Army PT Heel-Toe Running and Running in 5-Fingers: A VFF Story

From Lou:

Hey Justin,

I want to start off by saying that I think you are running a great site. I enjoy submitting photos of my VFF adventures and reading other’s experiences in them. I love these shoes. My KSOs and my iPhone. If I could wear them everywhere I would and I never part from my phone LOL. Now on to my story.

Ever since my buddy showed up to a bbq at my house wearing his khaki VFF Classics I became interested in them. I wanted to buy a pair for our tubing trip we were planning. I eventually found a pair of KSOs. During my hunt for VFFs I read Vibrams blurb about the health benefits of their minimalist style shoes. So I began doing research out of curiosity. As I researched and read, it made sense to me. I remembered what I as told by my Drill Sergeant about running. Heel – Toe.  I wondered about that because when hurrying from one side of my house to the other while barefoot, I never let my heel hit the floor because it would hurt. So it didn’t make sense that we would do that with shoes. But, me being a young Private with no formal training in running prior to joining, I followed orders. I was good to go as long as my running shoes still had cushioning. Once that was worn down I began developing shin splints. Painful shin splints. To the point I couldn’t walk. So ever since, running has been something I wasn’t crazy about. I also found that as I put on weight I was more susceptible to shin splints. To summarize it, I don’t like running in the Army. They don’t give you enough recovery time and their remedy for shin splints is, keep running. Deployments have been good for my legs. I can run at my own pace and distance and give myself the recovery time I need.

After reading and watching videos about running barefoot and how we were designed to run, it really made a lot of sense. Cavemen weren’t running after the Wooly Mammoth in a pair of Jordan’s or New Balance. It really sparked my interest. I wanted to run in my VFFs but was afraid to just jump into it. I had to balance out running every other morning with the Army and running in VFFs. So I decided to try and adjust and improve my form during our morning runs. At first it felt good. My shin pain wasn’t flaring up. The only problem was we ran 4 miles and my calves were not ready for that. I found my legs fatiguing and I eventually fell behind the formation. Once we finished my calves were screaming. I kept at it though. I noticed improvement.

Last week my buddy and I got our soldiers out of doing PT (physical training for those non-military) with the unit and took them out to do PT on our own. I chose to wear my KSOs and brought my regular running shoes, just in case. They all looked at me weird and told me I was crazy. We started off with some sprints on asphalt. I took off, stopped, turned around and bolted back. I was amazed at the fact that it didn’t hurt my feet. It was surprisingly cushioned. The grip was amazing too. It was a great feeling. We did multiple sprints and still no pain. Then we ran around the park. We ran on concrete, asphalt, grass, through mud, over picnic tables, jumped on boulders and ran down a gravel path. My feet held up the whole way. After a while of running on the road and sidewalk my feet began to get a little tender, but that was after a total of two miles of running. To summarize my experience running in VFFs I would have to say it was great. I loved it and plan on doing it more often. I now have a schedule where I don’t do PT with the unit but I have time to do it on my own. This will allow me to run in my KSOs more often. Man I love these shoes. I wish I could wear them more often.

Thanks for sharing, Lou.  Many of us can relate to the joy of running with VFFs (or barefoot) — and it comes without pain (aside from muscle soreness from rebuilding your foot, ankle, and calf muscles from years of atrophy!) just makes it all the better.