Play | Wendy Damonte - Eat, Play and Live - a Lifestyle Blog

DONNER LAKE HALF

June 13, 2013 By Wendy D 5 Comments

I’ve done it! I picked my race! I’m officially registered. And I want to throw up. Who knew officially registering for a race was such an emotional step. I feel like I’m in middle school and I’ve just agreed to “go” with the hot guy I’ve had a crush on all year. Because now what?? What does “going” mean? Will he pick me up at my locker? Will he hold my hand on the way to 3rd period leadership class? Will he call me tonight or should I call him first? There’s so much pressure when you’re officially “going”with your 14 year old boyfriend. And that’s EXACTLY how I feel about this race. Will it be too hard for me to finish? Will it abuse me and just toss me aside for a real triathlete? Will it laugh at me as I struggle to keep pace with other racers who obviously are more competent? I feel like there are so many unknowns now that I know which race I’m doing. I’m committed to the Donner Lake Half. This is my “guy.” No more flirting with other races. No more googlie eyes at different distances. I’ve agreed to “go”with this ONE race. I’m now in a committed relationship. At least I will be until July 28th. So about 2 months. Yeah, that’s about how long the relationship lasted in 8th grade as well. And I survived that one so I guess I’ll survive this one as well.

The Donner Lake Half is a half Ironman distance triathlon. 1 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13 mile run. The swim will be in 65 degree water with wetsuits optional. OPTIONAL?? WTF? The only option is to wear a wetsuit in my book!

The bike is 56 miles. Not bad, except when you look at the elevation. We ride up old highway 40 out of Donner Lake. Here’s the elevation map… it sucks:

The run is 13 miles. THIS IS GOING TO REALLY SUCK. It’s twice around Donner Lake. Not bad, except the backside of Donner is extremely hilly. Maybe not to your standards, but for this girl, the backside SUCKS. And I get to do it twice. The website doesn’t even give you an elevation map. Need I say more??

Back in 8th grade, there were moments I wondered why I made this decision to “go” with said hunk. And as of right now, I have those same regrets. Aren’t there better guys (races) out there? Aren’t other boys (races) more attractive? Wouldn’t a less hot boy (race) be nicer to me? STOP THINKING ABOUT IT WENDY! You’ve made your up your mind, now go be a good girlfriend (athlete!). I hope I chose wisely!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: inspirational, sports, swimming, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MAY 20-MAY 24

May 29, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

MONDAY: No workout.

Tuesday: Went mountain biking with my Little Friend Lynn today. I don’t know why she hates me, but she does. She must hate my dog too. We started out riding in Galena, like normal, until we took a horrible left turn. “Want to go up this way?” she asked. Up was an understatement. At one point, I even pretended to be super excited about seeing Snow Flowers.

I really just wanted to stop for a minute.

By they end, we were one curve away from Mt. Rose Ski Resort!!!! See her? She’s pointing at the curve. Damn her!

WEDNESDAY: Ran 2 hours on the treadmill at my gym. It was super windy today in Reno. I wimped out and headed indoors. I then swam an hour which is 3000 yards. And get this. My best friend, Dawna, sent me a hot racing bikini. And today I tested it out. Loved it! Except every time I pushed off the wall, the bottoms came down a bit. I kept imagining people walking by on the pool decking going “Whoa, just say no to crack!” Finally, at 2700 yards… that’s 108 laps… I thought, “I think there’s a drawstring on these bottoms.” I tied them. It worked. What doesn’t work is my brain. 108 laps it took me to figure this out???

THURSDAY: Rode my windtrainer for 2 hours… again the wind. But it was the 2 hour season finale of Elementary. Now that’s a fantastic show! It actually runs neck in neck with my boyfriend’s show, Person of Interest. And a lot of you have asked me about my windtrainer. Here’s what it looks like. It’s my bike on a frame. Hope this helps you!

FRIDAY: Rode the windtrainer again for 1 hour 30 minutes and then went on a 30 minute run.

And did I mention I finally picked my race?? I’ll let you know what I’m doing as soon as I officially sign up. Baby steps!

Filed Under: Play Tagged With: mountain biking, swimming, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS 5/13 TO 5/19

May 20, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

MONDAY: Rode my wind trainer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Boring. Same ‘ol thing. Why do I subject myself to this workout??? Totally dreading rerun season!

TUESDAY: Went mountain biking with my Little Friend Lynn today. We rode Galena for 2 hours 30 minutes. I normally take Donner when we mountain bike, but today we had to cross the Mt. Rose Highway so I left her home. Boy was I in trouble when I got home all muddy and still high from endorphins. She looked at me and played dead.

WEDNESDAY: Swam 3700 yards. 1500 swim, 1500 pull, 700 swim.

THURSDAY: I ran for 1 hour 45 minutes today. My kids had 4-H so I left the fairgrounds on foot and ran through my alma mater. If you’ve never visited the University of Nevada, you should! It’s beautiful. It’s designed after the University of Virginia which was one of Thomas Jefferson’s creations. I came across the quad all decked out and ready for graduation the following day. This brought back some GREAT memories.

FRIDAY: Swam 2800 yards. 1500 swim, 1200 pull, 100 swim. Rode a stationary bike at the gym. Have you ever sat on one of those seats?? How do people ride on those? I made it 45 minutes and had to get off. I walked like an old cowboy from a spaghetti western the rest of the afternoon.

SATURDAY: No workout.

SUNDAY: Rode my wind trainer for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS 5-5 to 5-10

May 13, 2013 By Wendy 1 Comment

Monday: Ran/hiked Galena which is my favorite playground anywhere. Miles of trails… Beauty everywhere. Plus I got to be with Darrin today. A rare treat for us to workout together. It poured rain for about 10 minutes. So refreshing!

Tuesday: Rode my wind trainer for 1 hour 40 minutes. Then I ran for 30 minutes.

Wednesday: Swam for about an hour and did 3100 yards. Swam 2000, pulled 1000 and warmed down 100.

Thursday: Rode 2 hours with my little friend Lynn up at Galena. I told her I needed to go a bit longer than we normally do, so of course she found more hills to climb!

Friday: Swam 2900 yards. About the same deal as Wednesday

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: losing weight, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS 4-29 to 5-3

May 5, 2013 By Wendy Leave a Comment

Monday: Ran 2 hours and 50 minutes which turned out to be about 15 miles. Yes this was a big whoops! If you follow me on Facebook you can move ahead to Tuesday because you know the story. Monday morning I dropped my car off to get an oil change. It takes an hour. Perfect, efficient me thinks, I’ll run while its getting done. Well after running about 50 minutes I get a call. My mechanic says I need new brakes and my car won’t be ready for several hours. Well shit! What do I do? At that exact moment Eye of the Tiger comes on my iPod and I think, “hell I’ll just run home!” It’s the thrill of the fight, right?? So I take off running. 2 hours and 50 minutes later I’m finally home. Note to self: never plan on running during an oil change again!

Tuesday: So now that you know what happened Monday, you know I have to pick up my car. So I head out on my bike thinking it will take my 20 minutes to get there. Well some bad approximating and a gnarly headwind the entire ride… And I finally arrive 45 minutes later. I can’t win with this car deal! I also swam 45 minutes… 2000 yards.

Wednesday: My plan was to ride my wind trainer for 1 1/2 hours. But after 60 minutes I called it quits. I had nothing in the tank. Think I’m still recovering from Monday!

Thursday: Had a huge work day. No workout.

Friday: Ran 50 minutes on a treadmill then swam an hour. Swam 1500 then pulled a 1500.

Can hardly wait to see what mishap next week brings!!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: inspirational, losing weight, sports, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS 4/22-4/26

April 26, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

Ok, so you haven’t seen my workouts in the last few weeks. Why? Well, let’s just sufice it to say… there haven’t been too many. Spring Break is a killer on the workout plan, is it not?? But I’m back at it… hitting it hard. Ok, not too hard! Shall we say easing back into it! So here ya go! I hope this motivates you to move!!!

Monday: Ran one hour and 7 minutes. Did hills which felt great. However, as I was climbing up through this neighborhood, I got lost. I mean I knew where I was, but I couldn’t figure out how to get back to the one street that would bring me back down to my car. Hence, the 7 extra minutes.

Tuesday: Rode 2 hours with my Little Friend Lynn. Ok, to be TOTALLY honest, we stopped by her daughter’s house for about 15 minutes to see her new baby! Super cute little guy! And since we had a little break, Lynn of course headed straight for hills and we climbed and climbed and climbed. I swear I do not know how she finds all these hills. Damn her!

Wednesday: I wanted to swim today but I arrived at my gym while the aquasize class was still going on. I love and appreciate exercise of all kinds…but man it burns me out when I can’t get in the pool! So I put my goggles away and laced up my running shoes. I ran 1 hour on the treadmill. I’ve had an irritating headache for about 9 days and today was no different. In fact, I almost let it serve as an excuse to not workout today. But I started out slow and the headache actually got a bit better. But an hour after my workout, my headache returned to its throbbing loveliness. I’ll explain more about these headaches in a post next week.

Thursday: Rode my windtrainer for 1 hour with my boyfriend, Mr. Reese. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him so it was good to catch up.

Friday: GREAT WORKOUT TODAY! I took off on my bike and rode hills for an hour. I ended up at my gym and swam for an hour. 3000 yards. I then rode home… about 30 minutes. A 2 hour and 30 minute workout is a huge luxury for me! Man I wish I could do that more often!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 18-27

March 29, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

Monday: One hour on the windtrainer. I put it on the hardest gear and kept it there for the entire 60 minutes. I wanted a good leg workout… this was it! Ran 30 minutes after.

Tuesday: My Little Friend Lynn and I rode hills today. Not a great choice for me considering I did a huge leg workout yesterday, but Lynn doesn’t care. However, I got her back. It was cold this morning in Reno so I ususally ride in legs and arms. They are just that. Stockings that go from your ankle to your thigh, and arms that go from your wrist to your armpits. That way when you get hot, usually an hour into your ride, you can just pull them down or they are small enough to fit into your pockets. Well on this day, I dropped one of my legs between my closet and the car. I didn’t want both of my real legs to freeze so I wore just one leg. Lynn HATES not being cool…and boy was I a dork on this ride!

Wednesday: No workout

Thursday: Swam 3,300 yards. 2000 straight. 10X100 pulling on the 1:45. 300 warmdown.

Friday: Rode my windtrainer for 1 hour on a hard gear again.

Saturday-Sunday: 4-H ALL WEEKEND! I supposed I could have run to the sheep clinics… but I didn’t. So no workouts.

Monday: Rode with My Little Friend Lynn. All hills AGAIN. What is up with that woman??

Tuesday: Ran for an hour around Virginia Lake. If you don’t know Reno very well, this is a great place to go for a run. It’s one mile around the lake. Totally flat. But you do have to watch out for goose and dog poop. Come on people!!! Pick up after your dogs!

Wednesday: Swam 3600 yards. 1000 swim. 1000 kick. 1000 pull. 600 swim.

A pretty boring week and a half of workouts. But truth be told, I’m exhausted. The calving season is kicking my family’s ass and the kids have tons going on in their lives. I’m just happy to squeeze in a few workouts here and there.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: eat healthy, how to lose weight, sports, swimming, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 9-15

March 15, 2013 By Wendy D 1 Comment

Saturday: Ran for one hour. Yay! I got a weekend workout in. Boo!! It was on a treadmill in Stockton, CA!

Monday: Rode my windtrainer for 1 hour, again, in front of the TV with my boyfriend, Mr. Reese. And after admitting last week I had a crush on Mr. Reese, my husband asked me if he had something to worry about. Well, no, unless Jim Caviezel ends up in Reno, Nevada and doesn’t mind a middle aged broad with two crazy kids and a fluffy dog! Nope, nothing to worry about here!

Tuesday: Swam 3200 yards. 2000 straight (yuck!). And then 6X150′s on the 2:30 pulling. This I did with a man I’ve befriended at my pool. He’s from the middle east somewhere and said to me, “Vendy, I see yous going to svim a pooool set. Vants me to join you?” I answered, ”No problem amigo! Let’s do this!” ”Hokay, Vendy, vee svim!” He then proceeded to kick my ass! After that, I ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes… because he got out and went home. Take that Mr. “Vendy Yous A Gooood Svimer!”

Wednesday: It was my hubby’s birthday so I snuck in a 1 hour wind trainer session with my boyfriend, Mr. Reese, before hitting the shooting range for a nice round of skeet and trap. No, I’m not counting the shooting as a workout! Although it was truly an arm workout for me! Darrin makes me point my gun at the sky first and then bring it down to shooting level. That’s like doing 75 upside down push ups!

Thursday: Rode with my Little Friend Lynn outside! The weather was beautiful! We rode hills, of course everything with her is hills. We went for about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Friday: No workout. I took today off. I’m exhausted. Every workout this week was a struggle for me. My life was hectic this week and my workouts paid the price. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but sometimes the best workout is no workout at all… we need to listen to our bodies!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: how to lose weight, inspirational, losing weight, play, sports, swimming, working out

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 2ND-MARCH 8TH

March 8, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

Saturday and Sunday: No workouts. The weekends are my biggest challenge. Trying to squeeze in a workout in between the chaos of these two days is something I’ve yet to figure out. Yes, I could wakeup at 5am and do it then, but come on! It’s my weekend too!!

Monday: No workout. I typically hit it hard on Mondays. But today one of my friends ended up in the hospital so I was with her. I started to stress out about not working out 3 days in a row, but you have to always remind yourself, life happens. And being there for a friend is way more important than riding my bike.

Tuesday: I hiked for 50 minutes to the top of rattle snake mountain with my friend who’s diabetic. I’m helping him lose weight and on this day he told me his doctor hopes to have him off insulin in 3 months. YAHOOOOOO! And this is what the top of rattle snake looks like… in case you’ve never been up here.

Wednsday: I rode my wind trainer for 2 hours. It was snowy and cold in Reno on this day so I was forced inside. However, truth be told, I have a huge crush on Mr. Reese so thankfully I had a few episodes of Person of Interest on my DVR. The time flew by!

Thursday: I ran for 40 minutes and then hit the pool. I swam 3200 yards (128 laps for all you non swimmers). I swam 2000 straight and timed myself the last half mile. 13 minutes. I’m hoping to get that down to 11. Then I pulled 10X100 on 1:45. 200 cool down. YES I COUNT MY COOL DOWN YARDAGE!! Plus, check out my new cute “Dolphin Ugly” swimsuit. These suits are said to hold their shape way better than other suits. I’ll let you know if I agree! (nice goggle eyes!)

Friday: No workout. Was hoping to get on the wind trainer for an hour but again, life got in the way. As my coach always has to remind me, the stress of not working out is way worse than simply not working out. Life happens, and that’s ok!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: eat healthy, play, sports, swimming, working out

WEIGHT LOSS PLAN

March 5, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

The last two days, I’ve updated you all on my friends who I’m helping to lose weight. The husband has type 2 diabetes because of his weight. Doctors have told his wife she was on the same path. It’s been an 8 month journey and they are both doing great. Ups and downs, but all in all great. I’m the one who has had the problem. And this is it. I’ve posted this journey on my Facebook page and from day 1, I’ve had many requests for help. One woman emailed me from her hospital bed begging me to help her lose weight. Another woman said she has young children and is afraid she’s going to die from her diabetes. I’ve had so many requests they’ve paralyzed me. I’m the type of person who hates to say no. I want to help people… all of you. I would love to quit my job and open a free gym where you could all workout with me. Unfortunately, I also love a paycheck… so that’s not going to happen. So what can I do??? Well, I’ve decided on two things. First, I’m going to do a book report for all of us. A nutritionist gave my friends and me this book, “Why We Get Fat.” I’ve started it and it’s not a beach read. It’s case study after case study. So, for all of us, I’m going to plow through this beast and give you all the highlights. Give me a few weeks, I read at night when I’m already tired! Secondly, I’m going to start posting my own workouts once a week. Every Friday I will post what I’ve done for the last week so you can copy my workouts, use them as motivation to start working out, or laugh at them and say, “Who does this chick think she is?? Dara Torres?” It’s the best I can do. If I could help each and every one of you, I would! But since 2 children, a husband, a dog, two cats and a job make that impossible (oh wait, did I forget the hamster??), I hope you will accept this small gesture. A lot of you out there just need a big toe… I hope this blog can be that for you!

Filed Under: Play Tagged With: how to lose weight, losing weight, weight challenge, working out