Review of My Nike Free 3.0 V3 Shoes!

So I've been using my new Nike Free 3.0 V3 shoes all week for different types of workouts, and I really like them!  Contrary to what I thought, my calves and legs are not sore at all!  I'm very surprised by that because I thought the transition from supportive shoes to minimalist shoes would be painful and take some getting used to.  But nope, I'm up and running just the same!  Literally!

I used them for running on Tuesday, Wednesday and today.  When I used them on Tuesday, I was so amazed that I could feel everything my feet were running on.  It makes you very conscious and "in touch" with the ground.  I felt that I didn't need to change my stride much - I've always been a mid-foot strider.  But I can see how these shoes would change a heel stride.  It makes sense, since most running shoes have a thicker heel, which kind of forces you to land heel first.  But these shoes are flatter in the heel, making it more natural to land mid-foot or fore-foot.  They are so much lighter than my old shoes!  I was able to run faster and more effortlessly.  The only thing was I felt that they made my feet hotter / less breathable than my old shoes.  But it could also be because of how hot it has been lately.  The back of my heel on my right foot and the back of my left calve were ever so slightly sore after my run - I don't know why it only happened on one side of my body - maybe I'm not a well balanced runner lol.  But the day after, any soreness completely disappeared.

On Wednesday, it was my 2nd run with these shoes.  I got used to being able to feel the surface I was running on, and I was not consciously thinking about that anymore.  But I did notice that I wasn't stomping my feet as much as I used to, which was what I was hoping these shoes would cure!  I also did a circuit type of workout that day.  These shoes were great for jumping around and I didn't feel any significant difference from previous shoes.  But when I did squads, it felt very different because of the lower heel of these shoes!  I felt that I had to use different leg muscles to squad down since I wasn't elevated as much.  Interesting!

Today I went to the Santa Monica stairs today, which are these steep stairs built on a hillside that lots of people go to get their exercise.  I went up and down about 10 times.  It's a pretty hard cardio workout.  Today was a bit crowded so I couldn't go as fast as I wanted to when I got stuck behind walkers.  There are 2 sets of stairs about a block away from each other.  One set is wider and wooden, going straight up and down.  The other set is cement, much narrower, and zig-zags a lot.  Some people go up and down one set of stairs, but I usually go up one set, run to the other and down the second set, then run back to first set.  Today I also added pushups and tricep dips in between.  It had been a while since I last went to the stairs, my legs were jello after a few rounds!

Here's a picture of the wooden stairs, I totally stole it from google image search.  It's just a little portion of it - it really looks like the stairway to heaven as you cannot see the top from the bottom!

So I thought the shoes were pretty good for the stairs as well.  It probably really helped that they are so light and I didn't have to drag around as much weight with me so I could go faster and longer!  I ran up and down some and walked some. Sometimes I went up 2 stairs at a time.

Oh yeah, these are also great for stretching.  Hehe.  I was rocking the 80s look today with my electric orange cool racerback and these bright blue shoes!

Oh yeah, and here's an example of how not to do push-ups.  Maybe I thought lowering my forehead towards the ground would get me closer!  Oh well, I did a million dips and full on push-ups before this so my excuse is that I was tired lol.  I just thought this was a funny picture!

So anyway, back to the shoes.  I am pretty much 100% used to them by now, it's great.  I think after this week, I can safely say that these shoes are good for running as well as other types of cardio workouts.  Of course, since these are my first pair of minimalist shoes, I have nothing else similar to compare them to.  But so far they've worked well for me, I don't think I could go back to using my old shoes!  I had originally planned to keep my old shoes around for the gym, but I think now they would just feel like bricks to me.  But I am thinking of getting another pair of minimalist shoes from a different brand so I can have some variety and switch them around!