Lifting Again
After a few weeks of taking it easy, I’m back on track with both my cardio and lifting. Cardio didn’t really take a hit during my recovery from two minor skin cancer surgeries, but lifting certainly did and it felt fabulous to be back to regular workouts even if I had to cut back a bit on the weight.
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: 18.24 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 13.4 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 587
• Start time: 8:26 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail Ashburn/Leesburg loop
• Weather: 65° and cloudy, climbing to 67°
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s shirt, and fingerless gloves
Gardening: 3:24:00
It was a gloomy day, but riding with my friend Betsy who is back in town made it so much brighter. It started spitting rain as we finished, but we beat the drizzle and had a really enjoyable ride.
Because of the on-again-off-again threat of rain I drove to church and came back out to a wet car. In hindsight, I could have walked because it only rained during the service. Just a mile away at our house it hadn’t rained though and I was able to get outside and spend several hours pruning the two puffball boxwoods on each side of our front porch – they’re such a pain in the neck to shape, but so worth it when all is said and done.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.15 miles
• Average pace: 15:33 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 58 feet
• Start time: 9:59 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 68° and cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
Cycling: 26.3 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 2:27 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 68° in the basement, 79° and mostly sunny outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
I was thrilled to be able to lift full body again after four weeks off from two skin cancer surgeries. I expected to be sore the following day, and was, but not quite as much as anticipated. I also squeezed in a morning walk and later in the afternoon after I was done with work I hopped on my spin bike for a few multitasking miles.
Tuesday
Cycling: 45 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 14.9 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:58 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 67° in the basement, 64° and mostly clear outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Walking: 2.02 miles
• Average pace: 17:42 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 48 feet
• Start time: 10:05 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 72° and cloudy, climbing to 77°
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
I had a busy day on tap with non-work appointments spread out so I was all about multitasking during both cardio workouts. First I trained a client and then worked on my blog while spinning slow and steady, and later walked to pick up a prescription, getting home just as one of the appointments arrived slightly early. The spin earned me the Garmin September 100K badge
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.11 miles
• Average pace: 14:46 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 151 feet
• Start time: 7:07 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 64° and cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
This walk earned me two Garmin badges.
Thursday
Cycling: 34 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:57 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 67° in the basement, 69° and raining outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Kim and I met virtually for our early morning cardio workout after skipping last week while I was at the farm. It was nice catching up and being back in my routine.
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.09 miles
• Average pace: 14:51 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 141 feet
• Start time: 7:47 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 65° and partly cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Saturday
Rest day
Questions:
- • Do you enjoy gardening? ~ very much so
- • Do badges motivate you? ~ Badges bring a smile to my face, but don’t normally change up my motivation. They did during the Great American Ride, though.
- • Which workout did you enjoy most this past week? ~ I loved finally getting to ride with Betsy again last Sunday.
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
I only wear my Garmin when I race. I don’t even look at the badges.
I had planned to learn to lift but not sure without a trainer that’s going to happen.
I love to garden but really slacked off this year. First too much rain. Then too much heat.
My favorite workout was my 10k yesterday
It’s great to hear that your favorite workout was your 10K – must have been a fun race!
So good to see you back to lifting again, Debbie! I bet that first session felt amazing after your surgeries. It’s a good thing you could continue with your cardio – all those miles on the bike and on foot kept you fit!
Do you find your strength comes back quickly after this break, or do you feel like you’re rebuilding from scratch?
Luckily, I feel like my strength comes right back when I start up again. I guess lifting consistently since 1983 has its benefits. 😉
Glad you are back to your usual workouts. I know that feels good.
I can be motivated by Peloton badges but for some reason not Garmin badges —- I think I don’t notice them as much, and then it’s hard to find them when I do earn them!
Thanks, Coco!
Hmmm, I get a notification from the Garmin app right after I earn a badge.
I do wish I knew how to really garden but I am not so good at it. Nice to see you are back to your full on workouts-I’m sure that feels great!
Thanks, Deborah!
It must feel good to be back to your routine. I have a question- you usually report “one hour” of total body strength training. Do you have a routine you follow each time? Do you split up body parts, or mix it up? I’m always curious to know how other people do their strength training.
Nice job on the badges! I’m pretty oblivious to Garmin badges, but I can see how they’d be fun.
Great question, Jenny! During a 1-hour workout (it’s usually longer) I try to hit all major muscle groups and visualize which group I need to work next. I’m a huge fan of supersets where you work opposing muscle groups and don’t need extra rest time between sets (doing two sets for each group, your quads rest while you work your hamstrings and vise versa). I also alternate between upper body supersets and lower body to give that part of my body recovery time during the workout. You and Cari asked this very question a couple of years ago and I’ve been meaning to write a blog post explaining my workouts, but have never gotten it done. I need to get on that!
Look at al those biking miles! I notice, Thursday night, that I was17 miles short of the 100K badge. I (briefly) contemplated getting up early Saturday morning to tackle those miles, then common sense hit me (LOL), and I decided the 10+ miles of walking would suffice for fitness.
Sounds like common sense prevailed! 🙂
Wow, way to go with all the cycling! I use my Garmin daily but I always forget to sign up for badges until I’m reminded by someone like you. Nice job getting in some full body workouts.
Thanks, Melissa!
I could swear I left a comment yesterday but it seems like it didn’t work. I was wondering how you structure your strength workouts. You usually say “one hour of full body strength.” Do you follow the same routine or mix it up? Do you focus on different body parts? Just curious!
I wouldn’t say I enjoy gardening, but just like cleaning my bathroom it has a very visible improvement and the end result is wonderful! Those pruned bushes of yours do look very wonderful. I have a lot of work to do on my landscaping this fall. It was just too hot to work on it during the summer so I was unmotivated! Yay for getting back to the strength routine. I’m sure that did feel good!
Thanks, Lisa!
Great week!
I hate gardening. I’m actually thrilled that the skull pot of mums that I abandoned last October has revived in a Halloween miracle! Score!
Badges are fun. I use my Apple watch mostly and they don’t have as many badges as Garmin does. Boo.
Favorite workout was probably my long run on Monday, but I didn’t hate walking at Citywalk in Universal on Saturday either.
That’s awesome that your abandoned mums came back to life this year! See, gardening isn’t so difficult. 😉