pavement that much. We'll see. But until then, I am still running the track in my VFF. I am up to five miles at a time, still switching up some days and doing four so I don't over do.

Happy Running!

Bikilas

My Bikilas arrived. I've run about 10 miles in them so far!

They are a bit different than the Classics that I normally run in. The Classics are a bit loser and perhaps more of a barefoot experience. The Bikilas are more fitted around the foot.

I got them with the hopes of being able to run the road as it warms up and as I've spent considerable time on the track building up to running barefoot with no TOFP. I am running four miles with no TOFP, so I'm crossing my fingers.

I am still running a bit less on the balls of my feet but rather a modified midfoot. It's more comfortable and more doable.

So the Bikilas are wonderful like the Classics for track running. The true test will be outside on the road.

Happy running!

They're on the way!!

I had to do it! I ordered my BIKILAS. Mm-hmm! Yay! I am excited.

I wear a 41 in the Classics and by the sizing chart needed a 40 in the BIKILAS. I hope they fit well.

I ordered the blue/dark grey.

I'll tell you why I did this when last post I was lamenting that I had to wait to afford them. I ordered some Nike Vomero Zooms the other day because they were on the endangered list at the site I order from, and my son's needed some running shoes (I have one son who swears he'll NEVER wear VIBRAMS because of how they look). So I figured I'd grab a pair and throw them in the closet for road runs. When they arrived they looked different from the pair I presently run in and so thought I'd better take a few laps in them to make sure they were all right.

I hit the track in the VIBRAMS for the first three miles and then thought I'd throw the Vomeros on for the last mile. BIG MISTAKE. You know the saying, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone"? Well, the contrast between barefoot and new, stiff shoes that didn't feel that great was too much. I could hardly get through the run and cool down. So I decided that my money would be better spent buying the Bikilas and sending the Vomeros back.

That's it. Now I will have the Bikilas. I'll tell you all about them after a run or two.

Happy Running!

I'm one-fifth of the way there!

I have run nearly 100 miles on my Vibrams! Wow!

Still hitting the track for now. The outside weather here in the North does not facilitate running yet. But I love running in my Vibrams.

My running buddy got some Bikilas. Um, I'm jealous. But I have to say that it really makes no difference, right. I mean, how can they be that much different than the old Vibram classics? Anyway, I am one-fifth of the way to 500 miles. It'll be interesting to see how long my Vibrams last. I know my running shoes don't go that far without breaking down.

My son did something to hurt his foot--same place that I hurt mine--running on his Vibrams. You have to be so CAREFUL. You have to take it slow. Now he's got four weeks of giving his foot a break and then he can start up SLOWLY again. I feel bad for him. I think our feet are shoe-trained and have a hard time adjusting to barefoot. I am still careful because I don't want to be on injury status again. It STINKS.

My buddy also over-did it on her vibrams and had to drop off for three weeks and then has started slow again. You can still run the entire run--in our case four miles--but you just do five laps instead of the 22 our track requires for four miles. You just keep adding in a lap here and there until you can do the entire thing. Even then, after a full run in Vibrams, I will switch up one run with shoes and the next run half way with Vibrams before another full four miler in them.

Well, happy running. I WILL own some Bikilas soon. But until then, I'm burning up the track!

Happy running.

Vibrams again!

I haven't posted for a long time. But I have not given up on Vibrams. I found that running on the road--pavement--was tough. I would get a pain mid-foot on the top of my foot. So I gave up the barefoot on the road.

I did run an hour trail run last summer in them. It was AWESOME. My brother-in-law and his wife all took our Vibrams out for a nice early morning run in the moutains. Stepping on rocks, picking up weeds in between the toes of the Vibrams, and whatever else you find on a mountain trail were painful sometimes, but it was so much fun. I was afraid that I would have really sore feet at the end of the day. NO PAIN. None.

That was the last of my Vibram runs until this winter. The weather here has been so cold that it's the first year I haven't been able to run outside on the roads. My running partner and I discovered an indoor track in town and started running there just so we COULD run. I decided to fire up the old Vibrams again. I have run about close to 40 miles in them now on the track with no problems. I took it slow and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

One thing that I notice when I'm running barefoot is that my low back doesn't hyper-extend as my leg pushes back through the stride. I have also learned that I don't run on the balls of my feet but mid-foot. The weight of your body should follow through the long bone of the leg to the midfoot--logically in my mind it should. If you put all the impact on the balls of the feet or the heel, you're asking for problems. So I will run the road again this summer in them and see if this has helped--running on the track and building up to it--and also running more midfoot. We will see. But I am still running barefoot as is my daughter and my running partner, as well as one of my sons.

Can't wait until I can swing the 100 bucks for some Bikilas.

Happy running!