As a child, she ran everywhere…
She ran track in junior high and track & cross country in high school.
She also ran on and off while raising her children,
Meet Kristen Nickel
In 1999 she decided to run the Boston Marathon, so she ran a qualifier and ended up running Boston in 2000, 2001, and 2016 (for her 50th birthday).
I guess I have some natural ability but I’ve enjoyed running plans and pushing the limits doing intervals and sticking to plans.”
Kristen knew that running and strength training was key to stalling her aging process.
She listened to podcasts about interval training triggering the growth hormone to slow down aging and then she stumbled on to Faster Beyond Fifty Framework and listened to the webinar and instantly knew it was for her.
Join us for a free online presentation of the…
The Faster Beyond 50 Masterclass
…and discover how you can run well (and faster) as you get older, without training more or harder than you currently are, all while avoiding injury.
If it feels like you’re training harder than ever but not running the paces you’d like to be running or if you’re constantly tired, fatigued or running in some sort of pain, then this is specifically for you.
Save your seat in this training now…
Running Is Therapy
Our 29-year-old son died in December 2019 following a horrific fire accident that burned 95% of his body…
We thought he’d have months of rehab but the next day he died.”
Kristen told us how traumatic this was for her and her family.
For me, that withdrew from my life but my faith in a loving God and running kept me from drowning in my grief.”
Kristen knew that she had to run to feel better... “Running truly is therapy in the grieving process”
Recent PB’s
I ran a 3:49:37 on a brutally hilly marathon course on Sunday. It rained the whole time and was 15°C. I’m so glad I’ve trained FBF with you @Coach Parry. Thank you!! The strength training paid off. I should have gone out a little more conservative for the first 10 miles as the hills were even more significant later in the race and my legs felt it but I persevered. I was 2nd in my age group so I got an award.”
Kristen’s Forum Post
In October 2019 she ran a personal best of 7:52 pace per mile marathon (26.42 miles 3:27:51).
Since then Kristen has run a personal record of 1:43 half Marathon (In January 2021)
In April 2021 Kristen broke her 5k record with an incredible time of 22:17 and in July the same year, she ran a record 47:16 10k. (While recovering from covid)
My success with Coach Parry is that I haven’t slowed down in my fifties and have stayed injury-free”
Enter Coach Parry…
I joined Coach Parry in September 2020.
Pre Coach Parry my personal best marathon had been at age 50 at the Boston Marathon but on my previous training plan – The Hansons training plan, I was getting injured (metatarsal stress fracture, a glitchy knee, Morton’s neuroma, and then plantar fasciitis)
I was feeling tired throughout the day in the later stages of each planning cycle I did.
Then… Kristen stumbled onto the Faster Beyond Fifty webinar and joined right away.
Biggest Contributor To Kristen’s Success
Kristen tells us that the biggest contributor to her success and achieving her Personal Bests has been the Coach Parry Faster Beyond Fifty Framework.
The Recovery and the strength sessions are game-changers for me”
Just FYI, the strength sessions all felt too easy at the beginning, and innocent doing each session but could barely move or sit the next day.”
Future Goals
“I’m racing a marathon in the BlueRidge Mountains (Virginia, USA). It starts at a high elevation and has 3 major climbs.”
Kristen lives at a low elevation and has only 2 available hills to train on… She runs up & down and does it over and over again.
She had trained hard last winter and was ready, but a week before the race her hubby came down very ill with Covid, so she deferred to this year.
I would like to run a 50-mile race later this year, possibly & preferably a trail race.”
Kristen would also like to run every USA race with “Vacation Races” which are run in or near National Parks.
Struggles Along The Way
Kristen says that winter running in Northern Michigan USA means a lot of ice, snow, wind, and bitterly cold days.
Also, finding a balance between work, kids, grandkids, helping others, and then throwing in a bad day of grief, here and there can also be a bit challenging.
Hardest Part Of Reaching Goals
Kristen HATES running on a treadmill, so rearranging her days to match days where the road wouldn’t be covered in ice was tough to plan as she wanted to make sure her blocks were turning green.
Rearranging her jobs to be able to run when a stretch of road would be salted and melted enough to do intervals (which was in a nearby town), where she had to dodge traffic (not dangerously just annoyingly) was also quite tough.
But on the flip side, having a spring big race is what keeps me motivated through the winter to get my butt out the door!”
Being Called Crazy
Kristen says “It’s kinda fun to be called “nuts”, “insane”, “beast”.”
Kristen thinks that it’s sad to see so many people her age or younger that aren’t doing anything as far as exercise or a healthy lifestyle and they’re aging right before her eyes, needing knee and hip surgeries.
Then being told I’m going to ruin my knees from running so much!”
Amazing story Kristen!
We are so proud of how far you’ve come and can’t wait to see what the future holds for you!☺️
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