Track Session Almost Ruined by Jogger Love-In

Go back and read my other posts please. I'm defending track as a sport and in the sport of track and field all the lanes are for running fast.

Stop being thick.

Lol at the irony of a hobby jogging half-marathon complaining about slows using up the track! Just sad.

If you're not currently a competitive TRACK & FIELD athlete, you have absolutely no right of way whatsoever on any track.

I remember when I would go to the track to do workouts on my own in the off-season at my college it would be filled with hobby joggers during "workouts." It never once bothered me at all, and that track was literally built for ME and my teammates.

Here you are trying to do some silly 2 mile repeat on the track demanding others get out of your way. Lulz.

This is why hobby joggers need to be banned from LRC. The entitlement and sense of worth for such low talent is bewildering.

Lover of motor carriages wrote:

Go back and read my other posts please. I'm defending track as a sport and in the sport of track and field all the lanes are for running fast.

Stop being thick.

LOL, go to a track where there are real athletes on outside lanes doing warm up/down or jog recovery between reps and you start doing speed work through the middle of them and see how long it takes to be told to feck off and get on the inside lanes to do your speed work.

We're talking real runners. wrote:

LOL, go to a track where there are real athletes on outside lanes doing warm up/down or jog recovery between reps and you start doing speed work through the middle of them and see how long it takes to be told to feck off and get on the inside lanes to do your speed work.

Seriously. This is the problem with hobby joggers. They never ran track or ran competitively at all, and then they for some sick twisted reason start taking running WAAAYYY to seriously and come onto LetsRun.com and try to spout their ridiculous ideas of how others should run or train.

You quickly learn about track etiquette when you have 1500m guys sharing the track with 400m guys, hurdlers, all manner of sprinters, 5k/10k guys and a myriad of coaches and trainers watching their athletes. Heck even athletes from other sports sometimes come and join the fun.

Do we get in each other's way? Yeah sure happens. But nobody makes a fuss about it and losing 1-2 seconds because you have to slow down to go around isn't hurting anybody. Plus it's fun to blaze past the 10k guys doing mile repeats when you're doing 57 quarters. That is until the 400m guys decide to hop in for a rep or two and go low 50s.

Two inside lanes for speed. wrote:

Lover of motor carriages wrote:

Regardless the baseball field is for baseball, the basketball court for basketball and the track is for running fast.

Correction, the two inside lanes are for running fast.

Every lane except 8 is for running fast. Though the only universally accepted jogging area is outside lane 8, or inside lane 1. Just like if a meet were going on.

That's what the general public is clueless about. Never mind manners or rudeness, it's a safety issue. Even a relatively slow, but serious, runner can go well upwards of 15mph and a good sprinter can go above 20mph. Colliding at that speed is roughly equivalent to being run over by a bicycle and can cause serious injury or death. More importantly, a sprinter can't hit the brakes like a bicycle can without risking a muscle strain. People who look both ways crossing the road will just wander blindly into a sprinter's lane 5 meters ahead of them.

The #1 rule of any track should be, and it should be posted on a sign at the gate, that you do not step onto a track without looking around to be aware of all the traffic.

This is conclusive evidence of my thesis.

Hobby joggers hate themselves and hate other hobby joggers so they all congregate in LRC to make themselves feel different or special. You are the problem you are the hobby jogging trash you are not welcome on the track.

formerD1 wrote:

This is conclusive evidence of my thesis.

Hobby joggers hate themselves and hate other hobby joggers so they all congregate in LRC to make themselves feel different or special. You are the problem you are the hobby jogging trash you are not welcome on the track.

It's all relative and I think your post here speaks volumes about your own insecurity - indeed your name 'former' indicates a sad man clinging on to better days.

Bottom line is that track space should be used and enjoyed by people of all abilities but if someone is there doing a workout then they should be allowed to use the inner lanes and not expect to be blocked by joggers / walkers / moms etc.

The reality is they had just as much right to be there as you did.

If you know how to read the staggered start lines, you can easily do accurate 800s in any lane. Many tracks have staggered start lines marked for 4x200: run entirely in lanes.

I would have explained what I was doing and asked them to leave a lane open.

You are correct that many people who use tracks have little clue about running fast. But that is ok. Maybe they value a track for the same reasons you do or might do(even at 12 min pace):

smooth surface

faster then roads, grass, sidewalks

easy on legs

safe: no traffic or dogs or bikes

accurate distances

repetitive loop allows you do bail out at any time in longer run without planning how to return to start

aid every 400 meters

no route finding

spectators or crew every 400 meters

This said, I understand your frustration.

Ben: My local track has a large sign that instructs walkers to use the outside lanes and not to use the track when there is a meet, but it is ignored. We have "phone walkers", kids on bikes, kids playing soccer and running onto the track, etc. We need to adapt, as other posts have suggested.

formerD1 wrote:

You quickly learn about track etiquette when you have 1500m guys sharing the track with 400m guys, hurdlers, all manner of sprinters, 5k/10k guys and a myriad of coaches and trainers watching their athletes. Heck even athletes from other sports sometimes come and join the fun.

This. Track practice was always a wonderful chaos. I feel sorry for the "I'm not a hobby jogger" guys who never experienced this but started running after college and now take great pride in being above average.

The track I go to at the local college will have the women's softball team running intervals and the field hockey team doing time trials and...

Figure out how to do your workout. It's not hard.

That said, this thread is much better than the thousands of other "my track session ruined by hobby joggers" threads on LR.

Did we get the "blow-by" story yet? You know, the one where some 130 lb internet tough guy tells of how he blew by so close to the hobby jogger that the hobby jogger was really scared. Those are great. Also the "barely contained rage" where the internet tough guy barely restrained himself from assaulting the hobby jogger for being in the wrong lane.

I love these threads.

Unless you are planning on racing your half on the track there is no need for you to be within miles of any track.

Was this in Edinburgh?

I just saw a post on FB re a lady doing 50 laps for her 50th. She's an orienteer and orienteers tend to be a bit older

different perspective wrote:

Spring time like this, I've pretty much given up on finding a track to use that doesn't have tons of people on it. I've resorted to finding stretches of local trails that are marked each 1/2 mile and using those for intervals of 1/2 to 2 miles. It's basically impossible to assume you can go to a track and get un-interrupted use of lane 1 like that. I save the track work for 200s or 400s, that way I can at least use the stagger lines and run in lane 5 or 6 to get the right distance and not have to zig-zag around those in the first 2 lanes.

I have 4 tracks within 2 miles of me that are always empty lol

We had a bunch of folks start jogging on the inside lanes of the track about an hour before a meet, lol. Good for them and all, but come on, lol

Marty C wrote:

Ben: My local track has a large sign that instructs walkers to use the outside lanes and not to use the track when there is a meet, but it is ignored. We have "phone walkers", kids on bikes, kids playing soccer and running onto the track, etc. We need to adapt, as other posts have suggested.

My local track has "runners only" written on the track surface itself in lanes 1 and 2. Doesn't solve the problem.

I've started running with one of those handheld bullhorns, about the size of a can of body spray. The first time around if I'm passing I yell "track" and if they don't move I use the bullhorn on the second pass. I figured it would just satisfy my anger until I was told to leave but it's actually been pretty effective.

Unfortunately, the OPs experience is common here. People with loose dogs are the worst. The rest I can deal with.

Planetarium of the Apes wrote:

Unless you are planning on racing your half on the track there is no need for you to be within miles of any track.

Track workouts are great for all distances up to a marathon as it improves leg speed, efficiency and economy - best HM and marathon runners in the world are all without exception world class track runners. Of course it's not absolutely essential but if the OP is looking for a good time then a track is a great place to do a quality session.

Now if you feel that someone trying to do a hard workout for a HM should not be within miles of a track then you clearly don't understand the sport and would obviously agree that someone "running" 50 laps at pedestrian pace should be banned from ever setting foot on a track. Unless of course you believe that tracks are only for joggers and walkers.

So you chose to vent here rather than tell them the very first time you ran by them to use the outside lanes. I understand the problem but I don't understand you.

This sounds more like a problem in you not being able to tell someone about etiquette. We all have to learn to use the outside lanes from somewhere, in this case it might as well have been from you.