Friday, February 05, 2010

Five Fingers: A Perhaps Pre-Mature Update

I was a little rushed writing the post yesterday, so wanted to follow up with a little more information.


I did go for a run yesterday which covered about 2.5 miles of ground. There was a lot of walking, because I wanted to make sure I didn't kill my legs with the first run. I know it's going to be a long transition into these shoes. The guy that sold them to me, has been wearing his for about a year, and he told me there is a long break in period. Not for the shoes, but for your body.

The shoes felt immediately comfortable, and I never felt any terrible jolts of pressure even when I started running the first time. My calves are killing me today, because of the run, but it's not an injury pain. It's more like, I just ran 5 miles up hill and then got in my car without stretching, kind of pain. So, this has me quite encouraged. Not because the pain is so bad, but recently even with the shortest run I come home and have knee pain.

The shoe sales man is training for and running the Boston Marathon in a pair of these. Granted, he's a lot younger than I am, but I know something he doesn't. The average age of the marathon runner is about 39. That's the average. And, although the salesman is much younger than I, if these old guys and gals can run marathons, it's certainly not too late for me to try out a different method.

I'll be running again tomorrow, but in regular shoes. I have to balance breaking in my body with completing my training for the swiftly approaching Madison Marathon!


Thursday, February 04, 2010

Five Fingers

Hey all,
Just wanted to stop in and see if anyone had ever heard of these shoes? Five Fingers Shoes. I bought a pair today and went for a short run. They were incredible. My calves hurt, but otherwise my knees feel fantastic. It's like running barefoot. Can you say Kenyan running method?


Because you are basically barefoot, you naturally have a mid-foot to fore-foot strike, which most science is telling us is better for us. It certainly felt better. I'm also told that it's better for your knees, because moving the strike further forward allows your calves to do their jobs as shock absorbers. Anyone know anybody that's used these for awhile? It's only one run, but so far I'm sold.

Sixpack