Minimalist shoes advice - Page 2 - Gear

Tray Davenport

03/04/2013 at 19:04

When making this transition many coaches suggest that you learn good form by going completely barefoot to begin with - once you learn how to run again then you can consider the option of which footwer to wear to make things a little easier. But certainly take it slow - I would say that it took me a full year to year and a half even, to be able to go all terrain. Now I'm two and a half years down the line injury free and loving the feeling of being barefoot!

mordo

04/04/2013 at 12:50

Hi George. It's a big drop from 12mm to zero and it might be worthwhile going through a transition i.e using a more minimalist rather than bare foot shoe like the brooks pure project shoes. Check out the inov8 website and their range of road shoes which suggest going from 12 to 8 to 4mm before a zero drop though I went straight to 4mm which I feel are much like xc spikes with no calf or foot problems

George Parkinson

04/04/2013 at 13:44

Thanks all for the advice, I think I will go back to my Nike Pegasus until I get a transition shoe and slowly work towards the vivo barefoots

George Parkinson

11/04/2013 at 19:29

I just bought Saucony Kinvara 3s. They feel great, so light and comfy. Just a couple of runs 6k and 7k but no calf or foot pain. Only slightly tight legs the day after but that is to be expected after not running for 5 weeks. again thanks all for advice.

Tray Davenport

12/04/2013 at 17:41

Sockwa G3 I find to be the most minimal and comfortable.

Lee Roberts 10

12/04/2013 at 19:46

I've been looking at moving towards a natural shoe (barefoot scares me a bit!) and have been thinking of moving to 4mm drop with a bit of cushioning to allow so I can still complete long runs whilst adjusting. I do mainly midstrike at the moment so want to encourage that. I didn't realise there were so many 4mm shoes around! Kinvaras seem popular, any others that anyone thinks are worth a look? New Balance 10?

mordo

12/04/2013 at 19:55

The brooks pure range have a good level of cushioning but it usually comes down to what brand of shoe and soft/medium/firm feel you like or are comfortable with. I find adidas too firm and asics too soft for my style of running

Lee Roberts 10

12/04/2013 at 20:04

Thanks for the reply mordo. It is difficult to change as it is hard to really try the alternatives out. I want enough cushioning to help when legs are tired (latter stages of a long run) and running form becomes a little shabby but not too much. Personal choice I know but it is good to see what others are using.

hellen

13/04/2013 at 21:36

I was a heel striker who wanted to move to a midfoot to try to be more efficient
I started off with skechers gorun ride which I really love. They are very light, but feel cushioned 4mm drop and have technology in them to encourage you to land midfoot. My size 7 weighs 220g which is a little bit lighter than my saucony fast twitches.

Don't be put off by the brand, they are a great shoe and come in lots of pretty colours. The gorun ride and gorun ride ultra are pretty much the same, I have had both, just depends what colour you like! I have done 600 miles in my first pair and did 100km ultra the other week in a newer pair.

If you want something lighter there is the gorun2 which is 170g, that is more of a minimal shoe in that you can feel the stones underfoot but it is still more cushioned than the NB minimus and it is also a 4mm drop

Wiggle have some of the models going cheap at the moment.

Lee Roberts 10

14/04/2013 at 00:52

Hi hellen. I saw you had suggested Sketchers on another thread. Brand did put me off at first but I will look at them as you seem very satisfied with their quality. Some of the main brands seem to be overpriced. You managed to move away from heel striking without problems? Did you scale back your running much?

Thanks for the reply!

hellen

14/04/2013 at 13:00

Lee, I never scale back my running but was alternating shoes.
I am not sure if I am fully forefoot striking yet but photos are looking better!

I had no prob with the gorun ride and gorun ride ultra up to marathons distance but my calves did ache after a 40 miler but they don't now not even after 100km

I am still getting used the the gorun2 though (lighter ones) and am still getting calf ache with those, max run is about 8 miles in them.

Lee Roberts 10

14/04/2013 at 22:19

Ah right, you've done amazingly well in altering your running style whilst maintaining the distances. A lot of advice is to scale right back but that doesn't appeal to me. Nice to know it can be done your way.

Thanks Hellen.

hellen

15/04/2013 at 22:01

Lee I'm not the resting or tapering type
I run twice a day so was doing one run in the Skechers

I was a slow process, I started with the Gorun ride around sept and although I don't think I am totally changed yet I have made a lot of progress without really thinking about it too much just letting the shoes do the work.

I did my first Marathon in the shoes in oct but was heel striking in that! So although I got up to big distances in the shoes quickly they did not cure my heel strike for quite some time

I got the Gorun in around November I think, they are lighter and I feel that they encourage forefoot striking more than the Gorun ride. However I was getting calf ache with them so gave them a break due to races and am just slowly getting used to them but I think it is probably using those which have helped quiet a lot

Lee Roberts 10

17/04/2013 at 22:57

You are a running machine Hellen! I've bought some NB MT110 as they are fairly cheap in Sports Direct so will try them but I'm going to try the sketchers as well as along with your expreience of them they do get good reviews elsewhere. Just got to find where they are cheapest.............

hellen

19/04/2013 at 10:04

wiggle did have them cheap but the ones I got for hubby seem to have gone now

Mark@LansonRunning

19/04/2013 at 10:20

There is no doubt that going from a traditional heel cushioned shoe to a vivobarefoot is a big step and there are shoes in the middle that may be more forgiving until your achilles and calf are used to being stretched out more each stride. We actually wriote a barefoot running shoes blog on our website which may help you out too.

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