Barefoot Running

[indigoiis]

Ran for the 4th time in my VFFs today. I went out in the wet, 40 degreeish weather thinking it would be a good experiment. I love running in them so much, I wanted to see how they did with puddles etc.

I have cut socks leaving a little scrap of fiber between my big toe and the rest of my toes. These work to keep the main part of my foot warm.

Toe socks don't work for me because I have reeeeeally short toes.

Anyhow. So, I banged out 6 miles, 6 HILLY miles mind you, like they were nothing. 6 miles on a route that usually kicks my butt. In my VFFs, in the rain, and they got wet, and my feet got wet, but it is such a cool way to run. And I do not have the pain in my knee I've been getting these days, so that's good. I love these shoes. Thanks for the inspiration to go out and get them because they are so worth it.

[wavedancer]

I got the Feelmax Niesa's yesterday and took them out for my morning run today. 27 degrees, smartwool socks, toasty toes!! They are super comfortable with probably a thinner sole than the VFFs, but it is very rugged and supple. I am so excited to have some minimalist shoes that I should be able to use through the winter. They are even cute enough to wear as casual shoes in addition to running shoes.

[Urlea]

Wave- Woohoo!! I might need to get a pair of those. Which style did you get?

(guess it would help if I read the post title, eh?)

[Jolt]

My cold-weather minimal shoe solution is the Teva Proton water shoes with thick wool socks. So far, this seems to be working pretty well--not quite the same as VFFs, but much warmer and still not a clunky shoe. I can also put Stabilicers Sport over them if necessary for traction, and can even use short gaiters with them to keep out snow. I wonder how those Feelmax shoes are--does any store in the area carry them where one could try them on?

[wavedancer]

Jolt: I don't know of any retail stores in the US that are carrying the Feelmax shoes. They have just become available in the US this year. There are a couple of US online stores that have them. One is an oddly milataristic-looking site: Extreme Outfitters

I got them from directly from Barefoot Ted, but now he seems to just link to the other site.

You can get them also from Gifts From Finland. They also have an Amazon storefront.

If I hadn't found these, I probably would have gone with my old neoprene kayaking booties. I figure I can also use these in the spring or summer for triathlons, although I would like to be able to run truly barefoot next summer

[indigoiis]

Okay call me cheap, but I am seriously looking at a pair of $15 Old Navy Ugg style boots with cheap flip-flop foam bottoms, to wear over a pair of thick alpaca boot socks.

It can't hurt to try, I guess. It will be like running in socks more than VFFs.

[nscrbug]

Has anyone here tried treadmill running with the VFF's? I'm interested in trying them, but I don't do cold-weather running due to my asthma. All of my running during the winter months, is done on the gym treadmills. I'm just wondering if I would reap the same benefits using them on a TM vs. outdoor running? I understand the need to build up slowly with them...so what would be an ideal amount of time/mileage for my first run in them? I typically run shod, for about 30-40 minutes at a 5.7 - 6.0mph pace...so, at a 10+ minute per mile pace, I'm pretty slow. My lower back simply cannot handle a higher running pace...so this is the range at where I stay for all of my runs.

Linda