A Bit of Backstory
I wore orthotics for years. I have been transitioning to less and less shoe. Despite having perfectly flat feet and pronating significantly, I never, ever felt goon in motion control shoes. I normally opted for neutral cushioned shoes and blew them to pieces after about 500-600km. (The outside edge of my outsoles would wear through and I would occasionally blow through the side of the upper.) As a result, I became a clearance rack/bin shopper because I needed 2-4 pairs of shoes per year at the mileage I was doing.
I then read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. The whole less shoe, cheap shoe approach that is described in the book made a pile of sense to me. Through experimentation I had already stumbled into it myself, but I never had any particular scientific reasoning behind what I was doing. I was just listening to my body and finding a way to buy 2-4 pairs of shoes per year without blowing a bunch of money. I wondered if I would ever get to the "shod barefoot" stage. To me, it didn't really matter if I did. (Given the surfaces where I run and the fact that Canadian Winters are really cold, "bare barefoot" isn't a viable option.) Less and less shoe was working fine for me.
My transition has been slower than others. The reason is more financial than physiological. I could have transitioned to 0mm drop shoes over a few months, but to ease my conscience, I felt that that I needed to use up the stockpile of shoes that had been accumulating. I arranged my pile in order by heel drop and used up the highest ones first. I always rotate among 2-3 pairs at a given time so I just inserted a lower shoe into the rotation when a pair I was using wore out. A couple of years ago I switched to training in lower racing flats and started buying 0mm heel drop shoes (see photo above). I have a post in the oven that describes how I came to own such a collection, and not break the bank.
Where I am right now, shoe-wise
I just retired my Adidas AdiZero Mana's, which I was using for my streak and a couple of spring races, and I am currently running in a pair of Newton Distances that someone gifted me. He tried them a few times and decided that they weren't for him. I gladly accepted them and found that they are pushing my Achilles tendons and calves in exactly the same way that other shoes did whenever I dropped in heel height, i.e. from 12mm to 8-9mm and then from 8-9mm to 4mm. In my estimation, the Newtons will help me close the gap. I will keep these around, as well as a pair of K-Swiss Blade-LightRun's, for days when my feet need a break and I need to work some different muscles. I also have two pairs of New Balance shoes from the Minimus line that I will use for trail running. I completed a few runs in the Merrell Bare Access's and haven't felt any of the effects that people report when they have transitioned to quickly, which I take a sign that I'm ready for 0mm.
What is going to happen over the next few months...
My plan for the next month or so is to rotate among the Newtons, the Merrell's and an old pair of Loco Banditos (I bet you've never heard of them), and perhaps a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, probably the Spyridons. Keeping the Merrell's for the Winter may be a good idea because I will need socks for insulation against frozen toes. There are two trail races in the Summer (early-July and mid-August) and a road 15km (mid-July) that I am targeting. I will use the Banditos for the 15km and one of the New Balances on the rails. The plan is to be in a barefoot shoe pretty much full time by Autumn.
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