Clockwise on a track

too much of "conventional track wisdom" consists of old wives tales. the idea that you need to run the opposite way around the track to "even things out" is one of them

guarantee you cannot get within 5 seconds of your 400 pr running clockwise

Who cares you don’t need to. It’s like saying you can’t get within 5 minutes of your 5k PR running backwards!

practice what the race requires not something different.

It's an xc thing

Kipchoge's group always warm up and warm down running clockwise to try and avoid repetitive strain injuries

I run warmup and cool downs opposite direction in lane 8. Always have, always will.

Correct me if I'm wrong, running the same way on a track every day will eventually give you hip pain. At least that's what happened to me until I started rotating direction. I ran on the track every day for a month because it was convenient at lunch.

My 400 pr is a 51 split. I have run a 53 at the end of a workout going clockwise. Coaches and athletes who refuse to alternate direction are idiots.

I've noticed injuries to my ankle, knee, left hip, and right adductor from track workouts so I now alternate directions.

If there was no one else on the track, when doing mile repeats, I'd do two in one direction, then two in the opposite direction. If other people were around, I'd just play nice and stick to one direction.

"Your dumb"

Oh, the irony.

This thread is by idiots and for idiots.

The rest of us would appreciate it if you keep your opinions within this thread from now on. Thanks.

Smooches,

BON3R

I totally understand that very good runners at the highest levels run backwards on the track. Some of them also have a 40 minute stretching routine where everything has to be done in the right order. Runners are superstitious people.

But if you are getting hurt while doing track workouts I would advise you to consider that you are running your workouts too hard or with bad form before you come to the conclusion that it's the direction of the track that's causing your injury.

Do you even run Bruh ?

So you don't believe in this also ? If you constantly run facing traffic on the side of the road with the crown your left leg will eventually be a little longer and hip issues will occur.

Reference? Limb length depends primarily on bone length and any length (unlike strength) asymmetry therein isn’t known to be behaviorally influenced, and even strength asymmetry is resisted and corrected for by the body, e.g., it is not easy to build muscle asymmetrically by exercising just one limb as the body seemingly magically also tends to strengthen the other (but not to an identical extent).

sciencedaily.com

Exercising one arm has twice the benefits

New research has revealed that training one arm can improve strength and decrease muscle loss in the other arm -- without even moving it. The findings could help to address the muscle wastage and loss of strength often experi...

Open link

Huh? I run every 2 laps clockwise so I don't over-stress half my body. I also make eye contact with every counterclockwise runner to assert dominance over them. This is the way.

Say what ? Maybe you can break this to something I could understand. Sorry never made it to college.

You are referring to an anatomical/true leg length discrepancy, whereas the person you're replying to is referring to a functional leg length discrepancy. In persons with an anatomical leg length discrepancy (>1 cm difference), this is due to differences in the lengths of the bones or other structural differences that cannot be modified easily. This is something they are born with/medical condition or that could perhaps be caused by trauma/surgical repair.

A functional leg length discrepancy occurs in someone with normal anatomy where there is an appearance of a leg length discrepancy, which could be due to tight muscles/tendons on one side or something like SI joint issues. A functional leg length discrepancy can be induced by doing repeated asymmetric tasks like running on a cambered surface or in the same direction around a track, which would cause differences in muscle strength/fatigue/length.

Maybe for slow plodders direction doesn't matter, but doing 25-40 laps at speed puts a different stress on the outside of your left foot and up the ankle compared to the right which is countering the opposite forces. This is very much like running on a cambered road.

However, I agree that it's not good practice to switch directions on a busy track. Do your warm up/down away from the track and the workout on the track. Or warm up/down on the infield.