im just wondering if anyone else starts running poorly and has a harder time when they put spikes on. i can do workouts and races fine in flats, but as soon as i put the spikes on my legs seem to fall out from under me. anyone else feel the same?
im just wondering if anyone else starts running poorly and has a harder time when they put spikes on. i can do workouts and races fine in flats, but as soon as i put the spikes on my legs seem to fall out from under me. anyone else feel the same?
what kind of spikes are you using, and normally when this happens it means you're way to far on your heels
ive got a pair of asics japan thunder. i just feel like my form goes to hell and it makes me work way harder than i need to be.
same here. i've raced in flats since my second year of running competitively because my calves were always shot after wearing spikes.
thats becasue spikes force you to run on your toes and mid/forefoot which is very calf intensive....it is also much faster.....do more spike work and run some workouts in spikes....concentrate on building calf strength
strides are also great...concentrate on keeping your heel off the ground slightly.....great for calf strength and preparing you to run in spikes
Does this apply to 10k track races also? If I wear spikes for a 10k track race my legs feel shot after about 10 laps. I'm thinking about switching over to flats; I see a lot of guys wearing them.
I wear the old Nike Ventulus, which is a pretty passive spike. It doesn't put me too far up on my toes, but it has the advantage of being nice and light and having pins in it. Try a spike that is less aggressive such as the Ventulus, Ventulus2, New Balance LDS 1005, etc. Flats are OK for a 10k, but a passive spike is just as good if not better.
I used to think that I couldn't run in spikes because they'd kill my legs, calves especially. You just need to practice landing on your toes more. Do a few workouts in them and strides, as said before. It shouldn't take too long for them to feel okay.
The issue for me is that I'm a marathon runner who just runs occasional track 5k's and 10k's for speedwork. So I don't know if it's really worth my training time getting used to spikes.
Maybe the lesson is that I should just stick to the roads. I saw Nate Jenkins started a thread asking about road races where he could run a sub-14 5k. At first I was like, why doesn't he just hit the track where he could run sub-13:40? But maybe the answer is that marathon runners convert to 5k/10k road races a lot better than they convert to 5k/10k track races, and this spikes thing is a big part of the reason.