Lane formula

PI, people! It's not that hard. Middle school math. 3.1416! People were doing this stuff zillions of years ago...geez...

Look, when you add a lane (~1.25m) to a track, you are adding 2.5m to the perimeter. Multiply that by PI (yes, that "magical" number) to get 7.88, which is how many extra meters you are running each time you move out a lane. It is so easy. How can you really ask something like that. Are you from England or something?

einstein, note that the key ingredient in your equation is not Pi, but 1.25. i assume many people, including myself, have never measured the width of a lane. luckily you have.

last i checked my track wasn't a circle

theTourne wrote:

last i checked my track wasn't a circle

It doesn't matter the turns are. Not all tracks have the same width lanes but it's easy to check then apply the formula.

the straits are just that, strait! take them away and you get two half-circles, put them together and you have a full circle, and as our fearless leader mentioned above... Pi, lane width, perimeter... crunch, crunch, zip, zip, and presto your answer!

you can also just look at the 400m start line in lane 2(or 3 or 4 etc) if you want to see it.

theTourne wrote:

last i checked my track wasn't a circle

Last I checked the earth wasn't flat. What's your point?

Sj quik has it right. The exact width of the lane is the critical value. How can I ask such a question? I hope you are simply being sarcastic. If not, it's time to expand the life experiences. I am forty five and trust me, most folks my age have much more to do than memorize running track dimensions. Thanks just the same for the info. Hope you pass algebra this term.

Too much info. Wasn't the question just asking for 'add about 8 meters per lane?'

Walkers clogging track wrote:

Sj quik has it right. The exact width of the lane is the critical value. How can I ask such a question? I hope you are simply being sarcastic. If not, it's time to expand the life experiences. I am forty five and trust me, most folks my age have much more to do than memorize running track dimensions. Thanks just the same for the info. Hope you pass algebra this term.

If the width of the lane was the critical value, why didn't you just take a tape measure out to the track? I don't know that there's any universal lane width; if it is it's probably listed on the iaaf website.

What about the different geometries of different outdoor tracks? You know, a track with long straightaways and short turns will have very sharp turns--the old-timey track in Athens where the marathon finishes is an extreme example of this--while a track with wide, sweeping turns will have short straightaways (Amherst College has a track like this, to accomodate stadium bleachers that are inside the track).

If the turns are each only 90m long, together they'll make a circle with a circumference of 180m in lane 1; if they're 110m long, the lane 1 circumference of the turns will be 220m. I'm no math genius, but this has to affect how much extra distance is covered in the exterior lanes.

Are most tracks set up where each turn and straightaway is 100m long?

vector wrote:

What about the different geometries of different outdoor tracks? You know, a track with long straightaways and short turns will have very sharp turns--the old-timey track in Athens where the marathon finishes is an extreme example of this--while a track with wide, sweeping turns will have short straightaways (Amherst College has a track like this, to accomodate stadium bleachers that are inside the track).

If the turns are each only 90m long, together they'll make a circle with a circumference of 180m in lane 1; if they're 110m long, the lane 1 circumference of the turns will be 220m. I'm no math genius, but this has to affect how much extra distance is covered in the exterior lanes.

Are most tracks set up where each turn and straightaway is 100m long?

In fact it will not make a difference. As long as the lane widths are the same the whole way around the perimeter (i.e. no "corners"), the track can snake around as much as you like and the formula works. The turns don't even have to be circular, in fact there could be one, two, three, four, etc. number of straightaways as long as the corners were rounded off.

how many times must i answer wrote:

Look, when you add a lane (~1.25m) to a track, you are adding 2.5m to the perimeter.

No, you have added 2.5 me to the diameter not the perimeter. Thanks for the lesson, genius.

This thread can go on "forever" -- since it has -- a couple

times -- over the last 6 months. If you get tired of

arguing try the following link:

http://www.philsport.com/narf/atrack.htm

until you get it right wrote:

how many times must i answer wrote:

Look, when you add a lane (~1.25m) to a track, you are adding 2.5m to the perimeter.

No, you have added 2.5 me to the diameter not the perimeter. Thanks for the lesson, genius.

Oh Boy! "how many time must i answer" taken down and left looking like a fool. This round goes to "until you get it right".

yes it is true - he who laughs last...

So if I got this right, in the Moscow Olympics, Seb ran about 822m in the 800?

In fact it will not make a difference. As long as the lane widths are the same the whole way around the perimeter (i.e. no "corners"), the track can snake around as much as you like and the formula works. The turns don't even have to be circular, in fact there could be one, two, three, four, etc. number of straightaways as long as the corners were rounded off.

Actually it does make a difference..you could have turns that are 1 meter long which leave for 199 meter straight aways...and the different would be less then a meter...and this changes as the turn gets bigger or smaller...The size of the curve is an important variable despite what you think.

Why not take a tape measure to the track? The request was for a quick formula that had to exist among the thousands of high school and college track guys who might read this message board. What is easier; typing a few lines on a keyboard or measuring the track?

Question: How many minutes are added to marathon time for each pound of weight gained?

Which is the better answer?

1. About one pound per minute or..

2. Have someone stand on the scale holding you on his shoulders. Subtract his known weight from the total and if he is from the UK, convert weight from stone to kilos then to pounds.

ooooh, deja vu...

malmo, where are you? We need you to sort out the math for us again.