Over the last twelve months I’ve had wonderful experiences with road and trail barefoot shoes. They create these wonderful mental and physical shocks of growth.
Something I’ve grown to love… in the right setting.
Since you’re more connected to your environment, nearly every movement is amplified. Improving how you bend, flex, and angle your body.
But all this time I’ve had a nagging thought. “What are the crazy looking, Fivefingers toe shoes like?”
Fivefingers
I’ll never forget when I first saw Vibram Fivefingers shoes. Pushing my way through a crowded, ridiculously loud high school hallway one my buddies passed by and gave a casual peace sign. Giving a quick nod towards his direction, I glanced at his shoes and swore he was only wearing socks.
Later that day we had gym class, and I walked up to him. I had another quick look at his shoes, expecting to see “proper” shoes this time, and I couldn’t comprehend what he had on.
I had heard about socks that were made to fit around and between your toes, but these were too thick to be socks and way too thin to be shoes.
My friend started laughing as he noticed my confused expression, and shared that they were “barefoot” shoes. He was wearing them to strengthen his toes, feet, ankles, and calves for track and field.
I asked what they were called, and he nonchalantly said “Fivefingers.”
10 Years Later
I don’t know why, but that name hasn’t left my brain. In fact, when I looked at a pair of minimal shoes from Vivobarefoot a few months ago, I was going to jump straight to a pair from Vibram Fivefingers.
They were a bit radical though.
Fast forward to now and putting on Vibram Fivefingers Trailope shoes are just as weird as you’d expect. Heck, I’m still not used to them. I’ve acclimatized to them as a whole, but there’s still just aspects that throw me for a loop.
It could be that you don’t wear socks, the pull cord laces, or the simple fact that there’s stuff between my toes. Either way, after the first 5 minutes in them they fade into the background, and you forget what you’re wearing… most of the time.
Living Barefoot
In an attempt to put the Vibram Fivefingers Trailopes through the motions, I’ve spent over two months lifting, running, and walking in them. Totaling 100+ miles. (88 miles of just running.)
My summarized consensus is very similar to other barefoot shoes. They’re best for walking and lifting, good for short distant running, and absolute torture running on trails or gravelly roads.
The materials Vibram uses for the inside of the shoes are incredibly soft, smooth, and tough. Imagine the expensive silicon sleeve in Dolphin Tale the scientists get for the dolphin. It doesn’t rub poorly or cause callouses to break out… at first.
Because I put so many miles in them in a few short weeks, I occasionally get some rubbing on the outsides of my ankles, toe knuckles, and the tops of my pinky toes. To be clear though, none of these form blisters.
The worse of it is some red skin that heals within 24-48 hours.
A key reason I haven’t had a lot of rubbing is because of the size swap I did from a 43 mm to a 42 mm. I originally got my normal size shoe (a men’s 10), and it was too big. So big that the tips of my toes barely made it into the toe areas.
After swapping them out for the smaller size the fit was snug, but right. (It’s hard to get the shoes on at first with how tight they are, but you get used to this fairly quickly.)
Rocks + Lifting
Vibram is renowned for their outer soles. Their strength, flexibility, and longevity are 0 to none.
And the Fivefingers Trailopes absolutely require it.
No matter how many sharp rocks, plant stickers, or random junk on Vegas streets, the outer soles look just as new as the day I got them. Unsurprisingly, water doesn’t cause any problems either. You’ll have wet feet since the upper materials aren’t waterproof.
But just keep running and all is well.
When you’re in the weight room though, 99% of the time you’re going to love these shoes.
I swear that my chances of an injury drop to nearly zero simply because there’s so much tactile input across my feet.
When squatting, I know where to push more in my feet. When planking, I know how to better balance myself. And when deadlifting, I better know what parts of my body need to engage more versus less throughout the lift.
My only negative when lifting, is toe pain with most lunge variations. (Something I never had with Vivobarefoot shoes.)
It’s like nail on a chalk board for me when some of my toes scream with pain as they flex under load. Just imagine being stuck in a split stretch position and then having someone pushing down on you. Even after 10+ weeks of it, my body hasn’t gotten used to it.
Running
No matter how many miles, hills, and trails I run in these shoes, some things never change.
Speed and/or hilly runs always destroy my Achilles. I don’t know why this still happens, especially since I’ve spent the last 4 months doing more leg days throughout the week to strengthen my calves and ankles.
Like all barefoot shoes I’ve tried, I don’t recommend runs on trails or any surface that’s rocky. The jabs and spikes from rocks don’t becomes easier, no matter how nice and thick the outsole tread is.
In fact, after running 50 miles in these shoes, I despise long runs in the Trailopes.
My knees and hips start to bark with discomfort after 5-6 miles. Even on a treadmill, where these are shockingly nice to run in, my body doesn’t like anything over a 10k.
However, if you’re determined to run double digital mile weeks consistently in these, then you’ll need routine cleanings.
Because you don’t traditionally wear socks with Fivefingers shoes, the stench these build up is unavoidable. Plan to wash them every month at least, depending on how strong your feet sweat typically is.
The Recap
The experiences you have with the Vibram Fivefingers Trailopes are just as unique as they look. The more granular you focus on their different areas, the more you realize just how well thought out they are.
They’re strange. There’s no way around it. But putting them on every morning and feeling slightly squirmish with stuff between my toes, is totally worth it.
Minus long distant runs, I think most people could live in these and absolutely love it!