Track Spikes Test Drive

The last time I wore track spikes was probably sometime in the late 1970's. On Saturday I went to the Palmyra middle school track to test drive my new Mizuno track spikes. To test if my spikes yielded a performance gain I decided to first run a mile in my regular training sneakers and then try another mile using my new track spikes.

The spikes are only located on the front of the shoe. They are no spikes from the midsole back to the heel. The consequence of this is while you are standing with these shoes on your toes are elevated slightly above your heels. You are not leaning backwards from the fit, but your toes are pointing slightly upwards.

I ran the first mile in my sneakers in 7 minutes and 47 seconds. This is one of the faster miles I have run at this track. There were many times where I was hobbling around this track last year. I read recently it is a relatively easy to get your lungs back in shape. It takes months and months to get your muscles, tendons, and the like to become strong enough to endure the forces of running. My experiences last year corroborate it takes months to become strong enough to run effectively.

After reviewing my quarter-mile split times for my mile (7:28) using the Mizuno spikes, I decided to throw out the first lap (1/4 mile) for my comparison. When I ran the first lap in sneakers, it was a warm-up lap. When I ran my first lap with the spikes I was already warmed up.

I ran about two seconds faster per quarter mile (i.e. one lap) with the spikes. The speed increase can be attributed to a much lighter shoe and slightly better traction. As could be expected, I ran a tad faster. To run appreciably faster you must train accordingly. Good equipment only takes you so far.

These track spikes will add another dimension to my training in the summer when I want to perform speed work, i,e,, running 200 meter and 400 meter sprints.