Experiment: Vibram-five VS Running shoe!

[jamix]

Hope this experiment can help others who are considering going down the Minimalist route!

I bought a 100$ pair of Vibram five fingers and decided to compare them to my regular Mizuno shoes.

RESULTS: Inconclusive

Basically I did 4 rounds (comparisions) where each round consisted of firs running 2km in my new Vibram-five shoes. I would record my time and then quickly follow that with another 2km run in my Mizuno shoes. Whichever time was quicker won that round.

ROUND 1: Vibram: 9:29 Mizuno: 9:27

RESULT: Mizuno wins by 2 seconds.

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ROUND 2: Vibram: 9:20 Mizuno: 9:19

RESULT: Mizuno wins by 1 second

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ROUND 3: Vibram: 9:19 Mizuno: 9:25

RESULT: Vibram wins by 6 seconds

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ROUND 4: Vibram: 9:11 Mizuno: 9:26

RESULT: Vibram wins by 15 seconds..

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Conclusion: My Mizuno shoes won the first two rounds, but my Vibram-five won the second two rounds. Thus my results are inconclusive.

It might be worth mentioning some other facts/observations about this experiment, but I don't want to bias the data. I will conduct another experiment like this in a couple of months after I have logged more time in my Vibram shoes (probably on the road and not the softer track since the track obviously makes running on minimalist shoes easier).

[ian]

Be careful with this. Not only is it a good idea to ease your way up (distance and intensity) with minimalist shoes in order to let muscle groups adapt to the changes (the calves in particular), but to alternate back and forth within a workout sounds like a recipe to run with less than optimal form. In the longer term, a runner like you who is particularly fond of the shorter distance sufferfests would likely benefit from the minimalist work and would be able to use some really light shoes for racing.

[jamix]

Be careful with this. Not only is it a good idea to ease your way up (distance and intensity) with minimalist shoes in order to let muscle groups adapt to the changes (the calves in particular), but to alternate back and forth within a workout sounds like a recipe to run with less than optimal form. In the longer term, a runner like you who is particularly fond of the shorter distance sufferfests would likely benefit from the minimalist work and would be able to use some really light shoes for racing.

Thanks Ian. I think I recall the shoe salesman saying 10% of your regular weekly volume be in the Vibrams. I won't be alternating the two shoes again for awhile, and since I'm not training much, it'll hopefully be okay.

FYI; Strangely I did notice some "form" deterioration in rounds 3 and 4, but only while running in shoes . Curious that running in minimalists causes negative form changes when one immediately switches back to shoes

[Spirit Unleashed]

Jamie, I thought you were qutting exercise!

[jamix]

Jamie, I thought you were qutting exercise!

Okay, starting today I'll be quitting