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a whole other kind of IM AZ race report April 14, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : Race Tales, pics, Ironman , 4 comments

There is a pretty amazing lady, Cherie Gruenfeld, that I know through tris. She has done tons and tons of races over the years (including Kona every year except 2 injured ones since 1992!). She might be 63, but yesterday she finished IMAZ in 12:51, breaking the course record for her age group by about 20 minutes. A record she set in 2007. And when she finished, she didn’t run for food, or a massage, but to share hugs with 8 students there just for her.

You see, Cherie, together with Jacque, a teacher in San Bernardino, run Exceeding Expectations, a program for at-risk kids. And as I experienced it, a program sharing a positive mentality, approach, and a pure love. Through the program the kids get to race tris and be a part of something strong, with great mentors. Cherie and Jacque’s goal is not to build elite athletes (although some of those kids are *fast*) but to build great people. This year, Cherie chose Ironman AZ because it was close enough to organize a trip, and let some of the EE kids come out and be inspired. And it turned out they needed a person familiar with Ironman racing to help the kids during the day, and to stay with some of them the nights before and after, and I got an invitation to be that person.

They picked me up on the way out of town, and we (Jacque, Craig - a friend of the program an a triathlete himself, myself, and the 4 boys and 4 girls) drove out on Saturday. They got to see the race site, and go peddle boating where Cherie would be swimming in the morning. For most of them, it was their first time outside California and Mexico — and there was definitely a feeling of excitement in the air! That evening they played in the pool, and some admitted they were nervous for the race, and wondered how Cherie could deal with such nerves as they weren’t even racing!


We gave her hugs before the start, and cheer as the race went off. Soon we found Lee, Cherie’s husband and a writer for IronmanLive. He had a Race Support vehicle, and room to take everyone out on the course in two batches. So the first group followed him to see Cherie out of the swim, and I went with them to make sure the kids got to the car as Lee was going to go through the actual swim area for IMLive photos. But the kids kept following him, and no one said anything, so we watched from there for a bit! Up close and personal with the wetsuit strippers.


Then those kids were off, and the others set to meet up again in a couple hours, so I watched the bikers heading out and cheered, especially for Jonny and Teresa.


Back to the kids, and Lee was soon back to take the last 2, Craig and I out on the course. But he didn’t bring the other kids back — they had stopped to cheer near an aid station, and the kids just started handing stuff out and didn’t want to leave! So we made our way out there as well, cheering for Cherie at one of the turns.


At the aid station I got my first taste of handing out gels, bananas, waters, and gatorade. I have a new respect for those who point at the volunteer they are going for, say what they want if there are options in that person’s hands, and slow to where it is an easy handoff. Some were good enough that we got them what they wanted even if it was a person or two down. Some of the really fast (through transition) ones just managed to knock the banana they wanted to the ground — those in particular were hard to grab, and boxes of them were gone in no time!

Soon it was back to the transition area, and the group of kids that were back headed out for a bit of shopping. I made my way down to the run course, and just in time to start doing crowd control with Michael Lovato as there was one spot where people didn’t realize they were on the course until a runner blew by or was heading straight for them. A more official volunteer soon joined us, and it got pretty control, and I helped out there for a couple hours until time to meet the kids again.

We cheered for a now running Cherie, and then the kids were off to Hooters for a late lunch/dinner, air conditioning, and cold drinks!


I saw Jonny a bit after he finished. It was a tough day out there for him with an incident with a cop motorcycle causing mechanicals! But great finish, and I’m so proud of you for keeping going and having such a smokin’ run!



While cheering at the line I also saw Rachel Ross finish, who is another of my favorites. And I saw her come out of the water as well, being right there with the kids. I met her at CA70.3 a month ago, and know her through online stuff, and was surprised that when I congratulated her in the sea of well-wishers she remembered me and thanked me by name. Of course I never had a camera handy when she was coming by. Just like at CA70.3.

And I cheered for Teresa and was happy to see her make it home — it was a very long day for her being a bit sick, and by the line she had no voice left. She is still one of my favorite tri ladies though — I’m lucky to know her through Mike.


So many inspiring athletes out there all day — made me a bit sad not to be doing one this year. But then the fast athletes out there had me remembering why — I wanna go fast next time, and be better than before. I don’t want to just do it next time, but to be really ready for one. So many times tears came to my eyes watching classic Ironman moments. And not every day will a pro well in the race make sure to give his mom a hug before continuing his run (very classy Jordan!).

The kids came back ready to see the finish! We cheered for Cherie over one last bridge, and got Jose to the finish area to run in with her. She had hoped all the kids could do it, but while some family still sent groups our 8 would be a big one, and we respected the new 1 family member per racer rule. When done, Cherie was just glowing — but I’m not sure if she was more excited to give each kid a hug, or if they were more proud of her having done the race. The rest of the night they brought her food, tracked when it was her massage time, and just gathered around her, telling about their day and hearing about hers.



This morning I flew home to get in a full day of work, while the others drove back with the kids. I can’t wait to see all the kids again at the PossAbilities Triathlon in two weeks — I’ll be wearing my EE visor with pride!


(full online photo album)

The 10th Ining April 7, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : Life Outside of Tris, pics , 8 comments

My grandpa is a wonderful man, and I will miss him. He passed away over night. It was not sudden — he battled prostate cancer and recovered, but then had cancer in his lungs, spine, and I think kidneys. Yet he was not in pain — last time I spoke with him and my grandma, he was only occasionally taking over the counter Tylenol. But fluid built up in his lungs, and the risks of draining it while he was still in no pain weren’t worth it. He soon went home, but still didn’t believe it was really about the end.

My mom told him when I got engaged, and while he was very happy for me his face dropped when he heard it was going to be a September wedding. He knew he probably wouldn’t be able to be there with me. That week, he and my grandma sent me a card and let me know they wanted to buy my wedding dress, as he wanted to be with me that day as much as he could. This weekend I got my dress, and the last news he had about me and Mike was that he had bought us a beautiful wedding dress. And the ring on my finger, symbolizing the love of my life, is one he picked out for my grandma.

As he always was, he didn’t want anyone to see his weakness, and wanted us to remember him as the strong man he always was in my life. Talking to his wife, he knew had to start accepting that it was near the end of his time, and he realized all his family already knew. The hard part for him was the waiting — he didn’t like sitting around waiting to die, and he was scared, but hew knew it was time and that was that. A former Boston Red Sox pitcher, he told my grandma he was in his tenth ining. Last night he was coughing some in his sleep, and then stopped. When Grandma woke up, he was gone.

Right now it’s tough, but I’m working to remember him as he would have hoped. He will be cremated as to his wishes, not wanting the body he was in as the end of his days to be our memory of him. He wants us to remember the powerful force he was in our life, so here it goes…

I will be adding more as I go through my memories of him.

Grandpa I love you, and I miss you.


(more grandpa stories are on my old blog but I don’t think they are viewable for the world… I will have to share some of them later).

not a bad weekend! April 6, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : running, swiming, Race Tales, biking, pics, mountain biking, mike , 4 comments

Saturday 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.

Redlands Tri Race Report February 10, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : Race Tales, pics, Planet X, mike, marky , add a comment

In 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:

Shh — the new one is sleeeeping February 5, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : biking, pics, R3 , 1 comment so far

All put together now! Here are the pics:

It had a safe and easy trip.

Almost ready to get unveiled…

Then I got my first sight of it!

And isn’t it beautiful??

Then it met it siblings

And then cuddled in with its twin for the night

The new one is here!

Posted by Kylie in : biking, pics, R3 , add a comment

The new one has arrived — delivered at 9:46 this morning. Mike brought it home at lunch. And got it all set up for me to unpack: PowerTap mount and camera right on top ;) there has been anticipation, and nerves, and last night Mike and I reorganized the twins’ rooms to make room for this one. But it is here! I now have a road bike! And now to unpack :)

Sick sucks January 31, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : swiming, biking, pics, Planet X , 1 comment so far

So I’ve just about kicked the sickness that took over my life after Calico. I made it to the pool yesterday and then a really easy 15mi ride (although windy) this morning. I did really miss my bike in the time leading up to Calico. I’m sorry! I won’t do it again! But… you are going to have a new sibling to share me with. I know, it’s tough… but you will get used to it, and it will be a good addition to the family.

Eye candy for the post: Me on the Pasadena Tri Club resolution ride Jan 12th. Nice and hilly, and got to meet some fun folks!

Calico 50k January 30, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : running, Race Tales, pics , 4 comments

I’ve had a couple people ask how my first 50k went, and some even looked me up in the results but wanted the real story behind it. So here it goes…

Signing up for Calico was exciting all on its own. I had planned to do my first ultra in December 2005. Then on a trail run in October I rolled my ankle pretty badly, and ended up canceling those plans. So I moved the goal to that same December race in 2006. But being stupid I never really let the foot heal well, and had a constant ache (sometimes to pain) in the foot I had rolled — walking, running, or even just sitting around. So after it was pretty sore after an Ironman buildup and race, and meeting Mike and him starting to help make it better, I accepted that again it was not to be. So yup, in 2007 that same December race was calling me. But then I met a great trail running group, the Arroyo Trail Blazers (ATB) and started doing long trail runs with them. And I really liked my time with the group. So when they couldn’t all make the December date, and were thinking of January race instead, I set my sights on that one. And I’m definitely glad I did!

The night before the race the 14 of us doing it (yes, out of a field of about 200) all had dinner together in Sachi and Jon’s RV. And Mike and I stayed with them, a whole 5 minute walk from the start line. Race morning came, and I felt like I had slept for hours and hours! I was rested, and excited. But I was also sorta nervous, but not too bad, and not really about the distance. I felt no pressure at having a certain time or competitiveness, and just pressure to finish. I felt I had prepared well, and didn’t think that was going to be an issue. I did have a few other concerns — one being that my foot (the other one, not the old injury) had been a bit sore lately. But I gave it a number of complete rest days leading up to the race, and I thought it would be fine. I know I’m stubborn, so the dull kind of pain it had been wasn’t going to prevent me from finishing!

I wasn’t sure how to dress for it — I knew what shorts I wanted, and we were wearing our green ATB shirts, but tights? Long sleeves under the green? It has historically been a COLD race. In the end I went with the long sleeves under and the tights. I could have done without the tights, and I took off the long sleeves about 15 or 16 miles in, but it was windy and cold enough later in the race I was glad to still have them. I wanted to wear my Trifuel visor, but what gets cold on me easily running is ears. So I ended up leaving that in my drop bag and wearing the tribabe.com visor that Erika had given me at our last Gals of Slowtwitch training weekend.

Another concern was about carrying water and gels — I had no idea really how much water I’d want, and most of my training runs had “often enough” water spots that a small bottle (or sometimes even nothing) worked just fine. I was most comfortable running in my fuel belt, so I decided to go with that. I even learned on a training run that although a 2 bottle belt, my amphipod bottles can be added on making it into a four bottle belt if I really want. With aid stations about every hour, and it being a pretty cool day, on race morning I went with just the 2 fuel belt bottles.

But we had plenty of time in the morning, and got ready, and the four of us made it out the door. Jon on his mtn bike to take pictures of us, Mike ready for the 30k, and Sachi and I for the full 50k adventure! We headed up to the start, and met up with the rest of the “green shirts”.


We chatted, and drank water, and made bathroom runs, and soon it was almost time. Mike headed to the front, planning to see how well he could do and really push. The rest of us stayed where we were, knowing we’d have plenty of time to find our places in the pack. And it was time… and the countdown was done… but there was a slight delay as we waited for the starter gun and he had gotten distracted talking to someone :) And then we were off!


I quickly noticed that although a slight down hill I was going faster than I thought smart, and I did my best to keep myself in check. A bit under a mile on the road, and then we were onto the fireroads. Most of the other ATBers moved on by me, and although it is hard to see people you do all your long runs with getting farther ahead, I just focused on what I needed to do. I chatted with some other people around me, and just enjoyed the beautiful morning. I had (ok I came up with in the first hour) a nutrition plan — a really complicated one of a gel on each hour, and regular watering. And although not really planned out ahead of time it was about what I had been doing on long runs, just making sure I started taking in gels even earlier in the run, and it ended up being about perfect.

About 8 or 9 miles in we were directed on an out and back, and the flow of my day was first interrupted. I knew it wasn’t on the course map (yes, I’m a map geek) and it threw off all my plans of where I’d hit aid stations, and when I’d be at the top of climbing, by a mile and a half. It was a tough mental point for me for much of the race. Even though the plan was to run 31 miles, and it was such a little percentage, for some that extra 3/4 mile climb out and the sighting of where other green shirts were in relation to me was just stuck in my mind for the rest of the day when things got tough. Luckily (for me) the guy next to me was more upset about it and voiced that he thought it was a bunch of bullshit, and that triggered my thoughts about how things like that happen, and for all I knew they had changed something in the course. So although it was a tough point, that reminder was joined with it in my mind.

And I kept on… well… keeping on. Climbing and climbing. Mostly on pretty nice fire roads. Some sandy spots, and some rocky ones, but generally nothing too crazy. I thought of Anton and how I was becoming an ultra runner, and it was ok to walk up things. And I did, running and walking and just keeping moving forward. And I was excited for how the descent would be on them. My foot got pretty bad for a while — during one of the rocky parts it basically was feeling like I’d sprained the ankle, and the sides were feeling swollen on top of that. So I accepted that it might be a longer day that I thought, and just kept going. Turns out it mostly stopped hurting soon after that — like my foot gave up on me responding to it. “Oh, even if I hurt I get to keep running? Guess I might as well just get it done”. And closer and closer to the peak I started seeing more of the green shirts, and ended up right back with my running buddies for a while. And some of them moved ahead, and and then feeling good, I ended up moving on a bit, but we were all in somewhat of a cluster for the rest of the day. And one of my favorite things was all the people who’d cheer for green shirt, or ask who we all were. I really liked that group connection. And I made it to the drop bags just before the top. Where I refilled my gels and that was about it — they picked the coldest, windiest part of the course! But with a great view (stollen from Quadrathon’s blog)!

So instead of dropping my gloves, hat, or long sleeves the hat and gloves went back on. Seeing the aid station marker (which claimed it was a good mile and a half earlier in the race due to the out and back) became something I stopped looking forward too. For the rest of the race, while I wanted the water, I didn’t like the reminder of that stupid out and back.

Then it was truly the top, and the descending began. But not so nicely as I had pictured it. Instead, after running up for almost 20 miles, it was a steep, rocky, slippery, deep, crazy descent to introduce our legs to the down feeling. Wow that was tough! But at the end of that chute we were rewarded with about 3 miles how I pictured the descent. Oh and I finally got to pee! It was a hard course to find a spot on, and finally I just picked a scraggly bush. I couldn’t see anyone behind me for a bit, and it had been miles since I had to go! But then back on course, and the rest of the day was rollers. I hadn’t realized how rolly the second half was going to be, and it was a lot harder than my brain had set it as being. But what was my goal again? Oh right, finishing. So I took it nice and easy, running where I could, and keeping up a good walking pace where I needed to walk.

I remember rollers, and just that same view. Although pretty, anything (mostly) the same gets old after some amount of time, and by about 5 hours the desert brush was definitely old news.

I don’t even remember what I thought about. Just moving, I think. In that zone of going forward. And occasionally wondering how Mike’s race had gone, and how tired he’d be. He had brought his mtn bike, and planned to join Jon and find people on the course and cheer for them. And while I kept hoping to see him around corners, I also knew it would be ok if he had rested instead. But then coming out of a particularly rocky section, they were there!

And it was definitely uplifting, and a new wind, and all that stuff. And although definitely starting to feel the miles (past mile 27, so I was in unknown territory) I think I started moving a bit stronger. I also knew the end had to be closer! Up and down, up and down, rolling and through a tunnel in a rock and more rollers and a last ridge.

Oh and I remember wind! The race felt like uphill, rocky, windy, or some comb of those. Especially on the final ridge — crazy windy!!

Then it was back on pavement for the final half mile or so. Including the ass-y-est climb ever! Steep, paved, and at the very end! So that we could finish on a slight downhill that took us through the Calico Ghost town.

As I relaxed through town, grinning like a crazy person since I knew the finish was right there, I hoped that the tourists and their children didn’t step in front of me, as things like “no brakes!” flashed in my mind. Luckily they didn’t, and I crossed right through at 6:17 and into a BIIIG hug from Mike! Accompanied of course by my giggly “I did it” excitement feeling and a lack of legs to really use for a bit :)

And then I cheered in the rest of my fellow ATBers and other racers, and then back to the RV for an AWESOME earned shower and into my pjs!

Race stats:
6:17:43 for 32.2 miles and about 4800ft of climbing
4/7 W18-29 (first 3 were SOOOO speedy — awesome!)
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4826460

And yes, I’m already looking to see what one I might do next. Now that I am feeling better — I got sooo sick the week after the race! I kinda expected it: my throat had been a bit sore leading up, and I did pretty much trash my body, including my imune system. Still worth it!

And thanks to Quadrathon and Tanya and Karen for company on the course and some pics :)

swimming breakthrough! January 12, 2008

Posted by Kylie in : swiming, Life Outside of Tris, pics , add a comment

So yeah, again it has  been a while since I wrote. Canada was awesome (pics here) — I even got to run from Canada to the US and back again while viewing the Niagara Falls!

My exciting news this week was a swimming breakthrough! Even when I was in the pool 3-4 times a week I was holding about 1:58-1:55/100yds on repeats. This week, in the pool I for some reason started playing with breathing. And suddenly… my sprinty (about as fast as I could go for 100s and repeat them 20sec later) 100s were in 1:47!!! And the next time I swam my 100s just strong (could keep going if I had to, and a shorter recovery) were in 1:51ish!

So what did I change? Well, I started breathing earlier in my stroke. I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but it’s almost like as I rotate I almost let my head get a little ahead of the body roll, and I am breathing before my arm gets as far into recovery as I was.

I really have no idea what made me try that, but once I had and it was feeling good, I remembered a couple things I was once told. About two years ago I was told I was breathing too long. I tried to breath faster, and it completely didn’t work for me, and I soon decided it was fitness or something that I just didn’t have yet, and moved on to addressing other parts of my stroke. But now that I realized how much breathing earlier in the stroke helps, my guess is that I was told I was breathing too long since the person didn’t notice when I was starting, but just when I was ending.

I also got the feedback that I had a slight pause in my stroke, and that I should work on smoothing it. I could feel that, and I have worked on it, but hadn’t completely gotten rid of it. Well, with breathing earlier my whole stroke is feeling much smoother. It’s almost as if I was doing something funky in my stroke to let me get a breath in. And I no longer need to do that.

With breathing earlier I feel like my balance in the water is better throughout my stroke, and I felt so much more comfortable in the water. In addition, I’m getting a breath MUCH easier, and don’t need to breathe as often even when I’m putting out a bit higher effort.

Definitely good stuff :) And something to keep me going back to the pool since I’ve found a place where I am again making progress, which is always my goal.

Morn After Rainfall - a tale of a mountain bike ride December 12, 2007

Posted by Kylie in : pics, mountain biking, mike, videos , add a comment