DONNER LAKE HALF

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:

bike elevatin

 

 

 

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!

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MAY 20-MAY 24

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.20130529-185007.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really just wanted to stop for a minute.20130529-185016.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

20130529-185023.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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???

20130529-184647.jpg

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!

20130529-184950.jpg

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 18-27

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.

20130329-144952.jpg

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!

20130329-144939.jpg

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!

20130329-145815.jpg

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.

 

 

 

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 9-15

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!

20130315-185922.jpg

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!”

20130315-185559.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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! 

20130315-185529.jpg

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!

 

 

 

WENDY’S WORKOUTS MARCH 2ND-MARCH 8TH

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.

20130308-091132.jpg

20130308-091137.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

20130308-091120.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!)

20130308-091104.jpg

 

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!

 

 

 

 

MY “FIRST” WORKOUT

And she’s back in the pool! “She” being me speaking in the third person. Because whoever that was in the water today sure as hell wasn’t me! That was until some woman walked over to me, panting on the wall, and said, “Oh hi Wendy! Nice to see you here.” Dammit. it was me. Ok, I should explain. I’m a swimmer! I have been since I was 7 years old. My closet growing up was decorated with blue ribbons, gold medals and pictures of my many many swim teams. I SWIM. I’M A BADASS IN 20121207-181707.jpgTHE POOL….and now I’m 40.  Apparently, that changes things up a bit. My last true swim workouts ended back in June when I completed my half ironman triathlon up in Oregon. And as many of you know, I’m now on the hunt for my next big race. And while I figure out what am training for, I thought I would shake off the cobb webs and get in a quick pool workout. My first lap was good. And I should have quit right there. BUT I’M A SWIMMER! I can do more than 25 yards. Well, by lap 16 (just 400 yards) I had to stop and stretch! The backs of my arms were so tight I could barely pull my elbow up above my head. And my heart was pounding. Did I think there was a shark in the pool? That’s how fast my heart was beating! So after I caught my breath, I pushed off the wall to see how bad things really were. Normally, I’m a 19 stroke gal. That means it takes me 19 strokes to do one lap. Today? 23!!!! Let me put this into golf perspective for you. That’s like hitting a 5 on every hole of a par 3 executive course. So at the end of 18, you’ve swung 36 more times than you needed to! I was stroking hundreds of times more than I needed to! That’s called not being efficient… or totally out of shape, whichever.   And if that wasn’t bad enough… I just had to do it. I just had to attempt butterfly! That’s my stroke. That’s where all those blue ribbons in my closet came from. I CAN DO BUTTERFLY! Except today. Instead of gliding through the water like a dolphin, I was like an elephant pulling a piano. I honestly wasn’t sure my arms would actually come out of the water during my final stroke to the wall. My heart was beating so fast NOW it was as if that shark was actually biting my leg. It was at this point I started to fantasize about stretching! I’m as limber as a tree trunk, but I just thought, “If I could just swim back to my towel, I can get out and go stretch. Stretching sounds fantastic right now. Anything sounds better right now than SWIMMING!!!!”  But I didn’t.  I stayed in the pool.  Why?  Because I didn’t want another “first” workout.  The “first” workout always sucks.  Unused, lazy muscles, the ones that have become happy to slightly sag… are being whipped back into shape… screaming and fighting the whole time.  I bet that’s why so many new year’s resolutions to get back into shape don’t last past Valentines Day.  The first workout SUCKS!  You say to yourself, “Hell no I’m not going to do that again.  It sucked!”  That’s why I’m glad I started swimming again before the start of the new year.  Because come January 1, when everyone else is gasping for air, swearing they’re going to stick to their workout resolution THIS TIME, I’ll be gliding through the water as a 19 stroke gal once again!