A lot of coaches out there have their athletes run in flats for gpp and part of spp. While I’ve never fully understood why, it seems as though these coaches relate intensity to type of foot wear.
My question is: Is running in flats a special sprint exercise?
Does running in flats provide a different stimulus than running in spikes on the same surface at the same intensity?
Are there benefits to running in flats that transfer to sprinting that differ from running in spikes? Would it be similar to changing the type of surface?