This weekend involved two runs while I was camping at Richmond International Raceway. Since it's a NASCAR track, they have tons of parking. I ended up running around all the lots during both runs. On Thursday evening, I ran for 30 minutes and followed that up with a 40 minute run on Saturday.
We arrived on Thursday around 4 PM. I ran shortly after that at around 6 PM. I was really curious how well I'd run. After I did an easy jog on Tuesday, I drove to DC and watched 5 hours of basketball. The jog seems to stress my legs more than running at normal pace. Add to that the fact that I sat stiff for hours afterwards and it made for a tough situation. I got out at a rest stop and could barely walk. I stretched and massaged my legs and felt much better on Wednesday.
I still wasn't sure how I'd feel when I got back to running though. Not only the issues from the other day were of concern, but I developed a headache and also knew I wasn't that well hydrated. I felt pretty strong early on during Thursday's session once I got into a groove. It was quite hot at 6 PM and that really wore me out in the 2nd half.
I was running back behind the track and I found the race drivers' motorhomes. Two guys came out of there and I followed them for awhile. I was catching them, but then they went down into the infield past security. I decided not to do that. I'm pretty sure one of them was Tomas Scheckter though. His dad was a Formula One World Champion. That would've been pretty cool if I did catch up and pass him.
The back half of that run was tough. I ran on a lot of different surfaces. There was pavement, gravel with big stones, light gravel and grass. They all presented different problems. I nearly twisted my ankle running through the steep grass.
The heat is what really got to me though. On the way out, I ran as far around the outside parking lot as I could. On the way back, I ran next to the track to catch some shade. That was a much shorter route. I was dieing around the 22 minute mark. I decided to keep running and made my goal to run to the 30 minute mark.
It wasn't easy, but I managed to get that far. It actually worked perfectly as I got to the campground just after the 30 minute mark. It was a nice start to my 10K training and certainly was a different route too.
I ran 40 minutes around the outside of the parking lots on Saturday morning. I didn't feel good and thought it would be a tough run, but it actually didn't turn out too bad. It was still a little hot, but definitely much cooler than my first run at the track. This time I was able to run around outside both on the way out and back. The different surfaces bothered me, even during the first half of the 40 minute run. They never got too out of control though.
I was really worn down in the 2nd half of the run. I'm in pretty good shape to run 3 or 4 miles, but beyond that I merely just finish. I might've considered the end a junk mile or so, except for the fact that I mentally challenged myself to finish. Sometimes it's good to just do that when you don't want to. I've listened to my body a lot more lately than I used to, but it's a fine line. You don't want become mentally weak and just quit every time you encounter an uncomfortable run.
I had to run some extra loops to get to the allotted 40 minutes. When I took a sharp turn at one point, my knee bothered me for a brief period. Even though it was a little sort today, it's still getting better and better each day. I'm definitely getting stronger and keep my muscles loose.
All in all, it was a nice weekend with some good distance runs. The heat was a bit of a problem and it will continue to be once we start getting some normal summer weather. I'm very happy with my progress now and I'm on my way to first running a 10K and then onto conquering the marathon.
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