Rain, Rain Finally Went Away
The highlight of the week was Sunday’s 3/4-century ride which happened on one of the few dry days of the past week. Well, dry until that evening when it absolutely poured rain for a few hours. We were then treated to misty, drizzly weather until Friday when we finally saw the sun again. With lower humidity, Friday and Saturday were delightful and I was thankful to have time to get outside and enjoy the nice weather.
The forecast for this coming week looks much better!
Overview of the Week
Before getting into each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Cycling: 76.35 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 13.8 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 4,265 feet
• Start time: 5:38 AM
• Location: Reston Century route, Ashburn and west only
• Weather: 71° and mostly clear, climbing to 88° and partly cloudy
• What I wore: bike shorts, short sleeved jersey, and fingerless gloves
Starting in the dark, my husband and I jumped on the Reston Century route where it passed near our home, skipping the eastern part of the course. Having not registered, we didn’t partake in any of the rest stops and instead brought fuel/snacks with us and stopped at 7-Eleven for Gatorade and water refills.
The first rider from the century passed us 52 miles into our ride, about 72 miles into his ride – we started just after 5:30 AM, the century started at 6:30 AM. Needless to say he was flying and left us in his dust in no time. The next to pass us was a peloton at our 58 mile marker. After we passed the final rest stop, we started seeing many more riders. Most we saw were slower riders like us and were probably doing the metric century.
At 65 miles, my husband got a flat and we had to stop so he could plug it and add some air from a CO2 cartridge. That’s one of the advantages of riding tubeless, if you’re lucky, a flat can be a quick fix with a plug. BTW, the plug is still holding up after my husband did a 47 and then a 51-mile ride later in the week.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.11 miles
• Average pace: 15:43 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 104 feet
• Start time: 1:56 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 77° and cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
I waited until the drizzle moved out to go for my walk, and even though it was a cooler day than normal for this time of year, we certainly didn’t get a break from the humidity.
Tuesday
Cycling: 35 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 14.9 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 11:08 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 67° in the basement, 69°, cloudy, and drizzly outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
With zero clients on tap for the day I planned to sleep in, but awoke at 6:15 and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was drizzly outside so I stayed in my basement and tackled a replanting project for a client – no I haven’t branched out and started a horticulture business. My client had dropped off a bromeliad with four pups that I promised to divide and repot if I could have one of the pups. I’ll share pics in our next coffee chat.
Later when it was still drizzly outside, I decided to stay inside on my spin bike rather than going out for my planned ride.
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 2.18 miles
• Average pace: 16:20 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 71 feet
• Start time: 3:32 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 83° and mostly cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
On the third day of misty drizzle I went out for a walk during a break in the weather. I wasn’t surprised to see mushrooms growing in our neighbors’ yard and chuckled when I thought it looked as if they were lined up waiting for me to take their picture.
Thursday
Walking: 4.02 miles
• Average pace: 16:27 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 149 feet
• Start time: 6:04 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 66° and drizzly
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
Cycling: 26 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 14.6 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:44 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 67° in the basement; 66°, cloudy, and drizzly outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Gardening: 1 hours 30 minutes
I woke up with big plans to walk outside with Kim, go for a short outdoor bike ride, and then work in my yards for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the drizzle still hadn’t moved out so I walked in a light rain while Kim enjoyed a clear sky. After our walk, rather than riding on the slick pavement, I kept it inside on my spin bike as the drizzle slowly moved out. I then had no choice but to change up my gardening plans and instead of working in the wet grass, I pruned the foundation bushes in front of our house, lucky to finish just before the next rain shower hit.
Collage credit: Kim
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Cycling: 25 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.1 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in the basement, 66° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Gardening: 1 hour, 35 minutes
After a morning of workouts and teaching my class, I played with my lawn mower for a little while during the afternoon. Even though we have a lawn service, every so often I need my lawnmower fix. 😉
Saturday
Cycling: 31.08 miles
• Bike: Salsa Warbird
• Average speed: 10.7 MPH
• Surface: gravel
• Elevation gain: 2,077 feet
• Start time: 9:00 AM
• Location: Philomont loop
• Weather: 69° and cloudy, climbing to 79° and sunny with low humidity
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves
My husband and I had a hankering for riding some gravel – it had been ages since I’d been on our local gravel roads. I also had a craving for a sandwich made-to-order from the Philomont General Store so I suggested we drive out that way to start our ride. The weather was outstanding and even though we both felt it was a tough ride (I haven’t been training on hills this summer) we had a good ride and thoroughly enjoyed eating our well-deserved sandwiches. A friendly little toad even joined our picnic and eventually hopped on my husband’s leg. I guess he wants to be a VeloToad. LOL
The rest of the day was spent doing a little gardening, chilling, and attending Saturday evening mass.
Questions:
- • How’s the weather been in your neck of the woods? ~ The picture of the mushrooms says it all!
- • Are you training for anything? ~ Nope, and that explains why I haven’t been riding up Thomas Mill and Woodburn on Tuesdays like I have for the past several summers.
- • Which workout left you feeling the most accomplished this past week? ~ Sunday’s 3/4-century was the longest ride we’d done in a while so I felt pretty good finishing it and recovering so quickly.
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
That little VeloToad is so sweet!! And those mushroooms! You and Wendy always have such interesting sightings.
Your 3/4-century ride sounds fantastic, especially with all that elevation, and I love how you and your husband made your own version of the Reston Century work. Well done!!
Thanks, Catrina, we had fun riding on the paved roads again. The secret is getting out early before the traffic builds. We also each guessed when the first century riders would pass us and we both guessed much earlier than they did.
That little VeloToad was so cute. He jumped around on my husband’s leg for a while before jumping onto the side of a chair where his little suction cup feet held him in place easily. 🙂
Well I was hoping you were starting a plant business and you could come over! I’m helpless in that area! Well, as you know, our summer has been so humid and I am so ready for fall. Nice cycling mileage this week!
LOL on the plant business! I would be ready for fall if it weren’t followed by such a cold winter. I used to LOVE winter, but these days my fingers are ice cycles from October to April.
That’s a lot of cycling miles this week! And a lot of other activities sprinkled in. Nicely done!
Thanks, Melissa!
Bummer with all the damp weather, but kudos for all the cycling (inside and outdoors). That little toad is a cutie 😉 My flower garden is a jungle these days! All the rain and humidity have really blessed the flowers…but, ugh, it needs my attention now…
It was gross last week, but this week’s weather is more than making up for it. 🙂
Ugh, that’s a lot of drizzle! The weather on Saturday must have felt incredible after that. Congrats on your 3/4 Century ride! It sounds like fun- and I did expect you to say you were sore the next day, but you seem to have just continued on as usual!
That photo of the mushrooms is funny- they do look like they lined up!
Thanks, Jenny! This week’s weather has been fantastic and has more than made up for last week’s grossness. 🙂
Nice on Sunday’s ride! That reminds me that we were at my Mom’s on Sunday, and had to take a different route home b/c of downed power lines — but we didn’t even notice a storm!
I definitely got caught in drizzle on my morning walks and runs this past week. The Capital Weather Gang says the coming week should be great.
Thanks, Coco! Capital Weather Gang certainly was right!
Great week for you!
Our weather has been awful. Hot and humid as can be and then awful, flooding storms with tons of rain and lightning. Not a fan.
No big accomplishments this week. I stayed on top of everything, so that was huge, but that’s about it!
Thanks, Jenn!
We haven’t much rain at all and it’s still warm though cooler than previous weeks.
Love all your pics… they are so interesting.
I was supposedly training for this Sat’s half.
My highlight of the week was a long run on Saturday ad my granddaughter’s 2 year old party!
Happy birthday to Heather! 🙂