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how many laps on a high school track equals a mile?
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I'm planning on doing some running at the local high school track but can't remember how many laps equals 1 mile. Of all the things I learned in high school I guess this nugget of info was okay to forget. Isn't it 4 laps in the third lane? Anyone know how much shorter it is to do 4 laps in the first lane?
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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On a standard 400m track one mile is equal to 4 laps + 9 meters.

1mile=1609 meters
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [ErikV] [ In reply to ]
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Is this in the first lane? For some reason I remember something about the 4th lane.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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Yes it's the first lane, thus the reason the one lane stagger starts with the first lane at the start/finish line.


______________________________________________________

Proud Founder of the Jamis Mafia- Daring to be different.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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1st lane....and most of us run way too far by running in the middle of the lane. Hug the inside line as much as possible...never run farther than you have to...I still can't believe it when I watch the Olympic games and I see medal contenders running mid lane in the 400 or 200 !

Dev
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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On a standard modern track, the inside lane is 400m. Some tracks may have a longer or shorter inside lane, but that's rare. To double check, look at the markers on the lane. In lane 2, you should see a line indicating a 400 m start a few feet up; even further up you should see one in lane 3. If there's 400m start lines in the outside lanes, but no mark on the inside, it's 400m on the inside.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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The inside track should be the one at 400 Meters (some are yards). Add ~5 meters for each lane you move out. So if you're in lane 4 it should be 415 Meters I think. So if you wanted to run exactly 1 mile you could start 51 meters in front of the start line and run 4 laps. (1 mile ~= 1609 Meters, 3 laps would equal 1245 Meters, so you'd still need to go 364 M, 415-364 = 51 Meters). There are problems with this as some tracks have different sized straights which cause the actual turns to consume less of the distance, but this is a pretty good estimate if you're not actually racing.


-Andrew Saar
It is better to do the right thing and be paid poorly,
than to do the wrong thing and be rewarded richly.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [FastInAtl] [ In reply to ]
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right on. Thank you all for your quick answers. I'm not sure where I got the 4th lane idea from. Oh well, 1st lane it is.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [devashish paul] [ In reply to ]
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F'n Canadians and their metric tracks. Remember some older high school tracks in the US are still imperial (i.e. 440 yards). Which means approx 7'ish feet or 2.3 metres longer. :-)
Last edited by: Trevor S: Mar 29, 06 7:10
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
right on. Thank you all for your quick answers. I'm not sure where I got the 4th lane idea from. Oh well, 1st lane it is.


Here's a track calculator that you might like:http://www.philsport.com/narf/atrack.htm
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Trevor S] [ In reply to ]
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When I ran track (poorly) my high school had a 440 yard track. They re-did it recently, not sure if they converted it to the commie "metric system" or not.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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I noticed that there is a line just outside of lane two (I think) on one of the 400m HS tracks my area that would be about right for a 1/4 mile distance. Doesn't matter, they don't let the joggers run on the inside 3 lanes anyway!

We still have a 1/5 mile track in the area. One of the guys was training and turning in some impressive mile times... nobody bothered to tell him that he needed to do five laps!!! he was pissed at the next AG track meet.

We used to have an invitational meet that featured a 5 man mile relay... turned in some fast times.

Jay
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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Another possibly helpful link. Guide to Track Markings:

http://www.trackinfo.org/marks.html
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [devashish paul] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
1st lane....and most of us run way too far by running in the middle of the lane. Hug the inside line as much as possible...never run farther than you have to...I still can't believe it when I watch the Olympic games and I see medal contenders running mid lane in the 400 or 200 !

Dev
Do you consider less than about 3 meters (out of 400) to be "way too far"? Remember 2*pi*r?

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Jay Rideout] [ In reply to ]
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"We still have a 1/5 mile track in the area. One of the guys was training and turning in some impressive mile times... nobody bothered to tell him that he needed to do five laps!!! he was pissed at the next AG track meet."

Reminds me of when I started swimming again after a 20-year layoff. No one told me I was swimming in a 20-yard pool. I was checking my times and thinking--"Yeah. I've still got it."
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [FastInAtl] [ In reply to ]
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Okay, so what if you run the track like NASCAR??? Cut in close on the turns then swing wide on the straights???
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [randymar] [ In reply to ]
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Then you have some complicated math ahead of you. Did you bring your protractor to the track with you?


-Andrew Saar
It is better to do the right thing and be paid poorly,
than to do the wrong thing and be rewarded richly.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [randymar] [ In reply to ]
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I would guess if you were running around 100+mph this would make sense, but, for a 7-8min/mile I'd say cutting it as close to the line as possible is the best way to go. You'd need to stop every 10 laps for a pit stop to get a new pair of shoes. Good thought though.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [devashish paul] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th.
I didn't realize that "and most of us run way too far " referred to the potential Olympic sprint champions lurking on the forum.

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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[reply][reply]
Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th. [/reply]
I didn't realize that "and most of us run way too far " referred to the potential Olympic sprint champions lurking on the forum.[/reply]

I would say if you are doing speedwork on the track, running specific distances in specific times and you add 3 meters to every lap it is going to have a pretty big affect both on your times and your mentality.


______________________________________________________

Proud Founder of the Jamis Mafia- Daring to be different.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [House] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
[reply][reply]
Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th. [/reply]
I didn't realize that "and most of us run way too far " referred to the potential Olympic sprint champions lurking on the forum.[/reply]

I would say if you are doing speedwork on the track, running specific distances in specific times and you add 3 meters to every lap it is going to have a pretty big affect both on your times and your mentality.


I don't know about you, but if I'm doing 400s in 1:30, and I run an extra 3m, that's an irrelevant .67sec. Lost in the noise of starting and stopping the clock.

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [klehner] [ In reply to ]
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[reply][reply]
[.reply][.reply]
Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th. [./reply]
I didn't realize that "and most of us run way too far " referred to the potential Olympic sprint champions lurking on the forum.[./reply]

I would say if you are doing speedwork on the track, running specific distances in specific times and you add 3 meters to every lap it is going to have a pretty big affect both on your times and your mentality. [/reply]


I don't know about you, but if I'm doing 400s in 1:30, and I run an extra 3m, that's an irrelevant .67sec. Lost in the noise of starting and stopping the clock.[/reply]

I suppose if you only do one it's no big deal and if you are only doing 400's but if you are doing 10 400's or repeat miles then it can make a big difference.


______________________________________________________

Proud Founder of the Jamis Mafia- Daring to be different.
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [Dave G] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
I would guess if you were running around 100+mph this would make sense, but, for a 7-8min/mile I'd say cutting it as close to the line as possible is the best way to go. You'd need to stop every 10 laps for a pit stop to get a new pair of shoes. Good thought though.
So I should probably stop making a RRRRRROWWRRRR sound as I go around the turn then, huh???
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Re: how many laps on a high school track equals a mile? [House] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
[reply][reply]
[.reply][.reply]
Ken...DUH....yeah, if you are competing in a 200m or a 400m, then ~1.5 to 3 m of extra running can be the difference between gold and 5th. [./reply]
I didn't realize that "and most of us run way too far " referred to the potential Olympic sprint champions lurking on the forum.[./reply]

I would say if you are doing speedwork on the track, running specific distances in specific times and you add 3 meters to every lap it is going to have a pretty big affect both on your times and your mentality. [/reply]


I don't know about you, but if I'm doing 400s in 1:30, and I run an extra 3m, that's an irrelevant .67sec. Lost in the noise of starting and stopping the clock.[/reply]

I suppose if you only do one it's no big deal and if you are only doing 400's but if you are doing 10 400's or repeat miles then it can make a big difference.





I happen to have done a track workout at 6am today. 5 Descending 800s (three straight, then two with a 400 jog between). 3:23, 3:14, 3:02, 2:58, 2:55. If I happened to have run wider for some than others, it still doesn't matter. Maybe I'm just not picky.

The whole point was that 3m, relative to 400m, isn't "way too far" for just about anyone here.

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"
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