400 Meter Track. Questions on measurements (Read 6956 times)

It depends. From math you covered probably in elementary school you should be able to work out how much farther you run as you move out each lane. 2 x pi x lane width x number of lanes. How much farther the outside lane is depends on the track. Not all tracks have the same lane width. And it's nice of Runners World to estimate how much farther the 'outside' lane is when even in our local county HS tracks are 6, 8 or even more lanes. Not all tracks are manufactured correctly. Our local MS track has three lanes and the builder measured 400m and then added the lanes on the inside.

Pace is also a factor. If you are moving fast, remember to factor in the Lorentz contraction....

I always say that speed is relative...

I know I'm lacking some in experience here, but practicing marathon pace on a track (occasionally) makes sense to me if you're not sure of your pace and want to get an idea of how your marathon pace should feel. The track is the place to accurately measure your speed and distance so you know your pace.... After your comfortable with your pace, then I'd hit the streets and get off the track for marathon training....

But how would you know the pace you just practiced on the track was your marathon pace? And even if it was, wouldn't it feel different out on the roads? I think of marathon pace as not a number but an effort. The exact number will change day to day based on how rested you are, terrain, the weather and lots of other factors. Which is why to me worrying about whether lane 1 or lane 2 are closer to exactly a quarter mile makes even less sense than doing MP runs on the track in the first place. Doing long runs on the roads and then finishing with a mile or few miles fast on the track, on the other hand, can be a great workout and possibly tell you something about your MP. I know people who do that. But it's not that hard to take whatever distance you finished with on the track (1600m, 2000m, 3200m, 5k etc.) and figure out your mile pace from that.

Make sure you know your 200 meter splits and if you end up a second faster on one 200, then slow down but if you end up a little behind on the next 200 then speed up and then whoah that one was right on, but the wind was behind me so I better pick it up oh and that was a hair fast crap this is starting to hurt and I have 3 miles to go oh no I spaced out and that one was a second slow am I going faster on the straight than on the curve and who is that asshole jogging on the inside lane oh man those girls are hot whoops that quarter was three seconds fast but I feel good so now I'm going for it better not slow down man marathon pace is tough ugh two and three-quarters miles to go is that seven laps or wait have I already run eight and what was that last split I was supposed to hit again because I was three fast and now it's 20:24 so was I on pace or am I slowing down...

Practicing pace is one of those areas where I'm really on the fence in regards to it's value. It's not that I don't think there's value in it, I just think the value is limited. Race day usually is preceded by a recovery/taper period anyway, and along with the adreneline rush, pace won't feel the same on race day. I'm a go by feel person and I pretty well always make the determination of what effort levels I can sustain when I'm in a race. The pace becomes a result, and not the driving factor in a race. It's not that I don't do it. I'm usually guaging my easy or tempo pace and checking split times as 'that was slower than expected' or faster. This gives me some feedback on fitness. What I don't do is run like a 5k or 10k pace or something like that to see how it feels, I just don't think I can make that translation properly.

well said. There are some days when pace x feels easy, and other days when pace x feels really hard. Too bad we're not machines...

Oh. My. God.

What does the Garmin say?