Insoles for Track Spikes: Why Yours Does Not Come Out

Almost every insole article assumes you can lift the old one out. In a sprint spike you usually cannot. The factory footbed is a thin pad stitched or glued directly to the upper, because a spike is built to be a plate with a sock on top of it — not a shoe with a liner inside it.

So where does the insole go?

On top. A Springbak® Springsole is 3/32 of an inch thick, which is the entire reason this works: it lays flat over the sewn-in pad, printed side up, without stealing the volume your foot needs or lifting your heel out of the heel cup. Trainers are the one exception — if the liner lifts out, the Springsole goes underneath it.

• Do not cut, peel or pry a sewn-in footbed out of a spike. You will delaminate the upper and lose the heel counter.
• Seat the heel first, then press flat from heel to toe so there is no bubble or curled edge.
• Trim at the toe only, following the outline of the factory pad, if it overhangs.
• Lace as normal, then run build-ups and one full-speed rep before you race in them.

What you are protecting

Three things decide whether a spike still feels like your spike: pin angle, heel-to-toe drop and plate stiffness. A thick gel or foam insert changes all three, which is why athletes who try one usually describe the shoe as feeling 'mushy and tall.' At 3/32 of an inch the geometry is effectively unchanged.

Why a stiff, resilient layer and not a soft one

At top-end speed a foot is on the ground for less than a tenth of a second. Anything soft enough to compress slowly returns its energy after you have already left — which is the same as absorbing it. Springsoles use 1,4-polybutadiene, one of the most resilient materials made, so the release happens inside the contact.

It took more than twice the force to displace a person standing on Springsoles.

That stability number is not a sprint measurement, but it describes the same property you want on a jump plant or a hurdle touchdown: a platform that does not give way underneath a hard, one-directional push. Four U.S. patents cover the design, and a pair is $29.95, made in the USA.

If you want the visual version, the Track & Field page has a printable spike install chart and a five-second install clip showing the on-top placement, plus a spike-specific FAQ.