Morning run

1.6 mile warm up to track
2 x 1600s at 8 min/miles
1.6 mile cool down back home.

5.2 miles

Ugh, my run workouts are just teasing me.
Hour long pilates class tonight.

Last week of taper and random Vegas party pics

Last week of taper, thank God!
Today is another recovery day. My body is starting to feel antsy and I am getting irritable. I can't bike commute all week, I haven't swam in over a week and I'm limited on short 3-4 mile runs for the next 2-3 days....then I just sit and try to rest and relax. Ha!
Work is keeping me focused and super busy which helps with the restlessness my body is experiencing.
I can't wait for race day!

Here are a few pics from my last night in Vegas


Right to Left, Tiff, Marilyn, me


And here I am racing up to the club on an escalator in Steve Maddens. WTF was I thinking?


We're all so lit here, I had to go black and white


Hehe, dude was real and I think Tiff thought the bottle was as well!


Grand Finale - Arial Shot!

Inter Bike, Vegas and a Training Recap

Highlights

*Dinner and desert at Sushi Roku.
Tried a new tuna jalapeño roll, top of the line octipi, and a few other so delish rolls that I can’t remember the name of. Also had a to die for blood orange martini and this little number…banana flambé. Mmmm, mmm, good.


*Meeting product designers, learning the science, design and testing behind athletic apparel. Giving back input that might change their creations. How cool is that?!

*Going to the bathroom at the convention center and finding a numbers puzzle on the toilet paper. Very nice touch IMO, it’s nice to have something to do when your on the pot for awhile. Lol


*Collecting all kinds of supplements to train with – Cliff bars, and protein balls (new winter 08), Luna bars, Lara bars, Vespa (amino energy gel), GU with Roctane, Power bars, Power Gel Blasts, Jelly Belly sports beans and Nuun.

*The jalapeño bacon omelet I created during one of the breakfast buffets.

*Meeting pro’s and Bejing Olympic athletes. It’s very refreshing to see how humble they are and get to touch them to know they are actually real.

*Cool hotel room. Massive King sized bed. I tried to lie on it diagonally and I still couldn’t take up the whole thing. Cozy plush bathrobe. Starbucks coffee in room : ) .

*Meeting the Luna women’s cycling team and the Cliff bottle of wine. Woot! Woot!

*Banana saki martini, Tom Kha seafood soup

*Checking out all the BAD ASS Bikes! Personal favorites are below.
Felt “Team Chipotle “ argyle print.


This beautiful Orbea (might be my next bike ☺)
Carbon Orbea


Scott Plasma



Cervelo P4 – cool but nothing THAT special – check out all the silly men behind the pic drooling.


Really liked the bronze chain on this Cervelo


10 Seat Tandom, could you imagine how fast you could fly on that?!


Love the Colnago (This is tied with the Orbea as my next bike)


*Pearl Izumi banner – How cool is that?!


*I tried to get to ride the Jelly Belly bike but was told I couldn’t : ( Oh well, got a pic and sport beans instead.


*Check out these Sidi shoes – over 100,000 miles



*Going to dinner at Canaletto (Venetian) with Sugoi. Enjoyed great food and wine, but the frosting on the cake was the people I was with. Everyone was kind and generous and had great training/athletic stories and backgrounds to share. I was very impressed with the owner and founder, not only did he create Sugoi but was also founder of Pearl Izumi. The technology and science that goes behind their athletic wear is defiantly top of the line. Our sales rep did a great job of breaking down the technology of all the fabrics and pieces. Check out the view from our private dinner room….again, how cool is that!?

Oh yea, the gelato was the bomb!

*Beer thirty (4:30) everyday, getting a shot of whiskey at Knolly bikes.

*Waking up and getting my training in before work.

*Talking to different suppliers/vendors about funds they donate to charitable organizations. This is a good thing to see. Sidi donates a good portion of sales to Breast Cancer; they even have a breast cancer pink shoe!

*Having my girlfriends from FB.net kidnap me at 6:00pm on Friday evening. I was supposed to fly home but after an “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” from Margaritaville I somehow changed my flight to the next day. Time to get the party started!

*Enjoying a Hurricane with my girls at Planet Hollywood, then shopping at Bebe.

*LMFAO, watching Tiff carry my 50+ lb suitcase down the street in dirt and gravel rockin Steve Madden heels. Luv ya girl….oh and a shot out to Marylin for carrying my Sugoi bag. Come on now, I had been on my feet working for 12 hours days, 4 days in a row.

*Racing up the escalator in a dress and hells. (I have a pic of this and will post as soon as I get it) Dancing the night away at some club at Planet Hollywood. The escorted service in was nice as well.

Bloody Mary’s before my flight home.


Lowlights –

*Going to bed before 9:00pm 3 out of 4 nights in Vegas. This was a FIRST for me…it was also a first to be sober 90% of the trip. But you do what you need to do to make sure you A. Accel at work and B. Get your training in.

*Ugh, the $8 dried out chicken wrap for lunch.

*Going to dinner and drinks alone. There were a few people I could have gone out with but ultimately I was tired and didn’t feel like hooking up with anyone on the trip. So I ate and went to sleep. I guess I’m getting used to this whole eating alone thing, it’s happening a lot.

*Painful feet after dancing 4 hours in Steve Maddens.

*Energy lows throughout the day, ugh….lack of food is NOT a good thing.

*Having the airplane try to charge me $25 because my suitcase was over 50lbs.....all because of catalogs! Thankfully the staff was nice enough to provide me with a box to ship them in, so I didn't have to shell out the $$$.

Weekly Training recap

Tuesday – 1 mile warm up, 5 miles at “marathon race pace” 8:13s

Thursday – 1 mile warm up, 3 x 1600’s at 7:13 with 2 min flots, total 5 miles

Today (Sunday) – 10 mile run, PDX waterfront loop, easy pace.

That’s it; next Sunday is marathon day. Really need to rest up this week and put in work come Sunday. Here’s a run pic, one week out!

Just another manic Monday

Not really :) Today was pretty non-eventful.
Bike commute to and from work, round trip 32 miles.....PowerTap decided not to pick up this morning, getting a low battery error on the CPU so I'm sure once I replace it things will be all good again. I thought after running 18 miles yesterday that this morning's ride would be dreadful, but it wasn't, actually it was surprisingly easy. On the way home I hit almost all green lights, Booyah! As I turn right this B!$%* A$$ dog runs up to the edge of the fence, jumps up on it and barks loudly. EVERY time I ride pass the house this happens, you would think I'd get use to it. But nope, still scares the daylights out of me and I almost fall off my bike. One day I'm going to pack a steak and throw it over just so it will STFU.

Random songs that are on auto pilot in my head
Whatcha Think About That - Pussycat Dolls feat/Missly Elliot
Whatever You Like - T.I.

I've got a 5 mile run at marathon race pace (8:15s) first thing in the morning tomorrow...then I'm off to Vegas for Inter Bike. I'll have my camera and Macbook with me. I'm hoping to blog my findings....depending on time, I'm booked with appointments from 9am-9pm, ugh. At least I'll get some good grub from vendor dinners :) Wish me luck!

Stress log and the start of taper week 2

Does anyone use a Daily Stress Log? Since over training is my #1 kryptonite and I need to manage intensities better with IM, I decided to build one. I've been using it for two weeks now and find it highly beneficial. Each day I rank my levels of sleep quality, fatigue, motivation (key indicator for me), joint soreness, muscle soreness, and general levels of stress (ie, work, relationships, life in general) and come to a stress rating. I've found this little tool very useful and took a much needed unscheduled recovery yesterday. A world of good it did. I work up bright and early with a ton of motivation and training excitement today. :)
If you don't have a stress log, build one.

Sunday - Start of marathon taper week 2
30 minutes Pilates
18 mile trail run along Wildwood, starting at mile marker 24 1/2 and worked my way backward.
Can I just tell you how good 18 miles feels relative to 22-24? I had a fantastic run through the forest this morning. Started early, it was foggy with drizzle. Fall is in the air, leaves were turning, absolutely beautiful. Occasionally I'd hit a 30 second downpour but quickly learned that was due to wind shifting the rain from the trees. I was even lucky enough to stubble upon good company for the last 2 miles which carried into breakfast. Mmmmmm Whole wheat blueberry man-cakes and a Bloody Mary "Breakfast of Champions!"

Exhausted

I am so fricking tired. What a week I've had. Started a new job, which I love. It's fun and exciting but there is a lot to learn, a lot of things I want to bring to the table (all in good time) and all of acclimation. I started bike commuting for the first time ever. Rode to work 3 out of 5 days;
Commuting
Monday, Day 1 - swam, then road to work and back on a very hill route with lots of cars and stupid traffic lights - FRUSTRATING day. I would rank this a 20 on my daily stress rankings. 20 miles
Tuesday - Day 2 - Better then Monday. Took a different course, more mileage, less traffic and lights....got lost on the way to and from work. 34 miles
Friday - Day 3 - Kicked ass! Used the same route as day 2 but with slight modifications. Got to work 25 minutes early so I hit the countryside for some hill/speed work, added an additional 8 miles. Ate really yummy Hawaiian Potluck food which inflicted wrath on my tummy later in the day. Again, sugar and white flour = axis of evil. Rode home with a sugar crash, ugh. 38.5 miles total.

I got home late Friday only to pack for Saturday and tri to go right to sleep. A little melatonin can be your best friend. Come 4am my alarm goes off, ugh, already? Time to get up and go volunteer at the USAT Nationals out at Hagg Lake. Even though I was physically and mentally tired my spirit was VERY excited. I love volunteering for triathlons. I think it's important to give back to the community and the community gives back to me by allowing me to removing timing chips from HOT sweaty triathletes. Ok, they're not always all hot but this was nationals, so 99% of the athletes did have amazing bodies....I'm not sure if I was more attracted to their physique or their times. Who am I kidding? I'm all about the time/data/numbers! :D Anywho, volunteered from 6am-11:30, worked timing chip hand outs and then removals. During the in between time I got to speak with the RD and several of the USAT organizers. I learned some pretty cool things. I was going to ride or run after volunteering but found out they had closed the course off since the elites would be racing later in the afternoon, so instead I opted to go home.....and now take a much needed nap.

There must have been a blue moon.....

when I started my run speed work at 5:30 this morning. Part of stupid taper is cutting down mileage and intensity. I cut down my 1600 (7:13 pace) repeats from 5 to 4 but only ended up doing 3. Come minute 3 of my 3rd mile repeat I was cursed with a crippling side stitch. I rarely get these, in fact I don't ever remember experiencing one during track before. Such pain! I focused on Yoga breathing, looooong deep breaths through the nose and exhale through the mouth. This doesn't work so well when your deprived of oxygen. I stuck it out to finish the mile then immediately stopped. No cool down, side wasn't having that. After I got my breath I spent my new found time on Pilates core work and the foam roller. 15 minutes later I thought about doing the last repeat. I just didn't want to not finish the workout, but reality is that work have been considered as "junk" miles. The whole point was to go fast, short recover and go fast again. I had recovered for too long...oh well.

10 min warm up
3 x 1600's 7:13; 2 min recovery
4.60 miles total

15 min Pilates core and foam rolling.

Per Chad's request here is a pic of my new Sugoi bike shorts, I'm also rockin' 2XU compression recovery socks just because. Seriously though the Sugoi shorts are the BEST bike shorts I have ever worn, my tail felt really good on the bike. I can't wait to try them out next month on my century ride. The Zoot shoes are being mailed, as soon as I get them I'll post up pics :)

Random Stuff

2nd day commuting - My boss is bad ass for more reasons then one. First off she sent me a link to a great cycling route site. I can't for the life of me remember it now but I'll send it home and post it up tomorrow. It cut the traffic and lights in my commute by over half. I can actually say I had a pleasant commute to and from home. I did happen to get lost both times and added an additional 2 miles each way but that's my own damn fault, I'm not great with directions. Total commute distance was 33.5 miles. I lost all the power data from the morning but it wasn't anything special to post. I've realized that commuting will never provide good posting data, ie training, I'll always have some kind of comical observation to talk about it. But as for training and the Power Tap, well that will be left to the indoor trainer, distance rides and hill work. Reason she's badass #2, she hired me. I LOVE my job and am pretty much willing to live there. Reason #3, free espresso's, latte's, mocha's, any kind of coffee drink you name it, free all day long. I've been jacked up on caffeine since Monday, I can't come down! Badass #4 - Free pair of $150 Sugoi white cycling shorts :) I was a bit hesitate since they are white and rather sheer but has double paneling/opaque in the need places. Surprise, surprise they actually looked good on me. I've received a few cat calls running but today riding Cadence was a first. I rocked them all the way home. Badass# 5 , met up with our Zoot rep and got a few pair of racing shoes ($140). Oh yea....and I got a bike light and mirror. Lol and I'm only on day 3! I can't wait for Inter-Bike next week.

Another day..2nd of my marathon taper

Can I really even say that? Day 2? I've got a 3 week taper and the first week, well I'll let you decide if you really think it's a taper. I'm aiming to cut run mileage down by a quarter of my longest week...and "tri'ing" to take swim and bike easy. Lol, whatever

Morning run
10 min warm up
6 miles at "marathon race pace" 8:13's

This felt EASY; Polar claims my AVG HR was 149, yea maybe with the warm up stretch and cool down BUT race pace was betwwen 150-160, if I can keep that for 26.2 miles I'll be in great shape. This run felt really good.

Evening - 1 hour Pilates

Let me tell you something, this new commute is KILLING me. Regardless if I'm on Cadence or driving my car the traffic pisses me off like no other. Things need to change. Thinking about moving closer to work :) Nice area, great to bike and run around.

My first commuting to work!

I had to drive to the gym this morning since I don't have my headlight yet (work perk).

Morning swim

250 warm up
Intervals - Effort (H) Hard, E (Easy)

50 (25H/25E)
100 (50H/50E)
150 (50H/50E/50H)
200 (50E/25H/50E/50H/25E)
250 (100E/100H/50E)
300 (100E/50H/50E/100H)
350 - moderate
300 (100E/50H/50E/100H)
250 (100E/100H/50E)
200 (50E/25H/50E/50H/25E)
150 (50H/50E/50H)
100 (50H/50E)
50 (25H/25E)

Total yardage 2950

This swim was hard and the distance felt longer, I could have swore it was meters but I know all 24hr Fitness pools are yards, at least in the Portland area. I'm sure it was just swimming some place new.

Post swim I made an expedient transitions.....Ahahahha! Ok, who am I kidding here? No one. My PLAN was to make a quick transition; what it turned into was a 20 min struggle to get al my S%#$! in my backpack. Funny thing, I weighed my backpack before I left the house, this mother$#@%&^ weighed in at 16.5 lbs.....and that didn't even account for the food and wet towel and purse I had to cram in post swim. So we're probably looking at 20lbs when all was said and done. And I thought during T1 was crazy, never experienced vertigo and balance issues like I did today. Thank goodness I won't usually have to carry that much crap. Since it was my second day on the job I still had stuff to bring to work. I couldn't leave my 32oz carton of Almond Milk at home, could I? Anywho, I guess you could say the ride to work was adventurous. Didn't have much energy and climbing those damn hills with that stupid bag didn't help anything.

It was HOT on the way home, reached the 90s today. Luckily I was able to unload a good portion of my stuff and only had to haul 10lbs or so back. Ride home was frustrating. Drivers are inconsiderate and rude. I'd think that at least motorcyclists would have common respect, but nope, none what so ever. I had 3 guys take their "free" right and cut me off as I was descending. It's only "free" if no one is coming you A-holes. Somehow I made it home in one piece.

Total ride round trip was 24 miles with a ton of climbing, idiot drivers and one too many red lights.
I'm going to have to work on upping my caloric intake again. I feel fatigued today.
BTW, got a bad ass Bolero free at work today :) I <3 my job.

Oh yea and I wanted to share some graphs I got of my HIM summer training season. Enjoy!

What a difference a day makes

Sunday - Recovery!
Saturday night my good friend Shannon called me up to hit up the PDX night life. Ice bath/Epsom salt rub/soak and rollers had done their magic; around 6 my legs were feeling pretty damn good. Time to kick it in the city. A Bloody Mary here, a few chocolate kisses (drink) there and kickin it with Shannon! It's a guarantee good times for all. After many hours of socializing (ok, ok, flirting, he was a Cat 1 hot-tie, how could I not?) the fatigue from my run set in and I hit that dreadful wall. Just like the story ends, at the stroke of midnight I picked up my shoes and ran barefoot 12 blocks to my Cougar which I worried would turn into a pumpkin. I wish I had thought to leave a brown leather pump from Mr. Cat 1 to come find me, but alas my main objective was to get home into my cozy bed.

Awoke Sunday feeling energized. I knew if I pushed this feeling I'd end up hitting an OT wall later in the week, so I opted to take a ME day. I was sooooo excited to find my FAVORITE Pilates instructor Tracy teaching Yoga this morning. I haven't tried Yoga since I pulled my abdominal which created muscle spasms and made me think I had a hernia. Muscle relaxers to the rescue! I knew I'd be safe trying Yoga again with Tracy teaching, she's amazing. I went to class and spoke with her before hand. Even though my legs felt pretty damn good I was concerned how the run would impact my flexibility. She provided some great advice which lead to a very successful Yoga experience. I'm also pretty happy to find out she's teaching an evening Pilates class during the week since I can no longer attend my lunch time class. Post Yoga I hit up the store for fuel supplies and then ran a few errands. The rest of the day was spent napping, cleaning, cooking and prepping everything for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my first day commuting to work. I'm going to get up and hit the pool first for my swim, then bike to work and of course bike home. I'm really looking forward to it, should be a beautiful day.

I leave you with pictures of my fuel infusions

Whole wheat PB & Jelly Muffins...mmm,mmm, good.

The base start - Lots O Onions!

Soups a cookin'

Final Outcome - French Onion Soup with Toasted Flax/Whole Grain Herb Bread topped with Asiago/Parmesan/Romano cheese blend

What one will do with a 4 hour block of time.

There are many things to get accomplished over the course of 4 hours, instead I choose the "easy" path of doing absolutely nothing but running and punishing my body. Today was my last 20+ miler before I start my 3 week taper to the Portland Marathon. I decided to do a timed instead of distance run along Wildwood. Usually I start at mile marker 24 1/4 and work my way backward for an hour and then forward again repeat....this part of the trail is most forgiving. Don't get me wrong, it has hills, every part of Wildwood has hills; but for the most part the 6 mile stretch is not that bad. I should have done that INSTEAD of starting at mile marker 9 1/4 and running forward for an hour and back. My LORD! I felt like I was up and down none stop for 4 hours! Mucho thanks to Jenny for being the tough cookie she is and running with me for the first 2 hours. 2 days prior she couldn't run due to a rolled ankle and she was out today attacking the trail with me, ankle brace and all; now that's mental toughness. The 2nd hour running was challenging. I was tired and my back and feet hurt, plus for the first time I started to experience vertigo running, too much dodging of roots, switch backs, hills and descents. Ugh! I decided to wear my new compression socks to see if they would help at all. I didn't get any leg pain, but then again I rarely do. For the first hour the socks almost felt loose and I had to pull them up twice, don't think that's supposed to happen. Also they are thin and didn't provide enough cushioning over the entire run. My arches of my feet never hurt and they did for 1/2 of this run. I will leave these socks to recovery nights and track workouts, not long distance stuff. At my 3 hour turn around I opted to finally listen to my Ipod. My body was turning on me and I really needed a distraction to keep positive. It worked for the most part. 3:20-3:40 was BAD. I was constantly running up steed ascents and then descending. The repetitious pounding was punishing. My tailbone and lower back was very sore, my feet were swollen and I could feel soft blisters peaking. The trail was beautiful but after so long I had enough and the vertigo was making my really nauseous.

4 hours and 22 1/4 miles later I finished. At LAST! 

Recovery is found with 27lbs of ice an bone chilling bath, followed up by an epsom salt soak....then quality time with the roller and stick.

Thankfully next weekend all I have is a 15-18 miler.....thank GOD. 

Kitty Kat Nap

1 hour of Pilates - noon

Talk about layer upon layers of fatigue. I was dead before and after Pilates. The swim was out of sight out of mind, until.......I went home and got an amazing hour long Kat nap in. I woke up feeling motivated and refreshed. What is one supposed to do with this new found energy? Swim but of course!

Evening swim 

 

250 warm up

2 x 50 kickboard; 10 sec rest

1 x 200 paddles; 10 sec rest

1 x 100 fins; 15 sec rest

6 x 50 drills; A-Ok, Fists, Karate Reach; 10 sec rest between

1 x 100 fins; 15 sec rest

1 x 200 paddles; 10 sec rest

2 x 50 kickboard; 10 sec rest

2 x 100 fins; 20 sec rest

1 x 500; increase speed by 100 (My Lord! This was difficult. I think the last 2 100s where the same speed. In future workouts I will do 5 x 100s and time them to make sure I get the negative split I'm looking for)

Cool down

25 x 5 pool wall dips

50 x 5 pool wall dips

50 x 5 pool wall dips

50 x 5 pool wall dips

50 x 5 pool wall dips

25 x 5 pool wall dips

Total = 2200 yards

I will not admit defeat!

Sooooo tired this morning, sooooo not feeling 1600 repeats. BUT I got up at 5am and did them anyway.

10 min warm up run
5 x 1600's at 7:13s; 120 sec float
5 min cool down.

7.15 miles total

It's nice that pace no longer hurts my legs....it still taxes my energy though. Each repeat my HR was between 183-188 = AT. #3 was hard, #4 was very hard and #5 I wanted to quit. Energy was just not there and it was a struggle to pull through the last 3 minutes on #5. But who would I be if I quit? I'm not a quitter. So on I ran, mission accomplished.
Pilates will probably own me and my afternoon swim is up in the air at this point. Depends upon how well I recover.

A few random thoughts

I am approaching a new chapter in my life. It has come time to turn the page and move on to bigger and better things. How often are we offered the career of our dreams? In an average lifetime I don’t think many get the opportunity, and for that I feel truly blessed. Not only for being recognized as the best candidate but also knowing thyself, skills and goals to make a career and lifestyle unite. Just recently I was offered a buying position with a women’s cycling and triathlon company. Really, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Well we could always ask for more money, I mean who doesn’t want to make multi billions? So yes we could always ask for more but in the end I want to make an impact in something I truly have a passion for and believe in. Not only am I going to work for the industry I race/train in but I get to utilize my analytical, planning, nerdy-data detail oriented side. I feel like I’m Charlie and I get to work at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I start on Friday and am UBER excited.

On an ending note I will mostly miss my bad ass office mate/dating coach (inside joke). Shake and Bake Randy! I got a very nice farewell lunch from my team today. I’ll miss you all.

Autumn is approaching. It’s darker earlier in the mornings (I know this since I get up between 4-5am to train!), air is crisp, leaves are turning, the sun is retiring earlier (again late training nights!)…..it is time for comfort foods, switch out the feather top mattress pad for a heated mattress pad (no I’m not 60), pumpkin and apple spice candles and training in the bone chilling conditions. It is also time to face another round of holidays alone, yet again. But alas, this year I have my fish Oscar to keep me company. We’ve bonded a lot since the last I spoke of him. He now responds positively and mocks my fish lips kisses at the edge of his bowl.

The quality of the heart; I believe everyone was born with a good heart.. The heart is an amazing muscle/organ that not only allows us to live but to have emotion. Some choose to coat their heart with thick mortar as to not allow vulnerability, others wear their heart on their sleeves and allow it to get crushed over and over again while others….well others get lost on a mis-beating path and end up diving heart first through a toxic dump and now have residue of bio-hazard waste lingering. There are sad qualities among all other the above. I think that truly knowing your self and not passing judgment on others is the only way to keep that heart glowing of positive radiance.

Try to smile more often, compliment a stranger and turn a positive into a negative. Pay it forward; you’d be surprised at the growth and outcome.

Race Pace

Confidence is restored :)

10 min warm up run 9:30 pace
7 miles at 8:13 pace; treadmill run with 92 ft of elevation gain.
8.15 miles total

Had another sleepless light. Woke up on and off again with restless legs, I hate that! Pretty sure it was due to the hilly ride the night before but oh well, what can you do? I'm going to be riding that route often so I'll just have to get acclimated to it. Finally pulled myself out of bed around 5am. Rolled out my legs, drank a cup of coffee w/an english muffin drizzled in honey and made my way off to the gym. Not much to speak of on the actual run its self. Running on the treadmill is BORING, especially keeping one pace. I threw in a few hills there and there just to change things up a bit. Portland Marathon only has an approx 150ft elevation gain...so I don't need to practice hills much but I do want to make sure that I can hold my pace when they arise. To my surprise 8:13's felt pretty easy (avg HR 164) and really comfortable, and that was with lack of sleep and much accumulated fatigue. I'm feeling pretty marathon ready.

Finally! Wattage data! :)

As soon as I got home I changed and hoped my energetic tail onto Cadence for a ride out to my new work (first day is Friday!). I'm going to try to commute 2-3 days a week and want to try out a few different routes. The route I took today was 30.3 miles round trip and VERY hilly....lots of rollers. Since I'm marathon training this ride was taken at an "easy" training level. I will probably take this way either out or back or both depending on day light. It follows main blvd's and roads that are very well lit, the only downside is a lot of traffic and horrible unsynchronized traffic lights. The elevation profile is the very top pic...I think it's a pretty small resolution but you might be able to click on it to see it larger. None of the hills were anything extreme, it just sucked major tail that whenever I would start to climb one I would start at 0 mph as I would be waiting for the traffic light to turn green. I would also have to be VERY cautious as I descend since moronic drives taking their "free" right hand turn would not pay attention to a small biker speeding down a steep descent, at least my breaks work well. As I'm riding on my way out I was thinking to myself "How badass is this? I am sitting here riding in traffic and I am taking cars as *kills* Lol, suckers....you guys are sitting in gridlock probably experiencing high blood pressure getting pissed off a traffic while this little fat burning machine goes flying by you. :) " I ended the long stretch of Murray ahead of some cars that I started 7 miles back. $%&@ fuel goes for $3.70 a gallon I wonder how much I could market 300+ watts of Kat? Hmmmm, food for thought. Anywho I was super excited to download my power data when I got home. I knew it wouldn't give me much to use for training since it was any easy ride and I had so many damn stop and goes....but I still found it cool none the less. Oh and for some reason I'm still having a hard time getting my HR to register. It's annoying the hell out of me.

Wattage stats
Speed Max 34.43, Avg Speed 15.74 (sad)
Power Watts Max 394, Avg Watts 138
Power Watts/kg Max 6.63, Avg watts/kg 2.32
Torque Max 40.11, Torque Avg 6.98
Energy expenditure 938 kcal

Power Zones
Recover 26% 30.3 min
Endurance 49.33% 57.2 min
Threshold 18.47% 21.42 min
Race Pace 4.6% 5.33 min
Max .22% 25 sec
Supra Max .11% 13 sec

Tempo Run & an afternoon dip in the pool

Morning - Tempo Run
10 min easy 9:20 warm up
5 min stretch
5 min easy 9:20 pace
10 min tempo 7:41 pace
5 min easy 9:20 pace
10 min tempo 7:41 pace
5 min easy 9:20 pace
10 min tempo 7:41 pace
5 min easy 9:20 pace

Total mileage = 7.15

Tempo felt pretty good although concerns me a bit. I held a 8:13 pace for the 6 mile duration and found it challenging at times. 8:15-8:20 is my marathon pace. I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to pull that off for 26.2 miles. I hope taper will pull a miracle out of my tail

Afternoon delight - Swimming

250 warm up

6 x 50 drills; a-ok; fist; claw
1 x 200 fins; rest 15
1 x 200 paddles; rest 15
1 x 200 buoy; rest 15

6 x 200s, rest :20 between each
#1 & 4 be speedy on the first 100 and the easy on the last (positive split)
#2 & 5 be speed on the middle 100 ( even split)
#3 & 6 be speedy on the last 100 (negative split)

100 easy

Warm down
25 x 5 wall dips
50 x 5 wall dips
50 x 5 wall dips
50 x 5 wall dips
50 x 5 wall dips
25 x 5 wall dips

Total yardage = 2,700

22.2 miles along Leif Erickson

Who goes to bed on a Friday night at 8:30 only to get up at 4:30 on Saturday morning? This girl does and I tend to think it sort of proves my dedication. After 30 minutes of Pilates, breakfast and emails I head out for another LSD run. Quiet honestly I feared this run....wow, haven't felt that way about LSD in a long time. I'm tired and I'm under weight, my sleep has been affected as has my overall energy. Once again I would be running with men and was pretty sure I'd be dropped right away. My outlook was not positive to say the least. I meet up with Darrell and David at the trail head to Leif Erickson and off we go. Leif Erickson has 1/4 mile markers along the trail and upon every mile or so I noticed Darrell checking his watch, he was pacing us. Pacing?! On an LSD? Oh the humanity! It's kind of ironic since I'm the data/numbers person of the group yet he was the one all over it. I have never in my life ran with two people who talked so much throughout the run. And you think I talk a lot, I had nothing on these boys. But for the most part I enjoyed the jibber jabber and it kept my mind off the fact my energy levels were so low. We come up to mile 11.1 and meet up with Devin who was kind enough to provide an aid station. Quickly we refilled hydration belts and fueled. I was pretty damn excited to see he had brought a jar of pickles. Mmmmm electrolytes that weren't sweet. I <3 pickles! Then it was time to head back, another 11.1 miles to go. Around mile 14 I think I lost my mind somewhere. The chit-chat from the two boys wasn't making sense. I felt like I was running much faster and a little dizzy, it was far to early in the run to feel that way. Popped a Power Gel and I felt better. Mile 15-16th I realized if I could handle running with these two I had all the mental toughness in the world, also my tummy started to growl, not a good sign. Mile 18 1/2 the two boys pick up their pace, at first I had thought I had slowed down, but after a quick pace check I knew I hadn't....it was too soon for me to push myself any further so I just stayed behind. Mile 19 and I had caught back up and by mile 20 I had passed and left them. One had hit "the wall" and the other went back to make sure everything was ok. Mile 20 and I was feeling stellar. WTF? Yea I said it, so I pushed the last two miles in. Finished 22.2 hilly miles in 3:28:20....but as Darrell (Mr. Pace setter) says it's LSD who's counting?

Last weekend I ran 24 miles and made a poor choice of not stretching, rolling or icing my legs. It took a good day or two of solid recovery. Today I was much wiser. I picked up 21 lbs of ice on the way home and soaked for 15 minutes in an ice bath. The first 5 minutes are by far the worst...then your lower body goes numb and as long as you don't move around in the tub you can tune the coldness out. I followed up the ice bath with a 25 minute hot epsom salt soak. I climbed out of the tub and my legs feel good as new......now as for my energy. It has hit a low again. I'm going to focus on lots of nutritious fuel and some good solid rest. I need to get my A game back.

Oh yes and might I add I'm looking to date a guy that has access to an ice maker (no, the refrigerator type will do), talking about industrial size or that could wire my bike trainer up to my electrical box in my home, I'd like to heat and light my home off of Kat's energy. If you happen to fall in this criteria please send me your dating resume :)

I got my baby back!

And I'm now playing with power! :) I was so excited to go on my recovery ride, come home and download my data and share it....just to realize I am a tool and didn't set up the device before I rode on it. *Banging head against the wall* Good thing it was just a recovery ride and I wasn't trying to find my FTP. I took Cadence on an easy 30ish mile ride from NW PDX out to Sauvie's Island and back. For some reason I wasn't able to get the HR to register and the speed wasn't coming up although all the other data was, cadence, time, wattage and so forth. I'm going to try to switch out some batteries and play with it some more before I take it back to River City. I wish I had my normal Polar HR on because I couldn't tell how high my heart rate was and I felt tired today. I know I wasn't pushing it but I was more tired then normal. I think that was due to the speed work on Wednesday and then yesterdays long swim, plus I haven't been on my bike since Hulaman HIM. I must eat lots and get some R&R for the rest of the day, I'm looking at another 20+ mile run tomorrow morning. Thank God I have a long vacation weekend.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, perfect temp and windy as always.
Here's some of the data I did get from power meter but was unable to download due to pure idiocy.
Max Watts 341
Avg Watts 162 (low I know!)
Time 1:41:45
Avg Cadence 79 (low again!)
Energy/Kcal 888
Distance 30.8 / 18.16mph (soooo slow)

Now back in Feb 08 I got my Vo2 done on the bike and at that time my Vo2 max was at 280 watts and my Aerobic Threshold was at 200. I'm hoping that my cycling has gotten stronger since then but only my indoor trainer will tell with a few power testings. Can't wait to do them......after the Portland Marathon.

4250 yards......

= 2.4 miles

50 rest: 10
100 rest: 10
200 rest: 15
300 rest: 20
400 rest:30
500 rest:60
400 rest:30
300 rest: 20
200 rest: 15
100 rest: 15
50 rest: 15
100 rest: 15
200 rest:30
300 rest: 20
400 rest:30
300 rest:30
200 rest: 20
100 rest: 15
50

Overall time 1:26:30; 2:02 avg 100y time includes rests.

My first 2.4 mile swim, new PR :)
This wasn't planned out and have realized that I can never be just a runner, cyclist or swimmer, I have to have multi-sport. I'm training for the up coming PDX marathon and this week has pretty much gone to shit for my runs. I made a very poor choice of drinking too much (lesson learned!) on Sunday night and the effects stayed longer then I would have liked. I was only able to get one day of run training in which consisted of mile repeats and pushed me to zone 6 which taxed the hell out of my energy. Then I made another poor mistake (note: there are many of mistakes made this week) of going for an easy recovery run in the evening = extreme fatigue...so bad I ended up taking a nose dive into my lap top by 9pm. I was going to make up my lack of run/speed work today and do a tempo after work, but when endless counts of coffee just wasn't cutting it I decided to throw in the towel and go home and take a nap instead. I have proved my endurance is up to par, and my speed is coming along very nicely, missing an extra run to allow my energy levels to recover was a better choice IMO. Although I am subject to take that statement back at anytime....as I'm always learning through trial and error. I awake from my nap feeling rested but not enough to push that tempo pace....so that's where my 2.4 mile swim came in. I've never swam 2.4 miles before and I figured it I took it nice and easy that it would be a nice recovery....and that is exactly what I got. Don't get me wrong, it is indeed a looooong swim and rather boring might I add, but it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. Maybe my efficiency in swimming is getting better, I don't know. It can't be that great since my time was still uber slow, it's a good thing I have a year or so to improve. One thing I do know is I have to get new goggles, mine hurt after so long. Plus I'm not too keen on the google eyes. I think I'm going to get the wide ones that go across the face.

And for future reference don't EVER dry your face with a towel that you used to chop jalapenos with. My eyes have been stinging for the last 45 minutes!

No, I Don't Have Spare Ribs

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! I'll apologize as I'm sure I'm offending someone at this point. How can you not laugh at this? The pig is so damn cute. BTW, I <3 bbq ribs

Evening run through Leif Erickson

Not much to say about this. It is what it was....easy 6 mile run out and back along Leif Erickson. My energy levels were low as to be expected from my speed work in the morning, and my tailbone still hurts! I need to swear off drinking, or at least drinking and dancing. I wonder if I broke it...and if I did can they really do anything to fix it?

On a side note I lost the top diamond to my monroe piercing. Since it's a oral piercing I had to go buy another quickly as it just about healed shut. Stupid little diamond set me back $125

1600 repeats

10 min warm up
5 x 1600s 7:13 pace; 2 min floats
5 min cool down.

Swimming.....

Morning swim

Warm up 250
6 x 50s; Drills; A-O-k, Fist, Karate; 10 rest

1 x 150 with paddles; 15 rest
1 x 250 build speed by 50s; 20 rest
1 x 350 with fins; 20 rest
1 x 450 hold a steady pace, 65% effort; 20 rest
1 x 100 fast and furious!; 20 rest

8 x 50s with breathing pattern per 50; every 3 and 5 strokes/bi-lateral breathing

Cool down
25 x 6 pool wall dips
50 x 6 pool wall dips
50 x 6 pool wall dips
50 x 6 pool wall dips
50 x 6 pool wall dips
25 x 6 pool wall dips

Total yardage = 2500

I had intended on doing track- 1600 repeats tonight but my stomach is still recovering from the alcohol poisoning I gave myself Sunday night. Ugh, will it ever go away? Anywho, just realized I forgot my running socks and with the pain I'm experiencing with my tummy I figure it's best I just go home and take an evening nap. Blah

Ironman Canada 09

That's it...no refunds, I'm registered. It's going to be a VERY long year.