Fat slow guy in Vibrams no more!

Triathlon Forum
1

That’s right. Compared to most people here, I’m fat and slow. It’s okay though. I’m improving at a faster rate than most of you too :).

It cost me $300 and 3 pairs of shoes last year to figure out how to run without feeling like nails were being driven into my shins. It was a technique thing, but it was also a shoe thing.

I absolutely hated the toe pockets from day one and still do, but vibrams allow me to run without shin splints. They were worth every penny for this reason alone.

So with the new tri season approaching I have been researching options ot the VFFs. They absolutely suck in T2. I have toe pocket socks and toe pocket shoes to contend with, and it is a major time suck. My toes also aren’t comfortable and all stretched into the pockets until I’ve gone about a 1/4 mile in the shoes.

So I was looking for a true flat shoe with little to no cushioning. I even found a website that listed tons of popular running shoes with their heel and toe ground heights in millimeters. Guess what almost every running shoe has a lifted heel including Nike Free, Newton’s or anyone’s race flats. They aren’t actually flat. I know for a fact, I want flat.

So I found out about the new Merrill Trail Gloves. I pre-ordered last week.

http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Product.mvc.aspx/22875M/50390/Mens/Mens-Barefoot-Trail-Glove

The Fed Ex guy will have them to me in time to take them on a test run this weekend!

Minimalist running may not be a cure all, it is definitely controversial, and some of the shoes are expensive, but it in my case it has helped immensely. Just last Monday I went on a 5K joy run around some duck ponds in a huge park. I couldn’t run 1K when I started last year in my expensive professionally fit running shoes. Heck I can’t remember running without pain since I was in high school playing stick and ball sports on grass. Running in the Navy was hell thanks to “boondockers.” Then 20 years of attempts in “running” shoes felt more like torture.

So while everyone will never agree about minimalist running shoes versus more traditional shoes (actually isn’t barefoot more traditional…), I’m just happy I won’t be slowed down by toe pockets anymore.

And I’m sure one day I’ll be standing at the finish line cheering for people slower than myself. I’ve been there and done that. I’ll never be fast by ST standards, but that still makes me a whole lot faster than the couch potatoes that are the majority.

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I’ve got a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves, love 'em. True enough, they are super minimal. I only do one run a week in them, typically a 45 min-1hour moderate paced session. This is solely for the purpose of strengthening. I also will kick around in them though, as they’re pretty comfy regardless. I also tested a pair of the coveted NB Minimus about 2 months ago. Truth be told, the feel between the Trail Glove and the Minimus is almost identical, at least from my perspective.

3

I love my Newtons and all, but just maybe your improvements are due to becoming “less fat” and getting your legs into better shape over time?

4

I love my Newtons and all, but just maybe your improvements are due to becoming “less fat” and getting your legs into better shape over time?

The improvements in speed yes. The missing pain from my shins, hell no. Shin splints are 100% caused by heel striking. Heel striking is 100% enhanced by “running” shoes. I’d like to agree with you, and I’m absolutely positive that you could find a ton of people to agree with you, but you’d be incorrect in my case at least (possibly many others)

I was even less weight in the Navy and in better shape than I am now. Running in boondockers still created pains I would not even want to think about much less endure again. Running shoes are better than boots, but offer the same raised heel. When you dorsiflex your toes when running (a natural motion to keep from tripping and falling) in a shoe with a raised heel you will almost always land heel first (I will always hit heel first). This I know. I don’t need a doctor or running “expert” to tell me either.

In fact, I have my old Navy medical record still. I went to at least half a dozen doctors over one dozen times about shin splints while in the service. Their net input was zero… but I did ingest a lot of Motrin.

I could even tell you about my wife’s IT band problems which are now gone. Then I could tell you how she got the only cancer that makes you gain weight. I could also mention that she has never ever run at any point in her life prior to this past year. She is a princess after all… (well sorta). She now runs 5Ks all day any day in her silly shoes. She likes the toe pockets, which for the life me I’ll never understand. She even has all her childhood friends running 5Ks now. It was actually her friend Amy’s idea, and her other friend Kristen that got us into TRIs. I blame them, and am happy they did it. Based on my improvements in one year, and my high school speed (former speed), I might be the fastest out of all of our friends by next fall (we are all slow though compared to STers).

In the Navy I was 50 pounds lighter than I am now at my best weight and 35 pounds lighter at my heaviest weight. Today I can outrun any PT test I ever did in the Navy. I can do it with more weight, more years, and funny little shoes. I’ve always hated running because of how much it hurt. Now it doesn’t hurt. My running limits are now based on fitness and not tolerance of pain.

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Wow, boondockers. Thank you for opening a memory I had blocked many years ago. My old boondockers were offered as a home for any hermit crabs that may have been about 30 feet past the end of the Port Hueneme pier.

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I’m hijacking the thread about shoes to say congrats on your newfound fitness and loss of running pain. It is really exciting when you finally get to the point where the only thing limiting your improvements is fitness; as opposed to pain, equipment, time (ideally), etc. That is when you really start getting fast.

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This will sound more “attacking” than I mean it to sound. No offense meant.

But $110, seriously? Those look very close to most spikeless XC shoes on the market. Have a look at the Brooks Mach series shoes, which you can find all over for $30-35 for retired model version. I can’t see spending that kind of $ for those.

But if they are working for you, c’est la vie.

8

You may not get shin splints, but if you really are a fat guy I suspect that you have an injury coming soon if you keep running in minimal shoes. Be careful. I’m not trying to be mean, just stating the obvious.

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Shin splints are 100% caused by heel striking.

Completely false! I’m all for minimalism, but this misinformation has to stop! In your case, wearing minimal footwear helped your situation. My shin splints were caused by wearing shoes that were too light and flexible. Move to a more stable shoe? No more problems. I still did about 1/4 to 1/3 of my mileage in Nike Frees and racing flats (down from almost 1/2), but the shin splints went away when I started doing to bulk of my mileage in a light stability shoe.

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This will sound more “attacking” than I mean it to sound. No offense meant.

But $110, seriously? Those look very close to most spikeless XC shoes on the market. Have a look at the Brooks Mach series shoes, which you can find all over for $30-35 for retired model version. I can’t see spending that kind of $ for those.

But if they are working for you, c’est la vie.

Absolutely. My Trail Gloves were given to me, I would never pay $110 for that shoe because they’re simply not worth that. I would probably pay in the $70-$75 range for them, which is the price of the New Balance 101, which is ALSO a better shoe than the Trail Glove. The TG is a cool shoe, but it’s simply another addition to the bare minimalism fad, and is also ridiculously priced. Not sure what the price of the Minimus will be…

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you know its entirely possible the shin splints just took time to resolve, and that time happened to coincide with trying the weird shoes.

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THe New Balance Minimus Trail looks -really- nice too. I don’t know what MSRP is on them, but I’d guess its in the neighborhood of $100. Probably too much, but a much nicer shoe than the MT101. If I’m doing an Xterra or an offroad race, I’ll wear the MT101s, but for training, I’m all about the minimus.

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you know its entirely possible the shin splints just took time to resolve, and that time happened to coincide with trying the weird shoes.

You might be right if the time if shin splints were not 1994 to 2010. Sixteen years of pain doesn’t overnight by coincidence. Nice try though.

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I agree it’s too expensive, but I saved a ton on bottle cages compared to most around here.

I also spent over 100 on the “running” shoes the experts sold me.

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Not false and not misinformation. I’ll elaborate later this evening.

16

Would you care to wager? We are all due for a running injury statistically speaking.

The only thing that is going to happen to me this year is that I will become thinner and faster. I already know I can go for a 5 or 10k run any day or time I like right now. I’m just slow. This is something I have never been able to do previously without severe pain.

Thanks for you faked concern for my well being though. It’s at least semi-genuine.

17

Congrats on running pain free.

But to clarify, medial tibial stress syndrome is NOT “caused” by heel striking. It may have been in you, but not all runners. Excessive pull of the anterior tibialis off the anterior tibial crest (shin) causes shin splints. Most commonly, overstriding (i.e. heel “striking” in some) with the resultant eccentric contracture of the TA muscle, often coupled with a tight posterior gastroc or solues, is the culprit in most runners. In your case, wearing a “minimal” shoe forced a gait change to a shorter stride. Many runners figure this out by themselves, but others don’t have the same natural stride or kinesthetic awareness. Same reason swimmers do drills with paddles, etc. to accentuate the feel for the water. But, continued running/racing in them can be detrimental as well, but they can be a great training tool (as are barefoot strides that have been done for eons).

Have a great season!

18

If the NB Minimus was out, I’d have bought it. It’s not.

19

One thing I think is interesting is how many slowtwitchers complain about how expensive the VFF and other minimalist shoes are. Its almost schizophrenic how we want to pay less money for less material in our shoes yet with bike parts it is the complete opposite. Besides, so what if we pay $200 even $300 for a pair of running shoes if they work well for that person? When you think about how much money the average poster here has dumped on their ride that is just chump change.

Just an observation.

20

I don’t complain, and I don’t think others do either - just pointing out it’s a little silly to pay that much for slippers.

Same shoes for $44:
http://www.eastbay.com/product/model:144022/sku:07063101/nike-zoom-waffle-racer-vii-mens/?cm=GLOBAL%20SEARCH%3A%20KEYWORD%20SEARCH#sku=07063101

I’m sure you could find last season’s for under $30 if you spent more than the 4 seconds I did looking.