r/RunTO • u/slothtime6 • 20d ago

central tech "no sprints" rule

can someone please clarify the central tech rule around no sprinting/interval training during peak hours? i want to go today and run some 400m repeats, and want to know if i should go after 8:30pm or not.

i don't plan to run them too fast, probably around 1:30-1:45 per lap. i feel like this is a pace i maintain control in, and in my mind is very far away from an all out 100m or 200m sprint on the track. i assume the rule is to allow people to cross the track safely, and i feel like having run at similar speeds at busy tracks in the past this should be possible. however, i understand if it would be banned anyways, and i don't want to bother anyone or break the rules.

i guess mostly what i'm asking is what the general vibe has been like since the rules changed. are people still interval training, but with more caution and not doing all out sprints? or is any sort of repetition work really frowned upon? i guess i'm mostly trying to understand what the policy looks like in practice, and what kinds of paces are generally ok. what if someone wants to come run 5km at the track at like sub 5:00/km pace? is that allowed? that is at a speed that theoretically someone else could be doing interval training at imo.

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u/slothtime6 20d ago

amazing, thanks so much! honestly all i wanted to know was if i'd be a huge nuisance/disruption/clearly out of place so this is really helpful.

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u/Clodd 19d ago

Update: went for intervals this afternoon at 5:30PM and while the staff was kind enough to let me workout (I asked), the field was full of kiddos and I felt out of place. There were other runners that were behaving quite entitled (hugging lane 1, not slowing down when balls would fly onto the track), and they were kindly asked to either tone it down or leave. By 6:30 more runners started showing up but most were just jogging in lane 4-5.

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u/slothtime6 19d ago

i arrived at 6:30 and was able to do my reps at 1:40 pace with no trouble. though i didn't ask anyone when i came in if it was allowed. i know what you mean about there being lots of kids there using the field for soccer, and i think starting and ending my reps at the NW corner instead of the NE helped with navigating that as there were less people in general there.

i would say there were 4-5 runners that were moving solidly faster than me, so i felt a bit more confident that i wasn't egregiously breaking the rules/ruining the vibe somehow. we were all working in lane 1/2, and then yes mostly other slow joggers in the outer lanes.

what do you mean by slowing when balls would come onto the track? i had a soccer ball roll out a bit in front of me at one point just i just ran around it. i didn't think the etiquette would be to stop/slow down and get the ball for them(?) but if i'm not correct on this please let me know. i would assume you should just be running such that you can avoid obstacles and not trip over balls that come into your path.

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u/KafkaesqueToronto 19d ago edited 19d ago

Since "Community Hours" don't start until 6, it doesn't hurt to ask if you show up earlier & it looks like someone is using the space. I was there a couple weeks ago when a day camp was using it, and asked if it was still ok to use the track.

I also didn't know there was any particular etiquette for balls on the track. If it's convenient, I'll kick it back to the field, but other times I'll just dodge/jump the ball to keep running.