In this podcast episode you will hear explanations of the various Olympic track events, a preview of the men’s and women’s marathon, and tips from Coach Angie on some effective speed workouts to do on your local track.

Maybe you didn’t run track in high school or college and might not be familiar with the distances or terminology.

What to know about an outdoor track:

• The outdoor track is 400 meters around. Indoor tracks are 200 meters.
  
• The length of 1 straightaway is 100 meters
  
• The track has two 100 meter straightaways and two 100 meter curves
  
• 4 laps or 1600 meters is almost 1 mile. Technically a mile is 1609.34 (so 30.65 feet longer than 1600 meters)
  

We might be biased but we think the track and field events in the Olympics are some of the most entertaining events to watch. And they have the longest history going all the way back to the ancient games.

Sprints or dashes were a feature of the Ancient Olympic Games which took place between 776 B.C. to A.D. 393, and for many decades were the only event. Thousands of citizens would turn out to watch men (only men back then) run around a stadium naked.

From the book The Road to Sparta by Dean Karnazas,

The original Olympic footrace distances were not ultramarathons or even marathons for that matter, but relatively short sprints. The first of these running races was called a stade, and it consisted of a roughly 200 meter dash around the perimeter of the arena. Spectators who came to watch these athletic competitions sat in stadiums (from which the modern word is derived).

There are 3 sprint distances held at the modern Olympics (and outdoor World Championships): the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 400 metres.

This is run on the straightaway of the track. You will see runners use starting blocks and the classic “ready, set, go” start. Usain Bolt has clocked the fastest 100 meter time at 9.58 seconds and is called “the fastest man in the world”. The fastest woman of all time in the 100 meters is Elaine Thompson-Herah also of Jamaica with a time of 10.70.

This race begins on the curve of the track where runners are staggered to ensure they all run the same distance and ends on the straightaway. The record holder here again is Usain Bolt with a time of 19.19 seconds.

• If you Google “how many miles an hour does Usain Bolt run it says 27.3 miles an hour. If you Google “Usain Bolt compared to animals” you will find that Bolt can outrun a wild turkey, squirrel, domestic pig, chicken and a rat but he would lose to a domestic cat, a giraffe, a wildebeest, a kangaroo, and warthog.