Running Spikes/Track shoes

So i recently joined a running club and i now have access to an olympic grade athletics track, something which i have for a long time wanted to do is get some 1500 and 5000 meter times in at a very solid pace, i do all my distance running on the road, track running is boring at anything over those distances,

My question is about spikes, i've looked at a few middle distance track shoes, and even the long distance ones, and they offer little in the way of cushioning compared to the big old road shoes we wear, i'm thinking this wont be too much of an issue as tracks are not as harsh as the road and the distances are significantly lower,

But has anyone else done any mileage in track shoes? did you feel like your feet were spoiled by big road shoes? any issues? what spikes were you using? pyramid, needles, compression tier etc.

any tips on adjusting running style?

Spikes will be a little bit of a shock to the achillies and calves.

Tracks are NOT soft.

You will get use to them in time but I would advise that you take your time. I still warm up and cool down in my trainers wearing spikes purely for the reps.

Of course as an intermediate step you could try buying racing flats

Well I also run in vibrams too, only up to 5k, but I've ran many miles in barefoot shoes, so my calves should be ok with these,

But yes, I think I'll do most of my track work in my asics and just some speed work in the spikes.

I ran over distance in sprint spikes (they should have been for 100m, did 2k) and almost tore my calf in half. I do the same times now in racing flats (Brooks Green Silence), unless you're a gazzelle (sp.) you don't *need* spikes.

I've done upto 10k in them (Brooks), wouldn't want to do a half in them yet.

Thanks for the info guys,