5K on a track versus road
davemunger
Posts: 1,139 Member
So next week it looks like I'm going to be doing a track 5k. Never done one of those! Much like my treadmill question earlier, I'm asking folks if they have any advice / suggestions for a track versus road 5k. Obviously it will be a little faster than on the roads, but I'm just curious if anyone has any hard numbers -- do you have a sense of how much faster you are on the track versus the road?
Any other tips would be appreciated as well.
Any other tips would be appreciated as well.
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Make sure you are in a heat with people near your speed. It SUCKS to be running alone on the track. You are fully exposed to everyone watching. Getting lapped is demoralizing if you don't have anyone to race with.0
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Make sure you are in a heat with people near your speed. It SUCKS to be running alone on the track. You are fully exposed to everyone watching. Getting lapped is demoralizing if you don't have anyone to race with.
Eek! I don't even like when the maintenance guy at the local HS track is there when I'm running lol.
Good luck Dave! I'll be cheering you on!! ????0 -
I'll be cheering for you too. I have never run on a track in my life so I have no idea what that's like.
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Make sure you are in a heat with people near your speed. It SUCKS to be running alone on the track. You are fully exposed to everyone watching. Getting lapped is demoralizing if you don't have anyone to race with.
That's the problem; there are only two heats -- open and under 18:00. My PR is 17:49, so I'm right on the borderline. Some of the guys are pushing me to run in the sub-18 heat, saying I'll get pulled along. I'm thinking about it. Maybe I can talk one of them into taking it easy, lol!0 -
Definitely run in the under 18 heat. 11 secs over 5k is huge. And there'll probably be people in it who haven't run sub 18 yet but just *think* they can.0
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Definitely run in the under 18 heat. 11 secs over 5k is huge. And there'll probably be people in it who haven't run sub 18 yet but just *think* they can.
I concur.0 -
I concur.
I'm still not convinced I won't be alone in last place but I do think it's a better opportunity to get a good time. Either way it'll be a track PR; I'd just like it to be better than my road PR, which may not be happening on a muggy Carolina July evening.0 -
Have you done this yet Dave? How did it go?0
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Have you done this yet Dave? How did it go?
Unfortunately, not very well at all. Short story: I ended up dropping out of the race. I had set too ambitious a pace and couldn't keep it up. Long story is a blog post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/davemunger/view/recap-crc-summer-track-meet-6784800 -
Unfortunately, not very well at all. Short story: I ended up dropping out of the race. I had set too ambitious a pace and couldn't keep it up. Long story is a blog post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/davemunger/view/recap-crc-summer-track-meet-678480
Sorry the 5000 did not go well, but you had a great time in the relay (at least it looks great to me!) In fact...the whole effort looks amazing to me, but I appreciate you have your own goals to reach. Kudos for setting them and going for them! 0 -
Sorry the 5000 did not go well, but you had a great time in the relay (at least it looks great to me!) In fact...the whole effort looks amazing to me, but I appreciate you have your own goals to reach. Kudos for setting them and going for them!
Agreed. I'm impressed that you had a go and were ambitious with your target, and I was just about to post that I thought the only mistake you made was doing that 4x400. But this sort of made me realise it's also about having fun and trying new things too (or at least should be)!0 -
Sorry the 5000 did not go well, but you had a great time in the relay (at least it looks great to me!) In fact...the whole effort looks amazing to me, but I appreciate you have your own goals to reach. Kudos for setting them and going for them!Agreed. I'm impressed that you had a go and were ambitious with your target, and I was just about to post that I thought the only mistake you made was doing that 4x400. But this sort of made me realise it's also about having fun and trying new things too (or at least should be)!
Thanks to both of you. I agree, it's important to set goals, but it's nice when the goals are at least somewhat attainable!
itsy3, the 4x400 was the main reason I was doing the meet in the first place -- the 5000 was sort of an afterthought. Which again makes me wonder why I had such an ambitious goal in that race. That said, I'm definitely glad for the experience. I now have some insight into what it's like running a track 5k; very different from a road race. I'd like to try it sometime when the weather is cooler and it's the only race I'm doing!0 -
Unfortunately, not very well at all. Short story: I ended up dropping out of the race. I had set too ambitious a pace and couldn't keep it up. Long story is a blog post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/davemunger/view/recap-crc-summer-track-meet-678480
This is exactly what happened to me on my first (and only) attempt at a 5000 on the track. When you are too ambitious, it seems like it's magnified 10 fold when you start to lose steam. It's also just way too easy to just step off the track and DNF.0
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