No offense, but could someone PLEASE explain the purpose of the Indoor Track Season?

How many seasons does the basketball team have?

Do they have a cornfield basketball season, and then an indoor basketball season, and then an outdoor inner-city ghetto court basketball season?

Cus racing and competing is fun

They should have Outdoor Basketball Season on asphalt courts with chains nets.

Racing is fun, and it gives you a reason to remain somewhat dialed in. I agree that for most distance runners it's not something to focus on at all, but it is fun. It's not often you get to race of distances like 1000m or 600m and the fact that all the venues have different sized tracks just adds to the chaotic field of indoor. For distance runners if you race well indoors it can really give you a mental boost, and confidence heading into outdoor, if you run poorly you can just blow it off as "meh. it's just indoors."

I think sprinters and field event people get a lot out of indoor. More reps and more competition help them hone in on their performance.

Real runners will race over any terrain at almost any distance and at any time of year: trails, bike paths, roads, dirt roads, mountain ascents, outdoor tracks, indoor tracks, golf courses, mud bogs, etc.

There is just running. I am happy to race every possible venue.

I have raced all of the above and none of them had "clowns" involved. But where I live the running culture is very established and the events are usually of very high quality. It might be more clownish in your part of the country. You could be right.

They did and it made more money in one year than running does in a decade. Oof.

And it was in the Olympics:

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No purpose. At all. Ever.

have you ever tried to run fast when the roads are icey?

I can't wait for these mickey mouse meets to be over and the outdoor season to start.

Where I live, water can only be found in two phases in nature:

Liquid and Gas.

If there is SOLID water just lying around on the ground where you live, you need to freaking move.

Indoor track is a relic of a bygone era, when competitive runners wanted to compete, and normal people were at least somewhat interested. AFAICT, most top-tier meets are held in places with cold winters. So, I assume the organizers of winter meets historically opted for indoor venues so that they could sell tickets.

To your other points, I largely agree with you. I assumed indoor doesn't exist in tropical or sub-tropical climates. Are there actually indoor tracks in southern Florida?

Large, expensive facilities built specifically for an ultra-niche sport are strange. Does Boston really need 4 banked indoor tracks within 2 miles of Coolidge Corner? I doubt it, but I loved running on banked tracks, so no complaints here.

Exactly! Living in the Midwest with outdoor ending in may, we already only get like maybe three meets with nice weather for field events or sprints.

I wouldn’t mind trading most of the indoor for a longer outdoor season, but that wouldn’t mesh with the academic calendar.

of course this is thinking about HS and College. Pros already have the appropriate outdoor season, and many of them largely ignore indoor.

There is no reason. It is, however, a useful avenue to measure your fitness and get a few races under your belt. For collegians, it probably counts as a "different" sport for smoke and mirrors quotas.

As a good high school runner, but not national level living in the NY metro area (about 15 years go), I loved indoor track. Running at the Armory was insane, west point had a great track, meets at rcc were always fun and the overnight meets at Cornell were always something we looked forward to. From a social perspective of a kid who loved competing, i had some of my best memories indoors.

From a racing petspective, during xc we focused so much on endurance, I loved hitting shorter repeat workouts and really priming for the outdoor season.

Indoor track is about the stupidest idea. Too tight to run 200 and 400. The 60 is the lamest race ever. It doesn't even translate to a good 100.

Outdoor season should start March 1st. Teams can travel south until May.

They put walls and a roof on it to keep the chilly chills out. Brrr. That’s the purpose of the track being indoors. Outdoors it’s chilly when part of the earth is tilted away from the sun. But indoors you can use insulation and a heater to keep it toasty and more conducive of high level athletic performance. It’s fun.

Outdoor Track in Minnesota starts in Ike April and is like a month long. XC end in October in some states. You rather run on a treadmill for 6 months or compete?

Or...maybe not live where the weather is so sh*tty.

It's 8:35pm and a wonderful 67 degrees right now. Perfect running weather. I think I'll step outside right now in my shorts and t-shirt and go for a pleasant jogaroo.

This is a problem in anywhere north of the Mason Dixon line. You MIGHT get 3 meets with nice weather. In the state I grew up in, track ends May 20th, baseball ends like July 15th. Track could go longer (but they try to avoid overlap).

Also, baseball isn't actually a sport.