We’re excited to welcoming Victoria based athlete and coach Kylie Akford to our Spotlight Series!

TriBC: Let’s start at the beginning: when did you first fall in love with triathlon, and what role did triathlon play early on in your life?

Kylie: I grew up in England and my town had a little kids triathlon series which my parents signed my brother and I up for.  It was sponsored by the Milk Council, so you got a little carton of milk at the end.  You swam a length of the pool, the rode and ran on a grass field with whatever bike you had, mine had streamers on it!! My brother and I used to race against the Brownlee brothers, this is how they started out too.

You’ve been coaching since your teens; What drew you to coaching, and what’s kept you inspired to stay in it all these years later?

I taught swimming lessons from 16, it was better money than working in MacDonalds!!  I was swimming at Crystal Pool in Victoria, I was 17 and just moved here from England to go to Uvic and the head coach of Tyee Swim Club came up to me and asked if I’d ever coached.  I said, ‘no’, but that I’d taught lessons and I’d like to try.  I’ve been lucky enough to have some great mentors a long the way that have kept me inspired. Watching athletes improve and achieve their goals keeps it exciting and motivating.

Your coaching career spans swim clubs, triathlon clubs, and high-performance athletes. What has that diversity taught you, and how does it shape your coaching philosophy today?

I’ve been lucky enough to learn so much through working in different coaching environments and with different athletes/coaches.  I get to take all the good bits from each of those and mould it into my own coaching style.

You recently led the Triathlon BC Provincial Team project to the Americas Cup in Magog and Montreal. What was that experience like, and what were some standout moments from that trip?

It was so much fun!!  I really enjoy working with young, high performance, athletes.  Obviously, race day was super exciting and full on, especially, as we had multiple athletes racing in different races with start times close to each other.  It was great to see how driven and motivated the athletes were individually but how they helped/supported each other and came together as a team  I definitely learnt a thing or two about logistics when transporting lots of athletes, bikes and luggage!!

You’ve worked with athletes of all levels, from novices to professionals. What do you think is the key to building trust and progress with athletes, no matter their level?

Ask them how they feel.  Numbers and stats are useful but for me they best info an athlete can give is, how they feel.

Congrats on your T100 Win! As a competitive athlete, how do you balance your personal training and racing goals with coaching and parenting?

I don’t know that I do!!  I just do what I can when I can.  Sometimes that means a get some solid hours of training done in a day and sometimes it means I get none done!!  Often I break up workouts so that I’m getting the time in just not all in one go.

What does a typical week look like for you right now? Is there such a thing as “typical”?

Haha I’m not sure you want to know, it’s a bit crazy, but I probably coach 15-20 hours per week, clean houses 20 hours per week, train 15-20 hours per week then parent, cook, clean, garden the rest of the time!!

Being a mom, coach, and athlete must come with a unique set of challenges; what have been some of the biggest lessons or breakthroughs you’ve had in managing it all?

To be kind to myself and listen to my body.  I used to get hung up if a workout went badly, now I’m much more relaxed and go with the flow.  I’ve learnt how to have more balance in my life and not be so focused on just triathlon training but having more experiences and doing all kinds of active things that I enjoy not just triathlon.  A happy healthy athlete is a fast athlete.

What advice would you give to other moms, and women, who want to stay active or get involved in triathlon, but feel like there isn’t enough time or space in their lives for it?

Something is always better than nothing, even just 30mins here or there or going for a walk, there’s always something you can do.  Take the pressure off and just do what you can rather than what you see other people doing.  Consistency is the key not epic workouts once in a while.

What are you most excited about right now; whether it’s a project, a race, or a coaching goal?

I’m super excited about the new high performance training group in Victoria and to follow those athletes involved in their development and racing.  It would be awesome to see a few of them hopefully get to LA 2028.

Looking ahead, how do you hope to continue shaping the triathlon community in BC, or beyond?  

I hope to continue to be involved coaching all levels and ages of athletes from novice to high performance.  I love to learn so hope to have more opportunities for that in the future to keep my coaching constantly moving forward.

What’s on your pre race, or training, playlist?

I only listen to music when I’m on the trainer or treadmill, which is anytime the temperature is below 15C!!  I have one giant playlist that I have on shuffle and it has everything on it from Taylor Swift to Led Zeppelin to electro dance music.

Favourite cycling or running route in or around Victoria?

Cycling route is ross durance/munn/prospect lake road.  running route galloping goose and E&N trail because my son can bike alongside me and there’s parks for him to stop at along the way.

Lastly, who inspires you; in sport, in parenting, or in life?

It’s so hard to pick one!!  I grew up watching lots of different sports but Paula Rattcliffe and Michael Schumacher were always a favourites of mine.  It’s such an exciting time in triathlon right now, I love watching all the races across all the distances, I find them all super inspiring.  I am also a massive fan of Steve Magnus.  His book ‘Do Hard things’ and his social media account speak to me on a daily basis.

Amazing! Thanks so much for taking the time with us – Best of luck in the rest of your season, and we look forward to having you involved in more Triathlon BC projects in the future!