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What makes a race route faster than another one?
Some races are described as having 'Personal Best' potential for runners, but why? What makes these courses faster than others. Obviously hills will make you slower (going up) or faster (going down) but what else might have an effect?
I am meaning here the actual route, and not the runner themselves - why do I run faster on some routes than others - what affects my speed with regards to the physical route I am running
5 Answers
- Anonymous9 years agoFavorite Answer
1) number of people on the course. If it's crowded, it will be slower. Obviously, if there are a ton of people trying to fit through a small path, creating a bottleneck, it could slow you down a lot.
2) not just the hills themselves but where they are in the course. Our state course was very fast and had a very gradual downhill for about 400 meters in the very beginning. That made everyone feel really great at the start and as long as they didn't go out way too fast, it tended to help their race a lot, even though you had to go back up that hill again.
3) firmness of the ground. If the ground is harder, then you don't lose as much energy going into the soil when you push off with your foot. That's why running in loose dry sand is so hard. It sounds like it wouldn't make that much of a difference, but it does.
4) how many times that the spectators get to see you and when. sometimes it can make a big difference for runners if there are long quiet spots of the course with no one to cheer them on. I know you were asking about the course itself and not the runners, but I truly believe that this makes a big difference in the course too.
Source(s): ran cross country in high school and college - azar_matthewLv 49 years ago
Myriah is clueless so ignore her. Like Apollenaire said, the surface makes the difference. This cross country season, we had a race on a nearly flat course that in past years had been considered a very fast race. This, year almost everyone had awful times, adding at least a minute to their average times. The reason why, was because of the grass they had. It was very long and soft (twss) which causes your feet to drag more and makes your feet sink in when you land.
- 9 years ago
3 things:
1) - The texture of the running surface
2) - the direction of the wind, and
3) - the length of the course is usually measured from the center, so - a wider route with a greater or deeper inside, which in reality shortens the route.
Source(s): No source. My common sense (or lack thereof). - 9 years ago
If there are slight turns you actually slow down that is why if you want to run faster time yourself when running in each lane. See which one helps you run faster and that should help you.
Trust me the same exact thing happened to me when I was on my school's track team.
If you pick a lane that is straight you should definitely be able to run faster and better.
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