I AM AN IRONMAN :)

This is it....

I've put in the time
I've put in the energy
I've put in the passion

I'm in well rested and in good health. I'm surrounded by amazing athlete's and many, many supportive friends and above all my kickass moma. I couldn't ask a better way to go into an Ironman.

Now all I can do is go out there, smile big and give it my all and hope that the luck of the race Gods are with me.

Good night moon.

Two days out

The swim felt great! The lake temp is perfect and the water is so clear. It was good to swim before, as the water is shallow for a very long time. I'll have to remember to swim until I can touch and not let the shallow water deceive me.

Registered, hit up Starbucks and the store (for special needs) and now I'm in for an afternoon nap. I'll pack and set most things up tonight so I don't have to stress later. We have the athlete dinner and pre race briefing tonight, looking forward to it.

Special needs bike - Stopping and picking up my special needs bag on the bike will be last resort as I don't want to stop....but if Oscar my evil head pops out I will. My bike special needs I'll have a small bottle of chicken broth, 1/2 a pb & honey, watermelon cut into cubs and a spare 800 kcal of malto mixed with 1300 mg of salt stick.

Special needs run - Again, I'll only stop if it's must have. Cubed watermelon, more pb & honey and chicken broth. My mom will be at mile 12 on the run with my Rosary beads so I can say a quick Hail Mary and run along my way. My mom has a great pick me up mantra for me, I'm looking forward to seeing her.

I have to say that I think my mom thus far has made my IM experience. She's been so supportive and has kept me in a really positive mood.

5 days out

AM Swim

Warm up
1 x 300

Drills
1 x 150 paddles
2 x 25 kickboard
1 x 150 buoy
2 x 25 kickboard
4 x 50 one arm catch up 25 down/return 25 high elbow finger drag

Main Set (if you call it that)
1 x 1000 - comfortable pace 17:35

1 x 100 cool down

Total yardage - 2,000

Evening Spin - 45 mins
Low watts nice and easy high cadence spin

Spent the rest of the night packing.....after work tomorrow I'll be on my way.

....

I just don't even know what to put here....

That sums up the what's going on in my brain. Every couple hours I freak out and I don't know why. I've trained long and hard. I've given it my all. I've played the game plan over and over and over again. I am prepared and I am confident, YET I am scared shitless. How the hell is that possible?

Evening run - 6.5 miles
I pushed my aerobic intensity and kept my muscular intensity in check. I ran in the exposed heat, on the hard sidewalk and endured woman pain, yet I ran with a smile. Finished with a 7:54 avg

Blog - I'd like to thank everyone for all the supportive comments. I'll be repeating these things in my head when I race :)

One week from today....

and I am freaking the #*&$ out! I keep looking at watch..

7:10 Probably inhaling a lot of water at this point
8:15- hopefully out of the water
9:00 Crusin along on the bike
12:00 Yep, still on the bike
2:00 Why am I still on the bike?
2:30 I don't want to run a marathon...
3:00 Ok, my legs are happy to be off the bike and running
4:00 Run happy
4:45 There's my moma not yo moma! But I'll share....sharing is caring.
6ish It's only a 10k......just a 10k

What should I do when I cross the finish line?

Hill Repeats

Saturday -
Bike Hill repeats - short duration 1:30h - I gave good effort 75-80%
Departed from my house, went up Old Germantown to Skyline, Skyline rollers down Thompson. Up Thompson around Skyline rollers and descended down Springville. Great day for a ride, lots of cyclists out and about.
I'm very happy with power today
Max watts 379/ Norm avg watts 181 / Avg watts 157 - I held 200 watts for over 30 mins :)- this has been long over due!
Max HR 176 / avg HR 149

I spent the next 4.5 hours volunteering at registration for the Portland Triathlon. If head was right I would have been looking for non-existent wedding rings...but I didn't think about this until after the fact. Shame on me!

Now I'm off to a very late night of b-day, house warming, pre-race Canada celebrations. I may not sleep tonight which will mean volunteering at tomorrow's race will hurt - A LOT.

Runner's High

AM Pilates - 30 minutes
Usually I don't notate when I do Pilates but I think the stretching and core work did a great deal for my run there after.

8.5 mile run - threshold
As planned my workouts are dropping in duration and picking up a bit w/ intensity with extra recovery allowed. I did my normal 8.5 mile loop from my house out to the Nike HQ and back - the run is all rollers with a few short flats. This is the first run in God knows how long I was able to "easily" maintain a 170-180hr rate. My stride was long than normal, I contribute this to the morning Pilates and my energy was high, thank you taper. I ran what felt comfortable on my legs and pushed my energy. Finished in 1:07 - 7:55 pace and started my Friday off with a runners high.

Evening OW Swim - 30 mins at Sauvie's Island
I can't remember the last I did an OW swim. Is that a bad thing? I don't get OW shock, I swim in a pretty straight line (except for that one time :)). The only thing I get out of OW is getting acclimated to the wetsuit. Today I felt like a fish - it was awesome.

Swim a little

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 200 paddles
1 x 150 buoy
2 x 25 kickboard
repeat 1 x
1 x 100 easy

Main Set
3 x 500 intervals (100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 50H) - 8:15, 8:20:8:22.
I grew weak on the second and third set and say pushed at 80% vs. the 90-100% I should have. F^%# it, I'm on taper - that's kind of my newly adapted mantra and I have to say I'm growing rather fond of it. A friend joined in mid swim. It was nice to have someone besides the aqua ladies (who can't swim straight to save their life OR SHARE a lane) to swim with. At some points I almost felt like I was synchronize swimming...but alas, I'd have to be a bit faster.

1 x 200 - cool down

Total yardage = 3100

I wonder why how I'm related to certain family members. Sometimes they make do this %^RDRYGLUHJKJKHH

AYYUIKL":$*&(IOEW&$%E^R&(*)_+)$#$(&*IUT^$W.b.^&*YUTR$%E$%&^

^&$%^#$#^%$&^^(&&*()UIHYF$%^*&^*&)()_)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Breathe, just breathe Kat

Invasion of the nats

Well today is the first day that I think I have felt the true signs of taper, wait a minute....let's back up. Last night was the first night with taper symptoms. I laid in bed restless, hour after hour. I kept rolling around, looking at my phone...11:00pm, 12:45am, 1:15am, 2:00am, 4:10am. Finally at 6:10 I got up and got my Pilates on.

The day dragged on. I had plenty of work to keep me busy it just felt as time was moving slow. Not only was time moving slow but I was moving slow. It didn't matter how many shots of espresso I pumped through my veins the energy was not there. How could this be? I haven't done jack s%$#? And why do I still have a ravenous hunger? WTF? I'm trying to stay in control yet I feel like I'm slowly spiraling out of control. The only pleasant part of taper are my day dreams. I'm not one to dream....it's kind of nice for a change.

Evening ride - The high reached 97 today, one more element to suck any retaining energy out of me. My outlook was uplifted when I learned Tom our ride leader was only planning on going out for an hour and then finishing off with a short run. Right now I'm all for the shorter workouts. I rode out with the group to the 205 bridge. I decided to push the Marine Drive flat a bit; 160-175w, on the way back I picked it up and pushed 175-200w. I could have easily done more but the sheet of nats we were riding prevented this. I felt like I was Vietnam racing a deserted flat getting pelted by MAC 11's with bugs as ammunition. It was seriously disgusting. When Tom and I got to the park to start our 10 min barefoot run we were covered in layers of bugs. UGH! So GROSS! The park circle we ran in had a nice little swam of them as well. I'll be surprised if when I wake up in the world has not been consumed by nats...they're taking over, watch out!

Thanks for the ride/run Tom, it was nice to have company :)

As I got back to the car I got a txt from Mark.... invite to dinner. Do I ever turn down food? I think not! Finished the evening off with yummy curry and good people. BTW dude, it was finally nice to meet your wife. You're right, she is gorgeous!

Maybe I'll have energy tomorrow....we will see.

Swim

500 warm up

Drills
2 x 25 kickboard
3 x 50 - 25 one arm catch up/25 high elbow finger drag
1 x 200 - 50 A-ok, 50 fist, 50 karate, 50 free-sprint
repeat 1 x

Main Set
4 x 100 (first 75 easy/last 25 hard) - hit 1:50s
4 x 100 (first 50 easy/last 50 hard) - hit 1:45s
4 x 100 (first 25 easy/last 75 hard) - hit 1:40s
4 x 100 - hard - 1:32-1:35s

Coll down - 200

Total yardage - 3100

What do you think about that?

*How is it possible for machines to have feelings?
*I turn people off
*I turn people on
*My heart stays nicely chilled on a block of ice - sometimes it gets defrosted
*Some think I'm a b#$*@
*Sometimes I am a B^&$#

*I'm sorry that my securities cause others to have insecurities
*I do not give fake apologies

*Do nice guys really finish last?
*I've been told I'm an inspiration, possibly from my perspiration?
*Be blunt, honest and don't sugar-coat...as I've said before "Sugar is the axis of all evil"
*What's so right about being bad?

*I'm certain I have some form of alien genetics.....sorry mom

*Respect is not given unless deserved

*We are our own worst enemy

If you don't like how I write or what I talk about - you have don't read it. I am me and can only be me.

Weekend recap

Saturday - 2.5 hour ride/1.5 hour run with some badass tri guys
The first 2/3 of the ride was The Tour of Seth - PDX style. We started out climbing, continued to climb and finished climbing. Are we supposed to ride short any other way? Watts and power were nice - maintained a comfortable 171 normalized avg for the 2:20 hr duration with some nice 10-20 minute climbs between 200-240w.
The 2nd part of the brick was an easy LSD trail run up Lower McClay Park onto Wildwood. I found the run highly therapeutic. Visualization is key.

The end of taper week 1 - finished off with 13.5 hours, a 25% time duration reduction over the week prior. The bee sting at the beginning of the week helped me cut back on the training - see, everything does happen for a reason :). I could see the effects of taper taking place as my power grew on bike ride Saturday. Now I just have to let that continue to grow and keep it bottled up for race day. "Popping" the cork with be nice.

I got to spend what was left of the afternoon at a special tri clinic listening to Cliff English and 70.3 World Champion and Olympian Sam McGlone. This I have to say was the highlight of the day. I've followed and looked up to Sam since I started triathlon, meeting her and hearing her speak was pretty much a dream come true. Watching her race the next day was just the icing on the cake.

Evening came around and I indulged in a bit too much wine, really good pizza, fun company and a decent movie - District 9. Oddly I felt like I could relate to the aliens, I'm not going to go into that much further. The people who should know, know what that means. The movie was not really what I was expecting but good none-the-less. My legs started cramping mid-way through which kind of sucked. It would have helped if I had rolled them earlier in the day but there are only so many hours/minutes! My bad.

Sunday - Pacing, Volunteering and cheering at Hulaman HIM

Mark and I were up bright and early to support, cheer and pace some friends out at the Hulaman HIM. The first part of the morning was guiding athlete's out of T1 on to the run course, directing the HIM and 1/2 marathon finishers in and keeping spectators in place. During this time I got to watch Sam McGlone come in off the bike, Luke McKenzie take first place finish (HOT, HOT, HOT Aussie!) and PDX local badass Jeff Henderson to win the AG. Many other friends came in with stellar performances - great job on the 1/2 Marathon Joe English!

I joined Dave out of T2 for his first 2.5 miles of the run - he was strong, energetic and had a great attitude! On my way back to the start I passed by Joie - another smilie face :) and then MaryJane. MJ had the misfortune of getting stung not 1, not 2 but 3 times on the face on the bike. I wouldn't have been able to tell if she hadn't told me - she was running with high spirits, great posture and run form and a massive smile on her face - the TNT way. Once back at the finish I was able to take some time to congratulate friends coming in, chow down on a little granola and hydrate a bit before heading back out. Mark and I run back out to pace Dave back in. We ran into Sam who Mark departed and ended up fartleking with. Hehe, that just sounds funny. I end up catching Dave around mile 10. He was running down a long stretch of road with no shade from the sun and the day was getting hot....he was still in good spirits! We paced along for the next couple miles until he "unleashed the beast"....I'll leave it at that since it was his first HIM and he really needs to tell the story, I'm just honored I was able to "run" in a small part of the epic day.

Big Ups to Gary for directing a kick ass HIM and getting some big name PROS and locals out for a "small" town event.

I recovered my 10-11 mile pacing/recovery run at the post race luau with good food and great friends. Then it was on to McMennamins for carb loading hard cider and one tasty vanilla milkshake!

Nothing clever

500 warm up - 8:40

Drills
1 x 250 paddles
2 x 25 kickboard
1 x 250 buoy
2 x 25 kickboard
repeat 1 x

1 x 150 - 50 a-ok, 50 fist, 50 karate
3 x 50 - one arm catch up/high elbow finger drag

Main Set
3 x 500 - (100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 50H); 90 - 8:25, 8:25, 8:34

Cool down - 1 x 200

Total yardage - 3700

I thought being out of the pool for a week I'd be refreshed and fast...not so much. I had motivation and desire to go fast but my coordination was lacking. Today was a great example of how flip turns go wrong. Yet again, I ran into the wall 2 x. No more Sangria the night before swim!

Lovin taper :)

AM Spin
75 mins Z2 - avg watts 132
How I got lost watching LOST going nowhere beats the hell out of me.

I was going to OW swim this evening but it rained in the last day and the water is unsafe, got to love the Willamette river. Really thou that's only one of the reasons I opted out of swimming, as I could have always gone to the pool. As the day progressed my core and back started to hurt = accumulated fatigue. DOMS set in from the massive pilates session I did yesterday morning and my back was feeling the 2 hour trail run from last night + the spin session I did on my road bike which has yet to be fitted. I'm slowly cutting back on the weekly hours so I figured I would give myself the evening off to recover and make some waves in the pool tomorrow morning.

It's a friends birthday, going for night two in a row of margaritas...I could see this becoming habit forming :)

As my header states, I'm lovin taper.

Short and sweet

It started raining (or pouring!) on my drive into the city for the tri club ride. I haven't ridden in the rain for a bit now, spoiled? Maybe :) I opted to run instead of the normal tri club bike ride... and from what I heard about the ride I think I made the right decision. I'm a bit "cooked" on bike mileage right now, so I'm listening to my body and doing what it tells me to.

2 hour run up Leif Erickson trail.
Covered 13.3 miles in 1:57 which put me at a comfortable 8:45 pace. It rained hard for the first 10 minutes. Once I hit the trail head I was sheltered by trees and enjoyed my run in the forrest through the middle of our city. I was able to converse with Tom for a bit who was doing some nasty mnt biking intervals to prep for the Xterra Tri this weekend. Goooooo Tom. Most of my run was done with IM visualization - things are looking good :) The negative split on the way back was a great way to end the day.

Upon finishing I had a little devil on my shoulder aka Mark who convinced me into not one but two margarita's. Damn you! My spin will suffer in the morning....but really it's all about putting the time in, it's too late to add power, with that being said - bring on the margarita's!

Must sleep now, I have a date with my trainer and a couple episodes of LOST. I plan on working on my napping skills on the the bike in the morning. Good night moon!

Going and going and going and zzzzzzz

I should have rolled my legs before bed, I shouldn't have done a two hour trainer session an hour before bed, easy or not. Big difference in riding a trainer and outdoor riding, your legs are constantly spinning.....as I slept or attempted to sleep my legs continued to spin.

Woke up, or did I ever really go to bed? Any who, got out of bed around 5 and I could feel the swelling in my face/eye had gone down. One of my co-workers is a godsend and taught me about topical Benadryl. This helped the burning and swelling without making me too loopy. I was clear enough to go for an easy morning run around the hood.
9.4 miles / 8:45 pace.

I had a lot of energy throughout the day, successful run and accomplished a ton at work. 4pm rolls around and I hit a wall. I try to combat my fatigue with a double shot of espresso, no luck. I feel like an over cooked bird. I opted out of an evening swim and opted in for an evening nap. My 30 min power nap felt like I slept for an eternity. It was truly blissful. I figure I'll spend the rest of the evening being productive, cooking and cleaning. I'm diggin listening to my body :)

A friendly reminder - it's nice to have people watching out for ya

I spent the majority of the day dazed and confused. I woke up and my eye was twice as swollen as the previous morning. It took me a good 30 minutes to pry it open and keep it open. This was alarming so I called my doc. The good news was that I wasn't showing any signs of an allergic reaction. My symptoms are pretty "normal" for someone who got stung at 25+ mph. She advised to continue to ice and take Benadryl all day. I don't know what was more annoying, having what felt like 1/2 my face swollen, sleepy to the point of wanting to take nose dives into my keyboard, or lack of motivation.

By the end of the day all I wanted to do was go home and nap BUT I napped all day yesterday. I know I didn't need that much sleep, it was the stupid drugs. I decided to ignore my instinct and instead drove up to Wildwood for a 2 hour trail run. I'm putting my stuff in the back of the trunk when I notice my phone ringing, it's on silent, I just happened to see it flashing. Unknown number, which I usually won't answer but since my phone died I don't know anyone's number anymore, so I answered. It was my first tri mentor. Darrell was calling to check in and see how my training and the start of my taper was going. I told him my concerns of tapering too early with this stupid bee sting and this, that and the next thing. He reminded me that all my training was done. All I need to do is keep up endurance for another week and then relax and let my body heal for the 2 weeks after. He reminded me to listen to my body. I got off the phone with him and started my run. 2 minutes in I turned back to the car. I was really dizzy and felt nausea. I feared if I ran onward it would be a bad decision and I would end up falling, and possibly injuring myself. So I went home.

I still wanted to get my time in so I went with the safest option - indoor trainer. Ugh, I hadn't been on the trainer for over 2 months...my spin felt like an eternity. It was hot. Maybe 75 outside, I'm sure my apartment got up to 85 or 90 without a fan. I was pretty delirious for most of the ride...which was fine by my, I kept my HR and wattage low and just spun the time out. I was entertained highly entertained by 3 episodes of LOST.


Max HR 169(this was at the end when I was hot and tired)/Avg HR 152
Max Watts 176/ Avg watts 126

My last long brick - Time to taper

Saturday - 4.5 hour bike/ 1.5 hour run brick

I was invited out for a long brick with one of my favorite power couples - Michele and Johan, I could not refuse.
I'm rounding off the end of a 5 week massive build, the purpose of the brick was to test out race day gear, do time duration and just take it easy - mission accomplished.

Bike - I'm not 100% certain about the bike route data, IE elevation and what not as Johan planned it out, I just wanted to put my time in. The first 14 miles or so was a steady climb, I dropped down into my little ring (double compact cassette) and just spun it out. Even though I was in the easy gear my wattage was a bit higher then what I wanted 160-200 for the first 70 mins of the ride. Once we reached the crest (beautiful view BTW) it was time to hit some rollers and then on to the a descent. Then came climb #2 again this one was done in my little ring, staying in the saddle and my wattage stayed between 160-210. Went on to do more rollers. I swear I have the worst luck with bees. I always get stung on the bike, this is the 3rd instance this year! I was descending down about 25-30mph and this big ass bee hits me in my face. Ouch! Not only does it sting but it sticks to my face. I quickly come to a stop, take off my glasses and throw the little f%^#er on the ground. I'm not sure what kind of bee it was but it had super venom and continued to flop around on the ground. The corner of my eye was on fire! The little f^%#%er brought me to tears. I decided to unleash my wrath and stomped the s^%# out of it. F$%# that hurt. The rest of the ride was mostly a descent. The descent was fun and I wish I could have enjoyed it more, my face throbbed and swelled for the rest of the ride.

We got back to the car to fill up water bottles and then did 30 min out and back along a different route. I highly enjoyed the second part..maybe it was because I knew I was almost done. Heading out I was pushing an effortless 20-25 mph. I thought I was on a false flat, I would later learn in was tailwind that pushed me along. There was one more climb at the end where I stayed between 175-200 watts, this lasted about 20 minutes. The climb wasn't too steep it just lasted a while. Coming back we hit the headwind and I felt as Casper the ghost was constantly push my bike backwards.
I think the total elevation gain was around 4500-4800ft. Ride last 4.5 hours and covered 67 miles.

Power tap data
Max HR 168/ avg HR 131
Max power 343/ normalized avg power 145/ avg power 127

Once we hit the car Michele and I transitioned into our run gear and took off for a 90 min run. I tested out my Gas cap (holds 6 GUs) and found that it could be an IM option. I ran and never noticed the GUs on my head, they weren't heavy and the cap is composed of a cool moisture wicking mesh. I like the cap and the concept behind it but found I may not need it and run with salts only. Powerbar sponsors IM and I know I can run with their Gel (did so for my first marathon), plus the Powerbar Gel hold 3-4x the electrolytes that GU does. So that's always an option. I also tested out the next Oiselle "Distance" short, which I <3. I'm soooo changing into a nice fresh pair of run shorts. I had a great run with Michele. We took it easy and tried out a 10 min run 1 min walk strategy. I really enjoyed walking, I think it's good mentally...the problem I have is if I'm not running with someone I'll end up walking for too long. I think I will end up doing a run walk strategy but do it in 30 sec. bursts and only at aid stations where I need GU/Gel and water. The run went really well for both Michele and I. One last confident brick is a good way to end my build.

Sunday - I didn't take an ice bath last night as I wasn't sore from the workout. I thought I may pay for that on Sunday but I didn't :) I woke up and my body felt A-ok. What didn't feel ok was my face. It felt like I had seriously been punched in the eye, it looked like it to. The bee sting had swollen up over night and my whole eye is red and almost swollen shut. I know I'm not allergic to bees (I've been stung far too often) but I've never had swelling so bad before. I had intended on swimming today but that won't be an option as I couldn't deal with goggles around my eyes. My eye hurts so bad all I want to do is close them, which has lead me to 3 naps today. I've slept 13 hours between last night and this morning/ afternoon. I decided to call today a wash.

Taper is welcomed at this point.

A new swim PR :)

Evening swim

The days of my life :/

Wednesday - BAD day (picture of a cat with hair standing up)
*Missed the Wednesday group ride, which was probably for the best. I was in a poor mood and unmotivated - I took the night off instead.
*Overwhelmed with every aspect of life, over emotional to the point of tears.....sometimes things just suck.
*Always to end on a positive, even when I don't feel like it. I'm so fortunate to have such a wonderful supportive mother who happens to love sushi just as much as I do. I love you mom.

Thursday
The good thing is that training wise I don't feel like I'm OT'd. I woke up with plenty of desire and motivation to swim, yesterday was just a bad day. With every other aspect of my life in utter and complete chaos I think it's best to start taper will a little early - planning to continue the long workouts this weekend but at a very easy pace, full taper will start on Monday.

AM Swim
1 x 500 warm up

Drills
1 x 250 paddles
2 x 25 kickboard
1 x 250 buoy
2 x 25 kickboard
repeat 1 x

1 x 200 - 50 A-ok, 50-fist, 50-karate, 50 free
2 x 50 - one arm catch up/return with high elbow finger drags

Mainset
3 x 500 intervals (100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 100H, 50E, 50H); 1:00 recoveries - 8:23, 8:25, 8:20
Ouch, these were hard. I have a bit of built up anger and sadness it was nice to unleash this on the water.

Cool down
1 x 200

Total yardage - 3700

Swim felt really good.

Evening Run
3 mile easy barefoot run along the outer lane at Dunaway Track - 8:30 easy pace

5.3ish mile run up Twilliger Curves - 8:35 pace

After running barefoot my shoes felt like clouds. I also noticed a big change in my foot strike as I ran on the ball or toe of my foot for at least the first 1/2 of Twilliger. I could feel the aftermath of the barefoot run on my calves as I ran up each hill. I didn't feel anything that caused worry, I could just feel like my calves had been worked. I had a ton of energy on my run and once again unleashed the wrath on my workout.

Tupac's F&^# The World was my training theme song of the day.

Don't Rain On My Parade

AM Swim

8 x 500's - 8:53, 8:43, 8:55, 8:40, 8:42, 8:45, 8:52, 8:51
Total yardage - 4,000
I lost myself in the water this morning. I got caught up in my thoughts and on the 3rd 500 instead of flip turning I swam straight in the wall. Lol, the bump on my head woke me up a little...apparently not enough as I swam into the lane line 75 yards later. I felt strong during the workout (minus the 3rd 500)- mind, body and soul....but I was disconnected as well. I've got a lot on my mind.

I leave the gym happy, looking forward to my S'10 vendor meetings with 2XU and Smartwool. Then my smile turned upside down when I realized my car wasn't where I parked it. WTF? Ah yes, pretty sure it was towed. About a month ago they repainted the parking lot and only allocated 8-10 spots for the gym, the rest are painted with names of near by restaurants. I "assumed' (you know what they say about assuming, right?) that I could park there as I always had since the restaurants didn't open until after 10am and the lot was deserted. Well I made an ass out of myself and got my car towed. The employee at the tow company was very lucky that I had brought my cooler/lunch box that held my breakfast in the gym with me. If I would have been w/o food I seriously could have taken his head off. I ate my 2nd breakfast for the day on my mile and a half walk to get my car. Apparently the tow company made a sweep as I met 3 dudes from my gym at the towing lot. $255 and an hour later I got my car back. I'm pretty proud of how I handled the whole situations. The 3 guys at the towing lot were pissed and very vocal about it. Don't get me wrong, I was angry as well but WTF was I to do? I was in the wrong, I shouldn't have parked there....lesson learned the hard way. No reason to dwell on it, life will go on.

Hehe, I do think I took my morning frustration out on the 2XU rep as I pretty much tore apart most of their tri apparel...and don't even get me started on their poor excuse for compression. Really? The line needs a lot of work, they have style but lack a lot of function.

Evening trail run - 60 mins easy, 6 miles

I ended up meeting my buddy Eric, his gf and another one of their friends on the Wildwood trail right before the start. Company on my run is exactly what I needed....being alone with my thoughts for much longer could possibly put me over the edge. I ended up having a fantastic run with fantastic people.

Now I just need to shut off my brain and get some sleep. Anyone have an "off" button I could use?

Hard Cider does a body good, as does a big brick

Sunday

Bike - 4 hours - 67 miles 2700 ft of climbing

*I was joined with two Ironmen and one Ultra Runner - talk about a bad ass training group

*I felt GREAT considering yesterday I ran 4 hours on trails and achieved extra elevation gain from helping friends move out of their MASSIVE house.

*I found riding out to Multnomah Falls is best enjoyed at 8am - no traffic and 75 degrees is still relatively cool.

*A 4 hour bike ride is now short - when did this happen? Suppose anything after STP in one day is short.

*I wish I could figure out how to get an IV drip of Malto during IMC - that stuff is the elixir of the Gods....well right behind coffee.

Transition Run - 1 hour - 7 miles

*Eh, run was done right after bike - longest transitional run to date and at 12:30ish I wasn't really looking forward to running in the heat..I was also unsure of how my legs would handle running after the 4 hours I put down yesterday.

*Mark biked by my side as I ran back to his place 3.5 miles. Along the way we discussed Hansel and Gretel and how the Germans enjoyed eating children, somehow this turned into a conversation on how we could cook/prepare children in various ways. Lol, totally took my mind off of running in the heat :) - thanks!

*I was smart and had an ice pack in my car, I stuff this in my bra and rocked the uni-boob. It really helped keep my core temp down. What also helped was running through the Pennisula Park water fountains. They glowed and called to me like an angel with a halo.

*Quick aid station at Mark's - more ice as mine had melted 1/2 way in. Mark joined me on the way back - yay, I was not going to be alone!

*I think the way back was hotter then the way there. It was hard because the run was 80% all exposed and it was probably in the 90s by then. We kept trying to find the lessor of two evils - running under the shade or running on the road, this made a lot of zig zagging.

*I finished my second half in a 8:45 avg and I'm pretty sure the first half was faster - IF Mark's odometer on his bike is accurate I pulled out a 8:30 avg on the first half. My avg HR was 149!!!!! in 90 degree heat. This is a HUGE confidence booster. I've found as long as I have someone to run with during IM I think I'm going to be ok. I've always been a social runner :) Good thing there's going to be a ton of people to run with, I've got to get my eye on a hot guy in the 25 up to 35-40 AG :D

Recovered with food and carb loaded up with a hard cider.

I think during the run I will sing - 99 packets of GU on the wall, 99 packets of GU. Take one down pass it around, 98 packets of GU on the wall. Speaking of which, I ran with my GAS Cap, it's a mesh run cap that holds up to 6 GUs at a time. This hat is BADASS. I don't even feel like I'm carrying GU. IM must have!

OW Swim in the Columbia - 40 mins

*Ouch - I was tired at this point....or the hard cider hit me - HARD :)

*Got my OW experience as Roxy aka "the dog" decided to swim over me a few times.

*Swam 25 minutes out, and 15 back - it was a point to point.

*Water felt great on my legs and in the end the swim helped loosen up my back from the ride.

I was a bit out of it after the swim, so what did I do? Lush myself out even more with a Four Loko's. Hey, it gave me energy :) Mmmmm, a massive pile of hot wings later and I was a happy Kat. Ended the night off with good company and of course another hard cider.

Sunday was a VERY good training...uh drinking day.

4 hour LSD on Wildwood

That is all :)

Run was pretty non-eventful which IMO is a good thing. Ran with good company. Forgot my HR strap at home so I just ran with what felt easy. Ended up just over 22 miles on a hilly trail. Felt good at the start, during the middle and having Devin beat me at the last 1/2 mile sprint. Damn long legged men!

I lost another 3/4 of a lb today :( This brings me total down 6.25 lbs - thus far it hasn't affected my performance but know if it continues on it will. I don't know what to do. I'm drinking a ton and taking in extra electrolytes along with saltier food. I'm at an all time weight low :( Go away heat!

Good night world - I'm off to bed by 9pm on a Saturday night - can you say disciplined? I've got to get up at 5am to get another loooooong brick in. I think a salt stick and a glass of yogi time tea will be a nice night cap.