Review of Barefoot Running: Is barefoot running only possible for a minority of runners?

I read a top podiatrist online stating that he finds barefoot running interesting but couldn’t do it himself as it “would rip his knee cap off”. Slightly melodramatic perhaps but he is The Professional so we cannot really doubt him. In any case it is quite clear that the biomechanics of barefoot running completely different than “normal” running, so is this “ability” of barefoot running really only reserved for a small minority? I mean I haven’t ripped my knee cap off yet and I am an average sort of guy...not an athlete that’s for sure.

The common foot cycle is depicted below.

It a simple cycle of heel strike, foot balance, and then toe off. Of course this works find in shoes but when you go barefoot the diagrams would look something like this:

This is especially so when running; the lateral foot takes more pressure on contact with a sort of momentary supination with a rotation of the foot from lateral to medial pronation, as part of the midfoot strike. Finally there is no “toe off” as such but “foot lift”. Hence the forces involved are completely different.

Having been minimalist running “almost barefoot” in the Vibrams since January 2015 I have noticed some interesting things. (a) I have not experienced shin splints; (b) I have not had any major injuries or major aches and pains, (c) the muscle which is particularly sore at the moment is the Peroneus Brevis, (D) I have red marks (protuberances) after a run on the front of my ankle, and (e) particular tightness in the calf muscles / Achilles tendon.

Above: Muscles which take a pummeling in barefoot running! The Achilles tendon can also gets tight after a run. 

Above: red protuberance after a run on the skin around this tendon, and the one medially running along side of the big toe. Makes me think that tendon and muscles are utilized more for foot stabilization in barefoot running than is used  in conventional running in trainers.

So it would appear (superficially) that the muscles involved in barefoot running are the ones involved in stabilizing the leg on the foot and those involved in the process of supination to pronation (includes the Peroneus Longus and Brevis); and those that act as the shock absorbers (muscles of the calf). Strengthening a specific set of muscles in thus key to barefoot running and hence barefoot running is a skill like any other. It needs practise, perseverance, rest and reflection.

And study. You have to study what your body is telling you.

What I can conclude is that that barefoot running is common in the majority of children but is very uncommon in adults. Our often sedentary lifestyles does not assist this, nor our habituation of wearing shoes. Hence I suppose it is only possible for the minority of runners.

However I don’t think barefoot running is intrinsically any more dangerous than running in trainers. I think you can feel barefoot running more in your muscles so you can take rest before it becomes a stress injury, whereas in trainers you can run on an injury without realizing how bad it is...and realize you have an injury only when it is too late - necessitating a prolonged absence from your running routine.

Verruca! An experiment with some folk recipes.

Verruca pedis is a type of wart which grows on the plantar surface of the foot;  an inappropriate  growth of skin cells and blood vessels into a simple sort of benign tumor, caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). There are countless folk remedies including rubbing a silver sixpence on the verruca, praying on the bible, cutting it in half and burying one half in the earth (the verruca that is not the bible), rubbing on wild turnip, bananas, applying Duct Tape, Tea Tree oil...

According to an old book of mine, in Redwood California a remedy is to put a dead cat under a porch under a full moon and your warts will disappear...mmmm, probably won’t try that...

Well, as you can guess I have a steadily growing collection of the little blighters. I caught this virus when I first learnt to swim at five years old and have been plagued ever since. Even though removed they always come back. I guess I have a poor immunity to the virus... I have had them cut out, burnt out, frozen out, I have used salicylic acid, tea tree oil, myrrh essence but to no avail. They go and then at some point they invariably reappear.

I mentioned this to my Father the other day,  “why, dear boy, you should put pee on your feet”.

Hmmmmmm.

So I googled it and surprisingly rubbing your own urine into the verruca can cause them to miraculously disappear. An experiment was conducted and the results were...

Conclusion 26th May 2016
I can report honestly and truly that rubbing pee-pee unto your verucca does not work at all, at all. The surprisingly efficacious treatment I have found is....

DUCT TAPE - AN AMAZING TREATMENT!

Conclusion.
Remove excess skin with salicylic acid such as Bazuka and then start applying Duct Tape - a miraculously efficacious remedy - guaranteed!

The Barefoot Journey: Arcane symbolism in Art and Literature

I realised belatedly that there is a lot of meaning interwoven in the image of the barefoot man or woman in art history spanning thousands of years. Perhaps in the 19 and 20th centuries the lack of shoes, particularly in the Western world would have meant poverty, slavery and other forms of incarceration or punishment. For those who had shoes denoted a sense of power and authority. This is an idea of recent date however, it certainly does not reflect the attitudes in many parts of the world and into antiquity, nor does it reflect a person’s preference for taking off their shoes, especially in their own homes, or taking it to the extreme and running with no shoes on! Interestingly in certain parts of Africa to show another person the bottom of your shoe, by taking it off and waving the sole at them, is an insult; whilst in many religions it is mandatory to take off shoes in Holy places, as a sign of respect or humility in the presence of God. In the judeo-arabic tradition this relates to the law of Moses when he said in Exodus 3:5 ‘Put off thy shoes from thy feet for the place thou standest is Holy ground’; and perhaps the African traditional insult derives from shaking the dust from ones shoes. If we look at the folk Saint Expedite, who crushes a demonic crow under his feet, symolizing the temptation to wait for his conversion to Christianity to the next day - we are perhaps not surprised to find that the saints name means literally "to free the feet" or get the "feet out." (eg. Ex - Pedis) and hence his crushing of a crow which crows the latin word "cras" (tomorrow)  underfoot is very meaningful.

However what really interests me is the hidden arcane meaning of being barefoot.

In esoteric terms the image of the man without shoes, seen in medieval carvings, refers to an aspect of the spiritual construct of Man sometimes called the Astral body or the body of emotions. To depict a man or woman without shoes thus denotes we are looking at the spiritual aspect of that person as a clairvoyant may see them. In that sense the lack of shoes shows the lack of physicality through a lack of connection with the physical earth.

There appears to be a long precedent of depicting the spiritual through the absence of earthly connection. In Chauvet Cave in France there are cave paintings of 25 to 35 k years ago which show animals but no ground. The anthropologist Lewis-Williams explains this in his book Mind in the Cave  by suggesting that the lack of earth signifies that these are not depictions of living animals but rather spirit animals with the cave walls acting as a ‘spiritual membrane’ – perhaps a prehistoric shaman painted these spirit animals for ritual purpose. Whether this can be linked to the barefoot depiction is uncertain but if you intend to depict a contextual environment for your subject the ground must appear, in that sense, to remove the shoes has the same effect as removing the ground. In Ancient Egypt you see anthropomorphic gods and goddesses without shoes, such as Horus, (who is represented in the nights  sky as the constellation of Orion). Likewise in India we see the many handed Lord of the Dance Siva Natarja dancing barefoot. We also find many depictions in art history showing Christ barefoot.

But it is the Astral Body or the Body of Emotions which most concerns us here. If we cast our eye on this medieval church wood carving we see two men plagued by demons, the two men are barefoot, this again suggests the lack of earth, and hence that we are looking upon a spiritual image.

The astral of the miser and the begger are plagued by the demons of wasteful and moneygrubbing reminding me very much of Dante’s La Divina Commedia, especially the opening of canto VII where Pluteus the demon guardian of the fourth circle of hell exclaims in apparent gibberish ‘Pape Satan, papè Satan aleppé!’ . However whilst Dante views the spirits of the dead, the illustration shows us in no uncertain terms that this is the living person we are seeing, molested by demons in this life.

Dante Alighieri in his La Divina Commedia does not tell us whether he has shoes on or not during his pilgrimage, but it would be fitting if he did not since the hidden meaning would then reflect a journey in the Astral and not a ‘spiritual autobiography’ or ‘Fifth Gospel’ which is the traditional view. Dante of course begins his journey meeting the Astral as an independent entity manifested in a leopard (sometimes translated as panther) ‘una lonza leggiera e presta molto’. In that sense Dante is like The Fool in the tarot deck which commonly shows the Fool being pursued by a dog (or cat), (the medieval sign denoting the Astral) and like Dante’s Commedia, as not yet integrated with the Soul has its own independent existence.

Everyone has experienced their own strong emotions at some point or another, and thus understands that the emotion has its own independence from us and its own sometimes uncontrollably power  – as Eckhart Tolle wrote in The Power of Now ‘If you are pulled into unconscious identification with the emotion...the emotion temporarily becomes “you”’  – or as Dante writes in Canto I:58 of the Inferno ‘So I was transformed by that restless animal’.

Dante then descends into Hell, before journeying through Purgatory and finally to Paradise. It is a tale not of his own life and death but of his own initiation journey where the descent into Hell is a necessary part of the process.

Furthering this line of Initiation if we look at the oldest surviving Tarot deck, the Visconti-Sforza deck, we see the Fool with rent clothes (his tights or trousers are around his ankles) and he is also barefoot.

The traditional explanation tells us that this is a sign of his poverty, in these terms what a pitiful creature he is! And a Fool too, perhaps showing off his privates. But there is also a hidden meaning. Perhaps his apparent nakedness links to the Fool’s willingness to show the things that others prefer to hide, or to do what seems foolish to the uninitiated. After-all, the Path of the Fool derives from the initiatory rites of Ancient Egypt and thus the fool's exposure may relate to the nakedness of Isis and the initiation rituals; usually hidden underneath seven veils. Should the profane Man have glimpsed the Naked Isis they would have seen only her naked body, letching at her breasts and so on - an object of their sexual desire - they would miss the inner meaning before them. Likewise by laughing at The Fool for his foolish nakedness the profane Man (who sleep walk through life in their ignorance) become the real fools, whereas our Fool, barefoot and with his trousers around his ankles is the beloved Fool: the initiate on the barefoot journey; that is the journey in controlling his or her inner animal, transforming the Astral into a higher state, on the Path of self-development.

Review of the Trion Z bracelet

A review of the Trion:Z Ultra loop bracelet which I have been wearing for about a year and a half:

What is it?
It is a reverse polarity 4 magnet bracelet set in a silicon band. The strong magnets are meant to increase blood flow, encourage quicker recovery and increase performance. Testimonials indicate that the magnets relieve aches and pains and aid restorative sleep by the magnets acting at a cellular and molecular level. Magnetic bracelets have been about for years so there is nothing radical about the concept, but with high profile athletes and sports people wearing the bracelet it deserves at least to take the review a little more seriously than if, say, your grandmother swore by it.

And what is a Trion?
Well, according to Wikipedia a Trion is "a localized excitation which consists of three charged quasiparticles. A negative trion consists of two electrons and one hole and a positive trion consists of two holes and one electron."

OK... so the Trion:Z must be something to do with negative electrons, and, what is most impressive (and according to the Trion:Z website) the bracelet has "been awarded the prestigious MHRA Approval as a Class 1 Medical Device in the UK and across Europe [and] the only health and wellness product accepted and certified as an approved medical device by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Government of Japan." So there is quite a lot of hype and expectation to occupy us with with this bracelet. Which brings me  to expectation and belief in healing also called the placebo effect.

Placebo?
The placebo effect  indicates that the mind can manifest a healing situation in the body through the strength of belief, in believing that something will cure. So this bracelet may act like a placebo...

But it may (I think) also act on the smaller particles of the body with an increasing efficacy as you reach the smaller (more subtle) levels.What are these "subtle" levels...?

Hypothetical Quantum Effect
Briefly then, as we start to break down the body into smaller and smaller units, into cells and then to molecules and then eventually to atoms and then sub-atomic particles. at these smaller and smaller levels eventually the effect of something like the reverse polarity magnet must begin to manifest in some way. Finally as we reach the smallest most fundamental level of reality we reach a point where all physicality is really a vibration in a higher dimension and at this level all manner of things which in conventional terms seem impossible would be in fact probable and even possible.  At this level perhaps the Trion:Z comes into its own. I say "perhaps" because this is the only way I can see that little magnets could actually effect a system...at the quantum level.

So hypothetically at these smaller levels this Trion:Z bracelet may start to interact and have effect on the body which must necessarily influence the whole in a holographic effect.

I say "holographic effect" to explain how a medical device, albeit one which is "alternative", and located at the wrist could cause healing of, say, the knees or ankle...or help you sleep? The effect at such a minuscule level must reflect in the greater whole. In this sense I am thinking of the Implicate Order in which the whole universe is enfolded in everything and each thing is enfolded in the whole. Accordingly the human must be, at some level, a sort of hologram.

Conclusion
As for the TrionZ claims I can report that after wearing the Trion:Z continuously for 17 months that I have experienced many of the properties expected with the bracelet. My sleep is generally better  and Generally speaking I like wearing the bracelet and I don't want to take it off so I must perceive some benefit in wearing it. I am in a better state of health now than I have ever been, I am barefoot running better than ever, and my recovery does seem to be enhanced. However how much is this due to the TrionZ and how much is it due to my exercise regime? That said I wont take the blessed thing off and when it wears down and falls to pieces I very probably will buy another, so make of that what you will.

Trail running experience in the Vibram Five Fingers KSO

My circuit took in a number of different terrains from the uneven pavement in the urban environment, through to a mud track-way with grass tussocks that transects a wheat field; through a muddy alleyway between two properties replete with broken concrete, dirty puddles and dog excrement that leads into a small but exclusive hamlet; onto another metaled road which becomes a grass / dirt track and then into the wood – an undulating rocky pathway – and then back into town.

As I ran through the wheat fields and then through a pungent yellow sea of oil seed rape, I found myself reminiscing of my youth, of running the sugar cane trails of the “Savage South” of Reunion Island. The minimalist running sensation was so liberating and so enjoyable that lost in my thoughts I found a very comfortable speed and rhythm. A natural pace. 

I was surprised by how much different the “barefoot” experience was to running in trainers – it is much more noticeable than road running. I could feel every stone and rock; every squelch of mud and every patch of gravel – and my lower limb muscles had to work hard in the uneven surface, stabilizing the body - much more so than when wearing trainers.

Whilst it was a route I had run many times in trainers it was a totally different experience with the Vibram’s on. Suddenly the world is viewed at a different magnification, every crack in the pavement, every tree root rippling the asphalt, every tussock of grass or mound of mud, every sharp rock; suddenly the path is a chaotic topography of textures - miniature landscapes, hills valleys and boulders, miniaturized beneath your feet. 

The foot becomes this articulating platform, and the ankle becomes an articulating joint, adapting to the terrain and changing shape and molding to the different shapes that they land on. And you realize that you have to pay attention because it really hurts when you step on a sharp stone, or run over a rocky path. It is a world where you adapt to the terrain, and you find yourself concentrating on whether you are going to side step an obstacle, or indeed avoid a particular part of the road altogether.

I experienced running like I had never experienced it before, it was heavy going on the muscles of the lower limbs, and the soles of my feet hurt from the pummeling of the stones and rocks, and yet the sensory feedback allowed me to adapt my running style and also my route, running slowly and methodically; and finding a smooth path, in this case a natural gully or gutter, carved by water flow and filled with sand and detritus which lies next to the rough path. So I ran slower and lighter and more tentatively; I did concentrate on the two to three feet in front of me, looking at every conceivable detail, is it mud or dog poo? is it gravel or rocks? Sand or a puddle? Do I need to tread, sidestep or jump? And this concentration made the run a sort of meditation.

It wasn’t all plain sailing; the dew on the grass soaked my feet in the first three minutes and as I ran with wet feet (and no socks) I could feel my skins start to get sore. The pummeling of the stones made my feet feel tender and by the time I reached the decent back into town it was as if my feet were going numb or swelling or something. But no great harm was done. My muscles had taken a battering and that was that. I drank a recovery shake and felt quite chuffed. I mean I am a regular everyday guy and it felt like an achievement, to me. To an athlete it would be nothing, but I guess that’s not the point, it is the process which is individual to me; there are, after-all, “many paths to nirvana”.

You know a neighbor asked me why I run in the five fingers, and as I tried to explain ( not very well) I ended up saying it wasn’t like running in bouncy trainers – there’s no bounce which acts like a momentum propelling you along. “Well if they don’t bounce why do you would want to run in them?” was the reply. I realized it is something you cannot explain, you have to try it and then you will either get it, or you won’t. 

It’s like turning the act of running into a whole body philosophy, and I believe it changes mind and the body...and who knows maybe also the spirit. Would I return to normal trainers? NEVER!

Read here for more running reviews on Trion:Z, Skora, Vibram5Fingers, Senhai Boruit Head Lamp, Night Running...

Recovery Drinks – Procovery For Goodness Shakes vs homemade Chia Seed and Baobab shake

This week I want to talk about recovery drinks. I had been, after reading the book Born to Run both an armchair long distance runner and a (mostly hypothetical) adherent to the Aztec grain called Chia. In fact I had mused about this tiny seed for years wondering where I could get this strange and mysterious food stuff. Finally when I started this barefoot journey 3 months ago, I decided that now was the time that I would search the web to find a supplier of this esoteric grain. I got no further than my own kitchen, only to find a stock pile in my pantry cupboard. Apparently my wife had been eating Chia seeds for the last year, and furthermore you can actually buy it at your local supermarket. Not too obscure then...

HOWEVER word of warning, Chia seeds swell up...and there is a story about this.

So there I am being rather over confidant, and making a recipe for a power shake, (which I documented before in this blog), with Chia and Baobab, and getting all misty eyed imagining myself running through New Mexico, and being a vegetarian (I have since relapsed to meat eating) and pontificating about me and my feet  when (daa-daa-daaaaa) I put a foot wrong. You see you have to soak chia seeds well as they absorb water and swell up. One morning I necked my power shake without waiting for this to happen. I had a day at work where my belly made sounds more akin to a washing machine, with sharp pains and gurgling sounds. By the time I got home I was bent over in pain. My father looked at me and after some thought told me that his uncle “once fed barley grain to the pigs.” Oh yeah and what happened I asked between intestinal spasms, “well they all died in terrible pain that same night.” Thanks Dad. He then looked at me and said “you ought to be careful”. 

I then had to go and paint my bathroom, because I live in a restoration project, a Victorian Villa built in 1895. Anyway as you can imagine rollering a ceiling is kind of difficult when you are literally bending up double in pain. Result: intense abdominal pain, bloatedness, farting and diarrhea, kind of like shooting pepper shot from a shotgun. Only a slug of Scotch whisky and 2 x Paracetamol with Codeine Phosphate eased the wretched state of my bowels.

Respect to the chia seed then, but not wanting to risk the quite terrible pain again I returned to the Procovery shakes.

Now I know that lots of people think that recovery shakes are a rip off, but I decided to give them a go. Chocolate flavour - No seeds - which I drink after a run. Simple. Made from UHT milk and has a cart load of calcium and vitamins in. And it’s made in Austria of all places. A place renowned for, well, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lederhosen, and I suspect also that cloudy wheat beer.

Now I’m no athlete, my “barefoot” running regime is now up to three miles at a  time and I am averaging 9 to 12 miles a week rotating 3:1 between my vibram Bikilas and my KSO, but I feel this shake is actually helping a lot. I average a seven minute mile and feel pretty good. I am losing weight. I still have muffin handles but you know I like eating cake but I’m working on it. I don’t know if its psychological but I feel The Procovery shake does quicken my recovery, with less muscular aches, it also tastes good and doesn’t cause debilitating pain which is a bonus.

Conclusion Chia seeds: should carry a safety warning; Procovery For Goodness Shakes: expensive but better than a gut full of pain at twice the price. 

."You pays your money and you takes your choice"

A quick review of the Xeroshoe “huarache” running sandal

This is a short blog entry for a number of reasons, least of all because of a somewhat delayed drive home from work having had to pull over a lorry who was traveling with his tail gate shutter fully open and about to shed his load. Having assisted the grateful lorry driver about ten minutes further in my journey I found three lambs gamboling in the road. Lambs rescued and returned to their Mummy Ewe I was back on track for some hard graft at my house and current DIY restoration project. All in all not much time, although having been politely harangued by one (the only?) Avid reader of my blog that it was “almost the end of March” and I had “written only one post” made me slightly inspired for verbosity. This and the promise of a home baked birthday cake was finally enough motivation, dusty and tired, to sit and write a very quick review of the Xeroshoe “Huarache” sandal DIY kit.

Yes folks that’s what I said a DIY sandal kit. As if I need or want any more DIY projects, anyhow... The box contains 2 rubber soles which smell like tyre tread, two lengths of paracord, a hole punch and a hair clip and no instructions (clearly designed for men by a man.)

The hole was fairly easy to punch with a large hammer and the paracord laces were a colossal pain in the butt to thread and knot...something to do with me not getting my Scout’s knot tying badge.

On, the sandals feel vaguely uncomfortable between the toes, and a bit weird generally (I suppose due to the fact that I am not really used to wearing sandals) and subsequently I found that I had xero confidence in running in them. I managed two laps of the garden and this did not increase my confidence. This is probably quite unfair as a review so I will try them on a proper run and do a fairer review of them...in the future when it's warmer and when my foot has stopped hurting (possibly a fallen metatarsal? the first injury so far). As a point of interest I watched an interesting interview on Youtube with that ultra marathon runner “Jenn” featured in the book Born to Run, who said that the Indians run in sandals made of tyre tread because they can’t afford to buy running trainers. Which made me think why am I making a sandal out of tyre tread.

Anyway take a look at my sandals and see what you think. 

“A good runner leaves no foot prints.”

I was reminded by a work colleague that I hadn’t updated my blog for a while. Which is true. A combination of blogger’s block and a cold has somewhat cooled both my enthusiasm and my imagination. However I have continued running through my man flu “you should have a big pill of MAN UP” I was told by said work colleague and then given a slice of home made Victoria Sponge. Nice. 

I have to tell you my father looked at me the other day and remarked whether it was wise that a 15 stone man was running without proper running shoes and I ought not being doing that until I lose weight. I took serious consideration of his words although I was already aware of the paradox (or counter-intuitive adage) that the more cushioned the shoe the less protection it offers – or in other words – the more minimalist the shoe: the lighter you run. And let me tell you I have had my share of running in clompy trainers with wedge heels and I’m not going back to them!

With this in mind and given the extra pounds that I am carrying I really started to focus on the ChiRunning principles, which include straight posture, forward lean and mid-foot striking. Another really useful ChiRunning metaphor is that you should run lightly by imagining you are running on thin ice. Try it: it works!

So although I am the best part of 15 stone I am imagining I am running on ice, and running in my VFF’s my running is light, surprisingly light, in fact I can hardly hear my footsteps. And its all working very well. Now half way through week 8 I am up to two miles 3 to 4 times a week. That’s week 8 injury free. Not even a twinge. Nothing.

Injury free but taking note of what my body is telling me. Running in minimalist shoes works the calf muscles and the muscles of the feet and particularly works the Achilles tendon. However no arch pain! From personal experience I can say that arch pain can often be caused by a trainer which is too narrow and which does not give the foot the space to do what it does best – compress and spring back into an arch, and of course pronate. Since I am a little (but not much) overweight I still have to run with caution, my father was of course right, and the more over weight you are the more caution and less distance you should run. Really the distance and the time is unimportant it is the quality of your running form. Like Tai Chi. Its the form that matters.

...and as the ancient Chinese text the Tao Te Ching says “A good runner leaves no foot prints.”

My diet...

I have been supplementing my diet with baobab fruit powder (a superfuit) and chia seeds and eating a lot of Tempeh. Tempeh is a bland fermented soy bean product which can be sliced and stir fried; if the bland taste doesn’t float your boat, it can also be marinated (and it really soaks up flavours like a sponge), I have been experimenting with teriyaki sauce and noodles and a little rice with the usual stir fry veggies and this with proper portion control means I have started to lose weight.  I’m not going to insult your intelligence by giving a recipe on how to cook a stir fry. Just slice it all up thin and bang it in the wok. Sprinkle with soy or teriyaki. Job Done.

My Next Project...

Aside from the odious and seemingly endless amount of DIY I have to do, my next project is to make my huarache running sandals. As you can see from the photo they are essentially a piece of tyre tread held onto your foot by shoe laces. And when the film Born to Run comes out (starring Matthew Machoniewotsit) these will be the next big thing. Honest.

Review of the Vibram Five Fingers KSO and the Bikila (Updated 2018)

RATING: Poor

Vibram Five Finger KSO Evo (Black)

The KSO “Keep Stuff Out” Evolution have a sole thickness of 4.7 mm and are described as the VFF all rounder, good for road running, trail and gym work. Using the VFF measuring chart I found the KSO to be true to size and a snug fit, like a glove in fact, with plenty of stretch in the material, and speed laces to tighten up the shoes if needed. There is a small amount of support in the design, not much, but not like being truly barefoot. The sole is thin enough to be able to flex and curl your toes, but thick enough to protect from stones although you can still feel the stones pushing through. So even though there is a level of protection running is still a tentative process, experimenting to find a sweet spot between running on the toes and on the mid-foot. It is like running barefoot with protection and you are certainly not going to heel strike with them! The thinner sole does promote a more barefoot running style, and I found I ran with a lighter foot fall in these than the Bikila.

Vibram Five Fingers Bikila Evo (Blue and Yellow)

The Bikila are more substantial with a sole of 8.5 mm and feel much more trainer-like, indeed the difference of the 4mm is noticeable on the road, and provides increased mid-foot cushioning. The fit seemed more constrictive than the KSO but I think this was due to the stiffer material of the sole. There are also speed laces which makes getting the correct fit a doddle. Again they are true to size and fit like a glove. Oddly there is a more pronounced cutaway around the ankle making it feel like your heel might even pop out, and there is a cushioned heel cap which should be redundant on a shoe for mid foot strike. 

Out on the road the increased cushioning is immediately evident. The sole is generally more substantial in midfoot and heel and whilst you can still flex your toes you can’t curl them, or splay them as you can in the thinner soles.

I soon adapted a good mid-foot strike with these shoes and noticed a more confident running style. I also found myself running faster than in the KSO, probably because I wasn’t so concerned on how my feet were landing. The Bikila certainly do not give a barefoot experience but the thicker soles were warmer on an icy pavement! However I did find myself heel striking now and then without really noticing which was a little perturbing. 

Conclusion (UPDATED 2016)

I have now been running in both models for over 12 months (along with some Skora Form for more rocky trail runs). The Bikila's did get more use and the KSO neglected. However what I have noticed is that as my feet have become more used to the barefoot running that I like the KSO a lot better than I did. The reason for this is the flexibility of the sole and the increase in ground feel and the improved running style - it becomes almost addictive when your body has made that transition to barefoot running (More endorphins?).

The Bikila is the more trainer-like VFF which was designed to help runners transition to barefoot running, and this I think is very true. There is just the right amount of cushioning vs ground feel. However this cushioning becomes less and less required as you transition and in fact I like them less and less...for me the KSO is the perfect VFF.

Wear and Tear of The VFF Bikila
This is the problem with these VFF's. Their design is not "economical" in any sense of the word. It is what I call a design luxury - the effort to produce a foot shaped shoe with toes is outweighed by the actual performance, That is why we find no similar or equivalent designs in history or the archaeological record nor in contemporary indigenous populations. Vibram Five Fingers, although they look the part, are not the best barefoot or minimalist shoe by any means. The toes, whilst allowing some spread of the toes (actually hindered by the rubber sole) are impractical as they catch mud, twigs, and grass in between them. When it is wet, they leak water in through the toe webbing. (you can find waterproof Bikila but they are expensive). Finally I have come to the conclusion that shoes are shoe-shaped for a reason - because it is the most efficient design. The sole of the shoe is a platform, and when you cut into that platform to make toe segments you are not really gaining anything from the arrangement other than creating a design problem. For a more indepth rationale of why VFF's are not great please read the below:

Design Fault
The problem with the Bikila is that although there are five toes the thickness of the soles means you cannot splay your toes. Well...you can splay your toes but it is the fabric that moves rather than the soles. Hence on my Bikila the fabric is parting from the sole on the big toe and the small toe.

This is where the VFF will ultimately start to break apart hastened by mud, sand and other debris. A traditional shaped shoe would not have this sort of problem

Surgery on the Vibram Five Fingers Bikila
To alleviate this problem I have taken the extreme measure of taking a scalpel to my Bikila's,  thinning the rubber sole at the hinge of the big and little toe and to thin out a wedge on the side to make the splaying movement of the toes possible in unison with the sole rather than just the fabric being splayed out around the toe. I also made lacerations across the shoes so that there is more bend in the sole. I have also had to stitch the sole back onto the upper on the big toe and into the toe webbing.

KSO
These are my favourite of the two, I love them, however they suffer from the same problem, the sole is peeling off the big toe which will require some stitching. Let me point out that the soles themselves are not worn on either the Bikila or the KSO the weak link is how they are glued onto the fabric upper.

REPAIR!!

Glue...

When the sole starts to part company with the uppers you have little choice but to glue and stitch, and the result aint perfect unless you are professional cobbler. Personally, given the price of the Vibram Five Fingers, it is disappointing having to continually repair them to get them to work as they should.

...and stitch

Will I be buying a new pair? Sorry, I love the Vibrams, the look and the feel, but probably not. They look good, they scream "I am a barefoot runner" but they just aint what I call value for money. Having said that I did take my KSO on holiday and they flatten down to next to nothing in the suitcase, and I have started to wear the Bikila as my casual shoe, and the Bikila does make a comfortable casual shoe, great for walking, even driving the car it feels good. But there are so many minimalist shoes on the market these days to chose from; I guess it is a matter of both styling and function and price that will decide if I buy another pair of VFF.

My go-to-shoe at the moment is the all leather Skora Form, and I intend to buy a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes at some point in the not too distant future.



REVIEW 2018 - Revisiting the VFF's!
Three years on, what do I think of the VFF's?

Design: Poor

Quality: Good

Fit for the purpose I bought them (barefoot running): Excellent

Resilience: Poor. 

Do I still wear them NO! (Poor).

Overall rating: Poor

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Those who read and loved Born to Run probably all went out and bought (or at least thought about buying) the VFF's and, you know, I was happy with them for the first six months, but they soon started to fall to pieces, or develop holes in the material between the toes. I haven't put the VFF's on in a year, infact, I last used the KSO when I went surfing, and let me tell you, the KSO are no good in the water and no good for surfing. Why did I think they would be? I dont know...it was random...however I do believe Vibram do make FF's for watersports. But in anycase, its a big fat NO from me. When I see people wearing the VFF's I just give them a wry smile and shake my head. They aint all that.



Barefoot Inspiration and Review of the Vibram Five Fingers

I forgot to say that the book Born to Run was a big inspiration to me as was the book Chi Running. Chi Running focuses on correct running form, Born to Run focuses on, well, everything else. Whilst Chi Runnng is a sort of technical running guide, Born to Run is the archetypal un-put-down-able page turner. What what quickly focused my attention in Born to Run in particular was the passage on page 40 about Carlos Castaneda. In the past I was very much into Castaneda as an undergraduate student, reading and researching his work in hopes to explore that tribal art work and textile designs of native peoples were some sort of vision from Non-Ordinary Reality. The idea got me as far as the start of an M.A. but I took it no further. One of the reasons was that I realised that Casteneda was a total fraud. But the interest, however counter-intuitive to my academic sensibilities remained, and although Casteneda is a very dubious figure both as an anthropologist and as a new age guru, I found it intriguing that the author Craig McDougall had stated that the Indian Nagual or shaman that mentored Castaneda, the Yaqui Indian Juan Matus, was not a Yaqui Indian at all but a Tarahumara (Raramuri), the supposed tribe of Super-athletes that can run 100 miles for fun in sandals (and blouses and skirts) and who are the subject of the book. This re-ignited my interest in Shamanism in general and the full potential of barefoot running and made me feel compelled to one day re-read Castaneda's compendious oeuvre. 

With Born to Run McDougall, a journalist, with that Journalist's gift of writing short concise paragraphs and page turning chapters suddenly made running, and barefoot running, and running  fifty miles cool, as cool as surfing with a new sort of philosophy and a cool but weird (and ultimately tragic) proponent in the eccentric late Caballo Blanco, a sort of long distance running Don Juan for the 21st century. It is damn alluring, long distance running in sandals and so is the book and highly recommended.

Of course running properly and injury free is damn difficult and the book romanticizes just about everything the author talks about, but that (I suppose) is what a good book is and what a good writer does. Nevertheless it (the book that is) was ( and still is) the main impetus (and inspiration) behind the whole  barefoot running thing which has been about for nearly ten years and me, well, I have just latched on to the back end of the fad. (There is a film coming out called Run Free which will further this cresting wave of barefootedness)

Review of Vibram Five Fingers KSO (2015).
The Vibrams are out of the box and on my feet! According to the accompanying literature you are supposed to not even run in the five fingers for the first two weeks but strengthen your feet by walking barefoot. I was going to leave four weeks before gradually phasing in the "barefoot" running with the Vibrams, but something happened with those Puma Mobiums. First of all, I should point out that I bought the Mobiums mid 2013 and used them for about six months before I went through a bout of illness and stopped running for a year. Even then the Mobiums were uncomfortable particularly in the arch, as if some one was poking something up into the arch of the foot and after a couple of miles I found my feet started to go numb. Fast-forward a year and I find that the Mobiums are still giving the same pain and numb feet, to the point that when I finish a run the discomfort is such that I cant wait to take my shoes off. I also started to get that shin splints feeling along with a pain in my left ankle. Having had (in the past) gait analysis and a string of expensive running shoes I decided rather than to seek "professional" advice (which I have learnt to distrust) to instead listen to my own intuition. It is for this reason that half way into week 3 I threw caution to the wind and took the Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) out for a spin. It was very icy and cold and with snow on the ground, and I had to calculate a run which was ten percent of my usual route which was stipulated in the literature (Vibrams have been successfully sued in America for misleading claims.)

Finding a route short enough was difficult so I just ran around the block. Immediately I found the pain in my left ankle start to ease along with the shin splints feeling and I felt none of the foot arch pain associated with the Mobiums. This was interesting because the Mobiums are neutral runners with minimum cushioning and the VFF are basically gloves with a bit of rubber on the bottom. It was not logical. I remember the last time I had an injury (in 2011) I packed extra insoles into my Brooks to make them more cushioned (and they were pretty well cushioned to start with) only to find it made it worse and here, by taking the cushioning away the pain actually went. Go figure. Actually go read Born to Run and you find out that one runs far more carefully barefoot than shod, not only that the stride is shorter with fore front strike and the muscles and the rolling of pronation acts as a spring - as a sort of bio-mechanical suspension.  Leonardo da Vinci said that the foot was a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art and if you look at his study of the bones of the foot you can see its inherent intricacies. It is a dynamic multi-flexible arching platform and  a very sophisticated piece of kit which we have squashed into shoes for centuries....and maybe the foot doesn't want to be locked into a shoe!!!