JULY 24, 2001


I have been in stealth mode here for the last month. My attempt at 4 Ironmans in 32 weeks
(South Africa, Korea, Switzerland, Kona), a full-time job, and having fun hit, all caught up to me and I hit the wall this month.

After Korea I was just trying to recover as quickly as possible so as to get back into a normal routine. I dove headfirst into work, covering myself in paper and pictures (I am a graphic artist––nothing kinky!). At three weeks I started feeling better––more apt to head inland for the more challenging riding topography, and I felt more upbeat heading home after an hour-and-a-half run. Then it all started to crumble.

See, I made a dumb mistake. I made the virgin Ironman mistake. My age lets me get away with such a mistake but my friends tried to warn me. I arrived home from a stellar experience in Korea. I had fun, had an okay race and really felt strong a few days after. So that Saturday, less than one week after, I headed to Fiesta Island with my housemates to do our weekly interval-brick session. I warmed up and took them easier than usual and actually cheered on my training partner Jenni as she did the one-mile runs. I did all three––7K, 20K, 10K––and we headed to breakfast. I slept nearly the whole afternoon. I didn’t see that sign.

Sunday was the usual long run, which I had cut to an hour and ran in the lagoon with my boys (the DOG training partners) and a friend of mine, Joe, who moved here.

Tuesday rolls around and I am already thinking I feel better and am hitting that "I am getting out of shape" thing in my head since it has been a whole week since the race and I head to the track with the house and run quarters with Jenni, as she is doing a pyramid set. Can we say moron? I knew to go easy but what I didn’t realize is that the two weeks after an Ironman, your body is so tender, so delicate and is so busy repairing itself that it doesn’t need or can it handle any new damage.

I awoke on that Wednesday in L.A. as I was at our L.A. office that Tuesday afternoon and my friend said I looked like a 90-year old woman walking out for some morning tea. I was in pain and I was tired.

I took the rest of the week off, stretching, puppy walking, and surfing. I was done for awhile.

That next weekend––I mean nearly 10 days later––I rode with Tony. I owed Tony as he is racing Canada and so we headed out. We rode slow, so slow. But, we both smiled the whole way as we were happy to know that some recovery was occurring and we might be ready to come back soon. I had learned my lesson on the track that day. Easy isn’t always the answer. Sometimes the answer is nothing, doing nothing.

So I got my butt kicked at the San Diego International. I wasn’t ready to race but I went out and participated. I had fun. I cheered Jenni on as we crossed paths––she was heading one way and I the other. But, later that week, I ran a 15K on the 4th of July. I love running races. If you ever get slightly bored with triathlon, pick one of the sports and go race. Try bike racing, running or swimming. You won’t see me out at those ocean swims too often but bike racing and running––what a trip!

Finally, after taking the time completely off––my body was determined to take it, at one point or another––I am back. We rode 5 hours last Saturday inland, got sunburned, said hi to our friends at Valley Center Market. Sunday we ran 1:45 along our lone stretch of railroad tracks and surf. Tony had some trouble recovering from Korea too, but he is back and ready for Canada. I am here to get him to the finish line and hopefully to Hawaii. He has to do the training for it with me anyways, and come cheer me on, so he might as well push his butt as hard as he can at Canada and at least have a reason to drink too much beer at the awards.

I was still stuck deciding whether to do IM Switzerland. I spent last week in Vail, Colorado, with my parents. My mom isn’t athletic––active but not athletic. Yet, she knows me. She has spent the last 15 years riding her Schwinn––I think now it’s a GT––next to me while I run, keeping me safe on dark fall afternoons, pacing me now as I try to get my marathon back to form. She lives in Chicago, thousands of miles from me. But she knows these legs of mine. But she won’t give me the answer to the question about IM Swiss. She just smiled and kept on riding next to me. She was talking about how she and my dad can’t come to Hawaii this year. "It’s no big deal as I feel you will be doing this for years. I know you can qualify again and we’ll be there… you’ll do fine this time."

My dad is a college football player and has been my athletic support network along with my mom. Mom doesn’t understand it…. She accepts it. Dad, he understands it and he knows how to help me succeed. He simply says listen to your body. He knows I am too stubborn to take anyone else’s answer. After all, I am different than anyone else.

The last night there, my dad says, "So Switzerland would be fun… and you seem back at it. Your mind is okay with the miles? Your body is 100% ready? As mom said, we can’t make it to Hawaii as it is my high school’s homecoming. We’ll be there next year, and you’ll have more experience and more time to learn the race. It is a hard race––remember that." (My dad is a high school athletic director and my parents only missed one track meet in my whole running career––14 years!)

As I fell asleep that night, I made my decision. I was in this sport for the long haul. I had shown that I could bounce back from an unproductive Ironman after South Africa. So now it was time to focus on Hawaii, to be 100% ready for that and not half-ass it. Hawaii will be hard––my dad is right––and without 100% readiness I don’t know how it would be on the Queen K. At least this way, if things go wrong, you have something somewhere inside, some deep down reserves to fall back on. I am going to be doing this for years. I have time to do Switzerland. Now is the time to rest and to build my body up stronger than a few months ago.

Plus my employer was happy with my decision. They said I could run and ride around the office that day in a Speedo if I wanted. They’d have aid stations. I said no thanks. I am in the rebuilding stage.

JUNE 11, 2001

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: In Kelly's words, the night after the race:

Okay, things went well. I am happy with 7th and had some trouble early on in the bike (threw up for about 40K) but things came back second half. Minus transition I rode 5:22 so I'm happy with that.

The swim was long and, uh, that was no fun. But, 10:29, I can't complain. Had a great run––3:42––and the course is hilly and as much as 12 minutes slow. The top run was only 2:54 and that guy has run 2:40-something at Hawaii.

It was a good day.

JUNE 10, 2001

After a silly afternoon movie, I stretched. I ran early this AM alone, along part of the run course. I went through the race in my head. See, I am not into the visualization thing, but I thought of different scenarios, being hours behind, being in the race, being smiley and happy moving along the road. I am for the first time in weeks happy to be racing tomorrow. I feel not nervous but rather happy. I am happy to have the chance to race, to try another 112 miles on the bike.

After running this morning, I went to the meeting and heard all the pre-race information. I then headed to the room to get the stuff together. I wanted to turn the bike in early, get the race stuff done. I am reading a good book, and wanted to get some afternoon lounging in. I'm real at ease and lazy. For me to have one afternoon to lie around and do nothing is like a big prayer answered. Well, today I had it. No phone calls, no cell phone, no runaround, no house cleaning... uhh, I will still come home, don't worry work.

So I am heading off to dinner now, to the hotel restaurant that has great grilled fish. I am looking forward to my "tour of Jeju" tomorrow as this island is quite tropical. It is the best way to see a place after all....

So good night my fellow triathletes... sleep tight and see you all bright and early in the morning.... let's see how these 26 year old legs can do... I now know why I do this... brief moments of calm before the storm...

As the rest of my adopted family takes to the waters of Alcatraz––Macca, Clarky, Jen, and Erik––go get them, kids. And watch out for sharks. It is strange to be so far away from them as we both race. I can't wait to see the results.

Let's rock!

JUNE 8, 2001

Well, this is how things are going in Korea.

Things here are great. My body has adjusted well to the time zone and I have been sleeping a lot and training a little. Heck, I have all day on Sunday to burn these calories and workout.

I have never been to a foreign country where English is spoken so little. Okay, basically no one here speaks English. Yet, somehow my friends Lance and Tony I and are getting along fine. The people here are nice, even though they don’t understand fast-talking Kelly.

Trained on Monday––while still stateside––with a masters swim team, followed by an hour run. Then packed, went to dinner with the big family living at my house. Did I mention we have 6 people and 3 dogs living at the homestead? We call ourselves the Brady Bunch. Anyway, we all went to dinner and then I headed up to LA for my midnight flight.

Basically I slept the whole flight and then awoke as it was approaching 5AM Korean time. Perfect. The bike took about two hours to be found as it somehow got lost at the Seoul airport. After finding it a Korean speaking man that I met on the guided me to the shuttle to the other airport to take me to the island of JeJu.

The problems arose when the bike case wouldn’t fit onto the shuttle for the hotel. The shuttle is a public bus, one of those large ones that in the US are touring buses. For the first time in my life I was speechless, since these men couldn’t understand a lick of what I was rattling. I stood back and tried to have the man from the triathlon desk and the bus personnel fight it out.

Long story short, after about an hour and a half of fighting, the triathlon desk man won and the bike case was pulled onto the bus. I was bowing and saying thank you to the bus driver. He grimaced and shook his head. The landscape from the airport to the hotel was hilly and I saw the mountains off in the distance. I was so happy that I had the longer San Diego inland rides in my system.

I arrived at the hotel and quickly put my bike together. I had momentum and tried to use it to get the bags unpacked, to see what I had forgotten, and to get the bike together. All systems looked good as I didn’t see anything major that I had forgotten and the bike set-up was done in under 5 minutes. (I think I am getting pretty darn good at it for a girl.)

I showered and went to the pricey Japanese restaurant at the hotel for some lunch. I quickly figured out the exchange rate after the meal and realized that at this 5 Star hotel, things were not totally cheap. The hotel is luxury and the grounds here are beautiful. We are about 600 meters from the start and finish line. Great location. But, I did figure out that things were not going to be as cheap as in South Africa.

I went back to the room after a 3-mile walk around the beach and hotel grounds. Did I mention how beautiful everything is around the hotel?

I laid down to read a little and slept. I slept for 4 hours, which I thought would throw off my night but after stuffing myself at a local Korean barbeque with the pro organizer and some fellow Aussie pros, I slept 10 hours that night.

I dreamt of a fast bike and the next day as we rode the course, I realized this course was going to be good. A mild––and I mean mild––wind blew, and I rode the whole two hours smiling along the smooth new pavement. Rolling hills fill the course and the worst hill is going to be the climb out of T1. But, as I did in SA, I want to smile the whole bike course and want to really see how hard I can push myself. I know all the biking miles will pay off some day. Let’s see if Sunday can be the day.

MAY 31, 2001

I have the tickets in my hands and the workouts in my legs. Sorry for having not written in so long but I have been busy training my butt off. My training partner Tony has signed up for Korea IM so the two of us are taking it on together. I am so happy for that.

My Aussie boys are back in town, and taking it to my legs. Since these boys (McCormick, Clark, Amey) are short course athletes we have been doing loads of short stuff. I have been faithful to the long workouts and Tony has been my inland sidekick. I am starting to see the pay-off for the short training and feel stronger and fitter than ever. Despite a rain-filled last long ride on Monday, we have had much better weather than South Africa training. Last weekend wasted me a little but by Tuesday I had my legs back and hit the track for some tempo work.

Saturday we did a hard time trial session and riding with boys does one thing- makes you fast. I am a firm believer in women learning how to change flats and heading out with the boys, hang on as long as you can, get dropped and do it again next week. Your steady rides need to be at your own pace but those hard days, there is nothing better than trying to ride with the boys. After some solid bike run time trials we all headed to Potato Shack, a local spot around the corner from Nytro for an eating contest.

I don’t care what anyone says about Chris McCormack’s riding, running or swimming ability. He can flippin’eat. And, when you get all the mates together, the competitive spark hits. I chose to stay out of the contest as I have to carry all the weight next weekend at Korea. But, to say the least I saw three boys eat themselves to near vomiting. It was the sight of the weekend, next to that afternoon’s swim session. What a bunch of whales they were.

Tony and I awoke late on Sunday to hopefully run in the warmer weather. Shocker, it was misting and continued to mist on us the whole run. So if nothing else, I am ready for the Korean humidity. The sun and heat should be interesting. We did a 2 hour run and picked up the pace on the second half. My legs felt great––hopefully this peak will last.

Swam that afternoon solo. Monday woke up and Erik tuned the bike and cleaned it. It was race-ready and I was hoping the legs were as well. It was a good ride, not great but good. I was happy as it was a long three days and was happy to enter the driveway.

No transition run as Saturday worked the transition. Also, Ashton, my middle puppy has a broken foot––we don’t know how. But he has 4 weeks off of running and at first he had lack-of-running depression but has accepted the rest and is enjoying the few extra pounds. I have had to cut his stellar avocado-eating habit.

So I am ready. I bought my Korean translation book. Did I say I don’t know a lick of Korean, have never even eaten Korean, and only know about 4 Korean people? Work has been outstanding with my flexible schedule and I feel confident in saying that I will make them proud next weekend.

So I have checked the tickets a thousand times. I leave Tuesday 12:30 am for Seoul. I am so thrilled for the opportunity to see this part of the country and will be writing daily from the island. Yes, I know that 12:30AM is Monday night. Yes, I looked a thousand times.

Talk to you all at the end of the week for the packing update.

MAY 1, 2001

Okay here we go. Again...

Ironman Asia... Let’s do it.

Last week I committed to Ironman Asia start list. And to be honest, I am psyched to have another chance to take an Ironman start line. I have been training and my body felt good. Last week I swam a little less than the 30K from the week before and rode 4 days and ran 55 miles to see how my legs would hold up. Report is in: they felt great Monday AM.

I had a crazy work week a little and am now past the give-back stage that happens after vacation. See you have days out of the office but the office doesn’t stop. So the work was piled high when I got back. I used a few days to get my friend back on the training track at work as she is just starting multi-sport training and was a little less motivated without blabbing Kelly around. Also, I did Pilates three times in the last week and a half and enjoyed it. I felt some sore abs for a few days but now the soreness has turned to tight and firm abs (okay not quite but…)

So two weekends ago I raced––or more correctly participated––in the Perris Lake Big Rock race. It felt good to hear the starting gun, burn the legs a little and test the spirit. Things went as expected––my body ached on the bike and then came around on the run. I was slightly sleepy on Monday which meant that my body didn’t bounce back as normal but was not in achy pain. Tuesday 15-mile run decided it––I was ready to hit the long stuff again and redeem my biking skills at an Ironman.

Wednesday I rode with Erik for 3 hours and then ran off the bike EZ. Ran an hour with puppies that night. Okay, two puppies. The third one is the new official mascot of Nytro. He has been working over there since his first Monday with us and had won Craig Turner over quickly. Forest (that is his name) is quite the curious puppy and I have enjoyed the young view of life again. Guess you kind of have to be a dog person to understand.

Thursday hit I-5 at 5AM to drive to Hollywood and work up there. I shopped a little after a meeting and did a 30-minute jog at night before a friend’s birthday party. See, when I decided yes on Asia, I told myself to take three days easy and only do what time allowed and what I felt like doing. Friday after a fun evening in LA I woke, went to Starbuck’s for some chai tea (could you imagine me on coffee?!?) and stopped in the office briefly. For a young adult, I don’t go out much, let alone stay out until 1AM. So Thursday night was nutty for me. And yes, I did have a couple of drinks but didn’t go overboard. I spent many-a-run in college hungover––no thanks now.

Friday spent the afternoon in the San Diego office and then home for an evening at the local pizza place and in bed by 10PM. Saturday was a 6-hour ride inland and I needed some sleep.

Saturday went better than I expected. I thought I would be bored about 2 hours in. Well, I lasted 'til almost 4 hours and then boredom hit. Not so much physical pain as I thought but mentally I was a little weak still. So Tony and I started singing and pulling a paceline and, well, time picked up quickly. Ran an EZ 15 minutes off the bike and then hung out with some friends and my puppies.

Sunday was another tester. Legs weren’t too tired when I woke up and I thought, "Just wait, it will set in." It didn’t and I had a great 2:10 run. I realized on my run that I really like training and that I need to find that same fun raceday. I enjoyed the last 10 miles of the bike that day before and the last of the run.

I needed that adrenaline rush of an Ironman again. I wanted to feel the newness of racing. I knew a guy when I went to Miami of Ohio (my alma mater) and he wasn’t into athletics in college. Well, I ran into him at the Big Rock race and he is doing Ironman California and he was so excited about triathlon. He was smiling so strong after the race and wants to know about how to race. More importantly, he has that fire that so many seem to lose sight of down the road of life.

I re-lit my fire that night as I lay in bed, puppy smothered. I realized that I don’t care about who does what and why. I want to do what I need to be a person and feel good.

As my dad, who is my counselor. said the next morning to me, " The road isn’t always clear––I mean, how many times do you make a wrong turn 'til you get it right."

If you ever saw me drive around the block in front of the LA-branch of my office 18 times until I could decipher how to get inside... Enough said.