Merrell Barefoot Road Glove Review

Shoes. I wonder how many passionate runners out in this world that will have only 1 pair of shoes. I know one and even that person is starting to get bitten by the running bug lol.

The main pair of shoes I usually run in is my Skechers GoRun. I've put in over 200 km over the pass 3 months in that shoes and I am still loving it. I'm however curious as to how much of an impact 200 km has made to the feel of the shoes, so Skechers, if you're reading this how bout it? Send me a new pair and let us see how much difference 200 km does to the GoRun? I'm sure there's lots to learn from this exercise.

Anyway, this post is mainly a review about the Merrell Barefoot Road Glove. I'm not too sure as to the popularity of Merrell in Malaysia but Vibram Five Fingers seems to be the rave around here.

A little info on the Merrell Barefoot line: Sometime in 2010, Merrell and Vibram teamed up to release a new line of minimalist/barefoot style shoes. Their first release was not until February 2011, the Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove which turns out to be a great hit. They subsequently released the Road version of their shoes and you guessed it, it's called Road Glove.

I was looking for a barefoot-style shoes to incorporate into my run as a way to build up my muscle and work on my form and like all Kiasu Malaysians, first thought that came to my mind was of course the VFF (Vibram Five Fingers). I gave them a try at Running Lab but unfortunately, my feet is too small and I have to go for the Women's size which I find a bit narrow. So after searching high and low for an alternative, I found out that Merrell was being sold by Running Lab and Royal Sporting House. Needless to say, I went shopping :D

The Shopping
I had a bit of difficulty in this department I went to my favorite running store, Running Lab, in Tropicana City Mall, but unfortunately they do only had the Flux Glove in Blue. The Flux Glove is a CT (Cross Training) shoes which has the upper of the Trail Glove and the out sole of the Road Glove. I wasn't too keen on the Blue and Orange color mix so off I went.

I next went to Stadiume in KLCC. Found the Road Glove, but unfortunately don't have my size. So I hopped over to Stadium at Pavillion and lo and behold they had my size. They however only have one color and it's Lime Green.

Anyone Green with Envy? Guess not :P

I was a little put off at first due to the following:

1. Green has never been my favorite color. I happen to be wearing jeans on that day but somehow or another, the color seems to fit nicely with jeans. And the best part is, it seems to grow on you. - Strike One!
2. For a barefoot style shoes, it's actually heavier than my Skechers GoRun, by a few ounce. The shoes also fit very snug and tight across the midsection. (Pardon me but I was a noob then) I was a little uncomfortable in it at first but I liked the roominess of the toe area a lot. I reasoned that since you have a roomy toe box, you have to secure your foot somewhere. - Strike 2!
3. I've done some research and was aware that there is a very pronounced bump at the arch area of one's foot. This got me very worried as I have been having my Plantar Fasciitis problem during that time. The bump actually pushes in toward my arch and I could feel it while standing in it. I tried running in place a bit to see how it felt. I could still feel the bump a bit. I was pretty hesitant bout buying the shoes even though Pete Larson has reassured in his Road Glove review that it's not an arch support per se. I studied the bottom of the shoes and confirmed that it's actually the curve of the out sole inward that causes the bump.  - Strike 3!

What sealed the deal was that there was a 30% discount on the shoes, bringing the price of the shoes down to the RM 250 range, nearly half the price of VFF!!! Being a Gung-ho at that time, I bought it and off I went being the happy owner of a pair of Barefoot Style Shoes.

The Construction

The Merrell Barefoot Road Glove is a 0 mm drop shoes with a stack height of 11 mm at both the heel and forefoot area. I'm actually quite surprised about this as the Skechers GoRun has a listed stack height of 14 mm at heel and 10 mm at forefoot and a whopping 19 mm at mid foot area!!! At first glance, you would think that there isn't much difference between these 2 shoes, but you would be wrong.

You see, the Skechers do not have an out sole/mid sole as most shoes have as they're using Resalyte. From what I understand, they've actually combined both out sole and mid sole into one component, you actually have quite a lot of cushioning from the Skechers. The Merrell however only have 4 mm of EVA cushioning for their mid sole, the rest of the stack heights, 7 mm of it, goes to the out sole as well as the insole. This mean, you'll definitely feel that pebble on the road, albeit not as painfully as truly running barefoot.

Very thin sole actually.

The construction of the out sole for Merrell also gives the illusion that this shoes come with a lot more cushioning. However, the fact is that the out sole curves over and onto the upper to facilitate the bonding of the out sole to the upper of the shoes. The heel counter/overlay is nicely placed to provide maximum grip on the back of your foot.

The Upper of the Road Glove is of excellent quality and well ventilated. I've never felt the inside of the shoes getting hot even when wearing them on hot days walking around for the whole day (while working in Sandakan). The toe box has plenty of room for your toes to splay out and my toe has never felt constricted once. The one complain I have is that the tongue has a tendency to slip out of place. I'm not sure whether it's my lacing or a problem with the shoe construction (maybe I'm too used to the Skechers sewn tongue) but the lace lock makes sure it doesn't stray too far. 

I MUST mention the liner of the Road Glove is unique. It's kinda furry to the feel (as can be seen in the first pic). It feels marvelous when you go sock less but when wearing socks, it tends to grip your socks, to the extend sometimes you can curl your toe up inside your socks without the socks moving in the shoes. It however doesn't interfere with the running and is something that you'll get used to. The integrated insole has no visible seam is of the same furry material. I've tried wearing the Road Glove sock less once and did not notice any hot spot at all so the Road Glove is definitely good news for those who loves to run sock less.

Check out the light green arch area

The out sole of the Road Glove is provided by Vibram. As you can see, it's a pretty unique design. The medial and later part of the sole is actually curved upward and inward toward your feet (see pic below to get a clearer picture of it). This is the cause of the bump that I felt while I was trying it out. Coupled with the lacing, it provides a solid grip of your feet from the mid area toward the back, ensuring that your feet don't go stumbling about in the shoes.

Inward curve of the arch area

In regards to the sole's traction, I'm a little disappointed in it at current time. On certain surfaces, it gets slippery when it's wet. Example, fungal grown rocks/ concrete area, synthetic running path. I'm not too sure if the traction will improve as I break in the shoes (it's only been like 30 km) but here's hoping it will. This situation has however proven to be a good thing as well. It doesn't allow me to over stride  and it forces me to push off properly so as not to waste any energy. See, there's always a positive side to things if you look for it.

Performance wise
As a casual wear shoes, the Road Glove is extremely comfortable IF, and this is a big if, you're comfortable with 0 drop or minimalist shoes. Reason being, even when walking, it activates different sets of muscles than traditional shoes. If you're used to walking barefoot for 2-3 hrs a day, then I'm sure you'll be fine. If you're not, don't be surprised if you do have some slight muscle ache the next day. Your feet WILL get tired in this shoes.

The Road Glove is a very good training shoes for running form. In runs, the first thing you will notice is the lack of cushioning in the Road Glove. If you don't land properly, you're gonna feel it in your ankle, your knees, your hip, and your back. You'll learn to get off your heels and land on your forefoot to mid foot  keeping your knees bent to absorb the shock of landing as well as to land close to your center line.

The next thing you'll realize is that you'll forget you're wearing a pair of shoes. Your body and your feet will automatically adjust to the surface you're running on. If the surface is slick, your stride shortens, you land lower with your toes more splayed. If it's harder and firmer, you get into a cycle fast. If it's grassy with roots, you get onto your toes and hop along, and when you step onto a pebble, you'll quickly notice and your foot will automatically lessen the pressure placed on that foot to continue on to the next step.

Remember the tight mid foot and the bump under the arch? In my run, it completely disappeared. I had no Plantar Fasciitis episode with the Road Glove at all. In fact, I hope that Royal Sporting House will continue to bring in Merrell shoes so I will always be able to get a pair to run in.

In fact, Royal Sporting House is currently having a 40% discount on the Merrell Barefoot line. This discount has brought the pricing of the Road Glove down to approximately RM 212. So, for those of  you who would like to improve  your running form, but does not care to run barefoot or find the VFF too expensive or unsuitable, go give the Road Glove a try.

A word of caution though. If you've never ran in a barefoot style shoes, please take your time making the transition to the Road Glove. You need to give your body some time to adapt and build up the musculature required for these shoes. I've had a lot of muscle soreness from just using this shoes for walk when I first got them. Running in them when you're not ready can lead to some pretty severe muscle pain if you're not careful. Below are some links to resources on how to transition to a barefoot style shoes so feel free to look through them.

http://www.vibramfivefingers.it/education_why_barefoot.aspx
http://www.merrell.com/US/en/BarefootConnection
Principles of Natural Running with Dr. Mark Cucuzzella - YouTube
Are you ready to go Minimal?



Happy running folks. I hope the review would be of some use to some people.

May your run be swifts and graceful.

Summary
Pros:

1. Lightweight barefoot style shoes. Excellent for form and gait training.
2. Disappear from your feet once you start running.
3. Excellent upper and lining.
4. Don't receive weird look like VFF.

Cons:

1. Out sole does not have a good grip. Not too sure if it's coz it's not broken in yet or what. I'll update if there's a change to it.
2. Shoe Lace is a little on the short side. I can't tie it the way I showed in my Tying the Knots post.

How to start running.

As some of you may know, I've started joining a running workshop organized by Skechers, Kumoves, and Xcelerate Fitcamp. The workshop is conducted on every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month at 7.30am at Lake Garden.

This weekend, the 23rd of December, they'll be having a workshop titled "From Zero to Hero" and will be concentrating on the topic of how to start running, how often to run and how to keep yourself motivated.

I would highly recommend this workshop to those of you who would like to pick up the sports of running either for competition or for health purposes. Do come and join us on the 23rd December at 7.30am near to the Deer Park entrance.

For more info, do visit http://www.runnersmy.com You can also sign up for the newsletter and register there.

Remember, Running is the real sports. The rest just play with their balls.

Half a year and Counting.

Time. As runners, we're always chasing it to get PR. As human, we're always chasing it to get more out of it, as a species, we're obsessed with stopping it or reversing it. It's an ever flowing river that flows through our life, etching our life stories into our soul. A master painter with nary a care of anything.

How do we then respond to what has been etched and painted in the canvas of our soul? Some people fight it, others ignore it. The wise look at it, and appreciate it in its entirety. Personally I always feel that it's a good thing to learn from our pass with all the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.

It has been about 3 months since my post on Positive Changes and more than 6 months since all these begin. So, what have I learned and achieved during this pass half a year?

1. I've picked up running and completed my first race, a 5K run. I've also signed up for Brooks Half Marathon 2013 10K run. All this even when the friend that got me started on it has left to go back to his own country.
2. I've continued to stay off nicotine and no longer have the urge to light up. Passive smoking still get to me so I do my best to stay far away from smokers all the time.
3. I've learned to eat healthier. Wonder how many of you out there actually do look at the Nutritional Values as well as the Ingredients when you do your groceries. I still indulge in some of my favorite food but have cut down on them by quite a lot. Running has also caused me to be intolerant of high fat content, of which I used to love, so there goes the braised pork belly. :'(
4. My perspective on running has changed. Instead of looking at it as a challenge, I now enjoy my personal runs. Its a time where there's nothing else but you and the road ahead. It gives me a very calming effect where I can just let go of everything and run, without a care of what bothers me deep down inside. Running with friends are always enjoyable of course.
5. I'm no longer as impulsive as before but still as impatient. But I can see myself getting better in that as I  work on my runs, I learn to be more tolerant and patient as the day goes by.
6. I've learned to be more positive on things. Every cloud has it's silver linings, and everything that happens have its reason. Even though I still do not understand why life has dealt me this card, I will continue to live my life going forward, taking baby steps and adjusting as need be.
7. Running has brought me back to some old friends and introduced new ones to me. To my old buddies out there who knows my story. Thank you so much for your support through this pass  half a year. To the new friends, may your feet be fleet and flawless and may we continue to enjoy our runs for another 1000 years ;).

What's my plan for the future? Not too sure as yet. There's still the divorce to settle, not to mention my own life to settle as well.Time, in it's other form will also sweep away the hurt that you've experienced. It will not remove all the hurt, but only the sharpness of the pain. In its wisdom, it will leave behind a dull ache so that we will always be reminded of our folly so we may learn from it.

Truth be told, this month has been a very hard month for me. It's a time of joyous celebration and yet, I could not find that joy in me, nor any cause for celebration. I still find it uncomfortable to join any family gathering or any large celebration, as such, I really have no clue on what to do this Christmas.

Oh well, bad comes to worse, I'll always have the road and my shoes for company.

p.s. Sorry for the depressing post. I need to get this out of my system.

Tying the knot. :D

Source: Wikipedia.org

After participating in my first ever race at the Parkcity Run on November 25th, I noticed that a lot of runners actually do stop quite a lot to retie their shoelaces which has come undone during their run. It got to the point that it got a bit irritating as people just stop in the middle of the road to retie their shoes. I almost bump into someone when they stopped right in front of me.

I stumbled upon a page from Runner's World on How to best knot your shoes quite a long time ago while I was doing my online research on running. So I got the added benefit of not needing to stop to retie my shoelaces. As the steps can get quite complicated, I'll be putting the link on how to tie the shoelaces here directly.

Basic 101. How to tie a reef knot.This is how we're suppose to tie our shoelaces all the time. We just got confused at the last part. If you're a scout or girls guide before, you should be able to pick this up pretty fast.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/fit-be-tied

I've also found a faster way of tying your shoelaces. It's called the Ian's Knot, considered to be the world's fastest shoelaces knot. It's a little confusing at first due to muscle memory, but once you got it, I guarantee you, you'll be using this knot all the time. It's fast and easy. I've place Runner's World link as well as the original link below so that you guys can do a bit of comparison in case things get confusing.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-shoes/tie-better-knot
http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm

Now that you know how to tie your shoes properly, go practice and have a bit of non-running fun ;)

On a side note, ever wonder why there's an extra hole that's sometimes present a little toward the back and below the top most hole for laces? Well, a lot of people will just use it to your lace as per normal. The actual use of the hole can be found here.

So here's to a happier feet to all my running friends out there.

Running Academy and I

Had a great time this  morning. Instead of going for my normal Easy run this morning in my Merrell Road Glove, I decided to join the Running Academy at Lake Garden, jointly organized by Skechers Malaysia and KuMoves. The workshop is conducted on every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month and registration can be done at here. They start the workshop at 7.30am and I was there by 7.15am. I was surprised to find that the parking was nearly full! Apparently there's 2 entrance and I've headed to one of the more popular one. I'll try the other one next time round.

While there, I bumped into Lorna Roderick nee Wong and Markus Kus who's part of KL Runners. It was a nice and pleasant surprise, especially after I found out they're helping out with the Workshop. There were quite a bunch of us there, approximately 15, with a healthy mix of Noobs like me, and more experienced people.

Apparently I got into their 4th session where they have a performance check/challenge going on. We started off with a 2K warm up where we had a group of runners chasing another, kind of like Police and Thief. Once caught, the one chased became the chaser. We follow that up with other games to get the heart rate up. What really got to me was the stairs repeat. 10 years of lack of exercise really catch up to you then. My quads tightened up and I had difficulties coming down the stairs. Needless to say, I'm pretty much bummed after that :P

I would say that, the workshop is very very nice, with lots of information and different type of exercises which you can pick  up and incorporate into your ordinary routine. It may however be a tad tough to newcomers. We had a bunch of early leavers and a girl that stayed for all the exercise emptied her breakfast after a very valiant effort to hold it in.

To people who sees this as a challenge to overcome, and as a new baseline  to work on and get better at, this is a good workshop to come for. Personally, I found out the weaker points of myself where I need to improve on in 1 session and will be working on it to get better.  For others however, they may get the wrong impression whereby this workshop is not too friendly/useful for new runners. Don't get me wrong, the organizers are nice and friendly and I can see that they are trying to make things fun and interesting to the runners. It's just that some newer runners than me may find it a bit tough to keep up.

Hopefully the organizer can address this issue especially since it's in their agenda to get people to run again. Looking forward to more sessions and more people joining in the workshop.

Being lazy on the blog

Ok, I'm not actually being lazy but catching up with work and family after the long trip to Sandakan.

Just a bit of update, I've finished my 5K run and have registered for Brooks Half Marathon 10K run on 3rd March. I was tempted to go for Half-Marathon in the beginning but thank God for some cool headed advice from my dad. Looking at the training plans out there, I doubt I could actually make it at all and end up burning myself  up.

So instead of setting such a high goal for myself, I've decided to just go for 10K and most importantly, enjoy the journey toward the Marathon milestone and not rush myself into it. Things will only get better as long as you learn to enjoy the journey there.

In terms of gears, there's been a few changes as below:

I've gotten a Merrell Road Glove to use as a form trainer. I HAVE to say, a 0 drop non-cushioned shoe is ABSOLUTELY and TOTALLY different from the Skechers GoRun. 4mm made a lot of difference. My calf ache every time after a run in them. Hopefully I'll get better as I continue to train in them.

Merrell Barefoot Road Glove

I think I am now pretty sure what type of shoes that I like. Both the Merrell and the Skechers disappear from my thought as I run in them. It doesn't get in the way of feeling what's under the feet, it's light and it provides my toes flexing spaces. Seriously, it's liberating to be running in these shoes.

I've also gotten myself a technical shirt from Salomon. I usually run in any plain old cotton T-shirts but I've found them getting more and more uncomfortable as the mileage increases and the T-shirts get heavier, wetter and clingier. Seriously, they feel like they've just came out of the washing machine. -_-''' I've done 2 run in the technical shirt and I'm happy to say I love the feel. My first run was aborted due to sudden rainfall. SO I had to run back in the rain with everyone driving looking at me like I'm a dunce, but it was fun to run in the rain XD. I reached home soaked through the top. The shirt does cling to me but not in an icky sort of way, instead it stretches and conform to me when it needs to and hang lose when it can. It also got freaking cold when it clings to you as the water start being wicked away.

Check out the wickedly cool design.

The 2nd time was helping a friend to train, running a relatively "easy" 5K. I wasn't too sweaty and the shirt isn't too wet this time round, but even then, when the shirt comes in contact with you, it feels cool. I guess this is because the shirt kind of promotes evaporation. This was proven quite true when I washed the shirt. It dries super fast compared to my other shirts. Of course the color scheme of the shirt's a killer ;)

I've also gone out to grab myself a running jacket for the rainy season so that I can continue my run. I've had to move my run outside as the pool area walkway is roofed and it's surrounded by 4 tall buildings, thus the GPS signal is terrible. I'm currently using iSmoothRun to capture my data and even though it has an accelerometer mode, it's not overly accurate yet as it relies on previous data to do some calculation algorithm. It is however a wonderful app as I can have all sort of integration with it.

Be that as it may, I'm planning to go shopping for more shirts, shorts and a water bottle to facilitate my long runs on weekends so it's "Ho Ho Ho" for the shop owners and "ouch ouch ouch" for my wallet.