Merrell Trail Glove Review – Barefoot Shoes

So i have put about 50-60 miles on my Merrell Trail Gloves now and thought i would post a review on the ownership experience so far.

http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Product.mvc.aspx/22875M/60904/Mens/Barefoot-Run-Trail-Glove

Sophie and Simon's new barefoot Merrell Trail Gloves

I have read a few reviews and criticisms of the Trail Glove which i feel to be unfair as the review seems to have forgotten that the shoe is a “Trail” (The clue is in the name) shoe and not designed for running on the hard top. For my part i have had nothing but a positive 3 months with my shoes. My 9 year old daughter also has a pair and loves them,

The Trail Glove is a 6.2 oz zero drop minimalist trail shoe. It has a Vibram sole and a 1mm impact plate in the mid sole to take some of the shock absorption away from the foot when hitting stones etc.

The inside is seamless and so designed for you to not wear socks with the shoe. The shoe required no breaking in and has never rubbed or caused any blisters of any kind. It also has a Aegis® antimicrobial solution footbed that claims to resist odor. Which i think works pretty well as they still smell pretty good and nothing like my soccer boots that i wear socks in. So a big thumbs up there. It also helps that the shoes are machine washable.

So far my shoes have shown very little wear and i would expect many hundreds of miles in the shoes. The soles being quality Virbram’s you would expect this and the uppers are the usual high quality you expect from Merrell.

The fit is great for my feet. My feet are narrow  at the arch and then wide at the mid foot and toes. The trail gloves have been criticized for being too narrow at the arch. I feel this to be somewhat an unfair criticism  as you need a trail shoe to be tight and glove like as you don’t want the the shoe to move independently underfoot when running on slopes or difficult surfaces etc. Something you don’t need from a standard running shoe. The toe box is very wide giving plenty of room for your toes to splay out and feel the ground as you are running. The rubber bumper around the toes providing you with that extra protection when hitting the rough stuff.

All in all i give the shoes a solid 8 out of 10. These are great minimalist trail shoes. High quality, offering you strong foot protection and still allowing plenty of feeling. The only downsides are potentially if the narrow fit around your arch is going to be a problem and they are slightly more expensive than the Virbram equivalents at $110

Related articles

• What’s Been on My Feet Lately? – Preview of Three Minimalist Road Shoes From New Balance, Merrell, and Adidas (runblogger.com)
• Running Form and Efficiency with your Stride (barefeat.wordpress.com)
• My Review of Merrell Pace Glove Cross-Training Shoes – Women’s (fromfatkidtofab.wordpress.com)

The Natural Running Debate

Image via Wikipedia

Here is a great post from Sam Murphy, He attended UKSEM’s (UK Sport and Exercise Medicine Conference) debate on natural running. It was a panel debate that consisted of Professor Daniel Lieberman, podiatrist Simon Bartold, Professor Benno Nigg, Professor Daniel Howell and Dr Matthias Marquardt.

http://www.sam-murphy.co.uk/newsandevents/?p=961

From what little i know, as a relative newbe to this field, i agree with Sam’s conclusions that running is all about form and injuries stem from poor form. The major trouble being the traditional running shoe and it supporting a non-natural running technique. One of the key interesting points of the debate, regardless of the panelists views of the current barefoot running trend and the various shoes that are sale now, they all agreed on what a running shoe does not need. That is that: a running shoe shouldn’t need: cushioning, stiffness, medial posting, arch support or a heel raise.

Great writing from Sam, and it will be interested to see how sneakers start to change as this debate goes on.

Putting a few miles in, with a barefoot run

So as usual my lack of patience got the better of me, i was itching to get a decent length of run in and wary of using the old running shoes that will encourage bring the heel strike back.

So i went for it in the Merrell trail gloves. Slightly shorter than usual but still a healthy 4.5 miles outside on varied terrain. Details can be found here at runkeeper.

Overall it felt pretty good. I feel i managed to control my running form throughout the run maintaining the mid foot strike. It is much easier to keep track of the form running on concrete than over grassy surfaces that are not flat.

I am actually pretty delighted with my progress. This is really only my 3rd real run in the shoes trying to adept to the barefoot mid foot strike and it seems to be going well. My calves are taking a beating from the change in foot posture but really other than that nothing serious to report.

The Merrell Trail Gloves feel fantastic with no blisters or rubbing problems to report. Which i am very impressed with as I don’t wear socks with them. I will write a full review post of the shoes shortly.

Happy running!