Runner's shoe concerns weren't minimal - VFF Article

[Capt Caveman]

Pretty interesting article of a runner that transitioned to VFFs. I posted in the comments section that you need change your focus when running, instead of looking straight forward, you need to pay more attention to what's just ahead of you to avoid obstacles, similar to trail running. I've yet to trip or land on road obstacles on pavement. However, I have sprain my toes while trail running in VFFs when stepping into leaves and bashing my toes

'You're crazy'
That's what an elite runner told the author after a Boston half marathon when he saw him in his funny-looking "minimal" running shoes. As he limped away, David Abel wondered why the shoe company hadn't told him the same thing.

 

[kamper]

It's good that he's realized that more education is necessary for transitioning, but I don't think he realizes that he still probably did far too much, too soon even though he thought he was taking it slow. If you ask the vff community at birthdayshoes.com most will say that a half marathon after a few months is too much, especially if there has been pain from the beginning that never went away. So I guess he unwittingly provided a very good example of the need for more education

He also slightly read things into the Lieberman study (as most journalists seem to do). It focuses on measure impact forces but does not speculate about injury rates.

Anyway, Merrell is planning on coming out with some minimalist shoes soon and along with it, educational materials written by Jason Robillard who is an experienced barefoot runner and who advocates a very slow transition (increasing max distance on the order of a half mile to a mile per month at the beginning). Hopefully that either reaches people who are just getting in on the vff trend, or shakes Vibram into being a little more responsible and releasing their own warnings.

 

[Megatomic]

There is a huge barefoot running community at Runnersworld Forums. Jason is a member there, he also participates in the trail and ultra forums. Great guy, lots of info.

Oh and damn near every shoe company is coming out with minimal products. Check out iRunFar.com: The best of 2010 This isn't even all of them.

 

[Kaido]

I think the key is the surface he is running on. As the Kenyan he talked to said:

“We used to run barefoot to school every day, until we got shoes in high school,” he said. “But we used to run on dirt and grass. We would never run like that on pavement.”

Grass, dirt, and tracks are nice and soft. Pavement is hard. If you're going to be running long distances on hard surfaces, I think cushioning is a Good Thing. I have knee problems even with cushioned shoes and use an elliptical most of the time. The Kenyan got it right