"Going Hard" in Tachi Waza randori has a lot more to do with how much muscle you use to get the throw off than how hard the throw hits. A lot of the biggest hits come in the more technical randori where we try to go at about 60%-80% speed and strength but strive to be technically perfect, especially with footsweeps. (gravity is gravity... except at 5th dan and above where you are given magical powers that make gravity your bitch) A lot of that comes down to not going crazy trying to turn out of throws and avoid ippon, just accepting it and doing a good Ukemi. This makes the throw look and sound a lot more powerful, but a lot less painful. It also stops Tori from having to come driving down to the floor with you to prevent the turn out, so you avoid the pleasant experience of a full-grown man doing a swan dive onto your solar plexus. Turn outs (twisting to avoid ippon mid-throw) is actually where a lot of the injuries occur since you aren't actually breakfalling so you don't really do it much outside of competition prep.
Crash pads are for kids and noobs. That's not a slight against them, they just haven't learned their Ukemi well enough yet. I'm more comfortable taking a full-speed throw on the mats than a pad now, and most people get to that point around green belt or so.
