I'm looking for tips on running the turns on an unbanked indoor track. Should I swing the outside elbow out more? Should I tilt my head to the inside or lean to the inside?
Any other tips to get around the turns as efficiently and as fast as possible would be appreciated.
Make sure your left leg turnover is slightly faster.....
Do NOT turn right.
I tell my runners to not be afraid of lane two on an unbanked track. The distance run is longer, but that is in part countered by the wider radius allowing a more relaxed stride. This is especially true for runners with longer legs.
I have 10 days to my big race and 3-4 days that I'll have access to an indoor track. I'm planning two more hard workouts and 3-4 easy sessions at the indoor track to get accustomed to the pace and the tight turns. I'm racing the 800m.
Anyone else have any ideas or tips? I'm short so that's a slight advantage.
Watch the &^%* out for injuries. Don't do any easy sessions on the track, and run your recoveries, w/u,c/d clockwise to counteract the damaging effects of the unbanked curves. A couple of clockwise curve strides can be helpful as well. If you feel any tweaks, cut the session and finish up outside, preferably on some hill repeats.
Outdoors is the season that counts, and you want to get there 100% healthy.
fisky wrote:
I have 10 days to my big race and 3-4 days that I'll have access to an indoor track. I'm planning two more hard workouts and 3-4 easy sessions at the indoor track to get accustomed to the pace and the tight turns. I'm racing the 800m.
Anyone else have any ideas or tips? I'm short so that's a slight advantage.
When I was a runner they gave us a lot of tips about how to handle indoor curves. Trying to implement the tips just made me feel like a curve (and made my back hurt).
This has worked for some guys:
Relax.
Don't pay any specific attention to your arms.
When going around the curve, have the palm of your left hand mostly vertical (parallel to the wall), and the palm of your right hand mostly down (parallel to the floor)--but don't go nuts with it.
Relax.
Intuitively
Don't worry about it buddy. Thinking about how to run it will only make things worse. Just run. You're a human, evolved over millions of years to run. You can handle a curve.
lease wrote:
When going around the curve, have the palm of your left hand mostly vertical (parallel to the wall), and the palm of your right hand mostly down (parallel to the floor)--but don't go nuts with it.
Relax.
One of the reasons I asked this question is that years ago I learned that right angle turns in road races could be run faster by swinging my outside elbow farther out from the body and bringing it slightly across my chest. That results in a somewhat similar palm position, but the benefit comes from the elbow being out, which allows the body to lean slightly more into the turn.
I assumed that experienced coaches have come up with similar tips for running the curves on indoor tracks.
8/15 coach wrote:
Watch the &^%* out for injuries. Don't do any easy sessions on the track, and run your recoveries, w/u,c/d clockwise to counteract the damaging effects of the unbanked curves. A couple of clockwise curve strides can be helpful as well. If you feel any tweaks, cut the session and finish up outside, preferably on some hill repeats.
Outdoors is the season that counts, and you want to get there 100% healthy.
^ this, I can attribute almost every injury I've had to indoor tracks. It's a silly season and should be used instead for another base phase for outdoors.
Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down.
The slow down parts are the turns ;-)