Quick filler review
Irradiated by LabRat
So today I’ve been so busy arguing over at Kevin’s that I haven’t even responded to my own comments, let alone come up with any of my own content.
So for those who were curious, I’ll post a quick little review of the Vibrams, a whole two days into using them.
These things are neater than kitten toes. Regardless of any touted biomechanical benefits or possible drawbacks, they’re just plain fun to walk around in; you can feel what’s under your feet without pain, and it really does improve proprioception; it’s a bit like taking a blindfold off a sense I didn’t know I had. It makes me want to hop around like a kid. I’m sure the “ooh cool” factor will wear off, but in the meantime I’m enjoying it.
Today’s effort at “off my butt” included prescribed running, so I tried that, and yes, on pavement. No, my feet and joints don’t hurt except for the incipient blister at the back of my heel, which is more a breaking-in and callus development issue than a problem with the shoes. I did do surprisingly well given I haven’t done any running at all in months- at least as well as when I was keeping up with the fitness thing more intensively for longer, if not better. It definitely improved my stride to something more efficient and less hard-hitting, but my overall form has a long way to go anyway, so someone who actually DID like running and had adapted to running shoes would probably have a different experience.
So so far they’re “as advertised” for those benefits I can immediately perceive. I do not regret the eighty-five bucks and my cushioned sneakers feel weird now.
ETA for those thinking of trying this: If my feet tend toward any morphological extreme at all, it’s high, tight arches. I usually have to buy longer laces than the ones shoes come with because of this, and if I walk through water onto concrete my footprints have only a slim line on the outer edge between the ball and the heel. Someone with flatter feet- especially someone who hadn’t spent all in-house time barefoot for two months first- would probably take a lot more time to adjust.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Sounds good. I’m game. Which model pair did you get?
June 26th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I got the KSOs, “keep stuff out”- because in the land of goatheads, foxtails, and gravel there’s a lot of stuff I want to keep out.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Now I’m really going to have to put an effort into finding a pair that’ll fit! (About the only upside to small feet is that I can have my shoes shined in far less time.)
Jim
June 27th, 2009 at 12:32 am
There are some… interesting… side effects.
Walking through a lawn filled with dandelions will result in you looking like you’re carrying a couple bouquets with your feet…
KSOs, while good, do NOT keep sand out (found that out today)
You will get a LOT of people that stare at your feet, and want to know what the hell you’re wearing…
Going from Vibrams to heavy-duty motorcycle boots makes my feet freak out with claustrophobia…
June 27th, 2009 at 9:25 am
LabRat: Your patience awes me. You’d have better luck explaining physics to a goat.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Interesting… I’ve always preferred going barefoot, but it’s just not a possiblity here.
I wore tabi for a while, but I’ve never really liked them.
What concerns me here, is that is seems though it would have to pretty closely match the shape of your foot, or they would do more harm than good.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Perl: Yeah, I’m not as patient as I’m coming off. So far today I’ve mostly been staring at the thread with my teeth clenched and a popped vein. I’ll get around to replying by evening hopefully.
Chris: the way the shoe is designed, the rubber does some conforming to the shape of the foot. I don’t know that it would work for people with very, very flat or wide feet, but there’s a lot of moldability built in. Of course, I’m still talking as a person with basically the ideal foot shape for easy barefooting, so. I CAN say that they’re about a size too large but that doesn’t seem to matter nearly as it much as it does with, say, a boot; another guy I know who has the same model says his are *two* sizes too large and he wears them to work daily with no issues.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I liked these when Vibram floated out the initial tests a couple of years back and you’ve just answered one of my biggest questions, since my arches are so high I leave two-piece (question mark-shaped) footprints.
…May have to spend the bux. How well do they grip at the heel?
June 27th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Roberta- quite nicely, actually, at least on the slickest surfaces I’ve been walking on. (Which would probably be marble tile.) One of the sillier parts of this whole thing that I left out was one reason I was predisposed to like Vibram is that they make the rubber soles for the Ruffwear dog booties the ‘kitas wear in winter when icy surfaces get too broken up for walking on without cutting their pads. The Vibram doggie soles grip well enough to allow for a big dog to run full tilt across surfaces that are intermittently icy without slipping.
I’d still probably want some Yak Trax for my personal use in winter, but for non-ice challenges they work fine.
Oh, one other thing-the high arches do make ONE thing about the shoes a pain in the ass, and that’s getting the damn things on in the first place. It takes.. practice, and I don’t ever see it going as fast as shoving on a regular sneaker, but the KSOs at least come with instructions in the box on the best way to get the damn things on and strapped comfortably.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Hi Labrat. I killed a pair of Yaxtrak Pros in a season here, the rubber band going across one of them broke. I have a pair of these and they’ve survived their first season without complaint.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:34 am
I guess I may have to just break down and go try a set or five at a store somewhere. (More information about my feet than you possibly care about!) In addition to having syndactyly, my toes are pretty stubby. But my feet are extremely wide, and my arches are long. So, in spite of the fact that my feet measure out with one of those Whatchamacallum Devices at a 10.5 EEEE, I usually just wear a 13D.
It would be really nice to have something tougher than Chuck Taylors, but cooler than my usual knee high motorcycle boots, to wear around here in the summer.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:06 am
“proprioception”- omigod! I love that word! Though I still have never heard anyone else use “propiokinesthetic sense” in a sentence. I used it in a forum post in 2005, and no-one had any clue what I was talking about. But I know you would, and that warms the cockles of my heart.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I’ve been looking at their site since you put up that post, and although I’ve procrastinated (who, me?) running past the REI store to have a look at them in realtime, I’ve been wondering about puncture resistance.
I wear Tevas or something similar probably 9 months out of the year, if I’m not barefoot, especially in the office. Should be interesting to see if they’ll fit my 12 AAAA foot, which has absolutely no arch. My wet footprint looks like a long, thin oval with 5 dots at the leading edge. I have problems with my feet suctioning me fast to smooth surfaces, although the odd noises I can make like that are entertaining.
Regards,
Rabbit.