VIVOBAREFOOT ULTRA Review

Whenever I hear the word Ultra, my heart instantly jumps up 10bpm. I think of altitude's of 2500m above sea level, distances of 50km's plus, trails so gnarley you wouldn't even be able to get there with a kitted out 4x4. The sport of Ultra running is not for the faint hearted, it's for the select few who can really consider themselves "hardcore". Granted the shoe in this review is not exactly suited for Ultra running but just like those 50k's + of trail running euphoria the VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra’s are part of that select group that can consider themselves, "hardcore". When I first saw the shoes on VIVOBAREFOOT's site I knew I had to give them a bash, I mean who doesn't remember being a kid and wanting to jump into every single puddle, especially when there was someone close enough to splash? I often hear people saying that we, as adults, tend to take things too seriously. That somehow we have lost the fun and adventure we used to craze as kids. Someone who is serious about their running is no exception! I mean what other breed of person wakes up to go running when others are just getting home from a late night jol, who deny themselves all of the chocolatey chocolateness of chocolate when others are loading their shopping trolleys full of all kinds of sugary goodness, or who are in bed earlier than some 2 year olds? We map out our programs months in advance, log every nano-byte of data after each run and compare our performance on yesterday’s effort to see if we can make any tweaks or adjustments to today’s effort. We take our running seriously, very seriously! If you want to achieve your goals it's fair to say you need to be pretty serious about them but there comes a time when even the most hardened and disciplined of runners need to have just a little fun!

Enter the VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra's...

Right from the get go you can see these shoes scream fun, I mean what other shoe can be totally submersed in water and not weight your feet down while you carry on running? I competed in this years Totalsports Challenge with these shoes and where they really came alive for me was on the final beach run, while other runners were trying to avoid the water to keep their shoes dry, which forced them to run on softer sand, I was blitzing through the waves on the hard sand. The advantage was priceless. As with all the other VIVOBAREFOOT models the shoes sport a very wide toe box, in fact in the Ultra the toe box is wider than the Breatho’s which really allow you to get some serious grip and prevent your feet from sinking into soft sand. It sort of works like a Camels hoof, Camels have very wide hoof’s at the base which allow them to move through the dessert at very respectable speeds, it’s the same for the Ultra’s. Even when I had to venture onto the soft sand I found my feet were not sinking in as deep as they normally would. This saved me a lot of much needed energy.

The VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra’s don’t have the aggressive lugs as you get with the Breatho’s or Neo Trails but they are by no means lacking in grip. I ran a river section above the reservoirs in Hermanus with these shoes and I was scrambling over the wet rocks and through the rivers without any slipping or lose of traction. The shoe is basically a rubber ‘sole’ that wraps around your foot. They are incredibly light and flex with every movement which gives you just about the most natural running experience you will ever have, short of running completely barefoot of course. VIVOBAREFOOT are all ‘proprioception’ and making shoes that allow your feet to give feedback to your brain about the terrain you are running on and to aid in balance, spatial awareness and momentum. I think they have hit the jackpot with the Ultra’s. The sensory feedback you get in these shoes is mind-blowing. They come with a removable ‘boot’ which clips easily in and out of the shoe for a little more protection on the foot and best of all you can use the ‘boot’ at the gym, on the treadmill or while you are doing strength training.

 I enjoyed the Ultra’s so much I used them on the tar as well, finishing about 4 half Marathon’s in them. Apart from the remarks I got from fellow runners admiring the shoe they are just about the lightest shoe you can get. The sole isn’t made specifically for the shredding power of the tar so if you get them solely for tar use they won’t last very long. If I had an issue with these shoes it would be, durability, but considering how much I ran on the tar (which they aren’t made for) with them it is more than fair to say they gave me my money’s worth.

What I didn’t realize while I was testing the Ultra’s was how much fun I was having in them, they allowed me to jump in every puddle, blitz through the waves and feel like a mountain goat over wet rocks and through flowing rivers. I didn’t count on them reminding me exactly why I started trail running in the first place. I didn’t count on them showing me how I had somehow lost the fun and adventure of it all. How I had become so focused on the minutes per km readings, distance travelled, elevation gained, average speed and heart rate, weekly and monthly mileage, was I hitting my goals and if not how could I make up for it. I didn’t count on them helping me find that kid again that loved jumping in puddles and running without an agenda, but rather for the love of it.

So I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, “Do you want to feel like a kid again?” If your answer is yes, then the VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra’s are for you!