Run Run Away

Question:

Hi! Allthough the local track (in excellent condition) is only 1/4 mile away from my home it was only yesterday that I actually went there for a run – perhaps high school nightmares of ‘dying’ while taking the Cooper’s test there have kept me away? I did few laps after my 30 minute run and running on the track felt nice, and the surface was kind of soft yet very comfortable to run on. I was wondering about shoes – if I decide to include track sessions to my running regurlarly should I nevertheless use the same shoes I run with on other surfaces (NB 1021) or does running on a track require special shoes? BTW, I’m not going to tell you how slow my 800 meters was, but it sure gave me some perspective on the times posted here (Roger 2k for example), not to mention world class performances on middle distances. ) Jarno — The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep.  - Robert Frost

Response:

You don’t really need track spikes to practice on the track. The sprinters on our team practice in spikes, but it’s because they only know the track. All of the long distance squad runs their track workouts in their normal training shoes. IMO, unless you plan to race on the track, spikes aren’t really neccessary. –Vincent

Response:

You don’t really need track spikes to practice on the track. The sprinters on our team practice in spikes, but it’s because they only know the track. All of the long distance squad runs their track workouts in their normal training shoes. IMO, unless you plan to race on the track, spikes aren’t really neccessary.

OK. The reason I asked was that a couple of years ago (before I started to run) I took a walking test on the same course (walk 2 k as fast as you can, and with HR at the end some kind of a condition measure is calculated with time, HR, gender, age and weight) and allthough I had been walking on other surfaces the track tartan gave me acute shinpain during and after the walk, and I wondered whether it had something to do with the surface and shoes rather than wrong form or technique doing fast walking. Jarno — The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep.  - Robert Frost

Response:

Jarno, Track spikes really do two things for you.  Spikes provide extra traction and allow you to go faster in the turns (this is where they beat the flats badly), and (on an all-weather surface) spikes allow you to run fast even in the rain. If you are not intending to race on the track, you don’t need them. Track surfaces (mondo excepted) are usually softer than roads, and for this reason beginners and those with shin problems are often encouraged to run on tracks.  But track surfaces also have more traction even without spikes, and thus you are able to apply more force through the surface, and this may have been how you got into trouble before–but this is most likely to occur without spikes only on inclined surfaces (as you would have in a treadmill test) but not on track surfaces that you run on. You can run on a track surface in any running shoes you chose. Lyndon "Speed Kills.  It kills those that don’t have it" –Brooks Johnson

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Jarno, Track spikes really do two things for you.  Spikes provide extra traction and allow you to go faster in the turns (this is where they beat the flats badly), and (on an all-weather surface) spikes allow you to run fast even in the rain. If you are not intending to race on the track, you don’t need them. Track surfaces (mondo excepted) are usually softer than roads, and for this reason beginners and those with shin problems are often encouraged to run on tracks.  But track surfaces also have more traction even without spikes, and thus you are able to apply more force through the surface, and this may have been how you got into trouble before–but this is most likely to occur without spikes only on inclined surfaces (as you would have in a treadmill test) but not on track surfaces that you run on. You can run on a track surface in any running shoes you chose. Lyndon

Thank you and the rest who replied! Jarno — The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep.  - Robert Frost

Response: