Biricken it with Hill Repeats

16.11 mile bike / 4 mile run

Paul and I set out to attack the West Hills this morning. I had a few objectives in this workout.
1.Build power climbing hills
2.Work on fear descending
3.Acclimate body to running post bike

All three were successfully accomplished.

The Route - you can click on elevation to see the profile
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/568575883042

Started off at 27th and Thurman, headed up Lovejoy/Cornell, went up 53rd to Thompson, down Thompson, up Cornell, down Thompson, back up Thompson and then down again.
Ascended and descended 1760ft. The climbing felt good and if it wasn't for the stupid descending we could have easily done a few more repeats. A new first for me was descending down Thompson. I always go down Cornell because the grade is less intense. I have to tackle this fear somehow so I opted for Thompson. It was really foggy and slippery this morning and my bike drifted out from under me 3 times, luckily I caught myself each time. By the third descent down I was starting to feel a little more comfortable, but not enough to keep doing it. One ride at a time right? I was happy with the ride as I was able to hold 180-220 watts for climbing duration and I told my fear to STFU. I really need a new bike, my cadence is too low climbing, I would have more power if I didn't have to mash so hard. Future repeats I am going to do more challenging ascents.
Here's my power profile.....

The flats are where I was breaking and praying for life on my descents

Post ride I immediately threw on my running shoes and headed up to Leif Erickson for a LSD paced run
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/or/portland/601949932234 (again you can click on elevation profile, ascended 830 ft in 2 miles)

The first 1/2 mile felt good, then my legs asked WTF? I was doing. I told them to shut up and I kept on running. Reached two miles and headed back down. Descending felt really good. Avg'd easy 9:20s heading up and 8:15s coming down. I love running up to Leif as part of a brick, great shocker on your legs. I <3 hills.

Big Ups to Paul for being the only one down to do repeats today and for waiting for my slow tail :)

Part of my soul is at the bottom of the pool

I knew better....first I lost one of the pearl earrings my father gave me at the bottom of Wickiup Reservoir and now I lost my diamond cross at the bottom of the Hillsboro 24hr Fitness. Much more then a piece of jewelry, it was a part of me.... this swim was depressing. Someone should make goggles that have tear drainage holes, I don't know how they'd go about it but they should exist

500 warm up
2 x 100 paddles
2 x 50 buoy
2 x 100 paddles

2 x 50 long glides
2 x 25 finger drags with 25 free back
(lost jewelry, spent 15 minutes searching the pool bottom only to come up empty handed)
2 x 50 - pulls
1 x 200 - fins

Bi-lateral breathing
1 x 250 slow; breath every 5
1 x 250 fast; breath every 3
Repeat x 1

Total yardage 2500

Believe it or not on the occasion I actually have a heart. Pride hurts....loosing yourself hurts.

Thanksgiving day lsd run

Hit up WIldwood this morning for an 80 min run alone through the forrest. It was such a peaceful and beautiful morning, it was a nice time to reflect on life and everything I am thankful for. I was thrilled to have Don and Alana join me for another 90 minutes, having good company really makes the time fly by. 2hrs and 50 minutes later I was done and had run 17.5 miles....longest run for me in awhile. My legs felt good, especially good considering I rolled my left ankle 3 times and my right once, but hey, it was trail run that I didn't fall on my face, which is always a good thing. Energy was high until the mile 15 but PowerGel quickly came to my aid. Odd thing, when I finished running and took off my gloves I noticed my left hand was puffed up like a vienna sausage....an hour and a half later and I still have sausage fingers, they hurt too. I'm not sure what happened, I wore gloves so I don't think I came into connect with anything....and no other part of my body is swollen. Oh well, hopefully it will go away soon. My abs hurt really bad...this is my DOMS from cross fit. What sucks even more is that I am still sick and go into these coughing fits... every time I cough it feels like someone is punching me in the gut, it hurts :(

I've worked up a killer appetite, it's time to spend time with good friends and family....and to get my gluttony on :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving

2008 has been my best year to date, I have so much to be thankful for

I am thankful that my mother is my best friend
I am thankful that I have a finally have a relationship with my father and that the cancer is not getting the best of him
I am thankful I live in a country that allows freedom of choice
I am thankful for my health and a year of being injury free
I am thankful for my long distance friends who I may have yet to meet but played huge roles of improving life quality
I am thankful for everyone that believes that one day we will find a cure and helps do what they can to support the fight against caner
I am thankful for having my dream career
I am thankful for having an intelligent, thoughtful, caring mentor as a boss.
I am thankful for all my male training friends that allowed me to tag along when I had no female peers to train with
I am thankful for the wetsuit that keeps me a float in open water swims :)
I am thankful for having a coach that knew how to push my limits and help me achieve my goals
I am thankful for all of my friends who have stuck with me through thick and thin
I am thankful for all of my new friendships this year, may they be life long.
I am thankful that idiot George Bush is finally out the door.
I am thankful that I have finally found myself
I am thankful that hard training checks my tail in place and keeps things humble
I am thankful that I live in a day of age that we have a president of another race
I am thankful for life

Cross fit recovery

Pretty non eventful - Got up at 5 am to have a nice 90 min recovery spin. Avg'd 140 watts with a 157 HR. My legs feel pretty good as does my energy. I was highly entertained this morning by an episode of The Office (The visit to Canada) and 2 episodes of 30 Rock (my do I love Tracy Morgan and Tina Fey)....along with some music break breaks between.

Looking forward to tonight, I'm making my oh so famous apple pie.

Pain In The Park - week 4

20 min warm up run

One hour of Pain In the Park. I couldn't push myself as hard as I lost my lung to the gutter half way through, none the less I had a good time as always. This week my favorite circuit was the obstacle course through the children's playground and the tag with jumping jack/push up penalties.

Monday Monday, so good to me...Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be

A little bit of speed and power and flexibility

Monday morning - 45 min Pilates

Monday evening

Run
40 min run on the treadmill. My lungs are incased with phlegm and they couldn't take the coldness of the track tonight, so I did my speed work at the gym.
10 min easy warm up at 9:00 pace
5 min stretch
10 min easy run 8:45 pace
4 x 400s at 6:40s with 2 min floats at 9:30s. I felt really good for the first 30 secs of each repeat...then about 45 sec in m chest felt suffocated (I think this is due to being sick) and 70 mins in my tummy started get queazy. I managed to do all 4 and am looking at increasing the set by 1-2 repeats a week. We'll see how that goes
5 min cool down; 9 min pace

4.6 miles total

Followed up with swim

1 x 500 warm up (I didn't feel like I needed a warm up. I took the 500 at a moderate to fast pace, I felt really good in the water)
Drills
1 x 50 A-ok, 1 x 50 fist, 1 x 50 karate, 1 x 50 long glide black line; repeat
1 x 200 paddles
Speed work
1 x 100 (25 easy; 50 hard, 25 easy = even split)
1 x 100 (50 easy; 50 hard, 25 easy =negative split)
1 x 100 (25 easy; 50 hard, 25 easy = even split)
1 x 100 (50 hard; 50 easy = positive split)
1 x 100 (25 easy; 50 hard, 25 easy = even split)
Cool down 1 x 200

1800 yards. I had a very strong and powerful swim, it felt fantastic.

Snipets of the weekend

*My Aet on the bike is not 220 that's my max, which is rather pathetic since my max last year was 280. Then again I'm comparing apples to oranges in the way the testing was preformed. I still think it's disappointing.
*I <3 hard cider
*Being awake for 24 hours while still recovering from a cold takes a toll on a girl.
*I hate techno music.
*Some random dude I was talking with kept hitting me, it was rather odd.
*I tasted an amazing yam and mushroom soup and sweet potato biscuits. I am meeting too many men with good cooking skills.
*This stupid cold has moved into my chest and it hurts to breathe. Can the phlegm family I'm producing please find a new home.
*Country karaoke is not ok.
*Some people should not dance, ever.
*I can seriously talk tri for hours and not get bored...this is confirmed after a 4 1/2 hour tri meeting and then a party. I am an offical tri dork.
*Tried mooshine for the first time, not my cup o tea.
*Was able to spend some time with a girlfriend I haven't seen forever, good times.
*Soup of the week is a northern bean and turkey bacon, yum.
*I have three friends racing IM Arizona right now. Go Darrell, Crystal and David!
*Life is beautiful
*I may be single and alone but I have a lot of really great friends. I am truly blessed.

AeT Bike Threshold

The floor after a 90 min spin......ewwwwww


5 am on a Saturday morning and who is up? Just your average triathlete. I have a busy day ahead and wanted to get my weekly grocery shopping in before the stores got busy..plus it was really the only time to do it. If you've ever shopped at Winco or a bulk foods store you know they get crazy and I'm not about to fight someone over a shopping cart again...another story for another day. I decided to pick up a turkey, for me, myself and I. Well it is 10 lbs so I'll probably give some to my mom and friends. I plan on making the turkey sometime after Thanksgiving, eat some on sandwiches, make a few casseroles and huge pot of turkey soup to freeze. 10lb turkey for $2.22, what a steal! I wish they had this kind of deal every week.

I got home about an hour later, unloaded the groceries and switched to training mode. I was going to try to get a read of my aerobic power threshold. I haven't been able to lately because I've beaten my muscles up so badly I keep experiencing muscle failure. This week the DOMS from cross-fit weren't so bad. I don't think my body is growing acclimated to the training, as it is different every week and different muscle groups hurt. I think my Zoot & Sugoi compression socks for the last two days have helped and the 75 min recovery spin I did yesterday as well. Lactic flush test worked...for the most part. Thursday night I experienced really bad restless leg syndrome during slumber, I got it again last night, but not as bad. I think I just woke because my hamstrings hurt, not that they were twitching, they just hurt. It also doesn't help I still have part of this cold which has moved on to my chest. But shit, I'm always going to have muscle soreness and energy fatigue. Power test was going to be now or never. Doing it on sore legs and tired energy levels I think is good, this will probably be my state for most of IM training.

I hoped on my trainer and took it easy for the first 25 minutes. I watched an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. LMFAO off and almost fell off the trainer. It was the episode where Dee has a heart attack and they need to find work to get her health insurance. Then she goes to the gym with her brother high off energy pills and supplements and yells at the spin instructor because he doesn't have 80s music, then calls him a bumblebee biatch with his Armstrong tee and bike shorts...Ahahahahaha! Funny freakin episode, you've got to check it out. She also injects collagen into her bothers eye instead of botox. Oops. After the episode was over I threw on my power music and started high cadence spins, 1 min each leg X2 spinning over 100 rpms. Took it easy for another 5 mins and then went into the power testing. The objective was to not let my cadence drop below 80 (I'm a pedal masher I know), increase power by 20 watts every two minutes. I was able to get up to 210-220 avg with 82 cadence, my next 2 minutes I dropped the cadence to 78 and couldn't keep it. Now last Feb I got my Vo2 done on the bike and my Aet power was 200 watts at 176 bpm with a Vo2 max of 280 at 189 bpm. Today at 230 I was at 185 bpm. I think my HR was so high because of the Sudafed and I wasn't trying to reach max wattage so I'm not sure how much further I could have gone. Aerobic tempo pace for me is 183-189 bpm, so with that being said I think 220 is my AeT. Am I analyzing this correctly? I really don't believe that my power has gone up from last year....in all honesty I think it has suffered. I have improved greatly on my run which I think has had a negative effect on my bike. My quads have shrunk down to just about nothing, I've lost a decent about of muscle in my legs. But I have increased endurance, I can ride for much longer. Hmmmm, I don't know. I'm going to set my threshold at 200-220 and see how that works out. I did a few 2-3 minute intervals at 180-200 and then 4 x 1 min one legged spins at 145 watts. I finished off with an easy cool down spin for 20 mins. Trained for 90 mins....training indoors wasn't too bad this time around. My avg wattage to kg for 5 mins is 4.32 which puts me between good and very good on the Power Profile Grid. Thoughts or input on this testing is greatly appreciated.

I have a LOT of work to do this season.

Experiment #1: Lactic Flush

DOMS from cross fit is really getting old. In hopes to prevent it or lessen the blow a little bit I did a 75 min easy spin this morning on my trainer. This time it wasn't so boring. I watched an episode of Weeds and then finished the last hour off with music. I think I was actually day dreaming :gasp!: I know, who me? Yea, I guess it can tend to happen from time to time. I kept my eye on my power meter to make sure I did push myself...remembering this training was for recovery purposes only. I knew once I'd hit 170 watts I'd be working against my objective so I'd back off. Oddly enough my HR was at threshold for 70% of the workout. I contribute this to being sick and the Sudafed...although I didn't take any this morning.

For the analytical geeks (I being one) here's my power tap data....pretty boring
Speed Max 1526/Avg 17.1 (My power tap freaked out....it did this with power too, not sure what happened, bit I think I'd know if I hit 1,526 mph on my trainer...pretty sure they wheel sould catch on fire or I would be ride through my window)
Cadence Max 244/Avg 79 (this could be off too with the random freak out)
HR Max 176/ Avg 159...this was right on
Torque Max 9.06/5.69..this is correct, torque never changed
Max Power Watts 11,554 (really? I think not)/Avg 141...nice recovery number
Max Watts kg 194.44 (Ahahahaha!)/Avg 2.38

I'll spend some quality time with my stick and form roller. If all goes well the DOMS won't be too bad and I can do a power threshold test in the morning. If they are I'll opt to swim :)

Note to self: DO NOT blow snot rockets in your house on your trainer, even if you do have a trainer mat. It is GROSS

And I'm BACK!

In full force! I awoke this morning able to breathe, this was a sign of a good day ahead. I stuck with my Sudafed throughout the day to make sure my head stayed clear, kept up on the Emergen-Cs and chicken broth. Overall I feel 90% better then the last 3 days. I will never not, not knock on wood again!
To celebrate my ability to breathe I joined the PDX tri club for the weekly pain in the park. I had given my legs enough R & R, it was time to make them suffer again, and suffer they did. Oh BTW, big ups to Paul and Annie for the hot apple cider and allowing us to stay warm at their crib, pre workout. We started the workout off with a quick warm up jog, run drills and dynamic jumps, toe crosses, high knee runs and lunges...then it was off to our 3 course circuit training. Each circuit was 6 mins long and we alternated the workouts in the circuits every minute. The first circuit had 1 minute repeats of dips, push ups, side curls, and side wall pull ups. Woah! Reminder, Kat has no upper body strength.....my arms were on fire. I'm going to feel like I actually have a chest again when the DOMS set in. Yippppee! Circuit 2 was calf raises off the side of a ledge and then outer calf raises, then hopes on one leg and then side jumps and front to back jumps over a line in the concrete. Fun times for all! Circuit three was by far the hardest for me. The first minute we jumped onto a step back and forth, alternating legs, never stopping. Second minute we jumped up each step and then crouched down and jumped again, dynamic jumps. And the last but not least was most challenging for me. Jumping up each step on one leg side ways. Balance is not my friend and this took a bit for me to get a grasp on. But never fail I did it. We repeated each twice. We regrouped and the separated into 4 different run groups to do fartleck sprints. I was supposed to be in the second group, 7 min miles....but apparently they thought we were 6-6:30s, those were not 7 min sprints Jeff! But alas, these were my favorite. I love sprints where people pass one another, it really pushes me. I just wish I had more friends that would go out to the track and partake in these, they are so much fun. I think we did about a mile and a quarter of these quick sprints...I could be off with my distance though. One thing I do know for sure is I was pushing 190-195 HR during my sprints, that Mr. Henderson is not a 7 min mile! But please, don't take my yelling as anger as I was able to release my wings and fly....and it felt phenomenal. When we stopped I came close to hurling. Wow, that hurt my chest....I almost lost a lung over the Hawthorne Bridge, stupid cold. The last bit of the workout was a cool down.....ahahahahaha! Ok maybe not, we were all challenged with a chair hold squat. Up against the wall....once you gave in you had to calf raises or jumping jacks until the last person gave in. I really wasn't thinking I'd hold for long. But then it was a mental game, why couldn't I? It was just my mind against my muscle, who would win? Well we all know who but how long would it take? I managed to hold out for just over 4 minutes....I was the last girl standing (ok, well sitting) and 2 boys...my quads starting shaking at 3:40 and I knew I couldn't go much longer. Then I was done, but I couldn't quit for my muscles wouldn't let me stand up. WTF?! So I sat for a few more seconds trying to hold it out until my quads gave in and I sank to the floor. But the last girl sitting and 3rd place will have to do for know......another day maybe.
So now I sit at home, soup and brandy in hand. I'm going to spend a little quality time with my stick so hopefully the wrath of the chair squat will be a little less harsh. Good night.

Gross, Gross and more Gross....I warned you....

I am purely superstitious, I knew better....I was running along in the forest, there was plenty of wood at my disposal, yet I did not knock and not I am paying the consequences. I, the girl who NEVER gets sicks, is now sick.

I'm high...and not off of life; high off of stupid pharmaceutical drugs. There are times today that I did a face plant into my keyboard. I am fortunate that my boss doesn't care that I came to work in my velor pajama bottoms and rocked my slippers. I think I may have swallowed a seed to a torn bush, it's really the only explanation as to why my throat burns so damn badly. I got a call from the big bad wolf he wanted to recruit me as I am sneezing so hard I could blow a house over. Mmmm, pork, the other white meat. Did I just say that? At least I haven't lost my appetite. When that happens I think hell will have frozen over. Although with the bloating from all the 7-Up (remember, this girl can't make herself burp) chicken broth and lack of exercise you might think I could go a few days without eating. The drainage going on is unreal. I can't go anywhere with out Puffs by my side. Puffs with lotion, if not I look like I could be a long lost relative of Mr. And Mrs Clause. Before the Puffs I tried snot rockets....but I got a few disturbing looks, plus they weren't really rockets...more like a flow of slim from that show “You Can't Do That On Television”, uh-oh, now I'm starting to date myself. I'm a hot mess...the one thing I can look forward to is that 5 sec moment of being able to breath out of both nostrils. It's such a damn tease. Hot flashes and cold sweats are awesome by the way. How the hell do I sweat when I'm shizzering?

The cold is advancing quickly, I think (or I hope!) I'm forcing out of my system, that is the goal anyway. My day consists of 5 Emergen-C's w/diet 7-Up(one every 3 hours), non-drowsy cold medicine (can I sue for false advertising?) every 4 hours, normal multi's, amino's and calcium supplements, 3 cans of chicken broth seasoned with a ton of sage (good for the liver) and red pepper flakes (yes, I am trying to burn it out), and cough drops RIIIIIIIIIIICOOOOOOOOLA when I don't have fluids going in. I get up early, with enough time to catch a 30 minute nap right before work, I take a quick 15 minute nap at lunch and then immediately crawl into bed when I get home for another hour long nap...only to go to bed in the next 2 hours. I'm trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel but it's hard right now, I think my batteries need to be charged....for the light and other things ....hmmmmm. I'll dig deep down inside and think this only has to be a blessing in disguise. I know I am inches away from seriously injuring my damn hamstring. I know pain, I can handle pain...anyone that knows me knows this (like that word twist?).....this is not pain, there is something wrong. I can assume that having this cold suck the life of out me is a way of allowing my muscles to heal and recover.

Oh yes and whip cream to my glorious sunday would be the tummy wrenching woman cramps ....could my life be any better right about now? I'll be damned if I'm not well enough to make cross fit....2 days to get better. Go away cold! Why is it when I'm sick all I want is my mom?

I am 99.9% I will never have another date after this blog.

Monday morning swim

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 100 A-ok
1 x 150 fins
1 x 100 buoy
1 x 50 scullying
1 x 100 fist
1 x 150 fins
1 x 100 buoy
1 x 150 fins
1 x 100 karate pull
1 x 150 fins
1 x 50 scullying
1 x 200 paddles
1 x 400; breathing every 3 every odd 100s and every 5 even 100s

4 x 50 sprint; 25 recovery
1 x 100 paddles
1 x 200 cool down

2900 yards total

The water felt really good this morning. We danced.

Another day, another run

Today was another organized Wildflower training workout. 20 minutes out and back along Lief Erickson trail. If I'm running along Lief it's going to be much longer then 40 minutes (it's just too beautiful for a short run), so I opted to start an hour and half before the group. I ran an easy 10.5 miles and then met the group for another 4. 14.5 miles total. Hamstring is still bothering me a bit but everything else is A-ok. I'm sure with a little ice and some tlc it will be back to normal in no time. Or so I hope :)

I joined Netflix today....I know, what took so long, right? I can't wait for the seasons of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" to arrive. I love that show. I highly recommend checking it out, guaranteed to laugh your ass off. Human Meat is one of my favorite episodes....Human Meat, ahahahahaha!

I made an amazing mulled wine this afternoon. Mmmmm. I think I'll save some it for Thanksgiving. I'm also infusing a bad ass batch of jalapeno infused vodka.

Keeping my head above water

I got into the pool this afternoon, first time in probably 3-4 weeks. Good news, I didn't drown! As you may have guess since you are reading this after the fact. The swim was surprisingly easy....hung over and all. I managed to pull out 2300 yards....which will have to do since this is still my off season. Most of my time was spent on drills; A-ok's, fists, karate, finger pulls, blacklines, buoy pulls, paddles, bi-lateral breathing and fartlecks. I have a long way to go in the water, today I made my initial step.

Running to Work

Yea, you heard me right. I've decided to start commuting to work via run a few days a week. Since I work for a cycling and triathlon company it would only seem fit that they have showers and lockers. Really that's an understatement. My boss highly encourages cycling to work and has built an amazing facility for us to store our bikes, gear and have a comfortable place to freshen up post/pre commute. We also have a very nice kitchen (yes the same kitchen with the oh-so-famous espresso machine and toaster oven) that we can store our meals in. So running or biking to work is no problem, it just takes a little planning head. Each way is 3.3 miles which puts me at an easy 10k for the day. I woke up this morning excited to start my little adventure to work. I was rather surprised that my body felt ok. I mean, I did cross fit last night and I didn't feel as if I had been thrown upside a wall....yet that it is. I did my morning Pilates, dressed to run, packed my Camelback with a change of clothes and a few meals and I was off. Brrrrr, it was a crisp and cold 42 degrees. But what a beautiful run. The way I run to work right now looks like something out of a movie. It reminds me of BIG when Tom Hanks is walking down the street as an adult and turns into a kid, he's surrounded by autumn leaves, it was just like that. BTW, don't you love when he plays the floor piano in the store? Anywho....I felt great arriving at work. IMO it was the best way to start the day. Around 11am, my body might say otherwise. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) kicked in from cross fit. My ass felt like I had steel plates squeezing them for the rest of the afternoon....that and my hamstrings had tightened up again. As the day went on I felt worse and worse...and just to think I have to run home. I was not looking forward to journey that awaited me. My body hurt, bad! I couldn't really take it easy either since it was dark and cold, I just needed to get home as fast as possible to stay warm. I used my mental ability to block out pain, and thought about the fudge frosted slice of bday cake I had after lunch as an energy source. What I was lacking was the mental ability to block out fear. I had to run along the Rock Creek bike path, which goes under HWY 26, it's not lit at all, and I forgot my mace. Seriously scared the living daylights out of me. I will not be going that way home again, nor will I forget my mace. I made it back up to Evergreen Parkway (this is the scene from BIG, remember?) It was so clear and and pretty, the pain my ass and legs where trying to inflict went unheard. Again, I was running, happy.....in pain but happy.

I'm going to enjoy this IM training....yes I am.

Pain In The Park - week 2

I survived....barely. I'm going to hurt tomorrow. Pain is weakness leaving the body or possibly an injury. My right hamstring is jacked up and I felt it during the sprints. Somehow I managed balance running across slippery logs. I think the coach is high when he tells us to jump on or over logs. Seriously, my legs don't have a 10 ft span. Have you watched me run? Do you see how short my stride is? Cut a girl a break. The warm up run drills were fun. I wish I had a camera because I'm sure it was funny as hell to see 30+ people hoping up a large hill like jack rabbits. The night went by fast....too fast. Recovered with pizza, wine and friends.

Oh big ups to Lindsay for coming out....that's a hard work out right? You rocked it girl. Hope to see you next week!

My plans are to commute to work via run tomorrow. Hopefully the hamstring will be up to it upon morning. G'night.

Screw you trainer!

After
*two flat tubes (bad tire)
*legs,arms,hands and face covered in chain grease (now of which I can't get off. I know degreaser...but I don't have any)
*loss of sanity from indoor spinning
*one evil head growth and decapitation

I finished my first indoor spin session of the season. I HATE the indoor trainer!

Stuff to ponder....

How do you hold yourself accountable? "I didn't do this because.....well then this came up.....and at the point I had no choice......it was the food I ate......peer pressure's a b$%#&......the course was hard.....there were more hills or wind then I expected......if I had a good bike......there's just not enough hours in a day." You name it and someone will come with an excuse for something.
A mentor once said "Excuses are like farts, everyone has them and no one likes to smell or hear it".
I'm not pointing fingers; because for one that's rude and two I'm guilty of it just as everyone else is. If I come up with an excuse I'll dig down to the root and figure out how to not make that same mistake twice. Also I feel an excuse is a reasoning with oneself for failure. I don't know about you but I for one am not in the Failure fan club membership...therefor my attendance to their meetings are limited. If I fail at some thing, for instance today at speed work....I'll break down factors that lead to my perish...hoping to not revisit again. Alas we will return at some point but holding up a certain set of standards for oneself with help limit the visits. So what do you do be accountable for your day to day successes? At work? At play? At fitness? At nutrition? Do you have high standards set for day to day life? If not you should, you're only selling yourself short.

Recently I was challenged with a "dare to dream". Hmmmm.....I had to think on this one for a bit. Upon doing so I came across melancholy feeling. What a sad existence, for I do not dream. I do not dream at night, well I can't recollect my dreams that is. I don't day dream as well. I was raised to live among my means. That doesn't mean I don't my sights set out beyond the sky. I have a path to reach those but I don't dream about the what if's that could come along the way. If things happen they happen, there's no reason to get caught up on things that may never. I view myself as a realistic....at times an optimist but never a pessimist.

2009 Race Schedule
Panic attack. Everyone appears to already have their 09 race schedule done. Am I dead last? All I have down is my IM Canada and HIM Wildflower. I have no clue what I'm going to do for the rest of the season. I guess I need to do a little research this weekend. Any suggested races?

Major score for me today. Upon getting fitted for the Orbea Ora I noticed that the Bike Gallery had mis marked their GU Roctane. It was listed at the same price as the regular GUs. I asked the manager if this was an error which obviously it was and he said since it was advertised at that price I should take advantage of it.....as he took down the pricing. So I pilled up on12 packets of GU Roctane for $1.20 a piece, more then 1/2 off, Woot! Woot! Too bad they didn't have the Ora in my size. She's a pretty bike.

Yet another BLOW UP

One thing I can always count on with speed work – it will check my tail and put me into place.
Once again I was over zealous. For some reason I thought I could pull out 4 mile repeats at a 6:53. Really? Is that smart thinking since my previous mile repeats where at 7:08s? Did I really expect to cut :15 off each mile? I don't know where I came up with that insane idea, maybe I was still half asleep as I jumped on the treadmill. The worst part was that I did it on a damn treadmill....which means I knew exactly what I was doing with my speed. I made it through the first mile, took my 2 min float and blew up half way through the second. I think I was slightly possessed. I'm really expecting to do a sub 7 avg on the Jingle Bell 5k in December and will do whatever necessary to get me there. At least blowing up I know I gave it my all and where my limiters lie. Right now I need to allow my hamstrings to rest, they're still messed up. I also need to take baby steps and start my repeats shorter at 800s or do 1600s at a 7:03 pace and see how that pans out. Another attempt next week.

10 min warm up
1 x 1600 6:53
2 min float
1 x 800 3:28 – blow up

temp work fluctuating between 9:15s and 8:00s for another 1.5 miles

4.25 miles total with a max HR of 194

Volunteering

I have some free time on my hands and it needs to be filled with something productive. I can only drink so much :) So with that being said I've decided to volunteer but I'm not sure where I should spend my time. There are a few things close to my heart I'm thinking about but I'd also like to help in areas I'm less familiar with. So I'm coming to you, my friends who frequent or stumble across my blog...what matters to you? Please leave a comment and help me with my decision. Thanks!

Live and Learn

Give yourself enough recovery Kat! I need to know when to cut back just a bit.

Friday I woke up and felt like someone had slammed my body across a wall. Frick! I hurt everywhere, I hurt in places I didn't even know I could hurt. Damn cross-fit. The fact that I would moan every time I sat up or down was a good indicator to take the day off...so I did.

Saturday I woke up feeling the same muscle fatigue. Two days, really? The workout of the day was to ride a few loops around Sauvie with the Wildflower training group. Now, I could have easily just done the loops....but what fun would that be? Instead I opted to ride to Sauvie's, intending on doing the two loops and then riding back home. Note the word INTEND. I jumped on Cadence and was off. I rode out along 185th on to Springville Road. 2 miles in I started my 1000ft climb up to Skline. Nice little warm up I do say so myself. Rode Skyline out to Newberry and descended. Now, this was a BIG milestone for me. I have avoided descending most of the wets hills, I chicken out and take Cornell or Corneliues Pass as the grade is less intense. So a little background on Newberry, it's about 765ft in 2 miles, with a max grade point at 15.5%. I think going down by myself helped. I was able to talk out loud and calm my nerves. The first mile wasn't too bad. Hitting the second mile sucked serious ass. Out of all times for it to start raining, it had to be now. Not a little sprinkle either, it started down pouring. Awesome! Not so much. I had to stop and put my Gore jacket back on. I had told myself that if I needed to I could walk my bike down the descent. I think the rain was a blessing in disguise. There was no way I was going to walk and get even more soaked in the rain. On I descended, staying on my breaks. Lol, the last 800 ft were scary as can be. A couple sharp corners....hitting that max grade with leaves everywhere. My bike slide and drifted out as I calming started cursing ^%^%#$%#%^$%^%%$E$%$&*&*(&*(. But alas, I survived....and didn't fall. This is a huge step for me. Now I know I can go down a step curvy descent in the rain and slick leaves. This memory should help in future riding. It sucks how one bad ride can f^%$# up you up mentally for so long. Anywho, on I went to join the group at Sauvies. By the time everyone showed up and we were ready to ride the rain was at an all our downpour. Great! Misery loves company and I had 10-12 people out there embracing the beautiful Oregon weather with me. The plan was to do 2 loops, the first being easy and the second being an time trial. The thought of a time trial for me today was really a cruel joke. Energy was present but the muscular power was not. The first loop wasn't too bad. There was no "warm up" loop as I had done that on my ride out from my house, plus I had to start out with higher energy since it was rainy and I needed to get warm. As I rolled in from loop 1 to start loop 2 I hesitated. I went out too hard one loop 1, the headwind was strong, the rain was hard and I knew the 2nd loop was going to own my ass. Yet for some stupid reason I went out for another.....thankfully Steve joined me. The first few miles weren't so bad, then we turned and hit the phenomenal headwind accompanied by a down pour of rain. Occasionally. I would let out a loud moan and Steve would join in....yet these were not pleasure moans, they were moans of pure pain. I looked down at my power tap and I'm pushing 12 MPR, HR is at 178 and my power is a 225. You must be kidding! My hamstrings were on fire. Steve and I parted ways as he fell back and I struggled to maintain my power output. I slowly dipped down to 160....I had nothing left. I was completely drained. I bowed my head down into my aeros, and pedaled as hard as I could to keep my HR up high enough to keep my core warm. I was miserable and really hit an all time low. I just kept thinking this was all mental strength and I would turn this negative into a positive....and that's what got me back to the start point. Upon finishing I realized I still had to ride home.....WTF was I thinking? Steve saved the day and drove me home. Thanks friend, I owe ya one.

The rest of the day I pretty much spent on R & R. A nice little nap, lots of rolling the legs out with the stick, treated myself to a hair appointment and then toasted the night off with some friends at my favorite martini bar in NW, The Vault. I must say, I had two amazing martini's. One called a Macaroon, it had Armareto, Vodka and Godiva Chocolate with chocolate syrup swirled around the glass. Not sure what the other one was called but it was orange puree with bourbon and clove/cinnamon, very holiday-ish. The best part was catching up with some of my girlfriends that I haven't been able to see in some time. Love ya and miss you girls! Called the night to an end rather early, wanted a good night sleep and some solid recovery.

Sunday -
I awoke feeling much better. Legs are still sore but much better. I decided to join my friends for a 14 mile LSD run. I hadn't anticipated in running the whole 14, my thoughts were to do 10-12 and just turn back early. BUT running felt really good. It felt like I was flushing all that poisonous lactic build up out of my system. I decided to do the full out and back. Coming back I ended up getting separated from the group, we kind of each fell into our own paces and I ended up losing some of them. I'm not too familiar with NE Portland so I found myself bonking on the way back. My perception of distance was off and I waited too late to take my Power Gel. My hamstrings started to kick in with pain around mile 12. I think my legs went numb, although I could still feel the pain....maybe it was just me trying to block them out. After a detour or two off course I ended up finding my way back to Scott's house. Scott and Ilana were uber awesome and made us all a giant hash scramble. Great recovery food with great friends.

I got in a nice little nap this afternoon and now think it's time to finish my weekend cooking. I'm making a minestrone soup and a pumpkin brown rice pudding for the week.

Things I took from my training this weekend
*I need to learn how to easy back into training. It is not ok to take a week and half off and go all out as I did in the last few days. My body takes 1-2 days to recover from high intensity work. I know this yet didn't give it the break it needed. I was lucky I didn't injure myself. This will be something I will keep in mind when planning out my training calendar. High intensity days will be limited to 1-2 a week and will be spaced out. No more track night followed up by cross fit night. Not a good idea.
*I made a rather large step in overcoming my fear of descending. All in time baby, all in time.
*I will not ride my bike to any training workout if there is the slightest chance for rain. Dry clothes are a necessity.
*My Powertap is badass. My HR zones showed to be 40% race pace and 38% threshold....I was not able to maintain power output yet my HR was through the roof. Clear signs I'm overdoing it. Nice to have actual data to back it up.
*I have a whole lot of mental toughness. Now if I could just learn when to say no.
*Hot apple cider + baking soda and baking power makes one bad ass electrolyte drink on a cold day. I did what I had to since I was out off my Cliff Hot Apple Cider, which I highly recommend.

Running through the concrete jungle

(Shannon and I post workout. Check out the sweat yo!)

of Irving park. Tonight was the first of a series of cross fit in the park. I've read about cross fit, I know it's about explosive power, I thought I was ready for the pain.....but really? I had no idea. We started with an explosive warmup. What qualifies a warm up as explosive? Getting my hr up to 175 in the first 2-3 minutes. This was the first WTF moment. Warm up consisted of 20 jumping jacks. 20 of these touch your toes cross overs, 20 jumping squats, 20 push ups where you go down, push up and the jump back up. Repeat all once. Then it was on to circuit training. Three different stations, 4 minutes each, repeat everything once. The first was an obstacle course we ran around and reversed direction every minute. Mind fuck for Kat. We weaved in and out of poles, jumped, leaped and crawled over 3-5 ft concrete walls. Banged my shin on one, already forming a nice sized bloody bruise. Ducked under a little person tunel/wall type thing, it was crazy. Then Jeff (Lucifer himself) said ok, now jump/hurdle with no hands! WTF? moment #2. I don't have giraffe legs, this was not happening. Especially since my tail was on fire from the track workout the previous day. Station # 2, bench work. 20 sets of dips, pushups, crunches and butt taps....repeat for 4 minutes. Ok, now the upper body is feeling it. Station # 3, more bench work, box/bench jumps or steps...over and over and over again. Completed each station twice. Then we moved down along the park for hill repeats, 6 to be exact, had to be careful not to slip and fall on the wet grass on leaves on the way down. next we were told to we needed a partner. Jon and I paired up. Then we were informed we had to give our partner a piggy back ride up the hill we just did repeats on. WTF?! moment #3. I really didn't think this was possible. Jon is not a huge man, but he is muscular and heavy....and well I'm the girl that her 50 year old mother move most of her boxes when she moved because she was so weak. I'm an endurance athlete not She-Ra for God's sake. So yea, not really feeling this one. But who I am not quit? Me? Never. Jon kindly carried me up the hill first and I took a deep breath in and returned the favor. That was hard, dude was somewhere over a buck seventy five and change. Upon cresting the hill my legs gave out and I fell to my knees, but alas, I made it! SPARTAN!!!!!!!! (that's for you Tif!) Running down that hill I've never felt so light. Finished the workout off with teaming up in groups of three while taking turns carrying one person down the field. 5 min cool down run. Cross fit was an hour long and over that time I managed a 167 avg Hr peaking at 193....awesome. I'm going to hurt tomorrow, a lot.

Getting anaerobic on that ass!

It's about fucking time!
Tonight I met up with the PDX tri group for the kick off to Wildflower training. Do I think it's a little soon to be training for a HIM again? Yes..... am I going to be taking this seriously? Well, not so much, for the next 2 months. I really just want some people to keep me company during my little torture sessions I like to put myself through. Misery love company, right? Is it really misery if I smile during the pain? Hmmmm, something to ponder. Anywho, my main goal for the next 2 months is short fast work with plenty of recovery in between and the occasional longer distance workout on the weekend just to make sure I don't loose all of my endurance. The plan tonight was to a 12 min time trial to figure out pacing. I got to the track 45 minutes early and start with a light warm up jog (gulp; yes I did say jog.....and you will only hear me refer to "jogging" as a warm up or a cool down. I am not a jogger, I am a RUNNER. enough with my little tangent......) accompanied by 1.5 miles of drills, a few strides, bounds, side strides, sprints and tail kickers. People started showing up so again I went for a (gulp) warm up cool down jog. Then we had to sit in the mind fucking cold for what seemed like an eternity to hear the Wildflower rundown, followed up by the track workout. I understand it needed to be done...but for the love of God, it was COLD! Paul and I started hopping around just to keep core temp up. I was over come with joy when we were told we could start....and that was short lived. Check it, so I wore my new CW-X compression PreformX tights and I have to say they are officially BAD ASS. My legs felt phenomenal! I ALWAYS and I do mean ALWAYS experience some kind of leg discomfort during run drills or speed work/sprints/repeats. Not tonight, my legs felt amazing, envision the road runner, yea that was me. Ok, maybe not but that little bad boy was sure running through my head as I was running. On the flip side, they kept sliding down around my waist. It didn't feel like they were too big. They were compressive around my legs and my damn tummy felt like I was a sausage in a casing = not a good thing, yet slippage was happening. I'll have to talk to my boss and see if I need to go down another size or maybe try another version of the tight. Regardless, I will find a fit and will be using these at during all of my speed work. Again, BAD ASS. Ok back on to the run.....legs felt good, fast and quick. I looked down at my HR and I was rockin 188 1/2 mile in. Ugh, I haven't been this high since the marathon. The good feeling lasted a mile in....then my chest started to hurt. My lungs were on fire and it felt like my blood was pumping so hard it was going to bust a vein and spew everywhere. What a sight that would be! But that never happen, just felt like it. The last loop hurt the worst, again this is all cardio pain, and probably due to taking a month off from any kind of anaerobic threshold work. FUCK! My tummy was churning, my lungs where on fire, I couldn't breath...luckily I didn't have any food in me or it would have sprayed my territory on the track. I finished 2790m in 12 minutes with an ending HR of 196. Which puts me at a 6:55. I'm really happy with anything sub 7 but know I have some hard work to do to hold that pace for a 5k. I really want to go fast......I love running fast. I have the glorious runners high. I can not wait for more track!

I finished the night off with sushi with a friend......good times :)

Oh yea, big ups to moms. Thanks for the apple cider vinegar/water trick. No more acid reflux during anaerobic work! Woot! Woot! Now, if you can just stop my nose from running/sneezing and my lungs from burning :) Love ya.

Home Sweet Home

alas...I am complete again. Tonight I completed the painting, everything is unpacked, uncluttered, clean and in place. I even had time to ignite my first fire and finish cooking a chicken and brown rice soup. I feel whole again, this is a very good feeling.

Let me disclose a little secret. At work I have fallen in love.... ..... with 2 things at one time. First off is the espresso machine. Everyday I walk into work and am greeted with the rich bold aroma of freshly brewed espresso. The complex elixir comforts my pallet and soothes my insides, jacking me up for a quarter of my day. I am truly spoiled with this little device and am known for returning for seconds and possibly thirds. I've tried to conceive some kind of device to insert to in my bloodstream but with the pressure build up from brewing I'm afraid I'll blow a vein... are there any volunteers willing to test my idea? The other appliance I am head over heels with is the toaster oven. Whoever created this magnificent machine should get a frickening medal. They make the perfect grilled sandwiches, quesadillas, pizzas. Not to mention toasted cheese over soups. I'm so with the grilled cheese comfort. Have I mentioned how awesome my boss is for having these appliances available? Do I have to choose which I love more? Can I have my grilled cheese and caffeine of the Gods as well? Fo shizzle.

It's time to start building my base power season. I need to build a 1-2 month training schedule to focus on cycling power, track drills, 800m, 1600m & hill run repeats. I need to hook up with a few bad ass swimmers and get my stroke corrected before yardage picks up. I'm also planning on doing some crazy kind of cross fit in the park one night a week. That should provide some good, dirty, knock me on my ass fun. I'm excited and looking forward to the next few weeks. It's going to be hard to fill the missing space in my heart for the endurance I've come to comfort and love but then again. I'm the sick and I am lusting for the pain from anaerobic threshold. There will be vomit involved in the next few weeks....and it will not be alcohol induced.

Tomorrow I get to do a 20 min time trial run for pacing purposes. This should be interesting since I haven't done jack shit in over a week and a half. I've got a new pair of CW-X compression tights I'm excited to rock. We'll see if they work as well as they advertise.

Writer's block

Who would ever think that I would come to a point of nothing to write or say? Well actually I have plenty to say but I also know when to bite my tongue or tape my fingers. Some things are just better left unsaid....so there it is. I have a lot of things on my mind; things I find unmoral and disrespectful, things I can't stop laughing my ass off, things that I desire for but have a conflict of interest in. Sometimes I just wish my head would STFU up and act/do and not think.

I'm finally moved into my new place, and about 90% unpacked. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll have enough time to seal the deal.
I can't wait to break in my new home and be able to sleep sound again. I hate sleeping in new places, it takes forever for me to find a comfort zone. I'm really hoping my satin sheets and heated mattress will help expedite things. Satin sheets are so practical yet impractical. For one, I hate sleeping on them, I'm guaranteed to slide out of bed one out of seven nights. Those are not good odds. Yet once it starts getting cold I utilize them. Satin is non breathable fabric and helps retain body heat, that's what an anaemic girl who wakes up with a cold nose every night needs. The heated mattress pad on the other hand is a godsend. Thanks for the past x-mas present mom, probably one of the most useful things you've ever given me.

I've taken a week off of training, cooking, or organized anything. Some say this needs to be done, I have other thoughts on that matter. My nutrition has gone south as Halloween I drank myself into an early grave only to climb out with a phat ass cheeseburger and pizza the next day. I think I'm going to take this week rather light, get things settled in at home and spend any free time I might have getting my nutrition back on track with home made dishes. I really despise eating out. I mean really, why pay for over priced, unhealthy food when I can make something much more flavorful and beneficial at home. It just takes time and since it's a high priority for me I'll make it work.

Again, I needed another weekend from the weekend. Moving after drinking all night and 2 hours of sleep is a tornado of hell. I feel sorry for my mother who was generous enough to put up with me. Lol, she made a funny comment during our our mini cardiac arrest burger feasting session "I'd deal with you hung over and sleep deprived any day over being hungry." I'm I really that vicious when I need to eat? Apparently so.

I guess I didn't have writers block after all. Thanks for listening :)