Drafting on a windy day on an oval track.

i thought you wrote "Dating" on a windy on a oval track haha

agreed to a certain point.

Does the runner in second, getting pushed by the wind, stay in second? If he goes to first then he is not getting pushed. If he stays in second he must slow is pace/effort to not pass the guy in first. Of course, this means when it comes to the final kick he will be fresher but the overall race time would be slower.

Was this even a serious post?

I disagree. Unless the person in front is able to block the wind with 100% efficiency for the person behind them, your theory falls apart. I doubt the person drafting is experiencing ZERO headwind on a windy day.

It doesn't have to experience 0, he only needs to experience not 100% and he will have benefited especially if he stops any of the tailwind from reaching his competitor.

physics wrote:

I disagree. Unless the person in front is able to block the wind with 100% efficiency for the person behind them, your theory falls apart. I doubt the person drafting is experiencing ZERO headwind on a windy day.

I prefer to do my drafting in my office. It is nice to be outside, but when I try to draft on the track on a windy day my papers blow everywhere. Better to just stay inside while I'm doing my drawings.

physics wrote:

I disagree. Unless the person in front is able to block the wind with 100% efficiency for the person behind them, your theory falls apart. I doubt the person drafting is experiencing ZERO headwind on a windy day.

It wouldn't matter if the person blocked 200% of the wind. The person drafting can only run as fast as the person in front of him, otherwise he wouldn't be drafting would he?

More on the physics of wind resistance in running.

commmmmmme on wrote:

It doesn't have to experience 0, he only needs to experience not 100% and he will have benefited especially if he stops any of the tailwind from reaching his competitor.

Wrong. If he doesn't block ALL the wind then there's a headwind for the trailing runner and therefore not better than a calm day with 0 wind.

No, it is not faster overall.

What may be true is that there is a bigger advantage for the drafting runner on a windy day.

Assuming the wind is parallel to the straights of the track, the trailing runner would probably benefit from a wind on the straights. But on the turns, the trailing runner would do worse in the wind because 1) a headwind hurts more than a tailwind helps (drag is proportional to the square of velocity) and there is no avoiding some headwind on the turns, and 2) a wind from the side creates drag.

Hard to say what the net effect would be though.

I like PRs wrote:

Consider two runners running close to each other around an oval track on a windy day.

What if they were running on a square, circular, triangular or otherwise non-oval track on a windy day?

I like PRs wrote:

I think drafting on a windy day might be faster than drafting on a calm day.

Consider two runners running close to each other around an oval track on a windy day. When running into the wind, the runner in front breaks the wind for the runner in second and this is no different for the second runner on a calm day. When running with the wind behind them, however, the second runner gets pushed from behind by the wind. He would not get such a push under similar circumstances on a calm day.

Thus, the best weather and conditions for getting a PR on a track is to draft behind a faster runner on a windy day - not on a calm day.

Agree or disagree?

No shit, Sherlock.

Ok. you are right. He has to block enough wind so that there is more push coming from the back than the front.

physics wrote:

commmmmmme on wrote:

It doesn't have to experience 0, he only needs to experience not 100% and he will have benefited especially if he stops any of the tailwind from reaching his competitor.

Wrong. If he doesn't block ALL the wind then there's a headwind for the trailing runner and therefore not better than a calm day with 0 wind.

I guess you don't race much if it all.

If it is windy you do not get that much help help running behind someone. You are still affected by the wind.

Drafting in running is not like drafting in cycling.

Even on a aquare track.

You may have a point on a triangle track, though.

4/10

Your original post is almost too stupid to be a question.

But you got malmo along with a few others.

No registered name though so deduct for that as well. Lets see how it plays out