Quads

I will never. NEVER. EVER. Run downhill.  AGAIN.  NEVER AGAIN.

Let me start off by apologizing to anyone (especially Bethie) I may have offended with the plethora of f**k bombs, sh*t bombs, and an array of other vulgar inappropriate language that came spewing forth from my mouth during my mouth during not one, but both of my weekend workouts  

A group of us went to "preview" the trail for the Pikes Peak Ascent that's happening in 2 weeks.  Let me sum it up:  Steep.  A little Steeper.  Hot.  Steep.  Hot and Steep.  And that was only for 4.8 miles.  In 1.5 hours.  Approximately 3900 feet in elevation gain.  Not even half way there.  Not even CLOSE.  Holy Steepness Batman, this is one tough trail.  About 2 miles in, I decided to take up knitting.  As Isabelle would say, "For Real".  At mile 3, I decided to not do the Ascent and hurt Steve (coach extraordinaire) instead.  At mile 4, things started looking only slightly better (of course, it was slightly less steep at this point).  We finally hit our turnaround point and started downhill.  Here's the big mistake for the day:  following Beth down.  Now, I have made this mistake before and I'm sure I'll make it again (keep reading!).  I thought I had made it clear that I wanted to walk the steep parts (i.e. the entire trail) but we just flew down.  And then I noticed my quads were a bit sore.  As in really tight and sore.  But I kept trying to keep up with Super Speedy Descender Woman.  But I kept going and then, a mere hour later, we took a dip in the stream and went for something to eat.  Things were looking up.  

Sunday morning comes along and I am off for a TT ride and an easy run.  Met up with some PC folks, my charming domestique pal DF, and of course, Beth.  It appears she is fresh as a daisy after yesterday's torture session.  In fact she looks strong this morning.  Uh oh, I'm in trouble.  We start our loops and my quads are SCREAMING at me to stop and take 1,000 advil.  But I hang on and ride the pace line fairly well.  Second loop, someone had the brilliant idea of a girls vs. boys loop.  Fine but only if girls get a 2 minute head start.  Beth pulls us along at a very speedy pace and wonders aloud why I won't take over the front.......because I can't pedal hard enough to get around her!!  (Surprised I am following Beth again??)  We finish up the second loop and have managed to hold off the boys, phew!  Loop 3, a 5 person pace line and I start to fall off the back I just can't keep up,  BooYah pulls me back in and I hang on to the finish.  Everyone does a fantastic job of pulling but apparently that one was too easy and they needed to do one more.  Good time for me to call it a ride and get on with my run as my quads never loosened up on the ride.  

Good news is that the run actually felt OK.  My legs hurt but not as bad as they did while riding.  Finished it up relatively strong and went for coffee.  BTW, I think coffee may be the most underrated recovery drink:)  Only problem was that as I attempted to walk down a little bitty hill, I actually whimpered from the pain in my quads.  Uh oh.  They were sore to the touch. Downhills and stairs were now things to be avoided, kinda like the plague.  Thank you Michael for understanding why it was just a bad idea to go upstairs/downstairs.  2 advil didn't even touch the pain.  Stretching my quads was TORTURE.  I tried lying on the couch and they just throbbed.  YIKES!  I even tried an epsom salt bath.  No relief whatsoever.

Thank you again hubby for trying to keep the kids off my legs and knowing that I wasn't cranky with you only cranky because of my throbbing legs.  

So now it is Monday, and let me repeat.  I will NEVER, EVER run downhill again.  Or, at least until Beth or Sonja or another one of my favorite training peeps says "let's go!"  And, I will follow and maybe even lead.  

Best part:  Yummy slow food restaurant after the trail with friends.  Except for the slow part which is not really good when really hungry.

Second best part:  Coffee.  and Advil.  and a little bit of wine.