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My Transition to VFFs

by Rob Francis » on Apr 05, 2011 2

The following is a story shared by reader Robert Francis, a member of the Canadian Forces.

rock-climbing-vibram-fivefingers

Rock climbing in my new Komodo Sports.

Everyone has a reason, whether it be out of interest or a result of personal research,  for why they have tried or switched over to VFFs, so I figured I should start off with why I switched.

I used to do a fair bit of running although I am not exceptionally fast. When I joined the army, you either did a lot of running or you were in the weight room; as long as you did one you were considered fit. Since I am not built like the Hulk, I went for the running. Fast forward 18 years and many kilometres later, I ended up injuring my hamstring (while setting a PR) during the Cabot Trail Relay Race in May of 2008. So I took some time off from running to let myself heal and it was around this time that I started doing CrossFit as an alternative to running. After 5 months of CrossFit, a reduced amount of running and thinking that my leg was better, I went to the Canada Army Run and 2 weeks later to the US Army 10 Miler; both times completing the race in discomfort/moderate pain and not as fast as I was hoping.

During the time between the Cabot Trail Race and the Army races in the fall, I was trying to get as much information as I could about CrossFit and I found the CrossFit Endurance website as well. On this site, there was a photo of a man finishing a 50 Mile race in VFF Classics. I was intrigued as to why a person would wear what I thought of then as slippers or a flip-flop alternative on such a long run. I looked into it further and found out about VFFs and the research behind barefoot, or in this case, nearly barefoot running. I found a store that sold VFFs and bought a pair of KSO in the late summer of 2008, which I promptly started wearing at my CrossFit workouts. I didn’t have time to train (actually I didn’t have time to transition to them) for the two Army runs in the fall but I started training in them full time in October, and in March of 2009 I started thinking that I would wear them for the Cabot Trail Relay that year.

The Switch

I found it a hard transition to VFF. My calves were on fire for any run over 2 km, my Achilles tendon ached for days after, and once I could go a decent distance, my feet hurt. But I stuck with it; using my KSOs for running and gradually increasing the distance and intensity of my runs. It took nearly 4 months to be able to run any kind of significant distance. I was using them for my CrossFit workouts which helped, mind you I was getting some weird looks wearing them as they were not very common in my neck of the woods at that time. Eventually I was able to run 10 – 12 km with no pain and was just as fast as I was when using and training with traditional style runners and running programs. Unfortunately, my work and a posting didn’t allow me to run in the Cabot Trail race that year nor the year after, although I kept up with my CrossFit workouts. I won’t claim that the VFFs were the only reason for my pain free running, but I believe they were a big part of it. I’ve worn through my KSO’s, my Sprints are now paper thin on the bottom, and I just received a pair of Komodo Sports in the mail. Not bad, starting on my third pair of shoes in just about 3 years and at less expense, as running shoes cost more than VFFs.

 

My KSO with hole hole in the bottom.

My KSOs with hole hole in the bottom.

Success?

So far this year I have completed or have planned to complete the following while in VFFs:

  • I competed at an army CrossFit Challenge where the team I was on placed first overall during all five days of competition. A fellow teammate and about twelve other competitors were wearing VFFs, so they are catching on. Although to be honest, one day I wore running shoes as it was minus 25 degrees Celsius (-13 F) and the VFFs were just not warm enough for the 30 minute outdoor event which consisted of carrying sandbags from the bottom to the top of a 500 meter hill.
  • I have entered a rowing contest (rowing machine) which takes place in 2 weeks time (April).
  • My children and I have started rock climbing this week and my daughter will be wearing her VFFs as well as myself.
  • This year I am doing the Cabot Trail Relay Race (May) and I am going to do it in my new Komodo Sports which as I said arrived this week. I have started up my CrossFit Endurance workouts to prepare for this event and just going through the typical aches whenever you increase your training plan.
  • I am planning on hiking the Fundy Trail this summer with my son. Although I do have some concerns about carrying 40 – 50 lb. backpack over 3 days and 50 km in VFF. I am not sure how my feet will stand up to the extra weight but of course I am going to prepare and train for it and then give it a try.

Using and wearing VFF has introduced me to many new and novel ideas on fitness, health and nutrition and has also introduced to me a community of like minded people, such as right here at MyFiveFingers.com. Based on the definition of success, I believe that wearing VFFs have greatly helped me out with my physical fitness and health and not just by being minimalist footwear. VFFs are popular with the CrossFit community which is now my primary means of fitness (having been in the army for almost 21 years, I have never been as fit as I am now). Searching for information on VFFs has led me to websites about nutrition (Marks Daily Apple as an example and he is a big VFF fan) which I have incorporated in my overall fitness and health program. So my enthusiasm is not just for the funky looking shoes but for the path that I am now on due in no small part to these shoes.

 

Submitted Comments

  1. Steve Dinn says:

    Hey, it sounds like you’re in Nova Scotia (maybe even Halifax?). Where do you go for CrossFit workouts? I’ve always wanted to try it out. I’ve been training with kettlebells for 2 years, and in VFFs for about 3 months.

    My next big challenge is to run the Bluenose Half Marathon in my KSOs. So far I’m up to 18km in them, and that’s the farthest I’ve ever run in any kind of shoes.

  2. Rob says:

    I’m in NB and use the base gym for CF, they have a great CF area.

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