Odometer/pace calibration?

August 14, 2009 12:06 PM

How far on a school track is a mile?

I would like to use the nearby middle school’s “oval” track to help me calibrate my bike’s odometer as well as my own walking/hiking pace. As I think all the schools in the US are, it is a “metric” track. What I would like to know is how far to travel on this track to reach exactly one mile. There are a bewildering number of markings (lines, triangles, etc.) on the track and I’m not so sure that there would even be any markings that would indicate one mile. Perhaps some of the readers have tackled this problem before and could share their advice?

posted by Rad_Boy to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

Track Markings
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 12:08 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

1 mile = 1 609.344 meters

1 track = 400m

1 609.344/400 = 4.023


So one mile is a little over 4 laps of a standard track.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 12:09 PM on August 14

Perhaps this will help.
posted by alms at 12:09 PM on August 14

A mile is 1609+ meters.

One lap around a track is 400 meters.

Four laps make 1600 meters. So you'd have to look to a somewhat curved line about 10 yards before the finish line, as that is where a race over a mile will start.
posted by ijsbrand at 12:09 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

Whenever we had to run a mile for those physical fitness tests in elementary, middle, and high school, four times around the oval loop was always a mile. So one loop (on those tracks) was roughly 1/4 mile.
posted by raztaj at 12:09 PM on August 14

Assuming the track is made correctly. I've seen some middle schools with tracks that were nowhere near the correct size. That mostly happened when it wasn't around a football field.

I'd try to find something that's more accurate, or at least go measure the track first. Science teachers should have the wheel on a stick odometer.
posted by theichibun at 12:13 PM on August 14 [1 favorite]

When I played football and did track on my current high school track, we were told four laps is a mile. Obviously a very tiny bit off, but roughly four laps.
posted by seandq at 12:18 PM on August 14

What they all said, but NYU has one track where 6 laps make a mile.
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:31 PM on August 14

Four laps of a metric track is pretty damn close to a mile, as Midnight Rambler points out. Most MS/HS races are now run in meters, not yards but there is probably a line about 9 yards before or after the main Start/Finish line. It may only go across one lane. That's the one you want. (Of course, this is assuming that the track is a standard 400M track. Most are, but I've seen some that are quite far off.)

Triangles, etc are for hurdle races. Don't pay any attention to those. Lines that are across one lane are either exchange boxes for relays or start lines for races that are run partly or completely in one lane (thus making it so the racer in the outside lane doesn't run 40m farther than the person in the inside lane). Don't pay any attention to those, either. A curved line, arcing out from the inside of the StartFinish line is the stagger for multi-lap races where the racers merge after the first corner. Don't pay any attention to that.

Is there any way to convert your odometer/pedometer to metric? That's probably easier.
posted by jlkr at 1:03 PM on August 14

Interesting discussion here. As they point out, a "lap" is 400 m, but only if you're running a foot inside of the edge of lane 1. Even if you just move over to the 2nd lane, one mile then equals 3.957 laps
posted by smackfu at 1:06 PM on August 14

Very good discussion and information presented. The most important thing I learned is that there is probably enough variance and error in individual tracks that using 4 laps as a mile is plently good enough. But, to carry out the math I learned... The actual path length depends on where in the 1st lane you are using as a reference. As some of the links noted, this should be 20 cm from the inside edge (or 30 cm if the edge is curbed). So, assuming accuracy that probably isn't there, my math says that running a path 57 cm (22") in from the edge would give exactly 1 mile in length on a 400 m track.

Thanks for all the great input!
posted by Rad_Boy at 8:49 AM on August 17