Empty Nest Runner

Night time Christmas Run!  Ran with Drew (my son) and Matt (Navy marathoner from Annapolis that I sometimes coach).  Crazy easy run.  On the way back to my house, a car stopped to let me cross over and lo and behold, one of my HoneyMilk athlete’s was driving with Mary Alico (multiple Olympic Trials qualifier and FAST runner that beats me here in Colorado).  Figure the odds??  Stopped for a minute to talk to them and got some great energy to add on a little more!

“Ran” up Tony Krupicka’s Green Mountain with the boy today.  Absolutely needed microspikes, as the trail was ridiculously slippery and completely covered in snow.  It was actually only about 2,5 miles to the summit, tho took us almost an hour of climbing.  Peak was sooo windy, that I could not do a jump pic.  Actually, could not even stand on the peak as the wind nearly knocked me over!  Sun set as we descended making our return a bit scary….  4.75 on the climb

Did a nighttime shakeout run in the park near my house.  The wind blew snow like crazy during the day and covered some of the accessible trails.  Ran to the road inside the park and covered a nice easy 8.8 miles.

Merry Christmas everyone!  It has been TOOOO long since I have blogged, so gonna catch folks up over the last 6 months.  SO, I was working with homeless addicts up until the Illinois marathon when my program lost its funding.  On a whim, I contacted HoneyMilk, a protein recovery drink, and long story short, they have been a Godsend!  They have enabled me to run, train, and coach pretty much full time and I have been enjoying some amazing things and have met some amazing people along the way!

For those that do not know me, I began running last November as a way to deal with empty nesting.  My only son went off to college and after 15 years of not racing, I decided to train for a marathon.  (This was after dealing with a spinal/pelvic sacral fracture from an accident that ended my competitive career a LONG time ago, and neuropathy issues and facing losing my feet some 40 pounds and 7 years ago due to frostbite).

SO, over the last 6 months, I decided that I am probably more of a marathoner/ultra runner person (cuz I am not that fast anymore..)

SO, this week, I am planning to hit 100 miles (I actually hit 100 accidentally over the summer when I decided to run a Monday Marathon and then run an ultra on Saturday…)  BUT, this is the first time I will have run 100 miles in a week that is planned out!  Very excited…

To accomplish 100 miles safely (and sanely??), I am doing 2 a days for most of the week.

Today, my son had 200’s to do on the track, so I took a couple of my other athletes and modified it slightly so that we were running at 5kish pace.  The track was pretty snowy, but lane3/4 was shoveled.

Did 5 x 4 x 200m then at 5kish pace with 1 min jog rest between intervals and 3 min jog rest between sets. 

Was quite stiff from the last few days mileage (trying to hit about 14 a day!), so did not know what to expect out of this.  Just wanted to stretch my legs a bit.  My range was from 5:30’s to 6:10’s pace wise, so a bit all over the board until I was fully warmed up.  Ran 8 miles this morning with this workout/warm up and cool down.

Later in the afternoon, grabbed the microspikes and headed to the Lair of the Bear for some climbing.  Trails were really a mess, with little to no flat footing at all.  The microspikes worked wonders and I was able to climb for 2.5 miles before heading back down.  Finished mileage in the lower part of the park and hit another 8 total this afternoon.

Had to catch up on a ton of work, event planning and Olympic Trials preparation (no, ha, no competing, but definitely going and helping to represent my biggest sponsor, HoneyMilk down there). Just was notified that they are sending me down.  SOOOOO excited!!!

Oh, so about running.... Went to the Runner's Roost Social Club and met up with Todd Straka, a local elite Masters runner that I "knew about" but never actually met.  Had a wonderful almost 5 mile run chatting about running/racing and life.  What a super great guy!  Weather was a bit iffy (icy spots here and there) but otherwise down right balmy!

Went to Wahoos after with some of the Roost running team and picked up another incredible pacer for Leadville!!! 

Went out to COlorado Springs to connect with th CRUD crew. They are a group of ultra runners that apparently every Thursday morning at 6 a.m. run up Cheyenne Mountain (about 4.1 miles up and 2000? feet of gain).  Slowest runers go first and the faster runners try to catch everyone. 

In typical Karen fashion, got there a wee bit late, so started up with a group.  Sadly, taht was the last time I saw anyone other than the speedies that passed me....sigh...  I am really working on my climbing skills, as I believe that 15 years of no running has caused my legs to atrophy (especially my "climber" muscles)....  was totally embarrassed to suck so bad, but it is only giving me motivation to improve (heck, it can't get any worse...)

Was the last one up.  Drew (son) had a blast however as he caught almost everyone and was only caught by Dan Vega (who happened to take second at Leadville the year that Matt Carpenter totally destroyed the course record).

Had some major pain issues today (due to my pain disorder and probably triggered by the snow and descent).  SO, napped quite a bit and ate copious amounts of chocolate.  Planned to run some more this evening and headed out, only to be turned back by crazy winds....

SO, to redeem myself from yesterday's embarrassing ascent up Cheyenne Mountain, opted to load up on the miles as I continue to make my way towards 100.

Had runners meet me at my house this a.m and headed out to Bear Lake Park, whcih is only a mile from my house.  VERY slow warmup/drills/stretching and the obligatory pitstop, then punctuated temp (after 4 x 30 sec pickups with 50 sec jog between to get the heartrate back up). 

Having recently dropped my tempo pace to 6:09, I was somewhat disheartened to barely get to 6:19s today.  We ran in the park, whcih has some nice rolling hills to make us really have to focus, but I think my legs are a bit fried from the mileage this week and all the climbing that I have been doing.  Drew did 7 miles straight tempo ranging from 5:20's to 5:50s and made it look easy.

The rest of us did 8 minutes at tempo, with a 6 min jog, 6 minutes tempo, with a 4minute jog and then 4 minutes tempo.  My paces ended up averaging: 6:49, 6:29, 6:54.  UGH!  NOT the times I wanted, but felt good and had GREAT company.  SO, with warm up and cool down, hit 11.1 miles in the a.m.

FOr my night run, I headed back out to the park and ran a VERY slow 15.3 (and at times was going so slow I even was taling on the phone to peeps).  BUT, I covered some good mileage.

NOW, I am so hungry, I want to eat an entire cow....

WINDY, crazy run.  Ran a bit this morning to put my mileage within reach for the week.  The winds were over 40mph, which made the 38 degree temp feel much more frigid and biting. 

Rested a bit and hopped over to a free 5k"ish" in Highlands Ranch.  Driving over was super scary as there were 3 semis that had blown over from the winds.  Thankfully I had friends waiting, otherwise I might have bailed.

Ran a couple of warmup miles with a gal, Bridget, that I have been FB friends with for some time but never actually met.  In reading posts between friends, we had discovered that we went to rival high schools back in Michigan and were only a few years apart.  Though we never competed directly against each other, we had many real live friends in common.

The winds were out of control and dressing for the race took time and consideration due to the ever changing temperature perception.  Settled into a comfortable 7 min pace for the race and watched as fesh legged Bridget hopped off the front, i think eventually winning for the gals. As i passed two ladies running together, they asked if I was me.  Feeling like a superstar, I hung back and talked with them and decided that they were much more interesting than any bragging rights for winning or placing at a 5kish event on tired legs.

I was super pleased to meet a local legend within the ranks of Masters runners.  We had time to talk about upcoming events, training...you know, general girl stuff!

After we jogged in, I realized that I had exactly 5 miles left to make this a 100 mile week.  Various peeps hopped in with me to help me slog throught he last bit, including my friends Monica and Jeannene as well as the gals that I ran with in the race and Bridget.  Another local coach hopped in with us as well, and for 2 of them, it was the longest mileage day they had in a long time, so I was glad to not only have amazing company, but also inspire them to run a bit more.

Met up with several other friends at Macaroni Grill to celebrate the New Year as well as my 100 mile week!!!