Interview with Lavenna Mullenbach

Lavenna Mullenbach a former All American runner at Adams State is leaving Colorado to join the Hanson's. She graciously took a few minutes to answer a few questions from RunColo.

Could you tell us a little about your running background? How did you end up at Adams State having hailed from Texas?
I started running in 8th grade and thought it was a lot of fun. I started running with a summer running club going into high school and that set me up for some success in high school. There was a fun group of girls on the team so it was easy to stay motivated. Towards the end of high school a lot of people encouraged me to continue competing in college. When I went with some of the people on my high school team to the ASC summer running camp I met Coach Martin and he invited me to come out for an official visit. I had other offers from some other Texas schools, but after meeting the girls on the Adams State team and talking with Coach Martin, I knew that was where I wanted to go.

You ran at Adams State and then ran 2:45 at Twin Cities Marathon. Was Twin Cities your debut?

Twin Cities was my debut in the marathon. I was fortunate that the elite coordinator took a chance on me and gave me some support that made the trip possible. I think it helped that other runners coached by Coach Martin, like Emily and Zoila, had run well there in the past.

You moved to the marathon distance rather quickly, do you prefer the longer distances over the shorter stuff? Will you continue to race on the track at all?

Although I do prefer longer distances, I didn’t necessarily plan on the marathon being my next event. My Coach, Damon Martin, simply told me I had a marathoner’s stride and I should really try to train for a marathon. I had already planned on doing a few road races (5k/10ks) after I finished college, but Coach Martin encouraged me to make my next big race a marathon. He gave me a bit of a raw-raw speech that got me psyched to train for the marathon. Two other former Adams runners, Zoila Gomez and Emily Mortenson, also encouraged and influenced me to do the marathon. I’m really glad I listened to them and did it. As far as racing on the track goes, Kevin Hanson and I haven’t talked much about my race schedule yet, however, I would like to race on the track occasionally.

Congratulations on joining the Hanson’s, what's the process of joining Hanson's like? Did they recruit you or did you seek them out? Did you look at any other groups?

In many ways it was a lot like the college recruiting process. Coach Martin spoke to them after I graduated and that got the ball rolling. I spoke with Kevin Hanson on the phone a few times and then went up to visit. I liked the girls and the support and resources that would be available to me (housing, medical treatment, travel, gear, part-time job, etc.) and after taking some time to think about it I knew this was not an opportunity that I could pass up. I didn’t look into other groups as extensively as I was happy to be in Colorado running for the Boulder Running Company – adidas Team.

What are you giving up in Colorado Springs to join the Hanson's?

I’m leaving a great group of people in the Boulder Running Company – adidas Team. I’ll certainly miss the 300+ days of sunshine and looking at the mountains everyday. I’ll miss running under Coach Martin, who has brought me to a level that allows me to even be considered by a group like Hanson’s-Brooks.

I recall that Paige Higgins was an art teacher in Littleton with a boyfriend when she moved to Flagstaff. Obviously she's improved a ton since then and competed for the US at Worlds. Is she the model of making full-time running work?

I think any runner with the right mentality who has the opportunity to dedicate themselves to training at a higher level and can push the limits will definitely improve and be successful at the next level, but it isn’t going to happen overnight. Paige and I both started out on the Boulder Running Company – adidas Race Team which has allowed us to transition into competing post-collegiately. Without their help it would have been much more difficult.

What's the big goal then?

My main goal right now is to prepare for the trials. I want to go to the trials in good shape and really put myself in the race and compete. When I did Twin Cities, I didn’t know what to expect and had no idea as to how my body would respond to that distance. For that race, I simply followed my race plan and paced myself to hit a qualifying standard. Now that I have an idea of what 26.2 miles is like, I can take advantage of this huge opportunity to race against an outstanding field of women and push myself to see what I can do.

You're already into the Olympic trials. Do you have sub 2:30 as a target, top finishes at major marathons, or just continued improvement?

I want to continue to improve from now until the trials and hopefully that improvement will bring me to finish high-up in some major races. However, I think running sub 2:30 might be a long shot for me right now. I have a lot of work to do before reaching that time and still a lot to learn about training and racing a marathon but if I did, it would be a huge bonus for me.

Hanson's red and yellow jerseys - ugly or hot?

It’s not natural for me to like the color red because Western State, our arch-rival at Adams State, wear red. I do like the Hanson’s-Brooks jersey though, it’s unique in a good way.

Do you expect the training to differ much from what you've done in the past?

I’m pretty familiar with a higher-mileage training program, coming from Adams. Hanson’s is on a 10 day cycle which will be different, along with some other nuances in training philosophy. I’m sure there will be an adjustment period, but I feel like I will be able to adapt successfully.

What will be worse - winter in Michigan or winter in Alamosa?

There were a couple of winter days/nights that were just miserable and brutal in Alamosa. One time it was -40 with wind chill. As long as there are not too many days like that, I think I will like training in Michigan better than in Alamosa during the winter.

What are your racing plans for 2010?

At this point I don’t have any set racing schedule, we’ll be working that out once we see how I adjust to the program.