This is a post about two different Sweet 1600s, but I only have one in Webscorer as the first was a while ago…
Last week I was on vacation in Berkeley, CA, where I went to grad school. On my Monday run, I started off by running from where I was staying near the Bay to Edwards Track, the main track at UC Berkeley. It is yellow, and not a nice University of California gold, but instead this color:
I ran about 600 meters, then someone sent me off because the track was closing. In search of another track, I ran up into the Berkeley Hills and the Clark Kerr campus. The slopes on the way up are Ithaca-level steep, but the views are worth it:
Today I’m at the University of Michigan campus and found another non-synthetic track, this one with a giant plastic tent on the infield and an asphalt surface. It is a warm day, about 90F right now, and already warm at 8:00 this morning but I managed a respectable 8:13 in the middle of a low-key run.
Today I drove to Rochester to race the Charlie McMullen Mile. My big goal for this race was to break the 4:50 barrier (and improve my 2-year-old 4:51 PR). Last Sunday I raced an 800 in 2:11, so I felt very confident in my fitness. During my warm up I imagined how easy the first two laps would feel compared to an 800 race. Sure enough, I felt really good at halfway and still pretty good after 3 laps. I finished in 4:48.24 (I’ll call it a 4:47 1600), so mission accomplished.
I volunteered at the Gorges Half this morning since I couldn’t run. I was a little sad when I arrived to my post, but that quickly disappeared as the runners went by. I just love how appreciative everyone was!
Great job runners!
I had a plan to walk a couple miles today n the track before a yoga class. Unfortunately, yoga was cancelled, but I still hit the tracks, walking a mile on the half mile track at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds then another mile at the school track.
It was nice to be up and out and about early this morning.
I did it my first run on a track and a PB to boot
I went to my local highschool track this morning in Spencer-Van Etten.
Completely empty but the gates were open. Verified rules, and then did my laps
I may have to learn more about this whole racing on a track thing never followed it when I was in school so it’s completely foreign to me. Maybe I’ll visit at trackapalooza next go around.
I raced the 1600 at today’s FLRC meet. My game plan going in was to just race, not worry about time, and make a decisive move with 300 meters to go. You can check my Strava report to see how it played out.
I really enjoy tactical mile racing and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to race some good opponents. It was also good to see some other FLRC Challengers lay down fast times of their own.
After multiple attempts at achieving a spiral pattern GPS track, it finally worked!
I was on a cruise in Alaska last week, and thought that I’d be able to make a neat GPS pattern by completing the Sweet 1600 either on the ship’s promenade deck (3 laps/mi, although only walking was allowed) or the jogging track (12 laps/mi). However, I encountered the continuous problem of the ship moving too fast in relation to my running speed, which meant my GPS track just looked like a mostly straight line. But finally, when the ship was moving very slowly, about to dock in Vancouver early Saturday morning, I got my pattern! It was a race against time for me, as we were VERY close to port. You can tell in the GPS track that the spirals were getting closer together with the number of laps.
This morning I had to cancel my PT appointment due to the Canadian crud I caught. I decided to substitute a mile on the Cornell track instead. It was out there! It felt much warmer than the 75 temp and real feel.
Hit the Cornell track for 2 miles. I realized that I know nothing about what the marks on the track mean. I guess I should volunteer at one of the FLRC track meets to learn a thing or too.
I’m still figuring out all the jobs for this meet because it’s different than normal, given that we have FAT (fully automatic timing) and aren’t doing the timing ourselves. But go ahead and sign up for “I’ll do anything” and I’ll figure out a spot for you. The meets are always fun and great spectating. Thanks!
Hit the track at the Trumansburg school for a couple of speedy walking miles. I walked in Lane 4 and found it interesting how my mind registers a mile in laps and was surprised by how much ‘shorter’ a mile felt in that lane.
Must have been speedy to cause perturbations in space and time. Four laps in Lane 4 would be 92 meters longer than 1600, about the length of the straightaway. When you come to Trackapalooza, you’ll see how the 200m and 400m have markings that indicate the staggered starts to account for the difference in lane distances.
I do know about the staggered starting positions. I’ve watched a little bit of track on TV. Don’t runners collapse into fewer lanes in the longer distances? I was looking at the distance between the different start positions and trying to eyeball if my laps were making sense.
Thanks for the link! I was planning to search for this later. I thought I would test out the different lanes in future Sweet 1600s.
Yes, in the longer distances, there are several different approaches to evening out the distance. Most common is a waterfall start where there’s a slightly curved start line so the runners on the outside of the track get a foot or two ahead to compensate for the extra distance they have to cover to get to Lane 1. Some races (when there are a lot of runners) instead do a box start where half the race starts well ahead but has to stay in Lane 4 or greater for part of the way around before cutting in. It’s all quite interesting at an intellectual level.
my first run on a track and a PB to boot 
Maybe I’ll visit at trackapalooza next go around. 
out there! It felt much warmer than the 75 temp and real feel.
