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Best Minimalist Runners

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  • 22-10-2012 3:43pm
    #1
    loudymacloud
    Registered Users Posts: 357 ✭✭


    Howdy Folks,


    Have done a lot of running and many races over the last 3 years and it has been great.

    But now looking to put the racing on hold for a bit and give the minimalist or barefoot running a go. i know it takes a bit of time to get used to this form of running.

    What would be the best footwear for this, hoping to maybe slowly build up to wearing the vibram 5 fingers.

    Saw some vibram minimus shoes in elverys but the reviews did not paint a good picture for those runners

    Any ideas or opinions as to what shoes i should be looking for?

    Cheers.


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    #2
    sconhome
    Registered Users Posts: 5,468 ✭✭✭sconhome


    Minimalism is less about the shoe and more about the person.

    A lot of people have bad experiences with Minimalism and blame the shoe when in reality their head wasn't in the right place to start with.

    There are a couple of really good threads discussing the pros & cons of the different ways of approaching minimalism and it might be a good place for you to start.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056778924


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    #3
    spurscormac
    Registered Users Posts: 1,523 ✭✭✭spurscormac


    I will as before, recommend the Inov-8 road shoes, and use a gradual approach to migrating towards minimal.
    Which shoe to choose to start with will depend on what you are currently running in and the heel/toe drop of that shoe.

    Here's a link explaining the Inov-8 transition theory.
    http://www.inov-8.com/New/Global/Transition-Journey.html?L=26

    You can see they progress over 16 weeks from one shoe to the next, thats a 3mm drop every 4 months, so to do the overall drop from 9mm to zero, you're talking 12 months until you start on the zero drops.

    As you'll probably read in those threads, I took 6 months to go from 9mm to 6mm, and while I'm ready to move to 3mm now, the shoe I prefer isn't available til Jan/Feb, so I'm waiting til then (though I do have a 3mm drop trail shoe).
    If I do eventually go to zero, it'll probably be 18-20 months since starting before I do so - the slower the better IMO, more time for your body to adapt and less likelihood of injury - though everyone will be different.


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    #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    load of minimalist shoe reviews and some theory here.

    http://www.runblogger.com/

    minimalist shoe guide here on that site

    http://www.runblogger.com/2010/07/runbloggers-guide-to-minimalist-running.html

    I'd recommend something like the Saucony Kinvara first. It's 4mm heel drop and fairly cushioned.

    It's not that radical a change to a shoe like that. Going from there to 0mm is a big big change though.


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