The Mile (Read 589 times)

     

    I just stood around for 2 hours to watch my middle school kid run for about 28 seconds.

     

    lol!

     

    I volunteered to time at one of my son's indoor HS meets. Someone I was timing with starting whining about how long the 1600m and 3200m races were taking. This person stopping whining when i said, "Look at it this way. We can either watch runners actually running for 5 or 10 minutes or we can watch them (the sprinters) set up in their blocks for 5 minutes for a 5 or 6 second sprint, and then repeat about 20 times.  I'll take the 5 and 10 minutes of constant racing!"

     

    But seriously, someone needs to figure out how to speed up a track meet. Even with FAT timing, they take way too long.  I'd start with doing away with heats for the sprints. Just like the distance events.  Everyone is seeded by time. You run your race once, you record your time, and we sort out the winner by time.   In a sprint, there's no strategy and no cat and mouse games." Another idea is "sprinters get no more than 15 seconds from the time the starter says "take your marks" and "set."  Hey, they've had plenty of time to rearrange their junk in their tight singlets.  They don't need another 2 or 3 minutes for us all to watch them do any additional arrangements.  You don't see distance runners do this. 

    joescott


        Another idea is "sprinters get no more than 15 seconds from the time the starter says "take your marks" and "set."  Hey, they've had plenty of time to rearrange their junk in their tight singlets.  They don't need another 2 or 3 minutes for us all to watch them do any additional arrangements.  You don't see distance runners do this. 

       

      At a mid-sized HS invitational a few weeks ago I was watching some heats of the 200.  The starter says, "On your marks," and all the sprinters start their nearly eternal process of getting into their blocks, and "rearranging their junk" as BT90 says.  20 seconds into this procedure the kid from our school holds his hand up, 'cause he still ain't ready and he'd like another go at this whole ceremony, I think, but the starter us just completely ignoring him.  And I say to my wife standing there, "He better get himself ready because I don't think the starter is in a mood to acknowledge him," and sure enough, despite holding his hand up there and waving it frantically, shortly the starter says, "SET!"  And then he gets his hand quickly on the line finally, and then "POW".

       

      IMHO, that's how all starters should run the sprints.  Just ignore those primping prima donnas and fire the friggin' gun!

      - Joe

      We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.


      Just a dude.

         

        But seriously, someone needs to figure out how to speed up a track meet. Even with FAT timing, they take way too long.  I'd start with doing away with heats for the sprints. Just like the distance events.  Everyone is seeded by time. You run your race once, you record your time, and we sort out the winner by time.   In a sprint, there's no strategy and no cat and mouse games." Another idea is "sprinters get no more than 15 seconds from the time the starter says "take your marks" and "set."  Hey, they've had plenty of time to rearrange their junk in their tight singlets.  They don't need another 2 or 3 minutes for us all to watch them do any additional arrangements.  You don't see distance runners do this. 

         

        At the high school level, it's kind of hard. All the people working the meet are typically volunteers. A particular school only runs one or two meets a year. It takes work to make it streamlined.

         

        I do agree that there should be a time limit on getting to the marks in sprints. But that's not the only things that are slow. Setting up, taking down, and changing hurdles takes a long time too. At several meets I've been to, the track events are all done and they are still throwing shot or something. There's lots going on and keeping it moving is hard.

         

        I've seen some pretty well run meets. There is a lot more consistent action at those, but they usually have a ton of people attending the meet, so they still take quite a while.

         

        I think that it is a problem that needs to be solved for the future of track...

         

        -Kelly

        Getting back in shape... Just need it to be a skinnier shape... 

        C-R


           

          I just stood around for 2 hours to watch my middle school kid run for about 28 seconds.

           

          Try a swim meet and see how time simply stands still.


          "He conquers who endures" - Persius
          "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel

          http://ncstake.blogspot.com/

            I just tried to sell this idea to my wife.  She seems less than thrilled about it.  So, i'm 90% committed.

            nothing to see here.  


            Feeling the growl again

              I just tried to sell this idea to my wife.  She seems less than thrilled about it.  So, i'm 90% committed.

               

              Sounds like she needs to be a DD to keep you in line. Big grin

               

              Seriously, come on out.  We'll take in a couple local breweries.

              "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

               

              I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

               

              scappodaqui


              rather be sprinting

                If you guys think track meets are bad, you should try a powerlifting meet.  Giant guys (and, oddly, women who tend to be on the smaller side with a high strength-to-weight ratio) swaggering up to a bar, performing elaborate breathing rituals, and then... lifting up a bar for three seconds.  Or failing to do so.  The crowds are often fairly dedicated, but most of them are powerlifters too.

                 

                In comparison, at least during a track meet something is MOVING. And to be fair, false-start disqualification rules can make sprint starts fairly nervewracking, as if they weren't bad enough on their own.

                PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb

                  If you guys think track meets are bad, you should try a powerlifting meet.  Giant guys (and, oddly, women who tend to be on the smaller side with a high strength-to-weight ratio) swaggering up to a bar, performing elaborate breathing rituals, and then... lifting up a bar for three seconds.  Or failing to do so.  The crowds are often fairly dedicated, but most of them are powerlifters too.

                   

                   

                  My bucket list just got shorter :-)

                    get after it today Stadjak.

                    nothing to see here.  


                    Walk-Jogger

                      get after it today Stadjak.

                       

                      +1

                      Expecting a full race reports and some pics. 

                      Retired &  Loving It

                      bap


                        If you guys think track meets are bad, you should try a powerlifting meet.  Giant guys (and, oddly, women who tend to be on the smaller side with a high strength-to-weight ratio) swaggering up to a bar, performing elaborate breathing rituals, and then... lifting up a bar for three seconds.  Or failing to do so.  The crowds are often fairly dedicated, but most of them are powerlifters too.

                         

                        In comparison, at least during a track meet something is MOVING. And to be fair, false-start disqualification rules can make sprint starts fairly nervewracking, as if they weren't bad enough on their own.

                         

                        My PR is 130 pounds. Would I be competitive?

                        Certified Running Coach
                        Crocked since 2013

                        scappodaqui


                        rather be sprinting

                           

                          My PR is 130 pounds. Would I be competitive?

                           

                          ... for what lift?  If that's your max deadlift, you might want to work on that.  Even the distance guys are doing pretty decent DLs these days, and for runners who focus on shorter distances, strong glutes and hams are even more important.

                           

                          BTW I love your 2016 goals... it's like you picked all my PRs and decided to beat me by 1 second.  [800 time is 2:31, 400 is 64, etc.]

                          PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                          Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb

                          bap


                             

                            ... for what lift?  If that's your max deadlift, you might want to work on that.  Even the distance guys are doing pretty decent DLs these days, and for runners who focus on shorter distances, strong glutes and hams are even more important.

                             

                            BTW I love your 2016 goals... it's like you picked all my PRs and decided to beat me by 1 second.  [800 time is 2:31, 400 is 64, etc.]

                             

                            That 130 may have been 3 sets of 8 or 10 reps, which would make my 1 rep max 160 ish. I can't lift anything like that at the moment.

                             

                            Those PRs are pretty ambitious but considering I ran my first track season on nothing but endurance training, with no idea of tactics or form, I think I have an opportunity to improve rapidly once I recover from pf.

                             

                            By the way, this sprint race-time equivalent calculator has my 100m to 5K PRs pegged within seconds.

                            Certified Running Coach
                            Crocked since 2013

                            stadjak


                            Interval Junkie --Nobby

                              Ran like a complete fool.

                               

                              Right before we went out on the track, Coach told us not to go out too fast. Apparently, I completely missed the "not" part.

                               

                              They line us up on the waterfall in number order, instead of by relative speed. This threw me off a bit. I was #2. The course record holder (Barry) and Doug, who coaches HS Track and beat me in a 5K last year, were way at the tail end of the 'fall. When the gun went off, I wanted to scoot out near the front in lane one without the rest of the runners collapsing on me. Around the first turn I expected Barry to pass me for the lead . . . except he didn't.

                               

                              Coach was on the loudspeaker, trying to convince this collegiate track crowd, that yes these old farts were running kinda fast for old farts. He was reading off splits and letting me know I was an idiot for being way out in front of the pack. I think the term he used was "commanding lead". I knew what that meant. But my pace felt good -- it felt easier than the 300s I'd been doing in practice, so I thought I might be okay. But i think I passed the 209m mark at 35s or something. Rick yelled out to ask, "what are you doing?". I felt like yelling back, "I don't know! I'm racing!"

                               

                              Passed the first lap in 72seconds, still feeling fine. (for those of you following along at home, that's 4:45 pace)

                               

                              Around the 600m mark I could feel the boat anchor my foolishness had become. Barry finally passed me at 900m. I was happy I could tuck in behind someone -- except that the gap between us just grew out of control. I crossed the half 3 seconds behind him at 2:34. That's a 1:22 split, and you can already see it was getting ugly.

                               

                              The third lap I ran in the swimming pool they installed when I wasn't looking. I could feel the slow-motion interpretive dance of "track star" I was doing. A college kid called out, "Only 600m left!".

                               

                              4:01. 1:26 split. Ugh-lee.

                               

                              With 420m to go, Doug had passed me. This was a godsend. I'd been running the entire race out in no-man's land. I did my best to tuck in behind Doug -- or at least just not let him get away. Tucking in behind Doug was my initial plan before the gun went off. He was trying to do 5:20. I figured I could tuck for 3 laps and let him pace me, then take off for the final. Not sure what happened to that plan, but there was Doug. So I gave chase determined to make this a race.

                               

                              I wasn't tucked as well as I'd like. I was 3m back. My will was the only thing keeping me that close, it certainly it wasn't my legs. But I finally felt better than the lap before. My lungs were on fire, but I didn't feel like I was slowly drowning anymore.

                               

                              With 100m to go, Doug had opened up a 10m lead. I kicked and kept looking for his kick. It was a race.

                               

                              I opened my stride, poured gas on the fire, and kept closing. Coach was shouting over the PA rallying the crowd to see the horse race this had just become. I was hoping Doug wasn't listening. Apparently, he wasn't or couldn't do anything about it.

                               

                              I chested him over the finish line.

                               

                              5:19.35 (1:18.50). #2 over-all. (#1st was 5:04)

                               

                              Not sure I could think of a harder way to run that race. The entire walk home, I just kept breaking out in a full throated chuckle at how foolish I was, what Coach must have been thinking, and how much damn fun I had.

                               

                              Can't wait for next year.

                              2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do

                              scappodaqui


                              rather be sprinting

                                stadjak, congratulations on a fun, fast race!  It sounds like you went hard and had a great time.  And honestly, perfect pacing might lead to a PR, but going out like a bat out of h3ll can be even more enjoyable.  [I say this as someone who has run my PR mile time twice: once with a 71-second first quarter and once with an 82-second first quarter... the smarter race went more smoothly, but the stupid one sure was invigorating].

                                 

                                Plus, it must be so cool to hear your name with 'commanding lead' during a race.  That's got to be worth something.

                                PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                                Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb