Indoor Track

Drexel University is busy replacing their current gym, and the new facility is coming along nicely. With the upper floor already open, I was able to enjoy my first visit to an indoor track yesterday, a claimed 1/10th mile oval that hovers above the new basketball court.

Indoor tracks present us with a great alternative to treadmills. The one I tried was softer than any outdoor track I've ever run on, and the time seemed to fly by (when compared to time on a treadmill, which, for me, goes entirely to slow). The track was three lanes wide, which means it will no doubt be quite crowded at certain times.

Even though the suface would be perfect for a person to run on completely barefoot, this would not be accepted nor appropriate, so I went running in my Treks, which I had worn to school. They were not the best choice! My regular, thin soled KSOs would have handled the problems I faced much better. The short track requires that you lean excessively as your speed increases, and I found that some of my laps, which stayed between 23 and 34 seconds, put a lot of stress on my legs as well as the soles of my shoes. The Treks were just a bit too high and their tread a bit too rough for comfort.

This morning, my right calf was a bit sore; it was the outer leg in this case, so it was subjected to much higher stress levels than my left. It's amazing that a simple run indoors can still make me sore! Since the track travels in different directions on alternating days, I will have to make sure I use it with this in mind to keep both legs strong and healthy. I'm also not quite sure if the length is correct; even though I stayed in the outer lane nearly the entire time, my laps seemed a bit too quick to be true, so I'm not sure how I should work this into my milegae plans: according to the track, I ran 2.5 miles in 12 minutes, 10 seconds; while I can do this on my best day, I am nearly positive that this is not the distance I ran yesterday. Still, I am looking forward to getting my runs in on the track instead of the treadmill when the weather is bad.