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February 6, 2005
Snowshoe Race Report (4.5 miles) - Northfield Mountain
On Saturday morning I drove to Northfield Mountain to try my first ever snowshoe race. I was nervous going into it because my quad was already sore and fatigued but I figured I would just have fun with the race. I was really suprised to see so many people at the event. There were lots of runners there who looked really fast and who were warming up a lot. I ran about 10 minutes for warmup with a friend. My quad hurt in the warm up and I hoped once the race started I would forget about it. The race began at 9 a.m. The first mile of the race was flat and circled a field. As soon as the race started I realized I had not properly bound the straps to my snowshoes. They were flying all over the place and really distracted me. I wanted to stop and fix them but in general I was not that impressed with my performance and I figured that stopping would not help my overall results in any way. I continued with the flapping straps and figured they would not be so bad on the uphill portions. After the first mile we climbed uphill on a fire trail covered in snow for about a mile and then we entered a single track that was windy in which we had to cross a few small streams and step over logs (which is really difficult in snowshoes!). This climb completely wiped out my quad muscle in my left leg. By the time we began the climb my left quad was dead, my hip was tight, and as the climb continued the pain traveled to my calf muscle and foot. The way the entire leg gets involved it behaves like a nerve issue, however I think it is actually scar tissue in my quad muscle from a fall I experienced almost two years ago now. The way the entire leg felt yesterday it makes me wonder if the nerves have been affected. It was somewhat depressing because people were passing me left and right on a climb that I know I could usually handle. As we continued upward the climb became steeper. Around the 35 minute mark I reached the top of the mountain and the last 12 minutes of the race for me were all downhill on big fire roads. My quad started to loosen up but by that point in the race I was unable to catch up to anyone and had lost some of my competitive spirit. I finished 6th for women, I am not sure what my overall place was in the field. I definitely enjoyed the experience because it was beautiful running through the snowy trails. Yet, I was frustrated that my quad behaved so negatively and I was frustrated that I really did not feel very comfortable in the snowshoes. I fell during the race three times on the uphill because I tripped over my own shoes. It was quite embarassing. However, despite all of these negative things I still had a fun time and met some great people at the event. I hope I can one day run a race like this and have no injuries and be prepared to race it.
I spent the rest of the day at a home track meet coaching. I then went to dinner with a friend and had a great time. After dinner I drove to my friend's bachelerette party in CT. It was a very late night but I was able to sleep in on Sunday so I am feeling pretty rested today. However, my quad muscles are still pretty sore. I'll probably take today off or just bike and lift. We'll see.
Posted by mary at February 6, 2005 10:54 AM