SRR Track

You must be a SRR member to participate in the workouts regularly but if you are considering track/SRR and would like to check us out, you are welcome to come to a session as a guest.

During the spring, summer, and fall (March - November), we meet at the Tufts outdoor track (the “Ellis Oval”) on Tuesday evenings. at 7:00 PM

During the Winter Session (December - February) we meet at The MIT Indoor Track, located inside the Zesiger Center Building on the 3rd floor. Just enter the building (no earlier than 7:00) and tell the attendant at the main desk that you are with the Somerville Road Runners for the track workout. They will allow you past the desk. From there you go up the steps to the 3rd floor. We meet at the far end of the track from the door. There is a bathroom on the way up the stairs, next to the area that overlooks the pool.

Please contact Coach Joe O'Leary if you have any questions about track workouts.

Pace chart is located here. Look up your 5k race time or pace on the far right and you can see your complete list of recommended paces

About our pace terminology:

We use the pacing system designed by legendary coach Jack Daniels. It assigns each runner 3 sets of paces corresponding to a desired intensity. The paces are:

THRESHOLD - About your one-hour race pace

INTERVAL - VO2 max pace. About the pace you could hold in a race that lasts 10-15 minutes

REPEAT - About the pace you could in a race lasting 3-4 minutes

You can determine your pace set using one of the many online calculators. For example, go here and enter a known race distance and time. Then click on the “Training” tab below to see your paces. (I suggest ignoring the “Easy” tab. We don’t use it in workouts and frankly, I find it faster than I like to run on most days)

Tuesday Sep 9th - 6:30 PM at TUFTS

From now until the end of the outdoor season, track workouts will begin at 6:30 PM.
Going forward, we will be sharing the outdoor track with the Tufts Running club. They did not have to share with us but were kind enough to say, “yes” when we asked. So this first week or two might be a bit of an adjustment.

  • A: 5 x 1000 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

  • B: 2 x 1000 at INTERVAL with 3:00 rest
    3 x 800 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

  • C, D 6 x 800 at INTERVAL with 3:00 rest

  • E, F: 7 x 600 at INTERVAL with 2:30 rest

Tuesday Sep 16th - 6:30 PM at Tufts

Gear changers: These are somewhat like cruise intervals: You run mile reps at THRESHOLD intensity. However with these reps, after the first 800 meters, you will pick up the pace dramatically to REPEAT pace, hold that for a distance (that depends on your group) and then return to THRESHOLD for the remainder of the rep

  • Groups A, B - Run 400 meters at REPEAT

  • Groups C, D - Run 300 meters at REPEAT

  • Groups E, F - Run 200 meters are REPEAT