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by LeifCarrotson
777 days ago
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Ex collegiate track and XC athlete, yes, we'd alternate directions once in a while when doing long workouts on the track. It's a 36.5m radius, and it does get to you eventually. You feel it in your knees long before your ankles. I ran distance events (1500, 3200, 5k), so I think I had it easier than the 200m and 400m guys (and especially the 400m/300m hurdle guys) whose spikes were desperately clawing at the track to hold the turn, but I did have some workouts with a lot of laps. We didn't bother to make it exactly even, but if we were doing ladder workouts we'd switch directions somewhere near the middle. Indoor meets often had 200m tracks with tighter (frequently nonstandard!) radii. The good ones were banked, though it never seemed to be at the right angle, always too steep or too shallow. Every race still goes counterclockwise, though. Maybe it's my XC side talking, but I'd love to see a track in a figure 8 with an underpass. Left turn, over the bridge, right turn , under the bridge, and repeat! It would break up those monotonous 8 and 12 lap races nicely, and you could fit a longer track in a shorter rectangular building by using the hypotenuse. I'm sure people would hate the hilly incline, though... |
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The curves felt great for me though, I really liked the 200m better than the 100m. Can't imagine how shitty it'd have been for a left handed fencer to run track, because the big muscles would be on the inside leg.