Why I hate running on indoor tracks

spartan_d
spartan_d Posts: 727 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Now that the days are longer, I can run outdoors more during the evenings. With the longer nights, I have to use the indoor tracks. (One tends to run more slowly in the dark for obvious reasons.)

I hate using the indoor tracks, though. In almost every gym that I go to, people routinely walk (slowly!) within the designated runners-only lanes. What's more, when overtaking other walkers, people will routinely step into the runners lanes without bother to see if someone is barreling toward them. This often forces me to come to an abrupt stop, and has caused a few collisions.

And don't get me started on the people who walk or run in the wrong direction.

Replies

  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    And they need a sign that says "Caution - morons crossing next 1,000,000 miles". People routinely cross the track without looking or only looking to make sure you see them because their time is more important than yours so they can't wait on you.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    Headlamp.
  • 0ysterboy
    0ysterboy Posts: 192 Member
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(
  • Debgreasby2018
    Debgreasby2018 Posts: 30 Member
    Get yourself an air horn
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,741 Member
    Oh, IVY. Not a runner but a power walker and I cannot believe the number of people who have ZERO concept of path or track etiquette! I feel worse for the cyclists because they are moving much quicker and the clueless saunterers on the path have no idea what to do when a cyclist says, "On your left". The usual response is either freezing in their tracks or turning around. How about MOVE?
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    oh i hear it from the various triathlon groups i'm in all the time...i'm relatively lucky - most of the time i swim i'm the only one there...but there is the odd occasion
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    LOL, people should have to take a lane etiquette course before jumping in.....

    OP the people walking in the running lanes are the same dimwits that walk 4 abreast in a race (and will be in the first corral despite being walkers) or walk 4 abreast on the MUPs and give you the stink eye when you have the audacity to expect them to get out of the wrong lane when you're cycling towards them. Sadly many people are completely oblivious to the world around them and weren't raised to be even slightly courteous.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    When you run into someone in your lane, just say "Sorry; I don't like to stop when I am peeing." :smiley:
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    CarvedTones wrote: »
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    When you run into someone in your lane, just say "Sorry; I don't like to stop when I am peeing." :smiley:

    i'll have to remember that one
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    That's what I was thinking. The people who seem to think that they need an entire lane to walk -- and refuse to share with other walkers -- are ... many, many words.

    It's just. No. When the rule is two swimmers per lane (my pool doesn't do circle swimming), that doesn't mean that it's totally cool to take up multiple lanes because you each want space. Walkers are the *exception* to the two per lane rule, and if nothing else, they could at least double up in the *same* lane instead of killing two lanes.

    People don't think.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    collectingblues wrote: »
    0ysterboy wrote: »
    Oh man, don't get me started about the pool at my gym :(

    That's what I was thinking. The people who seem to think that they need an entire lane to walk -- and refuse to share with other walkers -- are ... many, many words.

    It's just. No. When the rule is two swimmers per lane (my pool doesn't do circle swimming), that doesn't mean that it's totally cool to take up multiple lanes because you each want space. Walkers are the *exception* to the two per lane rule, and if nothing else, they could at least double up in the *same* lane instead of killing two lanes.

    People don't think.

    i remember swimming one day and sharing a lane...and the woman got out and complained to management that i had gotten her hair wet with my splashing...thankfully they just laughed her
  • spartan_d
    spartan_d Posts: 727 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    Headlamp.
    I do headlamp runs all the time when it's dark. Still not as good as running where you have adequate lighting, especially if you want to go fast.

  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    This is a problem almost everywhere. So few seem to understand basic workout etiquette, be it gym, pool, or track...hell, even escalator etiquette is lost (stand on the right, walk on the left) on so many.
  • spartan_d
    spartan_d Posts: 727 Member
    A few weeks ago, while running on an elevated track, I saw two people walking in the runners lane AND heading in the wrong direction. As they approached, I yelled out, "You're going the wrong way!"

    One woman replied, "No *kitten*. Don't worry about it."

    That made my blood boil. You're going the wrong way, and you apparently know it... AND you respond with snark when someone tries to warn you? What's wrong with going in the properly designated direction?

    Here's the dumbest part. Remember how I said that this was an elevated track? These two ladies were apparently walking from one set of stairs to the other, since there were a bunch of workout machines by the second one. So why not simply take the stairs that we right beside those machines? Heck, the distance from one set of stairs to the next was the same regardless of whether one goes clockwise or counter-clockwise, so there wasn't even any advantage in walking against the flow.

    <<SMH>>

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