Track Running
With media mileage in big sporting events such as the Olympics, Track Running is probably the most popular of all Running events. It has produced legends like Jesse Owens and Michael Johnson because of their superhuman abilities on the track. But more than the luster and the media mileage, track running is a serious sporting event, with its own set of events each involving different techniques. While tackling each of them in great detail would take several books worth of text, this page will discuss them in general, while remaining as informative and interesting as possible.
Events
Track Running is a term used for a collection of Running events done on a 400-meter track. They include sprints, middle and long distance runs, hurdling and relays. Sprints are composed of events up to and including the 400-meter run. Other common distances are the 60, 100, 200 and 400 meter races. As for the Middle Distance Races, they are races ranging from 800 meters to 3000 meters. Meanwhile, the more lung-busting races can be found in the long distance runs which are from 5000 to 10000 meters. There are also the hurdling events which involve jumping over hurdles while running distances of 110 meters for men and 100 for women in the high hurdles, to 400 meters for intermediate hurdles. Finally, there are the relays where a team of four runners take turns in running particular distances such as the 4x100 and 4x400 races.
Technique
Because of the wide variety of events under track running, it would be impossible to use a particular technique that would cover all the events. But the techniques involved in each event can be summed up in the terms of how the energy is spent in each event. As a general rule, the shorter the distance, the more energy is allowed to be spent by the runner. But in the case of long distance races, it would be wise to conserve one’s energy so as to be able to get to the finish line since speed is not the deciding factor here but stamina. Aside from that, better aerobic conditioning is required of longer distance runners than sprinters because again, they are the ones who will need the extra bag of air in the events with greater distances.
Winners
In Track Running events, the winner or winners are determined by the one who reaches the finish line first, unlike in an Ultra Marathon event where one wins for covering the longest distance over a definite time.
The Track events may be the most popular of the running events, but we should not overlook the others that can be more challenging in terms of the terrain and the lung-busting distances, such as the Cross Country and Road Running Events.
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