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Apr 2020
8:56pm, 30 Apr 2020
5,838 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I’ve been meaning to visit the Vivo shop in London since someone recommended them (a couple of years ago!) but not got around to it - and it doesn’t look like I’ll get to go for a while yet. I wanted to try some on before I buy to save the faff of having to return if they didn’t fit.
What is the fit like? I wear size 7 in running shoes (mostly i wear inov8) but 5.5 - 6 in normal shoes. I have to buy wide fit in normal shoes.
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Apr 2020
9:14pm, 30 Apr 2020
22,958 posts
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Lizzie W
Vivo aren't particularly wide, men's wider than women's.
I live in Lems Primal
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Apr 2020
9:23pm, 30 Apr 2020
346 posts
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ishep 🇪🇺
I buy my normal size 10 in Vivos, and find them comfortably wide. A female friend of ours used to buy the men's for the wider fit
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Apr 2020
9:26pm, 30 Apr 2020
5,840 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I think I’m going to have to wait until we are allowed to travel again 
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May 2020
6:58pm, 1 May 2020
21 posts
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stubiedoo
My first visit to a running shoe shop ended up with a pair of shoes I barely ran in. They put me on the treadmill and I ran - on my toes - to which I got the reply, no, you need to heal strike. Which is why your podcast contribution really struck a chord! I always run towards the front of my foot, mostly on my toes/ ball. I do wear ‘normal-ish’ running shoes tho as I do a lot of rocky hills and off-road. Wondering if I should try something different. I doubt - given the terrain that I could go totally barefoot save for our garden!
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May 2020
8:56pm, 1 May 2020
354 posts
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ishep 🇪🇺
"you need to heel strike" 🤦♂️ That's terrible!
I'm sure most running shop personnel are perfectly good, but I haven't half heard a lot of horror stories. It seems, unfortunately, that many of them (particularly in chains like Sweatshop) are trained a particular way, which seems to focus on "stability"... this seems to amount to holding the foot in the shape it has when standing still, seemingly oblivious to the foot's need to change shape quite a bit throughout a stride. For example, they'll try selling you expensive insoles to hold your arch up if they decide it's weak, but not only does this restrict its movement, it also means it never has to work for itself, so will remain weak.
I'll stop... I feel like I'm getting ranty
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May 2020
2:04pm, 2 May 2020
392 posts
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snayak
Another ball-of-feet/toe striker here. I run in minimal zero drop shoes, mostly Altra these days, but I'm always barefoot at home. I can't even walk in 3mm+ drop shoes anymore. Will definitely check out Vivos. I've been reluctant to buy them without trying because I've never found them in stores but I'll check out the London store once it opens up again!
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May 2020
4:35pm, 2 May 2020
629 posts
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BarefootEm
Vivo has got very expensive in recent years, and we have found the quality not as good, a real shame. Xero are very good though!
I'm also a fan of water shoes, often dirt cheap, in funky colours and rinse able!
Stubiedoo, it's a real shame that things like this happen, and I hope as more people take to it, the shops will be more knowledgeable... However, trying to find a retailer on the high street, who even stocks minimal, or barefoot shoes is really tough.
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May 2020
6:33pm, 2 May 2020
16,065 posts
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Chrisull
Puma H streets were (sadly still are) my defining running shoe. And haven't been able to get them for years. One November in 2011 I acquired a pair and went from 42 minutes 10k to 39 minutes. Over the next 3 years I set all my pbs from 5k to marathon (yes!) in them. I couldn't get them for a while, my pbs petered out and sourced a pair a year later on ebay for £1 and then went and smashed my half mara pb by half a minute in them. I told people on Fetch and they scoffed at me, in particular one Pompey fan, said what difference can shoes possibly make? Since then the Nike VF 4%s have shown how uninformed that view was. Funnily enough I'm pretty much a non-responder to the VFs and find they actively fight against me. They are too cushioned. I need the proprioception for my perfect running form. It also shortens my stride and quickens my leg turn over.
My last pair wore out, they were impossible to get hold of, and the fashion came for more cushioning. I did try others - the invivo barefoot ones were too wide fitting and too thin solewise for me, there's a lot of garbage on the roads, it's too easy to get a puncture injury.
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May 2020
7:33pm, 2 May 2020
17 posts
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AndyS
I switched to Vivos at the beginning of last year. I'd been contemplating trying minimalist shoes for a while, but hadn't got around to it. Surgery at the beginning of 2019 meant I was out for a while, so decided it was a good time to try the change.
Since then I've run significant PBs at 5k, 3.5 mile, 10k, 13.1mile and 26.2 miles (by 26 minutes - albeit in my Brooks Ghosts).
I don't give the Vivos all the credit, but they've certainly been a factor (including in the race that I didn't wear them )
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