Track Etiquette/Pet Peeves

I Am Me wrote:

On the track, considering 400m is a relatively important increment of distance for RUNNERS but not WALKERS, it should seem obvious that the rule is for runners only to be allowed on that lane.

I thought about this, and I wonder if it's not because of indoor track rules. Plenty of larger gyms and municipal rec centers have them, and a lot of people use them. Most I've visited require all traffic use the inside lane and pass on the outside lane. Many outdoor tracks In this town have poor signage, so if walkers don't see the rules, they may think the inside lane is where to be.

Actually, plenty of people don't know that a standard track is 400 meters, or at least that 4 laps is essentially a mile. Just last week, I had a walker stop me and ask me how many times around for a mile. Not the first time I've been asked, either.

I get slightly annoyed when people walk in lane 1. The vast majority of people will move to the outside when they see that I'm starting a workout. Some people don't, but I just go around them. It doesn't take much effort on my part, and if it's an outdoor track I never say anything.

The only issue with walkers in lane 1 is that sometimes they panic when they see/hear me coming, and they try to dart out of the way at the last second. I'm a mid-distance guy, and trying to anticipate someone's reaction while running fast is dangerous for both parties.

my own personal pet peeves

1. Unleashed dogs on the track

2. People wearing headphones and not being aware of others

3. People walking next to each other in lane 1

4. People who let their kids run in front of me during a wo

5. General idiots

Relating to the unleashed dogs bit, I have a problem with unleashed infantile human spawn. One time I was doing intervals at the track and a small human, belonging to some retards doing 50 (?) meter sprints with horrible form, was darting back and forth across the lanes.

It's a damn track, not a playground. I had no sympathy for them.

Anything with wheels. Except a hurdle cart.

GTFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wang wrote:

Anything with wheels. Except a hurdle cart.

GTFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw a parent trying to teach his daughter to ride a bike on lane 1 once....

why does everyone feel they have to use lane 1???? Why do walkers have to jump in lane 1 when I am running on it? Why can't a track be like a swimming pool where you have a couple lanes reserved for aqua joggers or people that don't want to swim and the rest are for doing laps??

Brodudo wrote:

Running with someone in a race, and they "politely" give you the inside, yet they are determined to run the shortest tangent themselves and elbow you off course and run really close to you so that you have to cut corners and change your form to not bump into them. Then you speed up to try to drop them and them get angry and complain about you "trying to set them off pace"

This^^^. Having to skip up onto the pavement to take the corner. Now, I just come off the footpath and cut straight in front them or push them out of the way.

And, when you ask them if you can have lane one...they say "I have just as much right here as you"

I was a monitor for an indoor track and would explain the track rules (mine) when anyone came in.

Lane one is for workouts only.

Lane two is for workouts and for guys getting out of the way for faster workouts.

Lanes three and four are for cool downs, warm ups and walkers. Lanes five and six are for walkers and anyone else.

I always made the rules, and never had a problem because I explained the rules.

ggggttttttfffffoooo wrote:

Wang wrote:

Anything with wheels. Except a hurdle cart.

GTFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw a parent trying to teach his daughter to ride a bike on lane 1 once....

?

WOW, A kid learning to ride their bike stayed in lane 1, that's impressive! Usually that would go like lane 1,2,3,4,3,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,3,2,1,grass,waterjump.

Where I do track workouts walkers always insist on using lane one, and mostly lane two since it is typically two women walking side by side. They have no concept of a track's purpose, only that they are a resident of this town and they are allowed to use it.

Their logic is as follows:

"You are a skinny, faster person, so you can go around.."

People, this in short is America. We have become a country of fatter and fatter people who feel that those that exercise should make more effort and those that do not should be given all kinds of breaks for their lack of effort. Instead of making our towns like many in other parts of the world where mass transit rules the day and many people bike to and from. We have large roads with houses and fate people, one to a car who want a handicap permit because , well, they ate themselves into diabetic body and we should pity them.

In a few years, an invading country will come ashore, only to find that no one was there to stop them because we are too many fatties, and could not get out of our lazyboys.

Get out of lane one!!!!

Maybe not so strange wrote:

Trossi wrote:

@noway I agree with u that if someone else is running they have just as much right to being in lane 1 or on the bike path on a road, etc. however the track is for running, is it not? So if you are standing around or walking I do feel like I have a right to be there

Also, most tracks, at least in my area, have signs up that say something along the lines of:

Lanes 1 & 2: Runners Only

Meaning the outer lanes are multi-purpose, or what? How are sprinters supposed to get any workouts done with people wandering around in the outer lanes?

Maybe it has been lost in the past two decades are so, but it used to be common knowledge that the outer lanes are better for speedwork. Nobody wants to sprint in lane 1, that's nuts. And you don't want to have to drift wide several times per lap to pass people in lane 1. So lane 1 should default to whoever's not running fast, and the outer lanes to whoever is.

What the signs should say is:

1: tracks are for running, particularly running fast. No bicycles or other vehicles. Walkers outside lane 8 only. Joggers lane 8 only. Speed sessions have priority for lanes 2 through 7.

2: Pay attention. Act as if the track were a street and the runners were cars. Look both ways before crossing. Be aware of and respond to warnings from passing traffic. The universal warning that you are in someone's way is "track!"

Sprinters run in excess of 20 miles per hour. They require at least 30 meters to decelerate safely. Even if they avoid colliding with you, they may be injured in the process.

3: tracks are very expensive. Please help preserve this track by using it only for activities that can not be done on other surfaces.

add exception for wheelchairs to rule #1

Finally BW brings some sense to that thread.

Thank you.

Parents who let their small kids walk in lane 1.

It is not a big deal if I accidentally hit a walker in lane 1. It is a big deal if I accidentally run over a toddler who wondered into lane 1.

BW; so you are saying that 6/8ths (3/4) of the track should be allocated to speed work? Speed work is so uncommon (at least in my neck of the woods) that lanes 2 through 7 would probably NEVER be used leaving lanes 1 and 8 overly congested.

The way I think it should be:

Lanes 1 and 2 to be for runners/joggers.

Lanes 3-7 for walkers/misc.

Lane 8 for speedwork.

What? Too many negatives in there man.

Why is 400m important for runners? Are you doing 400m repeats? You can do those in any lane. If you're doing anything longer, running around people shouldn't be a big deal, because you'll be doing it in a race anyways. Who cares if your repeats are 1600m or 1624m? If people are jogging in lane 1, are you going to make them move? What if they're doing a workout but slower than you? What if someone else is doing a workout and makes it look like you're walking in comparison?

Grow up and learn to share.

trossi wrote:

What going on guys. Pretty much I have a youtube channel that I started recently (see link below) and an idea that I have had is to m

Pretty much why do we need a video of you saying this? Also is typing so hard? Pretty much what does the video ad?

transcript:

"oh... so... actually... like... also... ok... ya... ah... yes... ah... whatever... like... ah..."

The track is a place specifically designed to run a measured distance. If you want to walk, that's fine, just do it somewhere where you aren't interrupting anyone else's workout-- have some common courtesy. It's just like the dingbats who insist on doing curls in the squat rack: if you're occupying one of the few places to do a certain exercise so you can do a different exercise that you can do elsewhere, you're being a dick.

Ho Hum wrote:

The track is a place specifically designed to run a measured distance. If you want to walk, that's fine, just do it somewhere where you aren't interrupting anyone else's workout-- have some common courtesy. It's just like the dingbats who insist on doing curls in the squat rack: if you're occupying one of the few places to do a certain exercise so you can do a different exercise that you can do elsewhere, you're being a dick.

Right, because you can't run anywhere else?

Is it fine for me to sit in the middle of the lap lanes at the pool because you can jump in any old pond?