Track VS. Road

In one of my previous blogposts, I have challenged myself with the task of becoming apart of the USA Olympics team for Tokyo 2020 for running (I’m gearing towards 5000-meter run aka 3.1 miles based on google). If you haven't read it, you can click HERE.

When I’m on campus, I go to the indoor track and run laps there (with the assistance of the RunKeeper app that tells me what type of run I should be doing because wow personal trainers offered at my university are PRETTY expensive like did my university forget I’m actually a student???). On the weekends, I go a few laps around a lake by my house (one lap and a half averages to about 1 mile). Something that I realized is that my speed on the track in school vs speed at the lake was actually faster? I wasn’t sure why that was since I’m the same person running on the track as I am at the lake, so why the added time on the lake? At the lake, a mile would take me 8-ish minutes while on the track, my fastest time yet was 6:45. That's a whole minute and a lil bit extra!

I was talking to my sister about this and she said she read something about that on the New York Times and how it’s some sort of science. Now of course I couldn’t find the article after countless of scrolling, if I find it I’ll edit it in! I did find another site stating the difference between track and road running. On the track, when you see those white lines, it happens to keep your mind focused. I can admit when running around the lake, my brain would be like oh I can stop on this lamp post for a little walk and then I can pick up again at the next lamppost. Or my pace would slow down a bit because of lack of motivation. Meanwhile on the track, I’m more focused on running and not on stopping. Also, whenever there are other people on the track I always make a point to pass the person ahead of me, sort of as motivation to go faster. (That’s how my speed per mile went down!) Also, I feel like the while lines sort of serve as a reminder to keep on going, and keep doing the loops around. (You can read the article here if you want!)

But the benefit of running on the road is getting yourself into the environment for 5K’s or marathons you plan to run. I personally hope to run a few 5K’s soon, here’s to getting my focus on speed and not on stopping when road running!

I would have to say a tip for making your speed per mile go down is to find a place where runners frequently find their inner Usain Bolt, and make it a point to pass them. Sometimes the best motivation to go faster is to have the mindset I can pass this person, yes I can, YES I CAN.

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