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Ironman in Training Runs a Half Marathon in his New Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas

Ironman runner, Tim, was lucky enough to land a pair of red and white Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas and take ’em out for a 13 mile spin. Tim reports on how it transpired:I ended up having a friend (Thanks Rob!) who lives in Boston pick them up at Cit…

Ironman runner, Tim, was lucky enough to land a pair of red and white Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas and take ’em out for a 13 mile spin. Tim reports on how it transpired:

I ended up having a friend (Thanks Rob!) who lives in Boston pick them up at City Sports last week and ship them to me in DC—apparently they were the last pair of size 43s available for sale in the whole city at the time. I got them just a day or two before a half marathon race I was signed up for and after going for a 3 mile run the day before I decide to just jump right in and do the race with without breaking them in.

Right away they feel much different than my Sprints or Flows. The material on the inside of the shoe is very comfortable to wear and the newly designed heel makes the biggest difference in overall fit. With the other models I really had to cinch the rear straps pretty tight which pushed my foot forward—in the Bikilas the rear of the shoe cups my heel so much more and keeps my feet in place.

Oh yeah, and they simply look badass too!

More from Tim after the jump.

Some photos Tim took when he unboxed his new Bikilas. Nice, ad worthy, pics!
Tim enjoying his run.

Tim runs, guns drawn, by a random shopper who has wandered onto the course.

Tim on the race:

I ended up doing the 13 miles in around 2:20, (running in Zone2 as prescribed by my Ironman training plan) and my legs feel great! No blisters at all—which goes against what you’d expect for your first run in a new pair of shoes. The Bikilas will definitely be my model of choice come Ironman Florida time in November.

I also happened to see one barefooter during the race and two other VFF wearers (though neither of them had Bikilas!).

We’ve previously seen Tim on BirthdayShoes running a marathon in his Sprints, in his hiking Old Rag Mountain video, and finishing triathalons. Follow him on twitter @timkelleydotnet.

Thanks, Tim, and good luck in the Ironman.

By Britt

Hailing from College Station, Texas (Home to Texas A&M!), I grew up running cross country. Believe it or not, I gave Justin the name for this site back in early 2009 but I didn't jump on the toe shoes bandwagon until a year later. I am also really into quadcopters and drones and have a blog called OddCopter.com.

12 replies on “Ironman in Training Runs a Half Marathon in his New Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas”

Tim, those are calf sleeves you’re wearing right? Do they help the calf not get too sore after your runs?

I have transitioned to a fore/midfoot strike run and the VFF’s at the same time so as you can imagine my calves are sore after every run. I’m wondering if these calf sleeves really do help or if they are just extra fluff 🙂

@ashegam

It will take some time for the calf soreness to go away. After 3 or so months, it should start going away.

It does help a lot if you massage them with a roller massager like the tiger tail.

I know where you’re coming from, I also wondered everyday if the soreness would ever go away. It does.

In regards to Tim’s running.

I recently got myself a pair of Bikilas.

I see he’s wearing the socks from the start, but I actually took my socks off for the first few runs in the Bikilas.

They are much more barefoot friendly, and the interior is very smooth all around. Only a slight rub spot on the inside middle part of the side of the foot.

The problem for me in the bikilas seems to be that my one foot is slightly smaller than the other, so I have foot shifting. Very sad. The KSO allows me to tighten the shoe, can’t do that with the Bikila.

All in all, I think they are definitely worth checking out barefoot first.

I’m a novice VFF runner but I noticed in the running pics that Tim seems to be landing on his heels. Maybe it’s the angle of the pic?

Scott,

I noticed the same thing. Tim’s form doesn’t look so good. He is over striding and not landing on the ball of the foot. Most people will develope an injury running like that. However, if Tim can get away with that, then power to him.

It’s hard to tell where a runner is striking just from single pictures. You really need to have a video. I’d be very surprised if he is actually heel striking, knowing the pain and suffering that occurs when I have intentionally tried to heel strike in Vibrams as an experiment in bio mechanics. But you never know, each body is different, and sometimes unconventional forms work for some people.

That was the first thing I saw too! I would be hurting if I was heel-striking in my fivefingers!

I agree with Dan. You can’t tell from one photo. There is another photo here, where Tim is about to land on his forefoot:

https://birthdayshoes.com/tim-runs-the-marine-corps-marathon-in-his-sprint-fivefingers

Also, I was reading somewhere, I think on the forum, that the heel should almost touch the ground before landing on the outside part of the forefoot first. If you look very closely at the pic above, it appears that is exactly what is happening.

Yeah, I concur that the photos can be misleading. Most of the race photos from my marathon in KSO’s looked like I was heel striking too. But, I was not heel striking, I can assure you. When I taped myself on video, you can see forefoot landing. You have to see it on video to really get a more accurate view of the footstrike.

@ashegam – It does take awhile for your calves to get used to the transition. I’ve recently been experimenting with the sleeves and I do think they help.

@Gary – The bikila interior is very nice–I tend to wear socks in all my VFFs only to keep them from getting smelly too quickly between washes.

@Scott, Jeepman, Dan, Janice, Britt & Joe – re: form, I can assure you that I am very much a midfoot runner. I started using VFFs because I had IT band issues from heel striking in regular running shoes.

The picture is a bit misleading for two reasons: you can’t really tell, but it was taken on a downhill section of the course, and it was taken in the last quarter mile of the 13 mile race and my form might have been getting a little sloppy as I was pushing the pace to finish. 🙂

I just got my bikila’s in 41 from citysports Friday myself, and am anxious to try it out in a 5 mile run tomorrow.

Anyone have any experience how well they work in the rain against various terrain? The Black KSOs I have is actually quite slippery in rain…

Nice pics Tim, and good to hear about your positive experience. Are those swimming goggles you’re wearing? They do look very cool 😀

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