The start of a journey to self-discovery and beyond

Monday – Day off! Got much needed R & R

Tues AM – an hour easy spin. Almost done with my book!

Tues PM -15 mins of core strengthening followed up with a swim -2200y

w/u - 200fr --- 300p ---100 kick

4 sets of 4 x 50 (20r)
one set=
1st- breath every stroke one side
2nd- breath every 3rd stroke
3rd- breath every 4th stroke
4th- breath every 5th stroke

600fr- buoy and paddles

c/d - 200p

Wednesday PM – Long run

I was super stoked for my long run of the week. It was time to start testing out my Fuel Belt and malto. I've decided any run over an hour I will be equipped with a fully loaded nutrition belt so that on race day I will be adjusted to running with the clunker.

I hit Wildwood at Germantown. This time opting to go the opposite direction towards Newberry. I remembered that this route was hillier then the opposite direction but I forgot by how much! Oh the good Lord! I am really out of running shape. Those hills handed me my ass on a silver platter. The first 20 minutes felt pretty good. I felt light on my feet. I hopped from rock to root to trail, like Tinker Bell; despite the fluid loaded Fuel Belt. Third mile was a b*** with a ¾ of a mile 300+ft plus climb. Heart rate is a rising! I was happy to crest and stumble down the descent. At this point of time I took the opportunity to bust my lip on my Fuel Belt bottle. “Jeez Kat, no need to beat yourself up.” Now, I'm talking to myself. This is not a good sign. I got some of the malto down, the rest spilled on my shirt. I found out later that this was a blessing in disguise. My malto mixture was too concentrated and was having a party in my GI. Garmin chirped in with vibrations, which was my cue to turn around and run back up. Oh the humanity!!! I was lacking energy and I couldn't stomach the calories I did have to make up for it. Oh boy! The way back hurt. My feet felt swollen and started to blister. I can't wait until they toughen up. I'm not fond of my new Peregrines. There isn't enough cushion. I need to get another pair of Newton Momentum. They're so cushy and comforting! The highlight of my run was counting each wooden bridge I ran over. 20 crossings total. Sometimes it's the little things that count the most.

Garmin reported 1,396 ft of elevation gain in 8 miles.

Thursday AM– 75 min spin

45 min low z2
3 x 5 min low Z4 @ 55-60 rpms/ 2 min easy recovery
Finish mid Z2

Thursday Evening bike fit w/the awesome Michael Sylvester.

Why is he awesome?

Start with a Google search.

2. He was able to see me for an ASAP appointment after hours!

3. I was late to the appointment (F***ing Hwy 26 traffic! Lateness is huge pet peeve of mine!) . He was very understanding and didn't appear annoyed.

4. I got my picture taken on a bike trainer with my aero helmet. Ha! I thought I was the only one to do that.

5. He provided lots of useful information and communicated it well, with easy to understand analogies.

6. A great sense of humor. Not everyone can laugh at powered Katie! What is powered Katie you ask? Dried salt/sweat that has crusted and rusted the bolts of my TT. It sprinkled around the room like fairy dust. LMAO! What is not LMAO is the wear and tear I've done on my baby girl. She's in a serious need for a rebuild. 

7.Correcting my fit so Carnage and I can become "one" again.

Saturday I have a 70ish/4 hour ride on the schedule. It will provide good bike fit feedback.

I'll return in a month or so for fine tuning.

Friday

10 min warm up run

5 laps of drills around the Nike track/ slow jog in between drills
4 x :30 high knees (I HATE these)
4 x :30 jumping in place/mimicking jumping rope
4 x :30 donkey kicks
4 x :30 ass kicks
4 x :30 slow skipping

20 min run around Nike chip trail and then home.

Apparently I am now in Ironman training. I will be praying nightly.

Pine Hollow Pumice Man RR

As always, I never JUST race. There is always a reason behind it.

1. It was a small, some-what local race with interesting people and "flair". 

2. The Aussie style Olympic - 750 meter open water swim, 15k bike and a 5k run X2. That's right! I got to jump back into the water and do it all over again! It was anything but the same ol' mundane race. It was new and exciting!

Pre Race

I kidnapped my room mate for the weekend to support my crazy racing endeavor. The 2.5 hr commute to (excuse the phrase) Butt-F*** Egypt aka Pine Hollow ended up taking us 3.5 hrs. My Google map directions landed us on a closed road up in the mountains. Luckily my room mate is a smart cookie and used her Iphone to find us a route in the right direction. I think this was the first time ever that an Iphone had a signal when my Blackberry did not. 

Alas, we arrive in the beautiful, yet secluded Pine Hollow. A friend of mine hooked us up with a sweet A-frame cabin. Check out our view from our door step!

Here I am infront of the little cabin.

It was little but pretty pimp. Inside fit 2 beds, a sink, dishes, coffee maker, stove top, fridge and a heater/AC. This was campin' like a Pizzimp'!

Apparently I had too much energy.

Room mate and I relaxed the night away eating corn chips and fake guacamole. She bought a dip and didn't look at the ingredients. Upon inspection we learned the dip was mostly made up of coconut oil. Ugh. The green slim with the tortilla chips made for some pretty tasty fat and carb loading, if I do say so myself! 

The only thing the cabins didn't have were bathrooms. Those we had to walk to. But they were "real" toilets and not just a hole in the ground. 

Right outside the bathroom there's a sign that states "Dial 911 for emergency" but the phone next to the sign had been ripped out of the wall. I found that amusing. Room mate was trying to get ET to phone home.

Race day!

I awoke rested with a solid 8.5 hrs of sleep. 

There's many things about this race that I should have been nervous about. 

1. I haven't been in open water in almost a year. Lord only knows the last time I tried on my wetsuit. 

2. How were my feet going to react in 62-64 degree water temp?

3. How was I going to survive the second swim sans wetsuit?

4. I was trying out my new Specialized cycling Tri shoes....for the first time. 

Yet none of these things concerned me. What did concern me was my foot. The same foot I fractured months ago was giving me "phantom" pains near my big toe. This was really a mind f***. I have arthritis in my feet. Sometimes when the weather acts up my feet hurt. It's not an injury but at the time I don't really know what it is. I decided to do a 10 min warm up run to test out my feet. They felt ok. I figured that I would give it a go and if anything "hurt" like it did last time I would stop immediatly. Ultimately if I was already injured there wasn't jack-s*** I could do about it now.  

The race was small. Maybe 50-60 people. I suited up into my Helix.

I've lost 10-12 lbs since I bought this suit. It's now too big :( 

The race had a mass start (sprinters and aussie style oly's). I love these. I started in the front and managed to end in the front pack. Woot! Woot! Go me! Sighting wasn't an issue, nor was any kind of "open water shock". Again, I'll thank my parents for throwing me in lakes when I was a kid. Got to teach your children how to love the water from any early age!

 Here I am running out of the first swim. I talked the race director into letting me wear my TYR Sharkfin swim cap. 

T1 - first time around. My feet were frozen solid!

The bike course was awesome! The first couple miles were pretty flat with a few descents. Perfect for the aero position and achieving free speed. The hills and rollers picked up mid-way through to the end. The route had almost no traffic and was very well marked. I'd say it's one of my favorite bike race course. I think there is something wrong with my bike fit. My right quad cramped severely. This is not the first time this has happened. It usually happens on longer (3+hr) or high intensity rides. No worries, I have an appointment to get it corrected :). Anywho....The bike cramped my right quad bad! 

Starting the run was brutal. My quad was cramped and I still couldn't feel my feet which made me worry. 2/3 of the way in I generated enough internal heat to defrost my feet, and they felt ok. I finished the run feeling strong and avg'ing 7:39 min pace.

And there I go back into the water! Sans Wetsuit!

Oooooeeee! The water was cold! I had initial cold water shock but it dissipated quickly. I started swimming hard. I zoned out the chilly water. I throughly enjoyed the 2nd swim. It felt good to be free of a constricting wetsuit. The chilly water actually helped the cramping in my right quad. The only downside was I that I could feel my body position go to crap when I had to lift my head up to sight. 

I came out of the water  to have the little girl with paddle tell me I was in 4th position, 2nd girl overall. 

Again I hop on my bike and attack the course. Well, ok....you got me. "Attack" is embellishing it a little. My quads were still pretty beat up. I ended up avg'ing almost 10 watts per lower on avg my second time around. Blah! It would have been helpful to have a rabbit in sight to chase!

The last run felt better then the first. I think the fact that I was able to feel my feet helped a ton. 

I managed to avg 7:45 pace - didn't loose much on the second run around.

I finished in 4th place overall and 2nd female overall. Each transition was very slow. I would have closed the gap or possibly beaten the girl who took 1st IF I would have gotten my act together in the T-Zones. It's something I can learn from. After a year and a half off I need practice. 

This was well put on race and a ton of  wacky WTF?! fun. It's an event I would highly encourage local athletes to check out as a break from the norm - Pine Hollow Tri

I recovered in my fancy Zoot Compression Tights

A day later my energy is a bit low but my body surprisingly feels great. 

Thanks Bryan for a great race. Thanks Jesse for being a great room mate, friend and supporter. 

Holiday Weekend

Friday - AM Run/Drills

10 min warm up

Lots o' stretching

4 x 40 jumps /jumping rope in place

4 x 20 high knees (ugh!)

4 x 20 donkey kicks

4 x 20 butt kickers

One lap around track w/6 x stopping to lean forward/backward and run to get body position feel.

15 min easy run around Nike bark chip trail. Oh my, I forgot how hard it is to run on hilly bark chip.

Evening -

15 mins of core strengthening

1500 yd swim

w/u

3 x 100 free

200 pull

100 kick 10/20

10 x 50 - 25 drill/25 free; alternate fist and finger drag

3 x 100 descend

c/d 100

Saturday AM Run

Got up extra early to get my run in before breakfast w/my momma!

40 mins on Wildwood trail. The forest was still pretty dark when I started!
I tested out my new Saucony Peregrine's.

Love these shoes on the trail! They still have a low heel-to-toe drop (4mm) which helps promote natural running. I loved how the tread gripped the ground. I never felt out of control on a very muddy trail. These cool shoes also have gator attachments, if you fear mud. My feet/socks stayed dry and warm. I give them an A+!

Mmmmmmmmm- Bob's Red Mill breakfast with mom! We shared the ham and hashbrown casserole. It is to die for! I had gluten free french toast and 1/2 of a gluten free marion berry scone.

So yummy! After breakfast I stocked up on chia seed. You can't beat $3.97 a lb. I think I walked away with 5lbs. I'm seriously surprised I have turned into a chia.

Afternoon bike- 2:34hrs / 47mi

The plan was to go for 3-4 hrs. Forecast called for 50% rain and hail. Awesome. Do you know that currently Anchorage Alaska has warmer/drier weather then Portland Oregon? This is starting to get ridiculous.

My ride was exceptionally vivid. I rode by a sea of red.

A sea of yellow.

Um, then a sea of black came overhead and I didn't stick around long enough to take a picture. I was assaulted by pellets of hail. WTF?! Let me tell you what. Hail f***ing hurts at 25+mph. Hurts like a mother****er. After the hail let up the rain came down. I was pissed on for another 20 mins. At this point I called the ride over and took my tail home.....as fast as I could.

Sunday AM - Core, Aqua Run and Swim

15 mins of core strengthening

30 mins of Z2 aqua running (thank God I don't have to do long sets of this anymore!)

2000yd swim

w/u - 500 pull

12 x 50 (10r) - 25 drill, 25 free

(Rotate: cu, fdrag, and; fist)

8 x 100 (15r) - 2 sets of 4 x 100

set =

1st - 75 easy, 25 z5

2nd - 50 easy, 25 z5, 25 easy

3rd - 25 easy, 25 z5, 50 easy

4th - 25 z5, 75 easy

c/d - 100 kick

This rounded off a nice 11,400yd swim week :D

Room mate and I spent the rest of the day kickin' around town. First we hiked up Multnomah Falls.

During the hike I learned that my knickers were see-though! Oh my!

Garmin reported back 1500ft of elevation gain in 1.5 miles up to the top. Nice. Then it was off to Aztec Willies for some smokin' TexMex and margaritas. We finished off the day catching The Hangover 2.

It was highly predictable but funny none-the-less. I'll never look at Shitake mushrooms the same.
Ew! Ew! Ew!

Monday - Long Bike

3:53hrs / 70.3 miles

With only a 20% chance of rain I was able to get in my long bike ride - without getting drenched. My goal was to negative split the ride. After analyzing past rides I've learned that

I've been starting too hard and dying at the end. This is out of character for me. In the past I've always been one to end strong. But with a year+ off of official training and or racing, habits will change.

The only way to successful gage the negative split is to have a power meter and to go off watts. Lucky for me I have one. :) I've said it before and I'll say it again, the power meter is the best training investment I have ever made. I split my 4 hour ride by hour intervals. The first was the easiest. The 2nd hour actually ended up being my strongest. 3rd fell behind the second but not by much, and was still higher then the first. The 4th was stronger than the 3rd and just fell a bit short of the 2nd. I finished feeling strong. Over all I'm very happy with my training day. I feel as if I accomplished the workout I set out.

I'm sold on a new malto concoction. Instead of mixing some kind of sugar free Crystal Light or Hawaiian Punch (ugh, sweets provoke acid issues several hours in) I mixed in.....chicken broth. The taste was a little odd at first but I quickly got used to it. I had constant energy the entire time. No highs, no lows. Steady power and energy. I didn't find myself dreaming of killing one of the nearby cows to eat after the ride either. :)

When Nature Calls

I did an over does on Waffle Wednesday. What is Waffle Wednesday you ask? The last Wednesday of every month the staff brings in waffle fix-in's and well, we eat waffles all day at work. Most of us are endurance athletes. What else would you expect? I brought in my favorite gluten free cornbread batter and went a little overboard. I ended up throwin' down 5 ham and cheddar stuffed waffles (medium sized)

and one cornbread coated in pure maple syrup. This was spread throughout a full work day.

Long run for the week – 1 hour on the Wildwood Trail accompanied by Miss Hello Kitty.

Eh, 20 mins in and I regretted Waffle Wednesday. It's going to take some time to train my tummy how to run on a full stomach again. Thankfully I was running in nature when nature called. My tummy and I may have not been in agreement but my legs and feet were on board. I jumped across rocks and trees, and slid through massive amounts of mud....all without falling on my tail! My legs were lovin' me.

Recovered with the best soup at The fresh Thyme Soup Company. This place has a lot of gluten free treats. Mmmmm, they are amazing. After sampling a few different soups I ended up with a Caribbean Chicken.

 Hello Kitty went with the Bean Beef Chili (my 2nd choice!). Gluten free cornbread shellacked in honey accompanied our soups. The best part was the warmed gluten free brownie topped with crushed Butterfinger and a scope (or two!) of vanilla ice cream.

Ironically I woke up 1.5 lbs lighter the next morning. 

Thursday AM Spin – easy z2. More self help books. And guess what? They are helping! I am not at all embarrassed by self help. Strengthen the mind and the body will follow.

Thursday PM Swim – after 10 mins of core strengthening I hit the pool for my long swim of the week. 

warm up

300 -pull

100 kick – ;30 hard/ ;30 easy

200 free

300 - paddles and buoy

Main Set

3 x 800 - descending - mission accomplished! In fact the last 800 was an 800 PR!

c/d

100 kick easy

3400yds total

I'll say it once again. The large swim volume is paying off!

HTFU

"That's what she said."

What exactly does this mean to you? Do you think it's something that you can get better at? Or do you think we are born with this ability? 

HTFU to me means that there is no “excuse”.You deal the hand that is dealt.

I actually believe that you can not train to get better at this. I also do not think it's something that is genetic.

I believe that the mental strength to not live in “excuses” comes from repetitive loss and or hardship. When you lose something or someone, or are constantly against all odds, you have to learn how to dig deep within yourself to move on.....

When this happens enough it becomes habitual. It's rawness, like under cooked meat. 

Meat....mmmmm. “HTFU” is bittersweet. When life/relationships/training and racing gets ugly, I have what it takes to rise above. The bloody sweetness factor. The peppery bitterness comes from 30+ years of digging deep. F***, I'm 30.

Tidbits of the last couple days

Sunday - 45 min trail run along Wildwood with 2 badass friends.

Monday - AM 30 min recovery aqua run. THANK GOD these are becoming far and few between.

Monday - 10 mins of core strengthening.

PM Swim. I wore my camo shark swim cap to scare off Judy (instructor) and the aqua ladies. I wouldn't be so negative towards them if they actually used the time to workout, rather then socialize.

2700 yards

w/u - 10 x 50 (15r)

400 pull w/paddles

200k

4 x 200 (20r) -z2, odd 25 do cu w/fist, even 25s reg

500 z2

c/d - 300p

I shared the pool with my favorite swimmer. Why is she my favorite? She always brings her Ipod with kick ass tunes. Love this woman!

Tuesday - AM Swim

I have to get up at 4:30 to start my swim by 5am. STUPID 24HR Fitness closes the pool from 6am-10am Tues and Fri to clean. Seriously? Why can they not clean at midnight? Or maybe after 7am or 8am when typical US Masters is done with? Because 24HR Fitness hates swimmers. I am sure of this.

1800 yards total

w/u - 200fr, 300p

12 x 50 (20r)- 3 sets of 4x50

each set=

1st- breath every stroke one side

2nd- breath every 3rd stroke

3rd- breath every 4th stroke

4th- breath every 5th stroke

400fr- every 4th 25 do fdrag

200k- 30sec easy, 30sec hard

c/d - 100p

I was tired and flip turned into the wall....not once but twice. These swims within 12hrs apart are challenging. The lack of sleep didn't help. Tried the new chocolate raspberry GU Roctane. Mmmmmm - it was delicious! Went home and laid down for an hour before I had to get back up for work.

Tuesday PM Bike - 90 mins of rolling hills. Challenging ride. Issues breathing and a sour tummy. Somehow I managed to pull out decent watts despite the oxygen restrictions.

Recovered getting sushified with my roommate.

A Panini Of Sorts

It happens to us all. It was only a matter of time. Saturday I had my first meltdown. It was nothing spectacular. No cursing, bike throwing or crying. I felt like more of a half-assed grilled cheese without any special sauce or toppings.

Saturday morning started off well enough. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to attack the 3100yd swim on the schedule.

w/u - 300 pull, 100k

10 x 100 (20r) - first seven z2, last three z3

20 x 50 (10r) - z2, alt each 50 with catch up and free

5 x 100 (10r) - build each to z4

c/d - 200 easy

 

With 2300yds

(w/u - 200 pull easy

1 x 1000; every 4th 25 fist/ 1 min rest

2 x 500/ 30 sec rest (descending and fast then 1000 split)

c/d - 100 pull easy) less then 12hrs prior, the 3100yd swim attacked my ass. There goes my bright eyes and bushy tail.

I went home and ate a solid breakfast. Took care of a few chores and got in a very short 20-30 min catnap. Enough sleep to to wake up in drool but not enough to really feel asleep at any given point. I shoveled in a few caramel rice cakes heavily coated in PB and met my friend Alanna for a ride.

The ride is where my grilled cheese got burnt. I'm trying to piece together the error of my ways and figure out what the turning point was. There are so many factors; it's hard to know if it was just one, a combination, or just a “bad day”.

Highlight/Lowlights

*There was nothing outstanding in terms of distance, time or elevation gain. 56 mi with a little over 3100ft of climbing. 2 solid 1000ft climbs w/no attacks, a lot of rolling hills and a stretch of flat land with craptastic paving. “F” you Sauvie's Island. 4Hrs w/Carnage – 3:30 pedal to the metal. Finished in low Z2 avg/ low Z3 norm avg per watts.

*For the first time in forever I hit energy lows. I was using a new bottle to hold my malto and for some reason my malto didn't mix evenly. At the end of the ride I found a clump of it stuck to the bottom. My bottle was filled with 800 kcal. I drank my 80kcal increments every 20 minutes. I wonder how much of the clump (caloric#) was stuck at the bottom. The poor mix may have made a deficit early on.

*Allergies were in fully swing. My eyes matched my red Oakley's and my nose was a snot rocket machine. H-O-T! I was careful not to hit my riding partner.

*Dark clouds taunted but the rain stayed away. My Little Hotties kept my feet toasty. For every low point I picked myself up with a positive. The weather was dry, I could feel my feet and I had a great riding partner.

*My lats ached from the swim. Aero for the 40 min loop around Sauvies hurt. A few times I sat up to stretch. They responded with a whine in the form of pain and fatigue.

*I had asthma issues. The first time in almost a year and a half. The only thing I can think that would provoke the attack was maybe my allergies combined with the climbing. I was hit the hardest during the last 1000ft climb up Germantown. In my easiest gear I struggled up that stupid road. 20 minutes uphill was not ok. My airflow was shallow. My lungs wouldn't open up enough to get a big enough breath in. It took what felt like forever to recover once I reached the top.

*Once we crest the top I asked my riding mate which way she wanted to go home. We could either take a short cut home and shave off climbing and an additional 20-30 mins, OR we could go home the way we came....which would mean more climbing and more time in the saddle. At this point I could care less what we ended up doing. I was most concerned with how she felt. She was 3 weeks post IM Australia and technically still in recovery. Miss Hello Kitty was in a much better state then I was. Her reply was that the training for her race was done. This was my training. It that was exactly what I needed to hear. I decided to HTFU and go the long way home. I can't short-cut a race now, can I?

I dug deep and managed to keep a smile even when I felt like crying. No childish bike throwing or cursing. Sometimes these are the BEST training days. Live and learn. It's good to get them out of the way before race day. So what will I do differently in the future?

1.Always carry my inhaler

2.I'm stick with my old malto bottles (they're still good :)

3.Going to experiment with my wattage range. A decreased avg might be needed. This was my first long bike after a long swim.

I'm thankful for having such an awesome riding buddy on such a challenging day.