Vibram FiveFingers - First Day Review

No one notices your feet. Unless you're wearing fivefinger shoes then EVERYONE notices your feet. This can be okay if you like attention enough to dye your hair fire engine red.

Let me preface this first day review of Vibram Komodosport LS by saying last night I wore the shoes for about two hours. Long enough for me to get used to having something rubbing in between my toes.

I took my regular Brooks to the gym tonight with the intention of running under a mile in the Vibrams and switching shoes. I did my normal warm-up of walking a few minutes on the treadmill. The first thing I noticed was that I was suddenly shorter. I felt like I had shrunk without the inch of rubber and stuffing of my conventional running shoes.

After warming up I started out in a light jog, somewhat afraid to go to fast. How was I supposed to run in these? Where did my heels go? Wait a second, I'm running on my toes! I had never done that before. I always wondered how people ran on their toes. I think I was afraid to land on my heels for fear of how harsh the strike would be. So I continued running lightly on the balls of my feet for about 1/3 a mile.

Then the aching set in. I don't normally use my calves like this. I have got to stretch my calves out and set my heel down. After an awkward tenth of a mile trying to figure out my stride, I was suddenly running in a much different way. I really can't say what was hitting the treadmill first, but my heel was making contact at some point. The normal awkwardness that seems to happen at the beginning of every run wore off and I just ran.

Except it was easy because I was running slow. And the time flew by because I was processing all these new signals my feet were giving me. I focused a lot on speeding up my tempo and shuffling my feet close to the surface. Tough for me as my breathing tends to follow a step, step, breath in - step, step, breath out pattern.

When I got to the one mile marker I knew there was no way I was stopping. It had become very comfortable. I wasn't even breathing hard. It was like going from running in a bulky sweat shirt to running naked. I got to the two mile mark and considered a third, but that's about the time my legs started telling me that this wasn't something I was used to.

I slowed down to a 4 mph walking pace, and I have to tell you, walking briskly in these shoes is even tougher on the feet than running to me. It seems like my feet go through a fuller connection with the ground, and the landing is more heel to toe with full range of motion in between. I ended the work-out at three miles and could tell my calves needed a good stretch and my feet needed a rest.

But I loved the run.

Two irritations - I did get a blister worn on the back of my left heel. I can't figure out what would cause the left to rub and not the right. The shoes seem exactly the same inside. My big toe on the same foot had the sensation of being rubbed a lot. Sort of like if you did actually walk barefoot on pavement for awhile. I am letting these two things slide for now to see if time and more wear toughens up my feet some.

I predict that I am going to have some serious soreness tomorrow. But we shall see. I wore the shoes to the grocery store, then home, and was certainly ready to pull them off my feet. My Brooks didn't get any action at all today.

****Day after update: mild soreness in my feet and calves with a slight burning sensation on the surface of my feet. But I can walk! It's not that bad. My lower back has progressively tightened up throughout the day. Nothing to report on previous knee pain - so far it's about the same. Stay tuned for future reviews/updates.

Click to go to day 2:

http://melissaalthen.hubpages.com/hub/Vibram-FiveFingers-Day-Two