The reason why I CAN'T STAND indoor track!

The World Indoor Championships just ended so now I feel comfortable sharing why I don't like indoor track. Some of the reasons may be obvious, but a few might shock you...

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[drwhocrazed]

I absolutely love these reasons why you don't like indoor, I actually like indoor for most of the reasons you hate them haha. 1.) Slower times mean I don't have to worry about them as much, focus more on effort. 2.) Harder to make moves means you have to be even more tactical. 3.) I loved to use indoor as a training season, do lots of miles, then go to races to have fun and work on a little bit of speed. 4.) No one cares means much less pressure, can focus more on having fun in races! 5.) I like the consistency of indoor conditions, especially as I used to race at the same 3 venues for years. I agree on 6 though, always seemed to pick up some illness while racing indoors.

[jamesvance]

The best thing about indoor track is the atmosphere. It's easy to see all of the events and so teams feel more connected. The throwers aren't pushed off to some other field and people cheer louder and prouder. Still liked running indoor meets without a team too. Probably brought back good memories that helped me push myself to PR.

[diniaadil]

One lap being only 200m makes it harder run fast times due to centrifugal force, not to mention air quality and overheating of the arena

[Andrewk]

Ran my first indoor meet ever last Saturday. (I’m a junior but I haven’t ran on one bc of covid). I can’t wait for outdoor season to start. I felt like I couldn’t pace myself the same and it was super hot/hard to breathe.

[NickXie]

Fair points! To play the other side of the argument, what do you think about these reasons why indoors is great?
1. For 800m dudes who suck at xc, indoors is a much needed season to be competitive and put fitness to test
2. It's an awesome spectator sport and atmosphere with cheering and fans lined up along the entire track. Nothing goes as crazy as an indoor championship 4x4
3. Not for everyone but the grittiness and physicality of racing indoors is such a thrill

[RobertMcGimpsey]

For high schoolers, Indoors helps you get through the Winter. It helps sprinters/jumpers, hurdlers, throwers coming off football to transition and get ready for outdoors. It breaks up distance runners pounding those miles and it helps college coaches to find up and coming athletes. As a coach, it gives me time to teach technique, introduce people to new stuff (especially 9th graders), and we can go to some cool places, like East Tennesse State to run that the kids have never seen, and they get to see collegiate runners there also. I use it as a fun, learning experience and it helps kids to transition more successfully to outdoors.

[greghammett]

Your reasons are sound, Nick. Especially about the winter base building and not over racing/training. However, as a middle distance runner you should love indoors! All kinds of events like: 400m, 500m, 600m, 1000m, mile, 3000m, 4×400m, 4x800m, DMR and 4×1mile. Middle distance runner's dream! The team atmosphere can't be beat at an indoor track meet either!

[maximilianbennett]

We need indoor track up here in the northeastern US. The winters here are brutal and near impossible to run in. Indoor track at least some way to run indoors and compete during the tough winters. In my opinion it’s just as fun as outdoor especially in my experience because of the sheer amount of people packed in the arena (the Boston University track is amazing). It makes for a surreal experience when you run especially when the race is close. Without indoor track for high school students, there’s simply no way to run unless you want to run through the snow all the time and risk everything from sickness to injury. I wish we could all fly down to a warmer state to train but that simply isn’t possible for many high school students in New England.

[nickminazhetdinov]

As a sprinter that doesn't have an access to an indoor track (there isn't any in my town), I can tell you that an indoor track is better than running on ice for 6 months a year

[aidanbrad]

I agree with the whole base building idea during indoor. I did that this indoor season but still raced two or three times and I crushed my outdoor times doing only base building and 5k work

[s.v.]

One reason to like indoor track is the atmosphere, as a full stadium for most of us isn't realistic, a full indoor facility is!

[daleftuprightatsoldierfield]

As a thrower, I liked indoors a lot because it gave me a chance to get some extra shot put and overall drill work in before outdoors. You can’t go out and throw in the offseason nearly as much as you can run, especially in the Midwest where the winters can get pretty brutal, so indoor season is much more important to us. I never took indoor meets too seriously until my senior year when I was chasing my school’s indoor shot put record and even then I still lifted heavy during the season, but the extra throws really helped me get back into the swing of things by the time outdoor came around

[fat_finger]

"In the Northeast where indoor track is still huge, like wouldn't you rather get on a plane and fly down to Florida?"

No, I don't have that type of money.

[colincrenshaw]

I’m just happy as a senior who hasn’t ran the best times in the past it gives me another chance to run good times to show college coaches before the rosters fill up during outdoor

[medogerty]

I ruptured a tendon in my foot running on a flat indoor track. I didn’t twist it or anything. Just sprinting on the curve when I felt a sharp pop, and next thing I knew, I couldn’t sprint for months.

[Xhadp]

Another possible benefit of indoor track is the longevity of the track, you don't need to worry about the elements or stray tree roots ruining the track over time. But that also comes with a drawback and that you actually have to create a building to house the track which can get pricey so it could actually come out to have similar maintenance costs in the end though.
I know this since my college actually is in the process to completely redo their outdoor track. (Oregon Tech, it could be awesome if you came down during one of the events when it opens again since it is nearby)

[DanielCrossBoss]

I did wrestling since i was 5 and I’ve been running since 6th grade. I can honestly tell you that I am happy I did wrestling all those years instead of indoor track. I’m a senior

[timothymurray]

I loved Indoor track! I got a PR every race for two seasons and the miles were less and the workouts were not as hard. The only Outdoor season I did we had to wear masks when we were running except if we were socially distanced. I got to do the indoor seasons before Covid hit except for the last one where we didn't have any meets.

[jackm]

As a Heptathlete/Decathlete from the north I love indoors because the consistent weather makes it much easier to be able to get high scores without weather playing a huge factor. Decathletes normally want to compete in 1-2 decathlons before nationals, and bad weather can make it fairly hard to get those qualifying marks if you get unlucky with the weather the days of the meets. This can make running national qualifying times extremely difficult since you can't do a bunch of decathlons to try and qualify as you maybe could other events. Another reason is because the Heptathlon plays more to my strengths since there are less throws, and the shorter sprint/hurdles are better suited to my strengths as a runner. It is also less stressful on the body and the atmosphere for indoor meets is so much better than outdoors due to how the cheering is inside.

[zanepoenix]

I saw this while at my first indoor meet. I'm a high school runner that has two indoor meets this season and the rest outdoors. I personally don't mind indoor meets but you can't beat an out door one.