Now, pink has been my most favorite color since I can remember seeing that pink crayon. Wow, the pink crayon. I remember, we (my brother and I) always had our favorites. Mine was red, Chris’s was blue…and then one day…. what’s this?! It was like a pretty, delicate, red….it was PINK and I was in love. I had to have been like 3 years old, and oh yes, I remember it clearly.  That beautiful pink crayon.

It’s not like I wear pink everyday or anything.  I mean, in “real life” I actually don’t wear pink that often (and “real life” doesn’t include work, because I do actually own A LOT of pink scrubs * awkward side glance*).  My “real life” clothes are usually tan, brown, black, white, off-white, denim…..booooooring.  It seems that maybe working out brings out my alter-ego: DIVA KATY MOE, suckas! (imagine that font is  pink and flashing).

So the whole point of this post is me trying my darndest to explain that I’m not a real DIVA,  despite almost always wearing pink while training/racing, and frequently wearing skirts (sometimes floral, sometimes zebra),  insisting on wearing a pink dress in my Ironman and hoping it doesn’t clash with my ZOOT socks because the pink compression socks just feel a little over the top, and of course my pink nail polish was packed before my cycling shoes, and…oh right, back to the point. The point is this…..I have done something diva-ish and I’m about to share it with you.

I blinged-out my garmin.  Yup. Blinged-it-out.  (This would be more funny if you could hear me say it, promise). I mentioned the possible bling-ing of my garmin on Facebook, but now I’ve actually done it.  I laughed the whole time I was doing it (and these things take time), I laughed for my whole first bike ride with it, as all the bling was kind of blinding me *giggle*, and I laugh REALLY hard every time I show it to anyone. So please enjoy my blinged out GARMIN!!!

TA DA!!!!

Happy Training,

Iron Diva Katy Moe

It just doesn’t happen that way. It seems that I’m usually still really really tired, my workouts are kinda flat, some are even bad, and I’m preoccupied with the planning for the trip etc.  so I don’t even feel like I have a ton more time.

My last long brick was a couple of weekends ago.  It was HOT.  We started our ride around 7 am, it was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride with a 8 mile run.  It turned into a 3 hour ride and a 7 mile run. I probably started my run around 10:45 or 11:00, and I don’t know how hot it was when I started, but I was BAKING about 3 miles in.  I hadn’t really planned out my 8 mile loop back to the car, but knew I had some shorter and some longer options….and I was NOT willing to go for the longer ones.

I definitely some down moments on this run, with lots of self doubt.  These are the times where you question all of your training, and evil little thoughts start flying through your head.  ”…if I feel like this now, how am I going to feel in my marathon?!?” & “if it’s hot in CDA I’m screwed”  & “what if it’s raining and windy?!?…” This way of thinking can quickly spiral into a deep dark depressed slow sufferfest if you don’t get it in check.  So, I made myself start thinking of all the things I was thankful for. The first thing I thought was, ” well, I am NOT thankful for this heat”….not quite right.  That’s how much of a brat I am that I even make snotty remarks to myself when I’m trying to get myself out of a funk. Idiot. Sooner than later  I got on the right track.  It started with my legs, I’m thankful for my strong legs that I’m running on right now, I’m thankful for my heart who LOVEs to run, I’m thankful for my family who taught me to enjoy being active, I’m thankful for my mom, brother, and Brett for going all the way to CDA to watch me pull together 9 months of training and pack it all into 11 hours and 55 minutes *wink*…..the list went on and on and on and on…..but I totally perked up and felt pretty good my last couple of miles. It’s amazing what a good attitude on a run can do.

This past week I feel like I’ve been on survival mode a little bit.  Working, cleaning, organizing, packing, planning, list-making, cleaning, chore assigning, vitamining, hydrating, can I carbo-load yet? I’m kind of an over achiever when it comes to that. Mmmmm, food.

I have a few pics to post that I hope you’ll enjoy (I’ll post them in a new post)….the thumbnail is from my final brick…and I was thankful for the beautiful view!

It’s the new flavor of GU! How exciting is that?!  It’s from Charisa Wernick, she’s a pro triathlete who’s blog I read.  I commented on her site and she sent me the NEW GU!  How cool is she?! I actually just featured Charisa on my BLOG of the WEEK page, a couple of weeks ago.  So, for more information on Charisa, just check that out.

I realized I did have a couple pictures from yesterday.  No reenactments of the gear malfunctions yet though.  I have my new post-long-training-session routine down now.  Get home, make recovery drink, sip on drink while stretching, take recovery drink to go get 20 lb. ice bag,  start warming tea, finish recovery drink, quick shower, change into ice bath clothes, get reading material, timer, turn music on loud, get in the tub, and FREEZE.

I fill the tub with cold water (which seems awful enough right?!), then I open the ice bag once I’m in and settled. It takes about 1 minute after I open the bag to get below 55 degrees (here’s an ice bath article if you’re interested). So that one cooling minute, and then the next four are not good, not good at all.  Yesterday I was guzzling my tea thinking warm thoughts.  I always keep my toes out for most of the soak, because I feel like they are literally going to freeze off.I have the perfect tub for ice baths, there’s a safety rail and everything.   I was reading VEGETARIAN times yesterday while soaking.  It had some great articles and recipes and got me very excited for my post-run meal.  I made a vegan scramble with tofu, spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms. It was fantastic.

I loved how with just a dash of turmeric the tofu turns yellow, so you really feel like you’re eating eggs. I mean, it totally tastes like tofu, but it at least looks like it could be a baby chickens in the making. gross.

I’m not too incredibly sore today (thank you ice bath and ZOOT recovery tights!).  At swimming this morning coach was having us do a kicking drill with resistance from a vertical kicking board out in front. UGH.  I’m pretty sure I wasn’t moving.  He finally let me swim back to the wall…..after I caused a dramatic scene in the pool.  It was probably good for my legs to kick all that soreness out.

I bought some Chia seeds, and some Antioxidant Oil at whole foods today and put them in my oatmeal.  My MD says my good cholesterol is low which is bad, and my bad cholesterol is low which is good.  So, although all I ever eat is stuff with good cholesterol, I guess I have to up the ante a bit.  Also, I just reserved Brendan Brazier’s book Thrive at the library. I can’t wait to read it. He’s a vegan Ironman who has created his own line of vegan supplements  for training.

Happy Training.

I ran 18 miles today, and it felt wonderful and fun.  How great is that?!  I had some minor gear-malfunctions. These “malfunctions” were only moderately embarrassing, but ended up being massively painful.  I wore my running skirt with tights under, and my camelbak fanny pack for hydration.  My skirt kept riding up and tucking itself up under my camelbak exposing my booty. Yes, my booty was covered by my tights but these tights are made to be covered so they’re pretty thin.  It was pretty awkward to have my fellow runners run up behind me and yank my skirt down.  So, in my feeble attempt to prevent further embarrassment and booty flashing I put my pack higher on my waist so it couldn’t snatch my skirt up again.  With my pack higher my shirt kept creeping up, so for the majority of the run my pack was on my bare skin.  So, in saving myself some embarrassment, I rubbed lots of skin off  a massive 4 inch square patch on my back. Now, that’s what I call chaffing.  You know how you find all your chaffed areas in the shower.  Wow….just wow.  That was the most painful part of my whole day.  That’s gonna leave a mark.

I’ll wanted to post some reenactment pictures of these gear malfunctions and my huge chaffed back spot, but didn’t get around to it today.  Check back later and maybe I’ll do it tomorrow.

I’ve done quite  few 1/2IM races, so I also know how bad they hurt.  I don’t think a 1.2 mile swim is  big deal, I don’t think much of a 56 mile bike, and I could run 13.1 miles right now without blinking an eye.  I’m experienced enough to know that putting them all together, especially with a race atmosphere, means PAIN, lots and lots of pain.

I’ve been trying to think of Saturday’s race as a fun training day, but I’ve already looked up all my times from previous half Ironman races, all of my splits, and the results from this race from the last couple of years.  Thinking, “if I PR I could finish in X-place”.  I can’t help but planning on PRing in all of my races.  Even when I’m completely unprepared, a little piece of me thinks I might be able to eeek out a PR.

My best 1/2 IM distance race was Oceanside 2007, I was also training for Coeur d’Alene when I did that race.  I did a 5:36:23.  I swam a 34:10, rode a 3:00:54, and ran a 1:54:19.  I keep looking at those times and they all seem pretty doable. There is definitely a piece of me that feels like I can PR Saturday.  What if I did sub-5:30?

Ultimately I need to work on my nutrition and hydration before and during the race, work on pacing, and just practice racing.  Up until last year I would do about 5-8 triathlons a year so I’m feeling  a little out of practice to say the least.

Wish me luck!

And don’t forget to check out my friends who are also racing Saturday at Ironman St. George.  Checkout Ironmanlive.com you can track them live on race day. Scott Bolin # 990, his wife Lea Nibur is #288, and our friend
Mike Weathers is #202.

Today was supposed to be a long ride day with some hilly’s.  Sounds like my cup-o-tea.  Anything long make me happy, and hills make me happy too.  There were a few things that went wrong with today though starting last week.  First of all, this weekend totally snuck up on me, and I didn’t have a great plan of attack for it.  I’m kind of a planner, and if I don’t have a firm plan things either don’t get done at all, or they just don’t get done well.

I know it sounds moderately crazy to you non-planners, and my planning at times does dip into crazy town I can admit that.  I thrive on it, not the crazy, just the organization and especially the planning of things. So, back to the story.

I hadn’t made a set plan for the weekend. I had on my calendar a 3.5 hour ride with a 45 minute run Saturday, and a 4 hour ride Sunday.  Sounds fun.  Friday night I was SUPER tired after a long awful day at work so I just went to bed,  because thinking about what I needed to get ready for the weekend was even too much to think about.  I Did my brick Saturday, felt pretty good, minus some minor bonking towards the end of my run.  Got home fueled up, drank water all day, had dinner with my mom.  Overall it was a great day. I decided that Sunday (today) I would do one of my favorite rides with lots of hills.  I’d start early (8ish) so I’d be home early with lots of day left.

This morning I rolled out of bed around 9:30. :/  Sat on the couch eating, interneting, procrastinating. This was already not looking too good. I was in NO hurry to get out there on my bike.  hmmm.  Finally around 11am I started getting things organized.  Drove out to Copper and Willow, dang-it I’m already hungry again I thought.  Good thing I brought a banana.  I thought it would hold me over until my first stop at Humphrey’s Station.

About 50 minutes into my ride I was STARVING! I was about 20 minutes away from Humphrey’s so I decided to wait to eat my bar (dumb).  Got to Humphrey’s, filled the water bottles and chowed down.  I brought more food with me than usual, and considered eating another bar, but decided to wait until the top of Wildcat to have a snack break.  I headed out towards my next big climb, about half way up the steep climb, my stomach was GROWLING….I was feeling exhausted, totally bonking. Dang-it.  Those of you who don’t know what “bonking” is, it’s when you just completely run out of steam and have NOTHING left to give.  I finally made it to the top of Wildcat, SUPER excited to eat and drink.  I ate a huge bar with tons of calories and nutrients, and thought I’d be good.  Had a nice decent to let the calories sink in, started back up towards Tollhouse on Burrough Valley Rd.  Probably 2 miles into this climb I felt hungry again! ugh! Dang-it. I didn’t have a lot of food left and I had a good 30 miles left to go. I ate a gel, and some cliff blocks, hoping they’d get in my system quick, about 20 minutes later I gave in and finished off my last bar hoping all of that would boost me to Prather where I could buy more food.

I made it up to Sierra Elementary School, and started to feel little better.  I also knew most of my climbing was done and I just had to make it to Prather to get some calories. I toyed with the idea of stopping in Tollhouse for some food, but thought I felt so much better I’d make it to Prather no problem.  About 10 minutes later, about 1/2 way between Tollhouse and Prather I was re-thinking my decision. I have never been SO depleted on a ride before, this was ridiculous. I mean I’ve bonked a lot, don’t get me wrong, but never over and over like this.  At this point, I literally thought to myself, in my whiniest voice, *sigh* I just want to stop pedaling, maybe I’ll just stop pedaling. I slowed my pedaling and quickly realized I would NEVER get to food if I stopped. dang-it.

Ok, suck it up let’s go.  These are definitely the days where you are picturing race day, and wondering if that’s how you are going to feel on race day. These are also the days that on race day you think back on and realize you got through something really tough.  Even if it’s tough because you didn’t prepare well, it doesn’t matter.  Fact is, it was tough and you did it.  But at this point I hadn’t done it….I was in the middle of it and I was miserable, dang-it. I made it to Prather.  I wanted a HUGE sandwich or plate of spaghetti.  Instead I got a red bull and a snickers.  They were AMAZING!

I was a new woman in a couple of minutes. I hate buying water so I stopped at Brett’s parent’s house to fill up.  They also had SCONES left over from breakfast (thanks Tom!) so I sat and ate two scones.  At this point in my day I felt like my ride was already unsuccessful. Who cares if I sit and eat……I barely even made it there.  I realize this all sounds very dramatic, but when you don’t have enough calories in your body…..and you still have to pedal yourself 25 miles home you feel pretty hopeless.

I hopped back on my bike with ice cold water, and a belly full of treats. The last 20 miles were a breeze!  Another cyclist on the opposite side of the road gave me a fist-pump as I rode by. Not just a wave, a fist pump. I felt like he knew how long my day was or something.  He was celebrating for me. I really was feeling great, I felt like I could just keep going! Dang-it.  Clearly my biggest adversary today was my lack of preparation/nutrition. I probably needed to eat more yesterday after my long ride/run.  I probably needed to eat more before I went out the door today, and I probably needed to bring more on my ride with me.

On the bright side, I did it. I made it. I learned from it.  It’s in the bank for when I need it.  Time to EAT!

This is one of my favorite rides to do, especially during the spring!  All the wildflowers are blooming!  The water is calm and beautiful.  There are rolling fun hills all around the lake, and challenging hills up to and out of the lake.

The first climb out from the lake is a doosey.  It’s only about 1 mile long, but it is very very steep.  The last time I was riding up this hill, I was going about 6 mph, I passed some cows just sitting on the side of the road, I scared a baby cow and the momma took a few steps towards me!  I panicked, what if she charged me!? I was going 6 mph….I felt like I was standing still! Katie and I laughed about this story the whole way up.  When we stopped at the Forrest Service Station at the top we saw this.

He was basking in the sun!  Katie and I cracked up thinking of the possibilities of him charging us.  Then I made Katie ride by again so I could get pictures of her!

Our final climb of the day was up the back of Wildcat.  Wildcat is a well known difficult climb in this area (the front not the back).  We stopped for some fuel, fluid, and photos.

I’m an avid blog reader.  Especially professional triathletes.  It keeps me sooo motivated reading about their training….how they LOVE to “give it to themselves”  to be “smashed” what they are eating.  How they train, eat, nap, eat, train, eat, nap, sleep!  THE LIFE!  I get really bummed if my favorites don’t blog for a while.  So, here it is folks.  Tonight I’m sitting down and posting a few stories of late.

Just so this isn’t the most boring post ever. I’m going to post  a few pictures of a few things that don’t have huge stories:

These are some hair flowers I made for my adorable friend Ky’an.  They are just layers and layers of polyester fabric circles, with burned edges. I sewed on some beads, and hot glue gunned ‘em to some bobby pins!  I love them!

That’s my quilt on the floor in the background.  I was working on it like a mad-woman during my recovery week.  The top is completely done, this is what happened every time I needed to lay the quilt or any quilt pieces on the floor. It’s like a puppy magnet!

We had a puppy birthday party at our house last weekend. The three sisters Clementine (Brett’s parent’s dog), Olive (Brett’s sisters’ dog), and our little Arizona turned a year old last Friday!  I made home made doggy treats (seen in the picture), and a people cake for us to eat!  It was a fun, and funny family day!

The rest of my weekend was just as exciting and energy filled!!  Saturday’s workout was a DAY OFF.   Yep! I didn’t have to work or workout. WHAT?  Yep, day off off. These happen pretty rarely during IM training because of my 12 hour shifts, I usually get my day off of training on a work day.  Some work days are like marathons themselves, so it’s not always a “day off”.  Saturday was though, so the puppy and I went for a 5 mile walk, and then I spent 2 hours doing yard work in the beautiful sun.  I couldn’t let that sunny day go to waste just because I wasn’t training. (The funny thing about the yard work is how SOOOORE I was the next day!  I must have done 100 squats picking up leaves, etc!)

I spent the rest of the day working on some crafts.  I have this little purse that my brother gave me for Christmas probably 8 years ago, it’s been through a lot to say the least and the ink stains were finally the kicker. I thought I’d have to put the ol’ thing down.  After trying to throw it away several times I finally decided maybe I could just patch it….or save it as a pattern and remake one.  So I started taking it apart, as I took it apart I realized I really just needed to add new front pockets to it. In then end it became a refurbished purse!  (I’ll post pics of the finished project later).

Another project I was diligently working on while recovering was my “project quilt”. Which is a quilt I’m making with squares from all my scraps that are left over from my projects.  I’m about 3/4 of the way done with the top of the quilt.  I think I’m going to put a flannel backing on so it’s SUPER duper cozy!  It has been really really fun getting out old fabrics and remembering what I made with them.  Most of them are from purses and aprons, but I’ve done some other fun things.  I even put the OLD fabric from inside the refurbished purse on there!   Jess (Brett’s sister) and I have been making hair flowers and head bands I’ll post some pictures when I actually finish one.  We had a really fun crafting night the other night with some of her friends.  Jess was on a roll finishing bags she promised her friends for their birthdays’ last year….I kept eyeing her fabrics hoping she’d have leftovers that I could craft with (she has good taste).