Out...

Hey guys, I didn't get to post on here a whole lot, and don't really know any of you guys besides Shef, but wanted to pass on my good lucks to you guys. I have a partially torn quad as of last week and therefore am now out for Louisville. It sucks, but I know its not smart to push my body to try and race when it is not completely healed, this is something I want to do for the rest of my life, not just a few more weeks.

I did get to go down to Louisville and do a half iron right before I got injured and it covered a lot of the course for the full, so wanted to pass along some tid bits. It is probably going to be hot, very hot, it was the day of the half. You won't notice it much on the bike because you have the cool breeze from you zipping through the hills :-) Just make sure you are drinking, a lot, on the bike to prepare for the run. The electrolyte tablets are great too for helping with this. They are something you should be able to use without pre-training with them all that much, so maybe give them a shot on a few rides and see what you think. The hills really aren't that bad out there. There is one nasty hill on an out and back portion (like ride 1694 or something). Enjoy the downhill, get into aero and go, because you will turn around and go right back up it! Use your gears smart (a lot of people were trying to push through in a high gear and it wasn't going well, I was close to granny gear, but passed over 10 people on the ascent just because my legs were actually moving). Enjoy the scenery- oh my gosh is it beautiful out there. There are a ton of horse farms with acres and acres of land. There was one point on the ride where I was riding and there was this beautiful Thoroughbred galloping along side me in his pasture, I had to slow down and just be at peace for a minute at some of God's beautiful creations. As for the run- just keep moving forward. Less than 1% of first time ironmaners run the whole marathon, so just keep moving, whether its a shuffle or a walk, just keep MOVING!

Alright, I think thats all for now. Oh yeah, the swim - use the current!!! But you guys are all swimmers so I don't think that will be much of a problem for you. Just remember it is a river so the current is the strongest in the middle - use this to your advantage, if you are swimming against the current stay towards the edge, if you're swimming with it, move more towards the middle.

I will be thinking of all of you, trying not to be bummed about not being there racing too, good luck and most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!

Alrighty so here goes it! I started school last week and got dumped on! I did manage to get up at 5 every morning (well mon-thur) to workout before going to school.....wow was that hard with very little sleep (ave. 3-5hours). School is a lot of work but tons of fun and just recruited one of my friends to spin class tonight so I might have another training partner!

As for the training.....swimming is going to be totaly fine.....biking --> i did my first century ride a few weekends ago with 5000ft of climbing in about 6 and a half hours (not including the fancy rest stops, it was an organized ride with unlimited beer afterwards!).....not horrible but my longest ride before that was maybe 60....as for the runs I haven't done anything long enough by any means :( I need to work on that. This weekend though my tri team is going out to hagg lake, close to portland, and we are going to do some open water swimming and of course some biking and running afterwards! I'm also doing an olympic triathlon next weekend at the same place....pretty hilly course so we shall see how that goes. Anywho I wouldn't reccomend trying to work, go to grad school and train for an ironman at the same time (I'm sure Beth know's how hellish it is) it sucks.

Jill you asked all these questions where are your answers to them all?

hope all is well and relax and have a few beers this weekend to celebrate the 4th! I'm drinking one right now when I'm supposed to be reading for class! woops

cheers,
Catherine

Update me

Hey ladies,

A little over 8 weeks until Louisville, and Beth...10? The end is in sight and it looks like we just have to survive a couple weeks of hellish training before TAPER. Boy, doesn't it feel good to see that word again? Anyway, I want to hear how things (yes, including training!) are going for you guys. Are you all healthy/un-injured? What's the longest ride you've been out on so far this season? Who has done some open water swimming? How do runs go? Spill the deets. I miss you guys.

xoxo