Empty Nest Runner

Met up with  a few folks out on High Line canal for a social run.  planned to take it really easy after yesterdays race, but surprisingly (or not so surprisingly considering my pace yesterday) I do not have any soreness or residual fatigue.

The canal was pretty spotty with large snow patches, some black ice and a few clear spots here and there.  Glad I latched on to some other runners (as I missed Stephanie for her run just a bit ago), as I would not have pushed myself at all today.  Ran out at 7:37 pace and back at 7:40 pace.  Felt great on the way back and had some GREAT conversation with a gal named Ashley that I just met who is training for Boston.  We would get "happy" and start running 7:20's pretty effortlessly, but opted to reel it in as it was supposed to be a recovery day for me and some marathon pace work for her.

All inall, felt very refreshed after the run--just what i needed!!

"In Mourning" Fartlek...

SO, took Drew back to Adams State yesterday.  Plan was to drive up, get in a run, have lunch and drive back.  Got sidetracked by one of Drew's teammates before we even left the house.  Apparently he (another Drew) was coming back from the UK and needed a ride.  he was not clear that he was, in fact, in England at the time of the request, so we waited for quite a while before he made contact again.  To make matters worse, there are 3 Drew's on the team and when they all start texting, noone can figure out which Drew is Drew...

Long story short, got out much later than anticipated and saw that the weather at 8000ft was taking a turn for the worse.  Scrambled to get off the mountain and the drive took 6 hours to get home (versus 3.5).  Wrapping up--did not run yesterday and feel very tight from being in a car for almost 10 hours.  UGH...

SO, I am in mourning again--certainly miss the little bugger already...

About the workout--Fartlek day moved to today (v tomorrow) cuz snow is due to hit the foothills right around practice time tomorrow.  Took advantage of the 50 degree weather.  2 mile warm-up + drills/stretching.

3-2-1 fartlek (3 mins hard, 1 minute EZ, 2 mins hard, 1 min EZ, 1 min hard, 1 min EZ)  3 sets + 18 minutes of solid work.  Short d guys had 5 min additional warmup and then straight in, whereas my long d guys (& Kara) had an additional 2 mile w/u before beginning.  I opted to do some "marathon pace" fartlek, as my bum was sore from my race on Saturday...and I think my legs were just tight in general from the ride.

2 mile w/u @ 8:00

3-6:59

2-6:52

1-7:03

3-6;49

2-6:51

1-6:46

3-6:42

2-7:03

1-6:42

Paces jumped around quite a bit (I'd like to say that it was due to terrain, but really I just was not focused today...)  5.5 averaged out to be 7:42 pace so not ALL bad...

2 miles cool down REAL slow

Meeting with Matt Hajny tomorrow (adult marathoner/trail runner that I coach that even after breaking his ankle and having surgery to keep the darn thing together with screws placed in, suffering a non-related bike accident and food poisoning just 2 weeks before, still managed a 2:47 at Disney, placing 17th!!).  We are going to plan our year of races and will decide on a marathon.  Any ideas?  looking for cheap and fast!!

Circuit Day1

SO, our snow 'storm" came in as expected jusyt as practice started.  The guys did 5 miles at aerobic pace adn came back looking like mini snowmen.  I had a sprinter girl show up and since she had noone to run with (AND it was her first day...)  I opted to run with her (always trying to convert the sprinters when the other coaches are not looking...

Yuck on mileage today, but hopefully made a good connection.

Did the machine 1.1 from jay johnson, but instead of running 700m at tempo, we did 2 minutes of "pretend" jump roping in between sets.  With jumping rope being somewhat boring and difficult for my sport-challenged athletes, we play a sort of follow the leader and change up our jump styles every 20 seconds or so.  The football players and wrestlers kept looking into the gym and finally asked why we were dancing...My poor boys--pretty sure they hate this more than they hate when I make them man up and skip like girls!

Will definitely be sore tomorrow!  Good stuff!

Met with Matt Hajny (just back from Disney where he placed 17th running 2:47 AFTER breaking his ankle, having surgery to put screws in said ankle, getting thrown from a bike thereby messing up his hip AND getting food poisoning about 2 weeks out from said marathon...) Can't wait for this training cycle--I mean what ELSE could go wrong?

Still trying to pick a marathon--possibly for May or June!

Serious danger of not making mileage this week...

Initally had 2 meetings this afternoon and did not think I was going to make practice.  Boss was sick so #1 cancelled and the second mtg was at a bar, and since I do not imbibe and spend most of my day trying to get folks off the stuff, really did not feel like going to watch my coworkers gte sloshed...

SO, went to practice.  Sprinter girl returned (we did NOT scare her off, whcih makes me question her sanity...), but since there are no sprint coaches coaching and no other girls, i felt a need to work out with her again to keep her company.  Guys went out for a traditional 20 minute tempo...sigh...

So "warmed up" by jogging 800m, then did a series of 150m striders with 50 m walk recovery x 8 (so about a mile) and then cooled down for a lap.  Went inside to await the return of the tempo-ers and showed sprint girl lunge matrix and myrtle.  While the guys showed sprint girl some core work (she in turn gave them dating advice--they are so socially awkward!!), I hoped on the dreadmill.  Already feeling like a hamster, I was able to monitor the guys lifting, but felt very awkward as there  football/basketball and wrestling were all sharing our gym time.

Attempted to do a bijillion mile progression run, but only made through 20 minutes before one of the runner's mom's stopped by to "talk".  Can't talk and run treadmil at the same time ( I fall off...), so had to abandon workout.

Really concerned about my mileage for the week, so will have to run mega miles fri and sat just to break even...On a good note, i am delightfully sore from yesterday's circuit training!!  YAY!

Even my eyelashes hurt

SO, in an effort to salvage this week's mileage, I figured out that I need to do 25 miles in the next 2 days.  Unfortunately, i also needed to get in my tempo run that I missed out on yesterday.  On a positive end, it was in the 40's with bright sun (at least when i started...)

Angela met me on the track with her dog and helped me bank some miles before my tempo run.  We ran an easy four miles catching up ojn our juicy gossip.

As the runners were returning from their aerobic run to do striders, i began my lonely tempo run.  Goal was 6:30's for 20 minutes as we are still in base building AND the wind was kicking!  Tempo felt amazing.  Fought the wind (where my pace would drop to almost 7:00) and felt great!  5k split was 20:37, which I am happy with considering the weather and training phase.

With 6 miles more to do, decided to take a 4 minute break to change out of my flats and since it was now dark, opted to run on the track for a bit.  Decided to do the next 5k as a progression run, starting slowly and increasing pace every lap by 10 sec/per mile.  Gotta love that we have an amazing track, but no lights?!  (No one could see how pathetic I was reaching for my mileage)  began to feel it by 2.75, but pushed through as there was chocolate milk waiting for me. 

Cooled down with another 3.2ish to call it good!  Now I can't stop eating...

Thank Goodness for friends!

SO, afraid I might not make mileage this week(due to snow storm Monday & training sprinter girl throughout the week) I opted to pack in a tempo run and 13.5 miles yesterday leaving me with an enviable 12 miles today!

Called out to my peeps for some love and we decided to run Waterton Canyon before it closes for the year.  Ang blew me off this morning (10 minutes before the run) with some wierd "slept on my neck wierd" excuse, only to tell on herself and fess up that a big b-ball game was broadcasting early.

Met Matt H and Stephanie at the trailhead and embarked on my mission.  Weather looked great, but glad I opted for a windshirt, as we encountered headwind, tailwind and revers wind as well as some rain/snow mix and that was just on the way up!  Matt and Steph took me up the hill at a ginger 7:56 for 6 miles.  Awesome conversation to keep the mood light and dreaming of our next marathon in April or May!!!

Stretched at the top (I tried to become one with the earth, but they made me come  back down the hill...)  The weather was unbelievably beautiful all the way down.  After about 2 miles, Stpeh and Matt let their legs go a bit and I dropped off, though pictured a tether toe ach to try to let them drag me down the hill.  Some garmin problems coming back, but lloks like it was &:29 for 6 miles, meaning that Steph HAD to be going 7:19 or FASTER all the way down--even with a tender hip!!!!  WOWZER! 

Celebrated my mileage binge with some mint choc covered oreos (that i am sure are laced with crack, as I cannot stop craving them...) and some choc milk!

Met with Matt to frim up our marathon schedule for the year and it looks like....possibly Illinois in late April and CIM in December!  Anyone else in for these?

THANK you so much Stephanie and Matt--really would not have done it with out you.  Now must sleep!