Soccer is extremely popular in my area. There aren't enough open fields. The large soccer clubs rent fields from different organizations (city, county, etc.) including the school districts. Generally from 4-7pm the high school fields are rented out to youth soccer clubs for practices M-F. From 7-10pm they are rented out to adult leagues and are fully lighted. This runs from about Sep through May. I've seen a number of runners stop by the track when the adults are playing soccer to do interval workouts. Never heard of anyone being asked to leave. Just need to keep your eyes open for any errant soccer balls.
The only way to know for certain is to call the school district and ask what their policy is on recreational areas being open to the public. In probably the majority of school districts, tracks, fields, tennis courts, play grounds, etc. are considered open to the public outside of school hours if they are not locked up or have trespassing signs posted. At the high school down the street from my house, they put in a new track thanks in large part to a big fund raising effort from the community. The school district then proceeded to fence it off and lock it up. They did not want the track to get worn out by the public using it after school hours. After the community reminded the administrators who helped pay for it, the policy was reversed. But the school district then went around and designated each area of a school that would be open to the public after hours and which would not. So, now there are signs at all the recreational areas that clearly state whether the area is open to the public after school hours.
But don't call until there is an issue. Likely the person you will call will have no idea anyways. Don't draw attention to something that is currently working in your favor. Call if you are ever asked to leave, but otherwise use until told not to. A major principle in life is to ask for forgiveness not permission when it comes to beaurocratic rules.
It should be fine as long as school’s not in session and the HS team isn’t using it.
A while back my run club was using a HS track at 6am over, which is very normal for all the run clubs in my city. The football team started showing up for a practice and the coach clearly didn’t want us there. He started slowly walking around the track in lane 1 so we had to run around him. Eventually he said something about us being involved with rival schools and spying on his plays. No one in my club took him seriously and just kept running.
Anyway, you can definitely run on HS tracks as long as you’re respectful about when and how you do it. I wouldn’t recommend doing a beer mile though.
If the track is open and there aren't no trespassing signs just use it. If you aren't allowed to use it someone will tell you.
Nothing Wrong with running on a Track during Non school or team Practice Hours, If there was somehing wrong with running on a High School Track A Very Famous TV Track and Field Announcer Larry Rawson would not have said if you want to have an idea of how fast they are going, Just Go to your local high school track and run a lap, If he was telling people to do something illegal on TV he would have been immediately Fired, But he was on tv amd saying that for many years
Pretty sure you can only use public tracks if you're waddling around the inside lanes.
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rule #1 (don't be addick)--I've run on school tracks since school, never got asked to leave. Stay off lane 1 and 2, don't run in reverse like the xc weirdos.
So I drove to the local public high school and noticed that the gate to the track/football field was wide open. Keep in mind that it was 3 PM and school was on summer break so nobody was anywhere near the area. I looked for signs and didn't see any about trespassing but at the same time I didn't see any saying that it was open to the public. Therefore I'm curious to know if I'm allowed to use it to do speed work when necessary.
I have used the local track during the summer months. But, please remember, the fall sports might have "captains practices" I don't mind the football team, they are good. But the lacrosse and soccer teams tend to stack all their gear on the track, specifically lane one. It all depends on the coach. some are welcoming, some are kind of unfriendly.
If the track is open and there aren't no trespassing signs just use it. If you aren't allowed to use it someone will tell you.
This is the right answer, but good luck!
From my experience - hs tracks are in use dusk to dawn. If a hs team isn't practicing on the in field, you have rec or club teams practicing. Or they kick you off because school is in session even though no one is using it (but its summer - well there is summer school!). Or you can get on but there are a group of elderly walkers hogging lanes 1-3, as well as people with off leash dogs, and a game of ball going on - all on the track.
Finding a track you can use is a bit like winning the lottery. Its prob why my last track pr occurred while I was in grad school. Of course, they are probably open around 5-7 am or at night. University tracks might be open from time to time.
If the track is open and there aren't no trespassing signs just use it. If you aren't allowed to use it someone will tell you.
This is the right answer, but good luck!
From my experience - hs tracks are in use dusk to dawn. If a hs team isn't practicing on the in field, you have rec or club teams practicing. Or they kick you off because school is in session even though no one is using it (but its summer - well there is summer school!). Or you can get on but there are a group of elderly walkers hogging lanes 1-3, as well as people with off leash dogs, and a game of ball going on - all on the track.
Finding a track you can use is a bit like winning the lottery. Its prob why my last track pr occurred while I was in grad school. Of course, they are probably open around 5-7 am or at night. University tracks might be open from time to time.
This is an interesting post. I am pretty sure almost ALL of the High School tracks in our area are NOT open to the public. Fortunately one of our local colleges does allow public access when the team is not there (95% of the time) thus the track gets used in the AM and PM by our local track club and lots of other runners (and walkers) throughout the day. Its aging but still quite good. Sadly with plans to build a new track facility I suspect this will not be open for others to use. I would be happy to have my local tax dollars go to support a public track facility - a win/win for all.
If the track is open and there aren't no trespassing signs just use it. If you aren't allowed to use it someone will tell you.
This is the right answer, but good luck!
From my experience - hs tracks are in use dusk to dawn. If a hs team isn't practicing on the in field, you have rec or club teams practicing. Or they kick you off because school is in session even though no one is using it (but its summer - well there is summer school!). Or you can get on but there are a group of elderly walkers hogging lanes 1-3, as well as people with off leash dogs, and a game of ball going on - all on the track.
Finding a track you can use is a bit like winning the lottery. Its prob why my last track pr occurred while I was in grad school. Of course, they are probably open around 5-7 am or at night. University tracks might be open from time to time.
I've never been kicked off a track. But there have been times I've had to negotiate groups of walkers.
So I drove to the local public high school and noticed that the gate to the track/football field was wide open. Keep in mind that it was 3 PM and school was on summer break so nobody was anywhere near the area. I looked for signs and didn't see any about trespassing but at the same time I didn't see any saying that it was open to the public. Therefore I'm curious to know if I'm allowed to use it to do speed work when necessary.
These posts are always amusing to me, because of how obvious it is that the poster is American.
In civilized places within Canada or Europe there would be no question it is fine to use.
From my experience - hs tracks are in use dusk to dawn. If a hs team isn't practicing on the in field, you have rec or club teams practicing. Or they kick you off because school is in session even though no one is using it (but its summer - well there is summer school!). Or you can get on but there are a group of elderly walkers hogging lanes 1-3, as well as people with off leash dogs, and a game of ball going on - all on the track.
Finding a track you can use is a bit like winning the lottery. Its prob why my last track pr occurred while I was in grad school. Of course, they are probably open around 5-7 am or at night. University tracks might be open from time to time.
I've never been kicked off a track. But there have been times I've had to negotiate groups of walkers.
Its been a long time since I haven't been kicked off a track. The only exceptions have been with a club that had an agreement.
The last track workout I did on my own - a group of kids showed up midway through and their coach appeared a few mins later. He told me I was lucky he didn't kick me out from the get go but his athletes were done now and I had to scat because he was going to lock the gate. I'd done 8 of 10 1000s I'd planned, so did 2 more on the road, estimating the distance.
The tracks I know either have gates and are always locked up or are in near constant use like I told you. Before 7 am is an exception, but I work then. I've even seen some kind of club soccer using the infield at 8 pm in the summer. Maybe they'd make an exception for one guy to run a workout on the track - but I doubt it because that would mean the walkers, dog walkers, bike and skate kids, and teens who want an open space to play pass the football would show up sooner or later.
When I have found an open track, I usually stop checking it because unless its near freezing all those individuals I outlined in the paragraph above are out on the track. Just a handful of walkers isn't that bad to navigate, though its annoyng that most reps are going to be a couple secs slower than they otherwise would.
I've never been kicked off a track. But there have been times I've had to negotiate groups of walkers.
Its been a long time since I haven't been kicked off a track. The only exceptions have been with a club that had an agreement.
The last track workout I did on my own - a group of kids showed up midway through and their coach appeared a few mins later. He told me I was lucky he didn't kick me out from the get go but his athletes were done now and I had to scat because he was going to lock the gate. I'd done 8 of 10 1000s I'd planned, so did 2 more on the road, estimating the distance.
The tracks I know either have gates and are always locked up or are in near constant use like I told you. Before 7 am is an exception, but I work then. I've even seen some kind of club soccer using the infield at 8 pm in the summer. Maybe they'd make an exception for one guy to run a workout on the track - but I doubt it because that would mean the walkers, dog walkers, bike and skate kids, and teens who want an open space to play pass the football would show up sooner or later.
When I have found an open track, I usually stop checking it because unless its near freezing all those individuals I outlined in the paragraph above are out on the track. Just a handful of walkers isn't that bad to navigate, though its annoyng that most reps are going to be a couple secs slower than they otherwise would.
Maybe it's a geographical thing. I've never had anything like this happen. Every school track I've ever seen has had people on it, walkers as well as runners even during school days but not when school teams are using them.
So I drove to the local public high school and noticed that the gate to the track/football field was wide open. Keep in mind that it was 3 PM and school was on summer break so nobody was anywhere near the area. I looked for signs and didn't see any about trespassing but at the same time I didn't see any saying that it was open to the public. Therefore I'm curious to know if I'm allowed to use it to do speed work when necessary.
These posts are always amusing to me, because of how obvious it is that the poster is American.
In civilized places within Canada or Europe there would be no question it is fine to use.
There are creepy people in "civilized" places also. So off school hours is fine.
Also, I am sure in your perfect place in the world I am sure you don't have people from the public using the track when there is a soccer (football) game happening on the midfield. So don't pretend you don't have rules.
My high school's track was/is open to the public almost 24/7. Sometimes we'd have track practice and our coach would ask some walkers to use lane 8. Once or twice he'd ask them to leave because we needed all the lanes.
I recognize it's not like this all over the US. But, I just assume it's fine to use. I've used tracks when sports practices are in session plenty. One time I was politely asked to leave. The lacrosse team's coaches and I became friendly because I would fetch all their stray balls between my reps.
If the track is open and there aren't no trespassing signs just use it. If you aren't allowed to use it someone will tell you.
I agree, but I have a situation that comes up a lot and I never quite know how I feel about it. The infield is being used by a school team, not during school hours, but the track is open. Usually a soccer or lacrosse team. So technically the stadium facilities are reserved for that team (the official schedule says so) but no one will boot me off because I'm certainly not bothering the team on the infield. Part of me says I should be the one to know the facility is "in use" even if the track isn't and not be there. Since my local track is at a massive school with constant activity this happens all the time.
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