Your Track Questions Answered
This is a post that I’ve been meaning to write for a few months but, ironically, it got pushed to the back burner when track season got really busy. As we approach summer lots of runners shift their focus to the countless 5K and 10K races that are suddenly available! Training for these shorter distances (shorter compared to marathons and half marathons) requires a different kind of training, and a lot of training plans include speed work on the track.
As someone who has been running track since elementary school working out and racing on the track is second nature to me. However, a lot of the runners I know now came to running a little later than that so they don’t have the experience of running track in high school or college. I’ve had some people share with me that they are intimidated by the track and/or they don’t know how to do workouts there. While I don’t think it’s necessary for every runner to race on a track, I know that track workouts are really beneficial for those runners that are looking to improve their times in the shorter distance races. I put out the call on Instagram and Facebook for track related questions and got a lot of great ones so i rounded them up and am answering them today!
“The only track workout I’m familiar with involved yassos and I find them so hard. What alternatives do you suggest to improve your speed as a distance runner?” (Michaela – @mcampagnolo87)
“I don’t even know where to start! What would a track workout look like?” (Ellen – @ellebelleruns)
So I want to start this answer with a quick note about Yasso 800s – this workout is a marathon specific workout where you do 10x 800m in the same time as your goal marathon pace with equal rest… ie. if you want to run a 3:30 marathon you run each 800 in 3 minutes and 30 seconds and take the same amount of rest. I personally don’t do this workout or include it in the plans for my Up + Running athletes but a lot of people swear by it. However, for shorter distance training this isn’t exactly an appropriate workout since it’s meant specifically to be done during marathon training.
So what workout do I recommend? There are so many different workouts that are great and it’s hard to suggest specific workouts without knowing where an athlete is in their training cycle or what their goals are but my 3 favorite beginner track workouts are:
1: warm-up, 2 miles alternating 200m hard effort / 200m easy effort, cool-down
2: warm-up, 4-8x 400m @ 2 mile pace (that’s about 10 seconds faster per mile than your 5K pace) with 2-3 minutes rest, cool-down
3: warm-up, 1600m (4 laps), 1200m (3 laps), 800m (2 laps), 400m (1 lap) starting at 5k pace getting progressively faster w/ 2-3 minutes rest, cool-down
This may sound silly… but what’s the best way to find “open run” times at your local track? Do most schools/colleges list them online? Is is appropriate to call a school’s athletic office or track coaches to ask? (Erin – @raisinggrace_)
“How do you find a track to run on? I sneak on to the local high school track but I sometimes get kicked off and am always nervous to be there.” (Kate – @katesmunday)
This is not a silly question at all! Unfortunately, there is no good answer that I would say applies everywhere. In Massachusetts, where I grew up, I would say that all of the public school tracks were open to the public whenever (except during track meets or practice). Personally, at the high school I went to people would be running on the track in the mornings, during school hours, in the evenings, etc. On the other hand, in Southern California where I live now it is very uncommon for high schools, even public high schools, to have their tracks open to the public. Unless they have a dirt track… no one cares about randos running on their track if it’s dirt. A good option in Southern California is the community colleges which generally have their tracks open to the public except during their team track practices.
I would say that most schools don’t make it super clear when/if their track is open to the public and, if possible, I would avoid calling the AD or coaches to ask (although that could be a good last resort). What I would suggest is to reach out to a local running club or team and ask if they know of any tracks in your area that have “open hours”. You could also reach out to individual runners in your area that races 5Ks and 10Ks on the reg.!
“Do you rely on a GPS Watch for splits or do you use a stopwatch? Program the workout in your Garmin? Is GPS accurate on a track?” (Theresa –@theresa_runs)
“Maybe it’s just me but why does my watch think I’ve run further than I actually have (aka running 800m repeats but on my watch it says I have .5 miles before the two laps)?” (Cristina – @mcknight_cristina)
When I’m doing track workouts I always use my GPS watch to record the time of each interval but for the distance I go off of the track. There’s no way for your GPS to be more accuruate than the track measurements and GPS watches don’t do a great job calculating distance when you’re running in circles.
“Are your normal shoes ok for track workouts or do you recommend a certain type of shoe?” – (Nate-Alyssa – @natealyssaadam)
It depends what event you are training for. I suggest doing your track workouts in the shoes that you are going to wear in your race. Personally, I have 3 different shoes that I wear on the track for workouts. If I am doing a longer workout like a tempo or something geared towards the half marathon I wear a light trainer/road racing shoe (like the adidas Adios 3
“On the topic of lanes… who gets lane 1? If I’m using lane 1 for a[n interval] segment I assume it’s appropriate to drop out of the lane when the segment is over? What are the rules of passing?” (Daniella – @danichong)
Love this question! Think of the lanes on the track like the lanes on a highway, the left most lane is for when you are running a fast interval (whatever pace that is for you, if you are running your fast pace you get to go in lane 1!) and the other lanes are for those that are jogging or running easy in between intervals. Definitely run in lane one during an interval segment you are running and move to a lane further to the right if you have jogging rest in between your interval segments. Just make sure that if you are on a busy track you are paying attention to those around you before you make any sudden lane changes. The generally accepted rule on passing is that if someone faster is coming up behind you that they are going to go around you. Stay the course and let them move around you because this is likely what they are expecting to do, if you try to be nice and let them pass on the inside it could likely results in a collision as you both move into lane 2.
If you have a question that I didn’t answer let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to do a follow-up post!