Adebe Bikila
Last year I began toying around with moving towards barefoot training. Obviously you can't walk around barefoot, so there are a number of shoes that offer a barefoot alternative. My first step was buying a pair of Nike Frees last July. Nike Frees are less cushioned than regular shoes, but aren't a true "barefoot" shoe. I've used them mostly for weight training and some light running, and have really liked them.
After doing some reading, around last Christmas I decided that I wanted to try a pair of Vibram KSO's. There are a host of advantages to barefoot training. In short, the human body was designed to be barefoot. Over the last 30 years, shoe manufacturers (lead by Nike) have made heavily cushioned shoes mainstream. This causes an unnatural heel strike, which puts a large impact force on the lower legs.
Shod runner with heel strike
Barefoot runner with forefront strike
Instead of getting into further details, here are a few good articles and websites.
Tim Ferriss on Vibrams - A great explanation of why using Vibrams makes sense
Birthday Shoes.com - Barefoot shoe reviews and resources
Daniel Lieberman's Harvard Study - Here's the nuts and bolts of the biomechanics of different foot strides. Worth the time to read, at least to me, because I'm a nerd.
Although barefoot shoes have gained a lot of recent popularity, I would suggest you do your own research. An incidence of injury has been documented in people that use Vibrams. This is mainly attributed to the fact that people don't take the time to build up the muscle strength/endurance needed to use Vibrams. Instead, they go for a 5 mile run the first time they wear them. Dumb.
Because of the bad press, there are those out there (my wife Leah is one), that don't believe they're beneficial. Initially, Leah promised me a pair for Christmas, but she just couldn't bring herself to buy them for me. Plus, she didn't want to be seen with me in public while I was wearing my "Monkey Shoes"
However, I'm not at risk for getting an injury from long distance running. To me, a 5k is a long distance, so any running I do will be from a baseline of zero. Instead, the main reason I wanted to get a pair was for weightlifting. My workouts consist of a lot of deadlifts, squats, and lunges. Highly cushioned shoes are very unstable, and put your body in unnatural positions for these lifts. Additionally, you don't maximize the force put into the ground, and you also increase your risk of injury.
Fast forward to Wednesday morning, when I woke up to a nice surprise. A local outdoors store was offering vouchers for $20 off a $50 purchase. So just for kicks, I checked their website to see how much their Vibram KSO's were, and they were on sale for 20% off. Turned a $95 purchase (after tax) into a $54 purchase.
My new Monkey Shoes!
It's been a while since I've had a new toy to play with in the gym, so I'm excited to get to use these. I'll write an update after I've gotten in some workouts, and maybe even a few runs.
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