I have not. I would not. If you go for it good luck, let us know how it goes.

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"4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul"

This seems like it might be a problem if time is important to you.
Is it a 200 or 400 m track?

I think lane 2 of a 400 m track is 404 m around.
Lane 3 is 408 m.
Changing lanes is also likely to add some distance.

One mile is 1606 m.

I suspect that you will end up running a lot more than 26.2 miles

It's actually on a 442 meter track. The event is held at the utah Olympic oval which is actually a very nice facility.

Still, not exactly the race for me.

I have a races a couple of events (up to 39.3 miles) on an indoor track at the Petit Ice Center. It's also a 442 m indoor track. I went back and checked the results and at least a couple of the events had just under 200 people on the track. I remember it being crowded at the start but after a few laps, things were spread out enough that it wasn't horrible. Yes, I'm am sure there were plenty of times where I had to leave lane for lanes 2-4 but so did just about everyone else. It was nice having access to aid every lap (we used a table). And extremely spectator friendly.

The one things I would caution is that I had a lot of pain with my inside leg, especially my hip. We didn't change directions on the track and the constant turning left really aggravates my left side in the later miles. After my last indoor ultra, im pretty sure my indoor track races are over but I've said that before about a lot of things.

Sounds like a ton of fun......if you are the type who likes to bang your head against the wall all the time!

I did a 10k on the track in college, and even those 25 laps wore on me...I cant imagine this.

Hey TC! I have not done a track race like that, but the trail running stuff has gotten me involved with a bunch of ultra people that do this sort of thing.

My take is only do it if it's the A race for your season. The injury risk introduced by repetitive motion and turning seem to be super high, and racing could result in a season of niggles (or worse).

That being said, if it's an A race, GO FOR IT :)

P.S. SLC is at high enough elevation to make a difference, which could lead to some nasty coughing/throat/lung stuff when combined with the indoor track dryness.

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David Roche
"The Happy Runner" book: https://www.amazon.com/...Longer/dp/1492567647
Coaching: https://swaprunning.com/

x2 on what Dr. Suess said.

I grew up swimming and do nearly all of my running on a treadmill. I dig monotony. :-)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Firstly, I am interested in the HALF, not the full.
Time is not super important; SLC is at altitude and I'm coming from sea level, so this would be a fun, no-pressure race for me.
400+ m track (442 or something?)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I love visiting my brother in SLC. I call it "altitude camp" !
I like racing at altitude because it takes some of the pressure off racing. (i.e. if I run a slow time, I blame the altitude). I ran a half marathon in Denver (outside) coming from sea level last February and it was great.

I guess I think yes it's turns and repetitive motion, but we're only talking 13 miles here. Although when I run on a track I tend to switch directions every mile or two and that's not an option here.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

"Go dog go" was my favorite book as a child.

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"4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul"

In my very humble opinion, I can't think of anything worse.
Aside from the monotony of ~50 laps of a track, there's also the inconvence for faster runners who will be overtaking the same people again and again (and probably running up to a mile extra as a result)
Throw in the imbalance and subsequest risk of injury of leaning/turning in one direction all the time and it sounds like a tall glass of nope.

I also can't help but feel like you've confused "the spectating will be great for my mum and brother" with "my mum and brother will be able to see me all the time". Do they want to watch people run round a track for up to two hours?

Having said all that, if you're in to it then go for it!
It'll be a change from whatever run around town you may have done instead that day.

It sounds like it would be cramped, but I think it might be fun. Sounds like a unique experience. Also great for your mom and brother to be able to watch the whole thing.

Hillary Biscay talks about a workout that a coach that shall remain unnamed gave her like a week or two before an Ironman: 40*800m@whatever pace it was, 200m recovery. 1km warmup, 1km cooldown.

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Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede

I think I was just sick in my mouth a bit

They do a 6 hour ultra in Toronto in January every year on a 200m indoor track, so it can be done :). Not sure I'd ever attempt that myself.

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len = len + 20; /* add some buffer */

make that a double!

I am a firm believer that the track is the cause of most running injuries in sub-elites (most pros are carefully selected by years of intervals to have insane durability). So just be careful :)

That being said, I can see the somewhat perverse fun in this event :)

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David Roche
"The Happy Runner" book: https://www.amazon.com/...Longer/dp/1492567647
Coaching: https://swaprunning.com/

I am going to start referring to myself as a "sub-elite triathlete" rather than an "AG triathlete" hee hee hee!

I had no idea the track was such a cause of injuries. I've always thought if I ran outside more, I'd switch the treadmill miles to track. I will be more wary...

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Haha, that's a great point on "sub-elite." Age-grouper is almost derogatory--triathletes need to think of a more flattering adjective :)

Be VERY careful with the track. In general, replacing track intervals with hills or flat-ground fartleks is ideal unless you're training for a 5k pr. Even a 400 meter track in lane 8 has enough turns to add up when it comes to imbalance injuries.

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David Roche
"The Happy Runner" book: https://www.amazon.com/...Longer/dp/1492567647
Coaching: https://swaprunning.com/

Friend did a half marathon indoor, they switched direction halfway. He said it was still terrible for the legs. In his opinion, you'd need to change directions at least 3 times for it to remove injury issues.

One thing not mentioned is your comment that it's more spectator friendly.... Only if you guys are bumping and crashing like NASCAR. Or maybe race it like the Madison, do it in teams of two and you can swing eachother around and sprint your fast laps!

Having picked up speed skating I can tell you single leg recovery is key for longer distance success. Because you are always going left, you will overload parts of your legs/hips if you can't learn to relax them. Entirely during your recovery stride. TC, you as a swimmer should get the concept of the recovery phase of a stroke. Same idea. So do some track work and be conscious of how you run your straightaways.

Fwiw, I'd totally do the half too. :-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS