Ed & Dana Parrot wrote:
> Wayne -
>
> One other variable, which is difficult to measure, is the amount of
> spring in the track. I don't know what kinds of variations the rules allow
> for indoor tracks, but it has got to be significantly greater than that of
> outdoor tracks (or else there are a lot of illegal tracks out there).
> Harvard in particular is known for "tuning" their track to optimize
> performance. When I ran a 5K at Harvard a few years, I swear there is no
> way I could have run as fast on an outdoor track at the time. The same goes
> for a mile I ran there in 1994 - my PR to this day.
>
> Again, I don't know how you measure for this, but you don't lose much
> running distance events at some indoor tracks.
>
> - Ed Parrot
Yes, this is very true. It is possible to "tune" an indoor track, i.e., adjust
the natural frequency of vibration of the track to match the stride frequency
of running for certain races. I understand that is what they tried to do at
Harvard.
--
Wayne T. Armbrust, Ph.D.
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