Early Birthday Bike Ride

This past week was the week before my birthday and if you’ve been reading my blog for long you know what that means – riding my bike the same number of miles as the years I’m turning, and walking or running some variation on that number. Normally, I would have completed my activities as close to my actual birthday as possible (this coming Friday), but it wasn’t going to pan out this year, so I completed my ride yesterday. More on that below…

 

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: 32 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 9:27 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in the basement, 52° and mostly sunny outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Walking: 6.2 miles
• Average pace: 15:57 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 225 feet
• Start time: 1:50 PM
• Location: W&OD Trail
• Weather: 60° and partly cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor

I got a later start working out than usual because I attended 7:30 AM mass. Once home I had breakfast and then hit my spin bike in the basement. Later, I joined my husband when he dropped his Land Cruiser off at the dealer for service, allowing us to walk home together on the W&OD Trail. I was fascinated to see that the distance from door to door was 6.2 miles – a tidy 10K.

 

Monday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

It was a beautiful day, but my schedule didn’t allow for me to get outside for a walk.

 

Tuesday

Cycling: 36 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 17.0 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:40 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in the basement, 42° (feels like 36°) and mostly clear outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Walking: 3.08 miles
• Average pace: 14:43 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 149 feet
• Start time: 12:08 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 60° (feels like 51°) and partly cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, nylon shell, gloves, and visor (took shell and gloves off for the final mile)

When I hopped on my spin bike for a multitasking spin while training a client, my legs felt fresh and strong so I geared my bike down for more resistance. After finishing our session, I stayed on for another hour and surprised myself with my average speed when I finished.

Once it had warmed up, I headed out for a walk, still feeling quite fresh. I walked a fast pace, jogging the street crossings – two crossings each half mile – on our little neighborhood circle.

 

Wednesday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

It was a beautiful day, perfect for an outdoor bike ride, but I was stuck inside with a busy work day from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM. By the time I got home the wind had picked up significantly and I opted to stay inside to catch up on paperwork rather than going outside for a walk or short bike ride.

 

Thursday

Cycling: 45 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.2 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:53 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in the basement, 43° (feels like 36°) and clear outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Walking: 2.23 miles
• Average pace: 15:42 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 117 feet
• Start time: 11:58 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 56° and sunny
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, nylon shell, and visor

After our virtual indoor spins together, Kim and I decided it would be fun to take our collage pictures outside. Even though Kim mentioned that she could see the full moon in her central time zone, it was an hour later and far too bright in Virginia to see it. For no particular reason I’d taken a picture of the moon the previous night and since Kim had the full moon in the sky behind her, I was able to use my moon picture for the collage.

 

Friday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Balance and Stretching: 45 minutes

We hosted a neighborhood happy hour so every spare second not working, working out, or teaching my class was dedicated to preparing for our party.

 

Saturday

Cycling: 68.1 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 14.0 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 2,093 feet
• Start time: 7.06 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail Sterling/Hamilton loop
• Weather: 53° (feels like 48°) and foggy, climbing to 67° and mostly sunny
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves over nitrile gloves (took jacket and nitrile gloves off around halfway mark)

Cycling: 2.52 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 14.0 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 93 feet
• Start time: 12:48 PM
• Location: roads home from the bike shop
• Weather: 67° and mostly sunny
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves

Riding 68 miles to celebrate my 68th trip around the sun wasn’t an option for this coming Friday, so when I saw the outstanding weather forecast for Saturday, I made an impromptu decision to hold my birthday ride six days early.

Lady Luck was initially with me: a few of my Dawn Patrol friends were available to join me for the first half of the journey. When we went our separate ways, my remaining distance perfectly lined up with my favorite loop out to Hamilton.

However, Lady Luck turned her head several times when my saddle loosened and tilted way back—not once, but twice—forcing me to stop and readjust. The second very short 2.5-mile ride was home from the bike shop after I made a necessary pit stop to get the issue permanently fixed.

Despite the saddle mishaps, the day was a huge success. I had a fabulous time both sharing the trail with my friends and enjoying the miles while riding solo, making for a memorable early birthday celebration.

I also learned that unlike my Fitbit, my new Garmin doesn’t register any steps while I’m riding my bike. During my over 70-mile combined rides, I gained less than 700 steps – all from when I was off of my bike at porta potties, in the bike shop, etc. My Fitbit would have registered over 20,000 steps for the ride, and if it had been a bouncy gravel ride, a whole lot more.

Once home I took a well deserved nap before going to Saturday evening mass and then chilling for the remainder of the evening.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past weeks, here’s what you missed…

 

Questions:
  • • Do you do any type of special birthday workouts? ~ I do enjoy riding my bike the same number of miles as the years I’m turning and walking or running some variation on that number.
  • • Any weather changes in your neck of the woods? ~ We have a chance of snow flurries on Tuesday. Sigh…
  • • Which workout did you enjoy most this past week? ~ I loved being back outside for my long ride yesterday.

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!