Miles of Life ~ My life as a donut Kylie Donia

back in the saddle

September 17th, 2009 by kylie

After a bit of a break after Barb’s, it is GAME ON for The Next Big Thing. Obviously my biggest focus is my swim, and then the bike. But don’t worry, I’m running, too :) I love this stuff. I’ve had some awesome rides. Like hanging on through more of the speedy Saturday ride than almost ever before! And completely exploding and crawling my way home the last 20 or 25 miles — with my sweet husband tootling along next to me just because he likes me that much! And now I have a new goal on Saturday rides: Blow up. Last as long as you can, but don’t just get dropped, blow up or hang on. All or nothing, none of this “making sure you have enough left for the rest of the ride”. That isn’t the goal on Saturday. The goal is pain, and going harder than I thought possible. And trusting that I can do it.

The bike has also had some new toys: like an upgraded hub for my PowerTap so that it is ANT+, and a fun new Garmin GPS (for the bike and run, actually) that is just damn sexy! Thanks Wheelbuilder for your help!

Garmin 310xt

Garmin 310xt

The pool hasn’t been such a happy story. Two swims back and I’m begging the pool’s forgiveness for my lack of attention. Nothing drastically wrong with the swims, except the reminder that to feel good swimming I have to swim regularly! Got it, will do. I’m prepared to make my world have a faint smell of chlorine again.

And running, well, that is always awesome. But lately my legs just feel good, and I’ll take it.

Of course, there are little issues. My achielles is still a bit sore sometimes, and I think it is the bike. I have lowered my seat on the road bike a bit, and I think that has helped. I will need to check the setting on the tri bike once I get back on it.

Posted in biking, running, swiming | 2 Comments »

One happy year

September 7th, 2009 by kylie

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary for Mike and I. It was a good year. Some good races, fun travels, and starting to build our own life. We started his business, and we really started to get to know the Redlands community we now live in. So it was time to celebrate, and although both of us had a lot of work to do we took the day to ourselves. Well, somewhat ;)

We started the day with a family run

Anniversary run

Anniversary run

Yes, wearing matching Muskoka 70.3 finisher shirts (from our honeymoon race) and our “Just married” visors. And red shorts, me because it was one of the first gifts Mike gave me, and him because it was one of the first pairs of runners he got with me. Yes, we are dorks. But happy ones!

After that we relaxed at home for a bit and then went for an easy ride together. And then… the pet shop!

New baby girl

New baby girl

And now Gracie has a little sister! She is so cute, and curious. And it was just meant to be. We had talked about a playmate for Gracie, often debating waiting until she is much older, so we always have a dog in running years around, and getting one sooner so that she has a playmate. Well after her recent visit to Walter and Misty May’s house it felt like she missed the company of dogs. And I’ve never done the puppy training part of the dog experience, and am a bit sad that I never got to see Gracie as a tiny curious large-pawed baby. So this time, it was a baby we chose. She was born July 5th this year (a day off from my birthday) and was found just like Gracie: the first dog to catch my eye on Petfinder. We went to the pet shop, and we looked at the dogs there for an adoption day. And none stole my heart. But then we bumped into a lady from the Redlands Humane Society, and she said she had some puppies that would grow to be G’s size. And it was the two I had looked at online. So she called their foster home, and they were free and brought the puppies right down. Online it was Beauty who’s picture and description really caught my eye, but at the store it was the other girl. Then we figured out the names were switched online, and the one that caught my eye in both places was in fact the same little girl. And since Mike said I had to pick one, she said in my arms the rest of the shopping trip. And we added another crate, and some littlier toys, and a purple blanket (since G’s color is pink). And now the new baby is sleeping beside me, and in need of a name. We are playing with a couple and should decide soonish :)

Life is definitely good!

Posted in Life Outside of Tris, donutdogg, mike | 4 Comments »

todo list

September 1st, 2009 by kylie

Well, I’m back from IMC! It was amazing amazing amazing! I am so so proud of so many people, both those I know and those I just met while there. And I can’t wait for next year and to see some of those faces (of races and volunteers) again! It was an awesome volunteering experience, and I will definitely do it again.

As for the todo list, I know, I also owe a Vineman race report. And more IMC details.

But for now, it is almost bedtime, and I will have to leave it at this for now. But I did sign up for IMC 2010, along with Mike and other good friends (both online — well originally online, as I met many this trip — and triclub). It’s going to be an awesome year. Marky, get my butt well-kicked so that I earn a finishline hug! ;)

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a necessary snickers

August 22nd, 2009 by kylie

Good ride today — a strong pace with the Saturday crew over to Riverside to meet up with some other clubs and groups, and then off on the fast part of the loop. I usually get dropped fairly quickly, but today I hung in much longer. I wasn’t planning to, as I was really going for an easier day. But as I started to drop off a friend gave me a push and said “You’ve got this!” and then I couldn’t just drop off and do my own thing. So I worked a bit harder than planned. A few miles later I did get dropped, but the group hit a light and I got on again for a couple more miles. Then I was perfectly content to turn off and do my own thing, which usually means meeting back up with the group at the end of the speedy loop for the ride back to Redlands.

So we met up, and refueled at the gas station. Usually just water for me, but I was actually feeling hungry so grabbed a Gatorade and a Snickers, and let Mike know that I had gone harder than planned and so would be going a bit easier than usual on the ride home. He stuck with me, even though I said he could just keep going with the group. But we had a nice calm ride towards home.

And then almost at the top of one of the last climbs, pftssssssssssssssss and my back tire was flat. We pulled off, and I set about changing it (he is faster, and I let him help if the group is waiting as they do on the way over, but on our time I get to practice). Looking for what caused the flat, I noticed it was the rim — the rim tape was really out of place and even broken in spots. Makes sense… I had grabbed the wheels I rarely ever use since my favorite wheel still has the disc cover on from Barb’s. So I had a dollar bill boot, and then needed another, and the snickers wrapper in my back pocket was perfect.

So thanks snickers bar, I’m home now, and it was a good ride :)

Posted in biking | 2 Comments »

Juicy!

August 18th, 2009 by kylie

I got a great new toy — a juicer! I’m really enjoying it so far. I’ve made lots of juices with carrot in them. Pineapple makes a great addition! This morning was pineapple-carrot juice. It was yummy! Carrot-tomato-spinach-apple is also pretty good. However, the pineapple-beet-cabbage-celery-carrot-raddishes-apple-spinach-cherry-blueberry juice was a bit much. But wow it was really really pretty colors!

In other news, my legs were pretty beat after Barb’s (yeah, I’ll write about it at some point…). So I did a few bike rides and a couple runs (the pool is closed right now) and my knee decided as I was sitting one day that it wanted a break. So I took one. Just getting running again, and that feels pretty good! Going for frequency right now, and aiming for 10 runs this week. Some are really short, but they all feel great great great! And Donutdogg is happy to be out there again, too.

Posted in donutdogg, running | No Comments »

Tinman Triathlon

August 9th, 2009 by kylie

The Tinman is a long running local reverse order sprint — 5k run, 9 mile bike, and then a 100yd pool swim. Although it has been around for over 20 years, this was the first time Mike and I had done it. Again we were there with the Exceeding Expectations kids, and some of our friends, Heidi and Bjorn from ESRI and run group, as well as Joe, Andrea, and Gus of run club, were all there. The exciting part was that it was the first tri for a number of the EE kids, as well as for Heidi, Andrea, and Gus! So they were all excited and nervous.

The race course was a bit crazy — parts through campus and part on streets and parts not really marked, so I know some people added a bit to the run (like Mike) but it was basically flat, although some false flats. It was not my best run. My legs felt heavy and tired and I just didn’t want to run. I actually felt at one point that I should just cut back across campus and I’d be there in time to cheer for people. But the stubborn part of me wasn’t listening, and somehow I kept running. And thankfully the run was soon over, and I was on my bike. Where I felt pretty good. There was a big hill, and I just rode it — pushing pushing pushing. I passed Heidi on the way up, and cheered for her, and saw Mike heading back, and cheered for him. And caught Bjorn at about halfway through the bike. And I had a nice little train drafting off me for a while — stupidheads! So I just went a bit harder, and soon was on my own again. Back to transition, and someone had left her bike on my goggles (I should have pushed it over — it was the same lady who pushed an EE kid out of “her way” in the start area). So it took me a second to grab them and run to the pool and I swam pretending I was Marky ;) The pool felt really good since it was getting warm out! Done with the swim, I saw a girl walking just ahead. So I kept up my run, knowing the finish was a little ways off still. I passed her, and finished strong.

Tinman, June 28, 2009

55:04 — 1/ W25-29, and 4th woman overall (out of 153)! Oh, also 46/442 overall.

I was proud to see Heidi get 2nd in our age group at her first tri! And Mike won overall yet again :) It was a good day for all of us.

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ESRI UC 5k

August 9th, 2009 by kylie

Mostly I remember doing a decent warm up for this race. Some jogging, some pickups, it’s always nice with a friend and Bjorn and I did this part together.For some reason as nice as the San Diego weather is, it always feels really humid as this race is about to start.

Then it was race time, and Karen and I ended up running together for the first half. Pushing each other, and realizing we should run together more often! And then I pulled away a bit, and could see the one girl I’d seen pass us, and so I just kept pushing. But knowing she was older than me, I wasn’t too concerned. So I got pretty close, and finished strong. And then cooled down, again with Bjorn.

Oh and Wednesday night run group (at Redlands Spine and Sport), along with great running frequency, has been awesome for Bjorn! He had a smokin’ race! Makes me even more excited to get back to the group and get all speedy :)

And my results:

22:16  (better than last year’s 22:42!)

And good enough for 1st in W25/29 (of 18), and 2nd overall woman(of 101)! 7 seconds from 1st women… guess I should stop thinking in terms of age group at some races ;) I could have hurt a bit more on this one. Still my  best placing overall! So it was a success, and then it was off to the conference.

Posted in Race Tales, running | No Comments »

slackerbutt

August 9th, 2009 by kylie

Ok so again I have failed to post for a while!

So what has happened since mid-June… well, I have continued the trend of racing every month — June also had the Tinman Tri, July had the ESRI UC 5k and August had Barb’s race (a women’s only half IM the same day as the full Vineman race). I’ll do a blog for each of those.

In non-racing life, mostly I’ve just been busy with work and school. Working on both today (Sunday) as well — but at least it has been productive! I’m excited for next weekend when I will get to go out in the field with Sierra Madre Search and Rescue to see one of their big training days and share my ideas about how GIS could help them. I hope I have a somewhat working prototype by then!

And now, off to the race reports ;)

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not so much…

June 17th, 2009 by kylie

Yes, I know, another post right after a race report. I figured I needed to have the race report up before moving on to the recovery ;)

So after the race, and the day at Disney, plus still recoving a bit from the being sick and the rib, I was sore. I was tired. I did my workouts Monday, but my run didn’t have that relaxed feeling. With all that, and the stresses of these last couple crazy weeks at work, I felt pretty off by Tuesday evening. But I climbed on my bike, actually on the trainer for the first time in a long time. I had some music on, and Gracie was confused. She is used to the wheelthings taking us away, and climbed into her crate. But then I stayed, and she came outside with me, and then during my warmup decided it was pretty cool to be able to lick me as I built up a nice salty sweat.

I had some repeats to do, hitting about my FTP (ie the power I can hold on the bike for an hour) for 2 minutes, resting for 30 seconds, and repeating a number of times. I got the first in, and it was hard. The second interval I barely made. Struggled through 4 of them, often barely making the power numbers I should be hitting. The 5th felt the same, and my legs felt like I was going as hard as I could. I was pouring sweat, and although I had found peace with the trainer, it was time to be done. I got off the bike, letting go of the workout, and realizing sometimes it is better to stop. But stopping sure is hard when you are stubborn!

Today’s run was better. My legs are still a bit heavy, but once I was going I felt pretty good, and my pickup was comfy. Still a bit sore, but I’m hoping the heavy-dead is gone from the legs now.

Posted in biking, donutdogg, running | 4 Comments »

Disney Du

June 17th, 2009 by kylie

Wow what a race! The thing with some of this shorter distance stuff is that it is over so fast! And hurts so much! And so sometimes it is hard to remember what happened. I remember the start… on Main St. USA in Disney Land. Minnie Mouse, in a run outfit, started our day. In a flash of confetti strips, around the circle in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and into Adventureland. Past the Jungle Cruise, and around into Frontierland and past the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which made me smile and think of the Mike-friend that I met there some years back). Past the Matterhorn, which I barely even noticed as I was passing the girl who led out our wave, and ended up in first for the wave for a bit! That was a first :) And then we ran into the behind the scenes part where we saw people taking out trash. There I saw some of the women from the earlier waves stopping for a picture with Minnie :)

Into TA and onto the bike, time to hurt. Some weaving through other waves, but not too bad since the race had a huge number of lanes closed everywhere so that there was always room to go by. Pedal pedal pedal! Oh, and after being sick much of the week, a fair bit of hacking up lunggunk. Oh, and to go back a bit, Friday night I somehow got a rib out of place, and luckily convinced my wonder-chiro-husband into his office early Saturday morning, where an adjustment and some muscle stym and another adjustment got it back in place. Still not quite turning well as I left for the hotel the night before the race, and my muscles were exhausted, I worried a bit about the bike and aero position. But it was a course easy to stay aero, and I just went. My power was definitely lower than I had hoped, but later learning I had the 3rd fastest bike (another first!) made that easier to take — plus it was my first race where I averaged over 20mph!

Around the parking lot where transition was (which was a good quarter mile) and off the bike, run shoes back on, and it was time to accept it was going to HURT. Took a minute to really find my pain-desire, and soon I was moving as I headed into California Adventure. I smiled as I passed the Bug’s Life play area, remembering spending time there with Ethan. I then caught up to one of my favorite tri ladies, Cherie, one of the Exceeding Expectations leaders, and turned for one of the coolest stretches of the race. Running through the Hollywood area, there was a mural at the end of the road of buildings and the road off into the distance. It felt like you would keep going forever, and the buildings really had that Disney feel. Suddenly I was behind the scenes again, and leaving the park! The run was a bit short, 1.6 miles, and not the 2 I expected. So I pushed it a bit more, constantly thinking there were footsteps behind me. But I didn’t get passed (actually, other than I think 2 people — including one of the EE girls! — in the first run, I don’t think I was passed all day. So that was also a first!

I didn’t feel awesome the whole day, but everything just went right for me. The race had great energy, and I was thrilled to cross the finish line, and then wait around to find out how I did. Once the results were up, I was proud! 55:07 for 5th overall and 1st in my age group! This du thing sure hurts more than tris, and I do miss the swim, but it is also quite an experience, and I hope to do more in the future. Official results are here — including myself on the leaderboard! Crazy yo!

The five girls that went with us, as well as Cherie, also had very strong days. I was so proud to see each one smiling across the line! And then, there was a day at Disney! I thought racing hurt… but the standing in lines for hours after… that was something else ;) Exhausted, we finally made it home.

Oh, also of note… with 5 girls, Cherie, and myself we needed to fit 7 people, 7 bikes, all the race stuff and all the stuff for a night at a hotel into my car and Cherie’s. We both have SUVs, but my CRV and her Explorer are not the biggest vehicles! Yet somehow my CRV fit 6, yes 6, bikes in the back! And that was with the back wheels all still on. The final bike went on my roof rack, and all the spare wheels fit nicely in the roofbox. And Cherie’s car easily took all the bags. At the hotel, these other ladies also racing were getting their bikes ready as we came out and got out all the bikes. They asked how we fit that many people and bikes all in that one little car, and thought it was like a clown car :) But nope, just my magic little car!

So it was a great weekend, and as Lee would have said if he was there, a splendid time was had by all :)

Posted in Race Tales, biking, running | 3 Comments »

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