Good places to do workouts when it's dark? Anyone do track workouts at night with headlamp?

Without parks or decent streets, your only options are probably a treadmill (at home or gym) or an outdoor track. Just get a headlamp and make sure the track is ok with you running there at night.

the track is your best bet, but walk a lap and scan for any objects that you might possibly kick or trip on when you're going at full speed.

Most tracks that I know of are usually semi-lit at night, because they're near schools and such.

If all else fails, you could do it in a bigger parking lot.

I'm with the OP. Not a great running at night where I moved to a year or so ago.

No real trails/paths to avoid running on the streets. Some of the streets do have pretty wide shoulders and I'm lucky there, but most are pretty well traveled and the car headlights blinding me I really hate. When I do run the roads at night, I do wear a lot of reflective gear when I run the roads at night, carry no music and generally run slower just so I am more aware.

I'm lucky enough to have an open track about a mile away. It's supposed to be closed from Dusk to Dawn, but I ran there last winter with no issue(s). It helps I live right next to the assistant principal from the school where the track is located, so I can always drop her name giving me permission if I have to. And yes, I put I on a headlight when I run there.

Tyler_Runs_Lifts wrote:

Most tracks that I know of are usually semi-lit at night, because they're near schools and such.

If all else fails, you could do it in a bigger parking lot.

Yes, most tracks are in a populated area, so there is usually some ambient light, not pitch black like in a forest. As long as there is a little ambient light, a headlight will not be needed, I frequently have done track sessions like that.

I typically do half my night runs on the track. Three quarters of the time the moon provides enough light so that I can easily see where I'm going. I usually do 800 repeats or less because I can not read splits. Even with no moon or a thick cloud cover, there is enough glow from parking lot lights or school building lights so that vision is not an issue. I do not use a headlamp. It is nice to know the surface is level without potholes (and I've run there enough to know where there might be slight depressions). If I ever do a longer run I set my watch to beep at periodic time intervals so I will know if I'm ahead or behind my goal or I'll set my watch to let me know if my HR exceeds a specific number. I keep my HR below that number and ignore time until I am finished. It is nice to compare times for the same target HR which I ran in a prior workout. BTW. it's nice to run by HR and have no time pressure during the run.

Because of visibility, I do not do hard runs on the roads in the dark.

Be careful running the turns in the dark. I have rolled my ankle on turns not once but twice while running on a track at night. Run close to lane 2 on the turns just to be safe, the extra 2 or 3 meters will put you a cut above your competition.

RunningHubby wrote:Just get a headlamp and make sure the track is ok with you running there at night.

I haven't ever had the track object to me being there at night. Sometimes the local police and school admins have had issues with that.

My favorite place to run night workouts is around a service road on the outer edge of a car dealership. It’s full of light and it’s about a half a mile around. It’s perfect. Other places that I’ve done workouts are big commercial parking lots such as strip malls with a Walmart or target. you can always run the outer edges of those parking lots. There’s typically service roads. And always well lit.

The runway of an airport is a good night time route.

My small town has a .65 mile runway on the edge of town.

A string of small lights down each side

and a row of red lights at the end.

And they plow off the snow in the winter.

There is almost never any activity after dark.

Maybe 3 or 4 times a year something is going on after dark,

I just avoid it then.

Second choice is the parking lot at the school.

Lighted, plowed off, flat.

Find a baseball diamond 4 plex, they are often lit up at night and often have good surface around the perimeters of the outfield.

Line the track with some candles or portable lights - make it a clean, well lit place.

Most school (community college, university) campuses and office parks will be decently lit and all but deserted at night.

Yes we use the local tracks. Yes, its dark, you get used to it. Some use headlamps or whatever, I often don't bother. We have lots of light pollution so cloudy nights especially are barely dark anywhere. Clear, moonless nights can get a little dark but I still generally prefer no light unless I'm on a trail or unfamiliar route. Certainly I never use a light on a track. Your eyes adjust...I'm sure some track are pitch black though....ymmv.

Not to advocate for this, but sometimes the stadium lights at tracks are controlled from unlocked boxes. Just saying.

I’ve ran on roads at night with a small flashlight. Rural ish area, I’ll see maybe 1 car after 9pm.

On a track id do a warmup lap to check lane 1 for stuff. Then I’d run without a light

If you live near warehouses, most are well lit and provide flat surface with minimal obstacles.

1. Run in the morning

2. Find a parking garage

parking lots are great for night interval runs. Church parking lots or office/business lots.

outer perimeter of soccer, football and baseball fields are ok at night

any low traffic section of road. Measure it out during the day.

Run over anything using a light first before you really try run fast to check for anything unusual you might step on (rocks, branches, trash, etc.)

Its often safer and easier to do longer runs at night as multiple loops of some .5 to 2 mile route.

Always bring a light, just in case. But I find there is usually enough light to run on smooth predictable surfaces at night w/out a light. It feels better and easier to run without a light.

I have a rechargeable headlamp that I wear that has a motion activated on/off switch. Easy to waive a hand in front of it to turn it on or off.

Although it feels like you are running faster in the dark, I find that I usually run a bit slower in the dark than I would in the light at the same effort level. So if you really want to run fast at night find a well lit area.

I've run many of my best times when I did all my weekday workouts on the track before dawn. Don't bother with a headlamp on the track, I've always found that I have more trouble with it bouncing around or slipping than it is worth. Just make sure there are no cones, hurdles, or other obstacles on the track while you warm up. By the time you've warmed up, your eyes will have adjusted to the dark enough to see the lines on the track. Then all you need is to hit the backlight button on your watch when you check splits.