Empty Nest Runner

Waterton Canyon

Opted to go a bit short for long run day.  Woke up to amazing, beautiful snow.  What a surprise after having 50's most of the week. 

Met Kara at the Canyon and we decided on 10 (5 up and then 5 down).  Drew had 17 with last 12 at 6:20, so we figured we could hang for the first 5...

Though I am not sore (surprisingly) from yesterdays snowshoe race, I am TIRED!  After about 3 miles I convinced Kara and Drew to take off as I was starting to slog.  At about the 5 mile mark i waited for Kara to come back down.  Drew tends to get happy and not check his distnace and forgot to tell Kara where her turn around was.  Kicked it up a notch on the way down and had great conversation with Kara--who is just an amazing person and truly great runner.  Excited that she is with us one more week before whe has to get back to Chico.

Got back to the car, stretched and watched Drew come flying down the canyon.  Fueled him up and set him on his way while a walked a bit as a ccol down.  Went back to car to wait (25 degrees out didn't want to be out too long) and began to worry when the time elapsed that I expected him in. 

Moments later, he came in laughng...apparently he did his math wrong and went over what he was supposed to do.  if this is not a marathoner or ultra marathoner in the making, I don't know what is.  Nothing like a proud mama momnet when your son goes 18 miles instead of 17.  oh to be young again...

Not to dissuade anyone from snowshoeing--I thought I would share a pic of my ankle from yesterday's race:

SO, having Reynauds means I do not feel when it is cold out, but having neuropathy means I will feel this eventually and BAD.  I kept clipping my ankle with the side of my snowshoe...Didn't know I was tearing it up so bad.  UGH.  Asked the kids if they did the same thing and one of them remarked, "Well, sure.  I did it once and then learned".  oh, well...

Chilly EZ Run

SO, it started at 18 degrees and dropped to 9 degrees over the run.  hard to find areas that were ice and or snow free, so made the best of it.  Ran first 4.75 with Drew, Kara and Angela at welcome 8-8:30's, dropped off Ang at the school and continued on, while trying to pick it up as it was getting steadily colder.  Finished last almost 4 ish in 7:30's/7;40's which was not bad considering the footing.

Happy my banged up ankle did not even whimper!  And feeling much better energy wise than yesterday.  But it was REALLY FREAKin' cold!  thought the boys team was wussing out, as we did not see them at warm up, but found out they warmed up elsewhere and went on with their run.  I am SO proud!!

Gorgeous Colordo day!

SUPER EZ run

Continuing to be ridiculously cold out...usually tuesdays are circuit days, so primary focus of run was to be absolutely aerobic (esp with the slippery conditions and frosty air).  Went out on the back path, because it was plowed better than the streets, and safer as there was little chance a car would slide into us.  Did not, for the record, see any bikers out...

Group did an out and back and I quickly fell off  the back to be aone with my thoughts (or to be lazy...).  wish I had a camera to run with, as on the way back it was absolutely beautiful.  Only here in Colorado would I be running on a plowed bike path next to a running stream for 2.5 miles.  Absolutely gorgeous.

For circuits, i tried to incorporate some sprinter specific exercises.  the sprinters have not had a coach with them this off-season and have decided that i am their coach too.  For the record, I know nothing about sprinting, jumping and only a bit about throwing (my College coach fancied me a multi-event person and started training me on Shot--you really have to imagine a 112 pound skinny trying to heave a ballistic--think Olive Oyl lofting a cannonball and you'll get a pretty good pic!--my distance competitors would make fun of me that I had to ice my twig arm before I raced...For the record i am nowhere near 112 pounds anymore...)

SO, the sprinter exercises just did not make a whole ton of sense to us distance runners-who by virtue of the fact that we are distance runners are not playing any other sports that call for coordination.  We had some giggles, moved our muscles in a new way and went on to lunge matrix and Drew's core work.

Luckily for the sprinters, Drew has a 200m workout on Thursday that they can join --as Drew is doing it as "pace work", they will be doing it as tempo.  both groups will be challenged as Drew is not naturally fast and with only one minute rests, this should challenge the sprinters aerobic system.  Hopefully the football coach/sprint coach will see the potential for me doing much damage to his athletes and will step up!

EZ 4 miler on the slippery snow.  The guys had free fartlek today.  I actually had to put parameters around this workout for them so that they would not go TOO fast..you knwo it's a great day when I have to tell my runners to slow down!

Anyways, I pretty much played sag wagon behind them by trying to maintain 7:30's whenever I was not on ice!

Afterwards, our corss training session took us to the track, where we had a 200m snow shoveling race!  We only had 2 shovels so broke up into 2 teams to see who could uncover the number in lane one at the 200m mark first--by going around the track, clearing the lane, in opposite directions.  My team seemed to be leading, but somehow the other team found the number first.  When we jogged each other's half of the track, we found out why.  Whereas my team was very proud and using "quality control", the other team merely shoveled one shovel width and went around any tough spots.

My sprinters, Drew and Kara have 200's tomorrow.  Boy will they be surprised when the hit the other side of the track and are zig-zagging!

We had a blast AND got the track prepared for tomorrow!  Great Day!

On a life related note--had an interesting group therapy session with my "guys" at work.  Simply asked how well they know themselves as an intro to taking an inventory on life (versus making resolutions, which is a huge NO NO with hard core addicts...)  that simple question kept us going for almost an hour and a half...Good times!!!!

Gorgeous 50 + degree day. 

Had some guys working 200's on the track, a few us us doing 1000s near the hills and quite a few doing hill strides.

1 mile w/u / strething and drills

2 mile run to the hills / k's at 6:29 / 2 mile run back.  had to cut our k's a bit short, as the temp dropped and the road began to ice over very quickly.  Gingerly made it back to the school, though with purpose at 6:50s to top off our workout.

Returned to the school in time to change, send the boys for pizza and begin to welcome 8th graders at the High School.  incoming 8th graders for next year  wandered around our halls and cafeteria to learn about our sports and clubs and do preliminary sgn ups.  There was barely a break as we did double duty for track and cross country and got LOTS of contact info.  If we even get half the kids that signed up today, we will be HUGE!

Just found out that I won a comp entry into the Fast  and Flurry-ous 4 mile XC race in Boulder.  there's prize money, so many olympians will come over, do a quick tempo and leave with some cash in their pocket.  This will be a great shakeout for Cross nationals in San Diego on the 5th--AND it should be messy!!  with mud and melting snow.  Good times...

Taking Drew back to Alamosa tomorrow...sigh...so will have to run up there (at 8700 feet) for pre-race before I drive back down again.

EZ pre-race shake out

Another 50+ degree day!  LOTS of melting snow--should make tomorrow's XC race really messy!

Ran super easy + 4 x100m strides

Felt great--tomorrow should be fun!

The Fast & the Flurry-ous

SO, I won a comp entry into a cross country race in Boulder that offers prize money.  Nothing like a little Cha-Ching to bring out the pros (and apparently one fast 11 year old girl).  Not like the first 3 places in my race went to Olympians from 3 DIFFERENT countries or anything...

This race has been on my ta-do list for some time.  Small and intimate, yet it always brings out the talent.  Set at that pat Patten HS XC course, i was intrigued how I would do on some challenging terrain that I have coached kids to race on.  Nobody told me, it goes the opposite direction! 

Ran 99% on grass, snow or sand, the criterion course was 3 loops which was very spectator friendly, but alsomeant that I had to climb an ugly hill 3 times.  Opting for racing flats on this one was a good call, however, as the 1% was on a wooden bridge that I was pretty sure I would either imbed myself upon and need to call for help, or biff out on (which I heard one runner did...)

With the Olympian presence, i knew the pace was going to go out killer.  I had delusions that I would still be able to maintain at least a 6:30 pace and wanted to start out conservatively.  As I waited on the line, a perky, quiet waist high waif lined up.  Being nice, i stepped aside to give her room on the front line with me and tried to make small talk about Bratz dolls and barney.  instead of calling out "Stranger Danger" the little bell sprinted out with the pros at the gun.  Pretty sure she used pixie dust, cuz she certainly dusted me by a full minute!

Checking my pace, i was in the high 5's at the start and needed to reel myself in.  In retrospect I let a few more runners take off than I should have, but I made the pace correctiona nd got into the high 6;20's quickly enough. 

Then the snow and ice patches coupled with the rolling and challenging terrain (to include loose sand--I think we ran through a sand volleyball court??) started playing with my head.  Breathing wise i was fine, i just could not get my legs to turn as quickly and efficiently with force as normal.  Entertainingly, i watched a young gal go past me with one and a half shoes on.  Apparently her milers would not stay on and after 3 times of pulling off to the side to get it back on, she opted to run with them off!  What a warrior.

Wanting to take the first hill conservatively, I was still able to pass 2 gals and let loose on the downhill (slipping and sliding through this wintry wonderland).  I settled into what my son told me was 10th place, tucked behind 2 gals that looked to be about my age, using them for the moment as windshilds.  Slowly, they began to pull away and mentally I let them, saying to myslef that I would be able to pull them in on the 3rd lap.

OOPS!  That did not in fact happen, as we all began to pretty much settle into our paces, and knowing that I had a pretty good lead on the next gal did not help.  A few times, i tried to apply pressure and commit to the race, but apparently not with as much intention as I thought I was. 

Realizing that I had "settled" I at least did not want to be passed in the last mile.  Bearing down, i was able to pick up the pace just a bit and steadily increased through the last half mile, to apporximate a sprint to the finish.

Got connected with my race crew and watched the men's race unfold.  The dudes had an even deeper field, with lots of sponsored runners and teams present for the race.  jason Hartmann won the men's and had set the pace throughout the entire race, pushing just enough to make 2nd work and still win.

The after party had many a brat and Rice Krispie treats, so after a brief cool down and awards ceremony, it was back to Morrison wtih the memory of a very fun race (no awards for me, as 4 of the top 10 were, in fact, masters...so I had the dubious distinction of being the first master without an award...sigh...)

After dropping off the members of my race crew (they can't yet drive), I did a very slow 2 mile shake out through the neighborhood to try and flush the ol' legs.  Checked the garmin, whcih measured the course at 4.2 (probably due to me being a pansy and running around some of the icier patches).

In retrospect, I was not happy with my time, placing or non-sompetitiveness today, but was happy that I showed the kids how courageous it was to hop in a crazy race knowing there would be Olympic talent...and the Rice Krispy bars had these neat little chocolate chunks in them!

To thank my race crew, met up with them at CPK (had a coupon) and then went to see Green Hornet!  Good times!