Where to run in Luzhniki: 2 popular routes in the capital’s sporting heart

Where to run in Luzhniki: 2 popular routes in the capital’s sporting heart

Here you can even change clothes and take a free shower after training.

Maria Evdokimenko

experienced runner

Tells why you should include this place in your running route and what difficulties may arise.

“Luzhniki” is one of the most popular places for jogging among the residents of the capital. Both professional runners and amateurs train on the territory of the stadium. There is everything here for the convenience of athletes: locker rooms, paths with special coating, vorkout platforms and a beautiful view of the city. And there are no annoying traffic lights and unexpected potholes on the roads.

Luzhniki has two main places where you can run.

Pros:

• free;
• every 100 meters there are markings, it is convenient to navigate by them at speed work, when you run segments or fartlek (interval cycling training);
• comfortable route – no feeling of running in circles. You can fit almost any type of running workout into this length, with segments of even 100m, or even 1000m each.

Minuses:

• People. Biggest downside. The running path on the promenade is between the car road and the bike and rollerblade paths. It is marked that it is a jogging path and you can’t drive on it. Yet parents with strollers, scooters, boards and rollerblades often walk here, or just walk, which can often lead to conflicts;
• condition. Due to the high traffic volume and the huge number of people who use the track for other purposes, it is not in the best condition: the marks are partially erased, in some places the surface is torn and blistered.

South and North Sports Cores

Small soccer stadiums that have eight good athletics tracks.

Pros:

• excellent quality turf;
• no random people to interfere with your workout, you can fully concentrate;
• in the core building itself there is a checkroom and locker rooms with showers, you can use them for a symbolic sum;
• it is possible to rent the stadium for a certain period of time so that nobody interferes (this is what running clubs do from time to time in order to hold training sessions);
• the length of the tracks is standard, 400 meters.

Minuses:

• If there are soccer players playing on the field, you probably won’t be allowed on the tracks. Because they are not fenced and you may accidentally get hit by a ball;
• the price of renting the whole ground will be a biting price (all the exact prices can be specified on the website or by phone at Luzhniki).

Maria: Of course, you can run around the rest of Luzhniki – for example, around the Bolshoi Sports Arena (BSA) will be almost exactly one kilometer. But there are nuances. This route is completely asphalt, and you need to watch out for cars leaving the parking lot, as you will actually be running on the road. I used to run steadily twice a week in Luzhniki on the path on the embankment. Now, in order to have a quality workout, it is better to go there in the morning or afternoon, when there are not so many people.

If you run out in the evening, you need to have a huge reserve of patience, because you will often bump into the park visitors riding scooters or walking on the treadmill. Busy paths directly depends on the temperature outside, time and day of the week. For example, on May holidays it is practically useless to go to Luzhniki to run on the track during the day.

Where can I change clothes in Luzhniki?

There’s a classic lifehack for those who want to change clothes in comfort and take a shower after a workout: there’s a Runlab near Sportivnaya metro station, where you can always change for free, leave your clothes in a locker and run to Luzhniki. Locker, shower, drinking water – free of charge.