Kathleen's Adventures

Was a total success! Jon and I left wondering why in the world we don't go there more often. Despite lovely traffic to and from it just really isn't that hard to get to for a weekend. Add that to the fact that my company has 2 corporate units there (one on South Congress and one a Mopac and 360), and hopefully we'll be showing up there quite a bit more often. Saturday morning I had the fastest 21 mile run I have ever done. Yes, my 20 mile run for IMAZ last year was run at a faster pace than this one, but I said 21 mile run, not 20, so it is comparing apples to oranges, so I still get to claim this one as my fastest. And possibly close to my hottest too (at least compared to Houston/IMAZ training...Chicago and St. George training most likely brought similar weather conditions). I rolled out of bed at 5 Saturday morning after a whopping 4 hours of sleep (need to talk to Camden about the lovely day glow lights they put outside each bedroom window...) and headed over to Rogue. ...

I am soooo excited about my little weekend adventure in Austin. It will be a change of scenery at just the right time. The only issue now is I am afraid I planned waaaaay too much in way too short of a time frame. Jon and I are driving up later tonight, enjoying a lovely picnic dinner in the car (Zoe's, of course). Tomorrow morning, I'm running 14 miles with the Rogue training group around campus and Hyde Park, some of my old stomping grounds. The lady I spoke with said "we're running here and here, which won't be hilly." Ha! I looked at the route...there are indeed many many hills. For you Austinites, you might not call them hills, but this Houstonian calls them hills for sure. After my run with the group, Jon is going to meet up with me and we'll finish up my run on the Town Lake trail - probably one of my favorite places to run. After that, Jon and I are heading to Gruene to meet up with my sister's family for lunch. Whohoo! I haven't seen the ...

Not your typical Sunday morning? Jon prefers coffee and Inside Triathlon Magazine with his ice bath. I prefer my laptop and Shipley's donuts.

This weekend was my biggest mega training weekend I will have for CDA (I think...). Saturday we biked 101 miles of hills and Sunday I ran 17.5 miles and then swam (not very far). Next weekend will be my longest training run with a not-as-long bike ride and the weekend after that will be a not-as-long run with hopefully another century bike ride. So hopefully these next two weekends will be a breeze after smushing everything together this weekend. Saturday started early...very early...as in 4 something. We left Houston at 5am to make a 6:30am rollout time in Chappell Hill. A good 25-30 cyclists showed up for the ride -about half triathletes who are doing CDA and the other half road cyclists who just like torture. I was so happy to see that many people show up - the group definitely made the ride a lot more fun. The route was also awesome - I'd have pictures if I could have ever thought clearly enough to use the camera I had in my back pocket. The hills just got bigger and bigge...

Ok , I admit it...I suck a blogging lately. Or for the past several months. But, I think that is probably ok because I doubt the lives of many people hinge on my regular blog posting. I think a lot of it is that my life is a little more full now as compared to when I started blogging, and I certainly like it better this way. I know many of my readers are sitting on the edge of their seats though just waiting to hear about my most recent swim, ride, or run, so here you go. Swimming Have not been feeling it too much lately, but at the same time I have been having some decent workouts. My Lonestar swim stuck with me for a while - I did not really have any answers for what it was so slow other than that I am now slower than I used to be. That assumption was reaffirmed Friday before last - I did a 300yd time trial at the pool just to see where things were. I had done one in February 2008 (~2 months out from IMAZ ) and was about 2 months out from IMCDA , so thought I'd compare. FA...

This was my third time to do this race in Panama City Beach, Florida. In 2006 , it was my first half ironman, and in 2008 it was a victory lap of sorts, racing just 4 weeks after IMAZ on little to no training during that period. 2006 and 2008 were completely different races for me, and 2009 was yet another completely different race. There was no pressure whatsoever in 2008 - I had no expectations other than a fun weekend at the beach. This year, I am six weeks out from IMCDA and this race was both a training day and a chance to get some idea of where I am. The hard work was not over after this race, as I have my 3 hardest training weeks between now and my taper. We left Houston Thursday afternoon, stayed in Pensacola Thursday night, and got to PCB around lunchtime on Friday. It was hot and windy, no question about it. Staying at the Boardwalk Condos is soooo nice because everything is right there and you don't have to drive anywhere. We also made a good decision to cook most of ou...

My. head. is. going. to. explode.