I just got a pair of Nike Frees 5.0 v3 and they’re great. I’ve been reading a lot on the benefits of minimalist running and have totally bought into the concept.
What I’m wondering is… should the next step be Nike Frees 3.0? Or should I just go to racing flats?
Obviously the goal here is to run as injury-free as possible (ie, less cushion and built-in shoe motion stabilizers) and as fast as possible (light weight shoes). Does anyone have enough experience with Nike 3.0s and racing flats to share some insight?
You want to be careful when going to a lighter training shoe. Yes there are benefits to be had, but a lot of risks come with the territory.
If you’re just starting out with barefoot running or a even a lightweight trainer you want gradually introduce it into your training regimen. Think of it as weight lifting for your intrinsic muscles that have basically been wearing blindfolds with heavier, more cushioned shoes. Most Americans/Europeans have severely underdeveloped intrinsics in their lower leg and foot for running barefoot. Just like you wouldn’t want to all of sudden start benching 200 lbs. without ever having touched a weight in your life, you don’t want to switch over to barefoot, or close to barefoot in a lightweight trainer, and continue training as if you’ve changed nothing at all. Ease into it with 15-20 minutes per run in the free and then build it up on a weekly basis. If you choose to go completely barefoot, start out at just 5 minutes a day per run barefoot and increase it a minute for every day after that.
To answer your question on what the next step is after the free, I think you may have guessed that I’m going to recommend introducing barefoot running with the aforementioned routine. If implemented correctly it’s almost cheating, it really feels that way. Most Americans run with their quads and hams from the hip whereas if you watch the African marathoners they run with their feet. The deal is that most of them can’t afford shoes until they get a sponsorship so they have extremely well developed intrinsics. Again back to weight lifting, the best parallel I can make is like trying to do a pushup while only using your chest compared to using your triceps and shoulders in addition to your chest. Getting more muscles combined to perform one task is “free speed” as they call it.
I just got my third pair of Nike Free 5.0’s in the mail last week. I now have had all three generations. I love these shoes. At first I only ran runs of 3 or 4 miles or less in them about onceor twice a week. I did that for 6 months or so. I would guess that my milage total on the Free’s was about 150 by then. Then I started doing some longer runs of 7 or 8 miles with no ill effect. My longest run, to date, in a pair of Free’s is 9 miles. For longer runs I still wear a regular trainer (Nike Air Zoom Vomeros) For me, these are great shoes for running on flat, straight routes. I have noted that these shoes don’t like sharp turning trails or wet, foul weather. The uppers are just not that tough.
I also have a pair of Nike XC waffle racers. The Free’s have a lot more cushioning than the racers, but the racers are a lot lighter and have better traction on trails. The racers also seem to allow me to “feel” my feet better. The Free’s allow me to just zone out and run more than the racers do.
These are not shoes that everyone can run in. I know of more than one person who hurt themselves by not slowly getting used to them. I adapted to them quickly because I have not used a motion control or stability shoe in a decade.
I just got my third pair of Nike Free 5.0’s in the mail last week. I now have had all three generations. I love these shoes. At first I only ran runs of 3 or 4 miles or less in them about onceor twice a week. I did that for 6 months or so. I would guess that my milage total on the Free’s was about 150 by then. Then I started doing some longer runs of 7 or 8 miles with no ill effect. My longest run, to date, in a pair of Free’s is 9 miles. For longer runs I still wear a regular trainer (Nike Air Zoom Vomeros) For me, these are great shoes for running on flat, straight routes. I have noted that these shoes don’t like sharp turning trails or wet, foul weather. The uppers are just not that tough.
I also have a pair of Nike XC waffle racers. The Free’s have a lot more cushioning than the racers, but the racers are a lot lighter and have better traction on trails. The racers also seem to allow me to “feel” my feet better. The Free’s allow me to just zone out and run more than the racers do.
These are not shoes that everyone can run in. I know of more than one person who hurt themselves by not slowly getting used to them. I adapted to them quickly because I have not used a motion control or stability shoe in a decade.
When you say “hurt themselves”, what kind of injuries are you talking about? I feel that I’ve jumped into Nike 5.0’s pretty head on. So far I’m feeling great, but I’m concerned about what you said of others who have done the same. Can you elaborate on the kind of injuries those people got from moving to Nike Frees to quickly? Thanks!
There’s no such thing as an overpronator. The shoe s what causes the “over” pronation. That is to say, it makes your foot pronate more than it naturally wants to. In running barefoot, your foot will pronate the exact ammount it wants to.
What we do see is the foot becomes stronger and more balanced as it moves through its natural range of motion (unique to each person)
Dull ache in the arc of the foot along with pain in the ankles
This person went back to his regular trainers and the pain went away. He now just walks around in the Frees
Pain in the ankles and knees
This person took a couple of weeks off and will not put the Free’s back on. Note: he is a huge heal striker and pronator.
Pain in the top of the foot and arch of the foot.
This person backed off on the mialge with the Free’s for a while. Now uses the Free’s for road races and short runs.
I see no issue with going to a neutral shoe with lots of cushioning…humans were not meant to run on pavement and concrete…you need cushioning for that and in many cases running daily in race flats is not sufficient to protect you from pavement pounding.
I do see a problem with running in shoes with lots of stability and motion control…this is like running with a crutch and “outside assistance”…these shoes have let people run mileage that they have not adapted to…eventually things break…as far as I see, everyone should run in shoes with cushioning but minimalist support and only run volumes and intensities that they have adapted to.
Perhaps the early first generation running shoes in the 80’s are the ones that were sufficient for everyone: Nike Pegasus, Saucony Jazz…essentially slippers with cushioning to keep you from blowing up on pavement.
Today’s low end Sauncony shoes (Aura etc) and Nike Pegasus still offer this…or you can go with the Air Max for more cushioning, but it still has zero support gimmicks! The Vitruvians are good too, but I believe they need more cushioning…they are too hard for most of us on pavement.
How do you find the v3 compared to the v2? I’m a little scared to make a switch when something works for me… seems like the heel pocket is a little more defined now, and a little less stretchy?