Best way to take a 180 turn in a race

swing wide about 10m early of the cone, at the point where you are going straight past the cone, and swing back through.

Take it as tight as possible.

the kobe of being bad wrote:

swing wide about 10m early of the cone, at the point where you are going straight past the cone, and swing back through.

So your suggestion is to take a 0m radius turn and turn it into a 10m radius turn? Depending on pace, that could still slow you down a little bit, at least that is my experience as a high jump coach, this tight of a turn actually needs to be practiced to not lose speed at decent 5k or 10k paces.

I think the best way to negotiate this turn is to literally just come to a stop and pivot and run back the other direction. It seems like it would be the fastest.

Doing it the way you suggest is 31.4 meters longer than the way that I am suggesting. It is hard to believe a hard stop and pivot is going to make a person lose 31 meters. Plus, if the turn makes you slow down a little bit, it makes the hard stop and pivot even more advantageous.

If they set out a few cones to force the turn to be a little wider (say 5 meters or more), then your method makes more sense. But as long as it is just a single cone, I think my way is faster.

Probably most efficient to do a modified cartwheel that curves you around the cone and ends up on your feet heading more or less the right direction.

You know, it's a really good question. At road race pace, it would also be super easy to test some different methods. If you get a chance, you should do so and then report back.

Have you tried a flip turn? Worked for that Phelps guy. He won a lot of metals.

If the turnaround marker is a movable post, grab it with your hand to try to swing your body around it. This won't work of course: the post will fall over into path of the runners behind. Winner winner chicken dinner.

clockwise

Yes swing a little wide but also use this transition to take a deep breath and refocus don't press the pace, relax and then throw in a surge on the straight out of turn

I swing pretty wide to keep my momentum through the turn. Slowing to a full stop and restarting loses the same amount of time as running an extra 10 meters. But the extra 10m is less tiring because you don't have to use explosive muscle action to stop/start.

Find a tree or something else solid and just bounce off of it like a rubber ball to reverse direction.

I use my fuel-belt to lasso myself around a stationary object or person and fling myself around the turn.

attack the turn on pure hate and ricochet to a pr

There has to be a fart joke in here somewhere...

momentum wrote:

I swing pretty wide to keep my momentum through the turn. Slowing to a full stop and restarting loses the same amount of time as running an extra 10 meters. But the extra 10m is less tiring because you don't have to use explosive muscle action to stop/start.

This is what I do. However, I'm one of those people born without a single fast-twitch muscle fiber. Once I slow down, getting back up to speed takes me at least a quarter-mile. It's better for me to run a little farther if that enables me to not have to slow down much. Someone who can sprint may be better advised to slow down more and take a tighter turn.

I don't think he is saying make the turn a 10m radius turn. I read his response as suggesting approximately 10m before the turn, begin to veer out slightly such that at the point of the turn, you are already some unspecified distance wide..

momentum wrote:

I swing pretty wide to keep my momentum through the turn. Slowing to a full stop and restarting loses the same amount of time as running an extra 10 meters. But the extra 10m is less tiring because you don't have to use explosive muscle action to stop/start.

That's what most people think, but it's totally wrong. You're expending considerably more energy by curving around, because you momentum is conflicting with reversal of direction. In practice, I've always put 10 to 15 meters on competitors at turns by simply coming to a stop and immediately reversing my direction.

Duncan II wrote:

Have you tried a flip turn? Worked for that Phelps guy. He won a lot of metals.

Seemed like he mainly won gold.

asdfsdf wrote:

What's the most efficient way to make a sharp out and back type turn around a cone in a road race? It seems like common sense but just wondering if anyone has coaching points or videos to reference.

If there's a little pack,get to the lead, stay tight around the cone, slow down though, this will cause the pack to slow even more, then coming out of turn accelerate and leave the pack behind, especially the poor guys who got caught at the back of the pack.