What is 1/4 mile on a track?

Quarter-mile or 1⁄4 mile may refer to:

• A dragstrip competition or vehicle test in motorsport, where cars or motorcycles compete for the shortest time from a standing start to the end of a straight 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) track
• The 440-yard dash, a sprint footrace in track and field competition on a 440 yards (1,320 ft; 400 m; 0.25 mi) oval
• The 400 metres, a sprint on a 437.445319 Yards oval
• Quarter Mile Bridge, the local name for the Maribyrnong River Viaduct in Australia
• Quarter Mile Walkway, a .41 mile long pedestrian walkway through Rochester Institute of Technology's main campus
• Quarter mile horse races on open roads in the US Colonial Era which gave the American Quarter Horse its name

Most running tracks are exactly the same size, thanks to their adherence to the IAAF Technical Specifications. That means that, as a general rule, you can assume that a trip around the track in Lane 1 is 400 meters, or about ¼ mile.

But if you’re at the local track doing a workout, you probably shouldn’t be in Lane 1, so how long are your laps in the outer lanes? This table will tell you, or you can use the track lane distance calculator further down the page.

Or, if you have a specific pace that you’re trying to hit, try the track lane pace calculator. It’ll tell you how long each lap needs to be in order to maintain your pace in your selected lane.

Track Distances by Lane

Track Lane Distance Calculator

Which lane were you running in?

How many laps?

Optional: How long did it take?

The Math

Think back to your high school geometry days and you’ll recall that the circumference of a circle is equal to 2πr (that’s 2 times approximately 3.14 times the radius of the circle). A track is basically just a circle chopped in half with two straightaways connecting the halves, so to calculate the total distance, we use 2πr+2s with s being the straightaway length.

Those straightaways, according to IAAF specifications, are 84.39 meters long and the radius of the inside line of Lane 1 is 36.5 meters. Do the math and that gets you to… 398.12 meters.

Wait! Isn’t it a 400-meter track? Good catch. It is, but they add in an extra 0.3 meters to account for the width of the runner’s body. So, instead of using 36.5 meters as the radius for Lane 1, we use 36.8, and that gets us exactly to 400 meters.

Each lane is 1.22 meters wide, so you can take that same equation and apply it to any of the lanes’ curve radius to get your lap distance. A lap around Lane 4 ends up being 23 meters longer than a trip in Lane 1, and a lap around Lane 8 ends up being almost 54 meters longer. Again, to see all the lanes’ distances, check out the table.

Track Lane Pace Calculator

Which lane are you running in?

What pace per mile are you trying to hit?

How Many Laps Around the Track Is a Mile?

Short answer: About 4 laps. Longer answer: It depends which lane you’re running in. Because the track’s distance varies by lane (see table above), the number of laps you’d need to run to get to exactly a mile vary by lane too. Here’s another table showing exactly how many laps you’d need to run a mile in each lane:

A Note on Track Lane Etiquette

Chances are, your local running track has a sign saying not to do workouts in Lane 1. But even if it doesn’t, you should keep your workouts to Lanes 2–8, leaving the first lane in as good of condition as possible for track meets.

And if you’re walking, stick to one of the far outside lanes. If faster folks generally stick to the inside and slower to the outside, there’s less confusion and less chance for an on-track collision.

What is a 1/4 mile run?

How many laps is a 1/4 mile run?

How many laps is 1 mile on a track?

Is one lap around the track a quarter