Quadzilla

Welcome to Quad Busting Week here at Snowman Says. Come along as I do nothing but repeatedly try to explode my legs...um, I mean get totally ripped.

It all started on Saturday. In fact, I don't think I've done anything that quad destroying in quite some time. Smartly, I did a short, easy run on Sunday. Although, the three-mile out and back on the powerlines isn't exactly flat, so while I got the gunk out of my legs, I'm not sure I helped my quads.

On Monday, it snowed. A sane person would have taken the day off. Not me. But, I did make a smart choice to run along a quiet road. The Highland Green Road is diligently plowed and quiet. On this day, it was plowed, but it was still covered in snow. It was more like running on sand. And, this was the good part. The best route to the road involves crossing the powerlines. These aren't plowed. They do see regular snowmobile traffic, but not on this day. I figured the trail would be untouched before I left, but why not run half a mile through 10 inches of fresh snow? Then, I ran back through it on the way home. Needless to say, it was a quad busting 5 miles.

Not wanting to "overdo" it, I "took it easy" during Nordic Meisters on Tuesday. Yes, this is the same Nordic Mesiter course that includes a rather large quad cranking uphill and an additionally large quad wrenching downhill. I felt pretty squacky during my warm up, but after my run (which I did take fairly easy for a hardish run), I actually felt better. Not sure how that works, but I'll take it. Oddly enough, as well, I actually ran the middle, uphill section faster than I have in the previous two weeks—completely by accident. No idea.

I felt fine when I woke up this morning and had hoped to stick to my plan of a "long" run. The new snow put the kibosh on that idea, though. The snowmobile trails would still be too soft, and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of running on snowbank shrunken roads—not in the mood to get run over. My solution was to grab the snowshoes and head for the Commons. I figured that the Commons would have seen a few skiers and snowshoers to pack down the trails, and I was right. The main thoroughfares were decently packed, but narrow. The narrowness of the path altered my stride slightly in places, and just enough that I was able to enjoy the feeling of aluminum on ankle bone. It's awesome! (I'm not sure my ankles are going to survive the winter. Snowshoe running! It's awesome!) I also ventured off on some of the side trails, which had seen less traffic. Not the best choice. Unless you were looking to bust some quad! Even with my shoes, I was sinking up to mid-calf in places. This took quite a bit out of me, and I started to feel like boo boo. But, once back on the well-packed sections, I felt much better. The run was a little more than 45 minutes, but it was plenty. So, not the long run, but it felt like it.

So, all in all, a solid week so far. Looking forward to racing this weekend. I'm not sure my quads are, though.