Do you go as fast racing in racing flats as opposed to spikes?

Not in road races, unless you mean in a negative sense.

I used to use flats on the track...i had a recurring problem that developed when i raced in spikes (no support whatsoever). If there is a difference, its probably negligable. Don't even think about it, just race!

I think that flats are more useful for hard, flat terrain. Spikes are used to dig into softer, looser terrain so that you have something to push off of.

hard, flat terrain = conrete, roads, HARD solid stuff (dirt roads don't count)

I think that Jtupper did some research on this same topic, and for distance races, spikes didn't make a difference. I am too lazy tonight to actually search for the post where Jack discusses the topic.

I think spikes make a huge difference if racing cross country or on the track. Roads=Flats(but that's obvious)..were you asking about XC? I wouldn't even consider flats on a typical XC course. Every time I've races in flats on grass I hated it. You slide too much, you can't push off...I'd even race flats on the track before xc. That's just me, though

We were talking about how much difference spikes can make in XC. I don't know how you'd measure it. But think about how much you might slide, an inche or less each stride? How many strides do you take? Multiply that by an inch or so and it could be quite a distance.

If you are a heel-striker, flats proabably won't slow you down as much as if you are a mid-foot striker, and they might even prevent injury. I train in minimals and run in spikes all the time, so I wouldn't even consider wearing flats in an unpaved race unless it was an unimportant 5/10K on the track.