Aquathlons and Vibram Five Fingers (KSO Treks and Sprints)

By Justin Owings on Dec 18, 2009 | In user stories | 1 comment »

A photo montage from Luis Manuel Cid (Inset in blue wetsuit, KSO Treks) and Luis Armando Santiago (Sprints) at an Aquathlon. Click the image for a larger version!

Luis Manuel Cid sent in the above photos from a recent aquathlon he completed—Luis is the one in blue and Vibram Five Fingers KSO Treks. His friend, also named Luis, is in the Sprints.

If you've not heard of an aquathlon before, they are a race that involves running and swimming.

I asked Luis how his KSO Treks fared in the race and, since Luis has been wearing his Treks now for a couple of months, how they've performed generally. Here's Luis:

The Treks are doing great, they were the first VFF I bought and are still my favorite Vibram model. I bought them when they first came out in September and took them out of the box for a 14 mile run. This was after a few weeks of barefoot running which in retrospect was way too little foot strengthening for running such a distance, but luckily I have done just fine. I also have bought the Classics and the KSOs which I also think are great, but the Treks Roo leather wrap around my feet more tightly and comfortably, some refer to this as a more luxurious feeling. The sole has a great grip, even in asphalt, and being a little thicker than the others I think it is more forgiving on newbie running mistakes. Perhaps this has to do with no injuries and many, many miles since I got them back in September.

My only minor complaint is that on very long runs (over 15 miles) on hot and humid conditions the leather inner sole feels a bit slippery. I actually did not swim on them in the aquathlon as they were considered an artificial propulsion device under the rule book ... not sure how they would have helped me swimming but the rules say:

Any swimmer wearing any artificial propulsion device, including but not limited to fins, gloves, paddles, or floating devices of any kind shall be disqualified.

As you can also see below, Luis wears his KSO Treks to work. I don't think sitting an office desk ever looked so comfortable! Thanks for sharing Luis!

"I took the VFFs for an 8 mile run on the afternoon after the morning Aquathlon. Then they went to the washer machine and back to my feet for work this morning! Only shoe I know capable of performing all these tasks, most versatile shoe I have ever owned!"

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
Justin Owings+ has written 712 articles and 260 comments.