Did asphalt tracks exist back in the day?

Why would asphalt tracks harm anyone's joints? Princess and pea syndrome. Look at the soft slab of foam midsole cushioning, even on a spike. Even a sprint spike has a few millimeters of soft rubber and insole.

Only sprinters actually need spikes. For everyone else, it's a relic of dirt tracks.

The asphalt tracks hurt my knee joints .

Try running a 2 mile with spikes on.

Most tracks I ran on in high school were either cinders or what we called all weather tracks-just black top. My senior year I ran on one fast track-the old chevron 440. Indoors we ran outside-in New Jersey sometimes at Lakehurst Naval base we ran in the old zeppelin hangers around cones.

I went to high school in the 1970's and the best track in the area was an asphalt track at a local school.

We wore "pin" spikes- 1/4". On cinders we wore 1" spikes.

I didn't run enough on it to notice if it bothered me- just some races.

We had one at the Big 10 school I went to in the 70s.

There was a transition period between cinders and composite tracks in the 70’s where asphalt was used. I ran Division III track in SW VA where about a third of the schools had poorly maintained cinder tracks in ‘77 but by ‘80 some had transitioned to asphalt as a prelude to the composite rubberized surface. The asphalt was seen as a “foundation” for the later surface. We ran in our Waffle racers on the asphalt tracks that were surprisingly fast.

My school had a black asphalt track in the 90s then transitioned to a rubberized track my junior year I think. I wore the same short spikes on each.

Alan

Mid-80s for me, but we had a mix of tracks -- some cinder, a few asphalt, some modern synthetic (the rich school districts), and one packed dirt. We used 1" spikes on cinders up to 800m. The asphalt tracks we had were softer than road asphalt, and you could wear the tiny spikes.

I ran on solely on asphalt tracks in Maryland in high school, class of '71. Some could double as road surfaces and spikes were not helpful. Then I went to college in New England where most tracks were still cinder. Albany State and Brandeis both had very hard asphalt tracks, Bowdoin and UMass-Amherst had rubberized tracks. The US Olympic team trained at Bowdoin before leaving for Munich in 1972.

You may be surprised that most road races and road training is performed on ASPHALT.

I trained on an asphalt track in high school.

I never trained in spikes except for the long jump to get my steps right.

I was a sprinter and raced in spikes but sometimes wore the waffle racing flats for a 400m race if I had a lot of races.

I feel that it hurt more when I ran in spikes on asphalt. And the fact that Bad Wiggins said the opposite makes me sure it hurt.

And how often does one wear spikes on them?

Yes quite a few asphalt tracks in GA in late 70s/early 80s. Really awesome to run on in late May when the temp on the track would be hot enough to blister your feet. We were just tougher then!

Mostly grass (dirt where the track crossed the baseball field) tracks when I was in HS in the 70s. One cinder track. Regionals were on asphalt and maybe one big invitational. We got pretty excited when we ran on asphalt because we knew we'd probably PB. Obviously rural, small school setting.

Mostly rubberized asphalt. Raced on pure asphalt a few times. In the heat they were very hot and sticky.

In college we ran on a worn down rubberized asphalt. Racing on modern synthetic tracks was a dream.

If cinder tracks were properly maintained(turned over, rolled, bit of creosote)they were great. Used 3/4 in. spikes. My school in MI had such a track. But it wasn’t an oval. It was circular looping around the back of the grandstands. So the race could change hands out of view to spectators. Also had 220 yd. Straightaway, common in those days (60s and 70s). It was also measured to 480 yds not 440. So that was interesting. The finish line was at 3 o’clock. Most tracks in my area were asphalt like local roads. Rubberized tracks( pressed together recycled tires) were amazing but rare in those days. UM &MSU didn’t have rubber tracks until mid 70s. Had beautiful cinder ovals.

Speaking of old tracks. Who remembers running on the old Armory track in upper Manhattan. Think it was 200 macadam track with cots for homeless who slept there at night. Place had an unusual smell. Although most fieldhouses in those ads did. Poor ventilation in those old venues

I graduated from high school in 1970. All the tracks were cinders and we never ran in anything but spikes. We also never trained away from the track. In college all but two tracks I was on were cinder. Most of the rest were "asphalt composition," asphalt mixed with ground up tires making the track a bit softer than a stretch of road...supposedly. In cold weather there was nothing soft about them. We used short spikes, an eighth of an inch on those tracks.