Hardloper wrote:
Yes. They are for tons of reasons. Every college season where 30 guys break 4:00 indoors and only 15 break the equivalent outdoors (despite that they should be in better shape) proves this. Galen Rupp running 3:50 also supports this. I think Nick will find it still applies to his pace, especially since the bank on the track can be adjusted.
The banked turn makes up for any wider turn on the outdoor track, plus if you "hug the rail" you can actually run less distance. The track is measured 30 cm from the inside (with a rail), so if you run 20 cm from the outside, you "gain" .63m per lap. On an outdoor track that's 2.5m gained, on an indoor track that's 5m gained. So that's 2.5m less you ran which is another .38 seconds.
Then you have the perfect temperature, no wind, loud atmosphere...
College runners posting faster times indoor could be because they are coming of high volume, long intervals, strength XC training and then going into track work.