Vivo Barefoot and Ironbridge Runner
Vivo Barefoot technology
With Barefoot technology very much in the ascendancy, which may sound like an oxymoron, there is a lot of smoke surrounding the issue.
As a recent advocate of barefoot technique, as a means of minimising injury and maximising the pleasure to be had from wild running (ok trail running if you like but a crossover with fell running), I was curious to learn more and perhaps to cut the wheat from the chaff.
So I accepted an invitation from Peter Ferlie at Ironbridge Runner, to listen to one time surfer-turned triathlete and barefoot coach John Gibbins, explain the Vivo Barefoot rationale for barefoot running, in store.
He was putting runners through their paces out on the road, opposite the shop, as well as on the treadmill, and taking the time to analyse their running profiles. He told me: “Unlike horses who have four running skills, humans have three, walking, running and sprinting.” He added: “The feedback for each gear if you like comes from your feet.”
He went on to explain that jogging is effectively a speeded up form of walking, which involves landing on your heels, when using cushioned shoes and results in some sensory feedback confusion where the brain (or muscles) doesn’t quite get the message that the vertical forces are increasing, which often results in injury.
I want to return to this and the transition exercises which can lead to safer barefoot running, in another blog, so won’t venture too deep here. Suffice to say that I bought a pair of Vivo barefoot shoes, the Vivo Trail shoe and love them. They’re like wearing slippers and your feet morph to their surroundings on impact, as they’re designed to do, partly because they allow for splayed toes on impact and contracting toes on recovery, unlike the Vibram fingers.
Yes they have a sole-a very thin 2.5 mm sole and a small 4.5m lug area under the big toe area. But they’re oh so light and I actually find it hard to put a pair of regular trainers on now, partly because they feel so clunky. By the way they cost £65 from Ironbridge Runner on Bartholamew Street in Exeter.
Jamie Page, the media man for Vivo, explained that one of the Clarkes shoes family, called Gallahad (no he’s not from Totnes or Glastonbury, he’s from somewhere round Bantham), is working for them and wants to make simple, natural shoes which weren’t anything like what his ancestors were making. Good man! Although that red lug on the bottom, does look suspiciously like the old Clarke’s triangle, albeit much cooler.
Peter showed Jamie our website for the Wild Night Run, which takes place on Saturday February 9th and Vivo agreed to provide four pairs of shoes as category prizes. Thanks a million. Peter meanwhile, has agreed to sell head torches supplied by our other sponsor Petzl online and in store at Ironbridge Runner, so watch this space.