definitely a memoriable memorial weekend May 27, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : running, biking, mountain biking, mike, marky , add a commentI took full advantage of the 3 day weekend — the first one I’ve had since classes started in January.
Saturday Mike, the mountain bikes and I all climbed our way up the same basic route we did back in December. It was still beautiful and fun. We went a bit farther this time, and made it all the way to the summit of the fire road. And again froze our asses off on the way down. It took forever in warm water in the shower to get my toenails not blue. And I might never listen to Mike about when to bring my cold-weather gloves again. But about 22 miles and 6000 ft of climbing kicked off the weekend right.
Sunday started with a pretty relaxed 30 mile loop on bike paths, basically flat (just under 1000ft of climbing). Then some shopping for a dress for one of my sister’s wedding in a couple weeks. A fun dinner, and then a nice evening 4.5 mi run.
Monday no alarm clocks were allowed. And we relaxed in the morning. But got out the door barely before noon for a great climby loop chasing Mike or sometimes riding with him — 71 miles and a bit under 10,000ft of climbing. Knowing it was going to be a long day of climbing, I just spun up pretty much everything, relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous views from the ridge road and seeing down the valleys. I loved the miles and miles with no cars, since about 20 of the miles each way were on roads that are currently closed to cars (ok currently closed — but lots of bikers still play up there). And the french dip sandwich at the turn around, complete with a fire to dry off and thaw a bit from that last cloud, also rocked. Oh yeah, and on the final stretch, I got a bit playful and I think Mike got tired of me finding sprint points 
I just knew I could make it home from there!
And thanks to Marky, a nice little run followed the ride. Just 20 minutes, 2.2 miles, but there weren’t really any completely flat parts.
So I earned my spaghetti! 
Oh and the “song” stuck in my head lately? “It’s too cold for holes in my arse… it’s too cold for holes!!” (inspired by a pair of bike shorts that were torn on a fence).
wedding update May 20, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : Life Outside of Tris, mike , 1 comment so farWell time flies when you are having fun, so the wedding just keeps getting closer and closer! A date and location has been determined, and I have a dress already. The main things we need to get going with are the announcements and rings!!
And today I emailed the honeymoon race and gave them an update on what my name will be, which was fun.
At least we already have a somewhat “theme” (basically how our invites and favors and such will all tie together and to us). But yet so much more to do!
watt was I thinking? May 15, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : biking, mike , 1 comment so farOk so it’s a geeky title. But no surprise then, right?
I rode this morning — my 20.5 mile out and back that is basically flat. And it was a bit windy, but nothing super crazy. I just had no power. None. Felt like I was running on empty or something. Even 100 watts felt unholdable. Not a great feeling, but I did the whole ride, home, and off to work.
Talking to Mike just now he reminded me that I haven’t been sleeping well at all — or have been working til crazy late for some unknown reason. Oh yeah. I always forget that sleep is a part of performance. But today’s looooow power numbers for similar perceived exertion to other rides sure reinforced it! Maybe next time I’ll remember.
Oops - should tighten that! May 1, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : biking, mike , add a commentI started my ride on Tuesday planning to get in just over 20 miles with one of my favorite routes from my door. Mostly flat, and very little traffic (and many miles on a bike path). I was feeling pretty good, but realized I had forgotten my phone. Did the little hill at mile 1, and on the descent from it at about 30 MPH all of a sudden I had almost no control of the bike! I was fishtailing, and heading straight for a T-intersection where I was coming from the hard to see direction. Hoping no car was going to turn and right into me, I braked and looked at the back of my bike, expecting a flat and wondering how that had happened, and so fast.
Instead I found that the wheel was no longer in the drops! Yes, the wheel had basically fallen off my bike. Luckily the brake calipers held it sort of in place, so it was still in the chain. I smelled burning rubber and took the bike to the top of the T to put the wheel back in. And found a couple HUGE bald spots on my tire. Oh right, 30mph to 0 without spinning… yeah, that will take off some rubber.
Popped the wheel back in place, remembering how I had thought it was a bit loose that morning but hadn’t bothered to tighten it since I had raced on it that way and figured it was fine. Um oops.
I headed down to the running path I was just above, and where Mike had either just passed our would be passing soon on his run. I found him, and just rode home easy next to him while talking.
So it was a short ride, and a pretty easy one, but sure was scary! And next time I will be less lazy.
PossAbilities Triathlon
Posted by Kylie in : running, swiming, Race Tales, biking, mike , add a comment2 years ago I almost skipped this race, but ended up going since I’d done it every year I’ve done tris. And while there I met a pretty cute boy, and now I get to keep him, so we like doing that race and signed up again this year.
So off we went to the races in a clown car! We took Mike’s 2door Civic. My bike fits standing in the back seat with only the front wheel off, and his fits in the trunk with the seat folded down. Then the wheels and our race gear squeeze in around, and when we get to the race site you wonder where all the stuff we have in there was stored for the drive.
I got ready, leaving my shoes on my bike for the first time. I had practiced it the night before on our street, and figured why not. Then a quick warmup, and to the line. Where I realized I was not interested in running. I felt exhausted and just wanted to play on my bike. As the national anthem was sung, I remembered my bike shoes were still velcro’ed — so getting them on would be a bit more complicated than I had practiced Mike told me it was too late — to not race (which I didn’t reallly want to do anyways) or to fix the shoes. And he even noticed how I just wasn’t giggly excited like I usually am before a race. So the horn blew, and I just ran.
I didn’t really push it — cheered for Mike as he went by the other way, and got to run with some of the kids from the Exceeding Expectations program (they were all there racing, so it was fun to see them). Finished the run, put on a helmet and dropped my visor and GPS and jumped on. Shoes on successfully, and I pedaled.
I still wasn’t really in the zone, and the bike was over. Into the water and I swam a bit hard. But it was sooo crowded. With the serpentine swim I kept getting pushed into the lane lines if I tried to pass, or caught up in others arms. So I just swam hard and passed pretty much everyone around me. I’m by no means a good swimmer, I just think that is often one of the weakest things for most people who show up to the little local races.
Out of the water, jog to the line. I didn’t even notice the time, just gave Mike a high five and was ready to go pack up so he could get on his way.
Mike had a conference in Palm Springs all weekend (which meant I got to commute with him on Friday, which was fun). And then he had to leave immediately after he was done racing to go for more, but would be back around 2 or 3, so I just hung out at the race site until he was back — there was a tri club meeting, and it is my gym, and I had a book. I was a bit sunburned when all was done, but it was a good day.
This post has me sounding like I really didn’t like the race. I did — I felt ok for it, and it has a great atmosphere. I just felt kind of blah in general, and for some reason wasn’t too excited about it being race day. It was fun to cheer for some of the exceeding expectations kids (I just couldn’t cheer for the ones that beat me ). And I do like the feeling of that race: some very fast people (Kate Major, Julie Swail) but also tons of people just giving triathlon a first go.
not a bad weekend! April 6, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : running, swiming, Race Tales, biking, pics, mountain biking, mike , 4 commentsSaturday was a 5k. The same course I set a PR on last year. I went faster 23:44! Although their times were a bit odd in that I was in a group and they have no one right by me — my watch had me at 23:19 and a 7:21 pace since the course is long, but also didn’t have the 5 seconds of getting to the start line. Either way, a PR. And yeah, it kinda hurt. But it was a beautiful course, and I’ll take it! Official stats:
23:44 (7:38 pace) — 282/3015 overall, 43/1505 women, 8/171 W25-29
Sunday was Mike’s and my first off-road tri, and from there we were going to head to Redlands and see some of the Redlands Classic bike race on our bikes, so Saturday night we packed up the car and the bikes had a sleepover in the car (which left our house looking a bit empty).
The mountain bike race was chosen since Mike won an entry by winning the Redlands Tri, and since I have wanted to do one for a couple years we went for it. Although it was a bit confusing at the start (missing Mike’s early reg and no one sure what we needed to fill out) we got registered and got a great spot set up in transition. Wetsuits on, and down to the beach. There were only 2 waves (it was a pretty small local race) and Mike’s was off fairly quickly. Supposed to be 5 minutes after, my wave was bumped to 20 minutes after. I watched Mike come out of the water in second and got ready to go. And our start time was bumped back by another 20 minutes. So much for that well-planned gel and warm-up! About 20 minutes later, we suddenly we had a 30 second warning, just enough time to wipe the fog out of my goggles, and we were off. I had a pretty good swim, and felt my spotting was not as bad as usual.
It has been a while since I had to wiggle out of a wetsuit on my own! I made it, pulled on bike shoes and a helmet and was off in about 5th or so according to one of the race guys telling us things. I passed a couple other women early in the loop, and later was passed by a couple. Oh, and in one section, there were TALL weeds, taller than me on my bike, with just barely a path through them. One of the weeds caught my handlebars and pulled me into the weeds. Where I didn’t fall over since they were strong, and just had to pull out of them and keep going. And then I made it up and over a curb without pausing (I still feel like I have TONS of mtb skills work to do!). One loop down, off the bike at the dismount, run through the TA, and then back on the bike at the mount line for loop 2. Weird, but it worked (there was a one loop race as well).
Second (and final) loop about 10 miles into the race I could feel that PR from the day before. My legs were tiring fast! The 2 women I had just in sight moved well ahead, and I started wondering how that hilly 3.2 mile run would feel. But first things first, and I kept pedaling. And found that I had launched one of my 2 gels, so I had one and wouldn’t have one at the start of the run. Oh well, keep moving. As I came around the final turn there was Mike (and a camera)!
Back into transition, and a nice smooth change into the run gear. My mtb shoes are so hard to get off! I will have to try out my new ones (with a tongue instead of elastic) next time.
I got off the bike in about 7th place Mike thought, and I started my run. My plan was to enjoy it. There were some pretty trails, and I knew my legs were fairly shot. Someone forgot to tell my competitive side though! It was a tough course, with the first part having tons of climbing. I guess the ultra training has helped — feeling pretty bad I still passed the 2 women right in front of me! And then later another one that had passed me on the bike, and into a fun little single track, and with .8 miles to go I could see another. But she had a decent lead, so I didn’t think I’d make it. Then she walked a hill, and I went for it and made it past. Since most of the climbing and harder downhills were all in the first half, this last mile was a lot of fun. Almost done, around a turn, and again Mike. He was chatting, so I had to talk for him to see me. But he still got a picture as I told him that if I beat him to the finish line he owed me lunch *and* dinner (he already owed me lunch).
He did beat me to the line, but still ended up buying me dinner. He’s that awesome.
The other nice thing about a first off-road tri is the automatic PR! Although I didn’t do too shabby:
2:29:36 — 53/112 overall, 5/20 women, 2/5 W25-29
After the race we hung out for quite a while waiting for results. They still had nothing, and finally announced that they’d have to mail out the awards and weren’t going to get them done that day. It was chipped timed, but they were having computer issues. Honestly, I’m not so impressed with the race organization. For how expensive it was, I expected better. While I had a lot of fun, it was so behind schedule and disappointing to not get results, so I’m not sure if I’d do it again. When they announced results would be online this evening, we left, and headed to Redlands and had a nice easy 11ish mile ride around the Redlands Classic course. With In N Out burgers on the way, and then great Thai food before heading home.
Mike had a great race as well and was 2nd or 3rd overall! He says 3rd, but right now results have him 2nd. So the results might all change — oh, and it now says splits won’t be available until Wednesday night. So there are definitely some issues still there.
Oh… and for those of you still wondering how Oceanside was, Mike did a great job and I got some great photos. It’s all over on his blog, and I don’t have the energy to type it up now But I had fun cheering for people and hanging out with Marky and crew.
good motivation to get in the pool March 14, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : swiming, mike, marky , 1 comment so farI was sleepy this morning, but Mike was getting up to go swim so I dragged myself out of bed. It’s just easier when he’s getting up, too, since bed is less cosy when only I’m in it. I tried to come up with a way to get myself in the pool and getting in a full workout. I know if I have a set plan (especially one someone else knows about) it is a lot easier.
Well my coach (Marky) was asleep on the couch, in town for a power conference. And he woke up to the sprinklers and then gave me a workout of 2100 yds. So that’s one way to get a plan
So I got to the pool, and I got it all done. Oh, and held near my goal pace of 1:50 for the 100s at the end of it. I want it to be my crusing pace, and that was definitely a bit higher effort than that, but it just showed me another step in the right direction.
Best Weekend EVER March 2, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : Life Outside of Tris, biking, mountain biking, mike, R3 , 6 commentsI spent Tuesday through Thursday in San Diego with Cervelo getting to test ride their bikes and see their wind tunnel testing and engineering presentations.
Then Mike and I went for an early morning mtn bike ride Saturday. We ended up ditching the bikes in a bush and hiking up to a favorite waterfall (yeah, in bike shoes). And I left wearing….
!!!!! Yup, he proposed 
You know you have found the right one when the proposal comes during a ride in almost-rain, early morning light, with helmet hair, and on a fun unplanned side trail
Redlands Tri Race Report February 10, 2008
Posted by Kylie in : Race Tales, pics, Planet X, mike, marky , add a commentIn February 2004 I did my first triathlon: a reverse order sprint (5k run, 10ish bike, 100yd swim). I was so proud to finish it in ~1:16.I did the same race, although on a new and similar course, again in 2007. A couple years of training under my belt and I pulled off a 1:03:06, winning my age group in the rain. And it was my first race with Mike, and he won it overall! Today it was that same race again, and so we went back for our first tri of this year.
Although my R3 and I have been having fun bonding, it is a fairly flat course and so my PX and my aero helmet got packet up. We had much better weather this year, although there was a bit of a chill at the start. The race wasn’t quite as well organized this year: our mail in registration didn’t actually get processed. So they just had us fill out the day of form and race that way. And only one part of the course was different this year, which was that they had the start line set up in the chute that led in and out of transition. Mike was a bit concerned about the sharp right turn less than 100 yards from the start, but then it turned out to be even a bit more of a mess — it was really just a lining up point before they walked us out to the actual start just past that turn. Where by walk I mean someone said hey go out to the road, and the pack kinda took off. Luckily they somehow stopped it at the planned start. But it was really odd.
But it was time, and we were off. In the first half mile I could already feel my legs were a bit heavy, and I just didn’t feel I had the same strength on the run. I’m sure it is still some recovering from the 50k still, as well as from the 10 days of being really sick after it. But I didn’t feel bad — just like I was having to work harder for the same results. So I kept trying to push it. Then Cheri (also an Inland Inferno Club member) came up. I’ve always admired her strength in tris and enthusiasm for the kids she brings into tris, so I felt honored to be running by her, and decided to try to stay with her as long as I could. And somehow I managed to stay with her through the run, even pulling away a bit at the end. So that was pretty cool.
I had a quick transition: not much to do but drop the Garmin and visor, pull on the helmet and get my sunglasses on with it, and then pull on the shoes, grab my bike, and go. To the mount line, quickly on, and I was off. It’s a gradual climb for the first two and a half miles, and they kinda hurt. Nearing the top of the climb I almost backed off a bit. But then I thought “Marky will be proud of me that it hurts” so I went harder. Thanks Marky… I put up with more burning in my legs each climb than I would usually think I could.
And the downhill — that was pretty fast and fun since it doesn’t look really really downhill! I felt like I was flying, and effortlessly. At the really sharp uturn at the bottom I watched a guy completely crash and flip, but not in a painful looking way, and with tons of race support right there, so I kept moving. Gotta be careful when it’s that sharp… I felt really connected with my bike and like I took most of the turns at a good clip - I think that’s where I improved over last year. I pounded back up the hill again (not very fast, but pretty smooth and strong). More burning and thoughts of Marky… and then as I came near the top a coworker of mine (an expert mtn biker new to tris, and in my age group) came by. It was a draft legal race, so I grabbed on. But then on the final very rough stretch of climb (woo potholes!) all of a sudden I heard a noise and something flew off my bike. Oh crap — my PowerTap computer! the base of the mount was still connected, but the craddle had popped off the base! I went so hard I exploded my PT I sat up, losing Lisa’s wheel, and then said screw it and just kept going, remembering where I was so I could go back later and get the computer, which was almost completely off the left side of the road. Having dropped her wheel, I did my best to chase, but I didn’t catch all the way back up. I saw her just ahead going into T2, and so I knew it was time for a fast transition and to bust my butt to the pool since I had the edge for swimming and running.
As I pulled off my socks, I saw her run out of TA out of the corner of my eye. So I went, pulling my goggles on messily while I ran (as Mike yelled for me to do so, and I might have said “I know!” in true Kylie style). I passed her as we got to the pool, jumped in, and again listened to Marky telling me to pull hard, and keep my head down as I took a breath. So I did — push off the wall and grab the water — it will only hurt for a second! I thought that way too many times during this race. I guess that’s what makes it a sprint!
As I hit the end of the pool the finish line guy told me to hurry and I’d break an hour — I saw the 59:30 on the clock, and went for it, and made it! Final time ended up being 58:40ish (I guess the finish clock was a bit off). Good enough for 3rd in my AG since a couple fast girls showed up this year. But over 4 minute PR, and ~18 min since my first tri. So yeah, the hard work is helping. And I do like the fast stuff!
Then we biked an extra loop of the just over 4 mile course and picked up my PT. After hanging out for our awards, we grabbed lunch, and I kicked Mike out of the car to ride home as I headed to school to get some homework done. But I ran into a classmate and realized it was due much later than the tomorrow I had thought, so instead we had tea and chatted.
But I still beat Mike home. Although he did win overall again! It was a closer race for him this time though, so I think it was more satisfying. He had people right there on the bike, and they really worked each other taking turns pulling and trying to get away and all that good stuff allowed in a draft legal race It was a fun day.
Here is me getting my award:
And here is my super speedy wonderful boyfriend getting his:
welcome to blogland December 21, 2007
Posted by Kylie in : Blogroll, blogs, mike , add a commentI’d like to give out a hearty welcome to Mike, who has finally started a blog of his own Go on by and say hi!
