Birthday Week
It was my birthday week 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.
Last Saturday I rode 68 miles on my bike because the weather was perfect and I wouldn’t have time to do it any closer to my birthday. On Friday, my actual birthday, I enjoyed a 68-minute strength training session and a 6.8-mile walk.
Here I am a few months before my first birthday training for my upcoming 1-mile ride. 😉
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
Walking: 5.11 miles
• Average pace: 16:53 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 188 feet
• Start time: 1:29 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 68° and cloudy
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, and visor
After Saturday’s birthday ride, I didn’t set an alarm and slept in until 7:30! I awoke fresh and renewed, and it was all I could do not to hop on the spin bike for some multitasking blog work. With a walk scheduled for later in the day with my friend Betsy, I knew that would be plenty of exercise for the day.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: .51 mile
• Average pace: 36:45 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 1:04 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 68° in the basement
• What I wore: capris and hoodie
I was up at 4:30 AM and by noon had done my own strength training session and trained six clients. Remind me why I don’t retire? Oh yeah, I love what I do!
Later while playing around with my new Garmin I decided to check out the “walk inside” feature (not treadmill walk) so while chatting briefly with my brother on the phone I recorded the laps I walked in our basement.
Tuesday
Cycling: 38 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.0 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:57 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 62° in the basement, 27° (feels like 11°) and clear outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
I multitasked on the bike while training a client and then stayed on to get in a few extra miles because my time available to ride would be limited for the remainder of the week. After my workout I celebrated my birthday over lunch early with three of my dear friends.
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
In addition to seeing clients, I had what is hopefully my final test from last spring’s bout with hydroureteronephrosis. Six months later my urologist wants to compare my current right kidney function with May’s results. If the test results come back with equal or better kidney function than May when the right was 11% slower than the left, I’m hopeful she will release me and this whole saga will all be behind me.
Thursday
Drive to Charlotte, North Carolina
Walking: 2.01 miles
• Average pace: 15:11 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 151 feet
• Start time: 4:34 PM
• Location: Pablo’s neighborhood streets
• Weather: 63° and cloudy
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, and visor
We drove to Charlotte, NC to spend the weekend with our youngest son and daughter-in-law and cheer on our son when he ran his first marathon! Once we’d arrived and visited for a bit, I headed out for a solo walk, then joined the fam for a ½-mile walk with Pablo.
No pictures from the walk, but Pablo was more than happy to pose for a picture before our walk.
Friday
Strength training: 68 minutes of total body
Walking: 6.8 miles
• Average pace: 14.57 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 428 feet
• Start time: 10:03 AM
• Location: Charlotte Greenway
• Weather: 54° (feels like 60°) and sunny, climbing to 63°
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
For my 68th birthday I started the day with 68 minutes of strength training followed by a 6.8-mile walk. Once home from my walk, we rushed out to the Charlotte Marathon Expo for packet pickup where we ended up walking a lot farther than I expected – my poor little legs got tired! A birthday nap was in order, followed by poster making, dinner, and early to bed to get plenty of sleep for our son’s big day.
Saturday
Walking: 5.28 miles
• Average pace: 48.09 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 381 feet
• Start time: 8:44 AM
• Location: Charlotte, NC
• Weather: 45° and sunny, climbing to 67°
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, hoodie and visor
Either I accidentally turned on my Garmin, or it has the feature that when I started walking it detected a workout and turned itself on (I need to look into that); but whatever the case, it recorded me walking from point to point to cheer on our son during his marathon. I noticed it was recording when it buzzed to ask if I wanted to continue my walk or stop it while we were stopped waiting for our son to run by. I just kept hitting the button to keep going until after we got back to the parking garage after his race. It didn’t record the early part of the race before we walked to see him at mile 1 – it started somewhere between there and the next viewing point.
Our son was thrilled to complete his first marathon and can now join the ranks of his parents, wife, and brother in calling himself a marathoner. When asked, he said he thinks he’d like to run another one. 🙂
With all that walking I earned the Garmin November Walking badge.
Last Week’s Blog Posts
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past weeks, here’s what you missed…
- • Sunday – Weekly RunDown: November 2 – 8 / An Early Birthday Present to Myself… a 68-Mile Bike Ride
- • Tuesday – Hiking Beaver Pond Trail and Red Eagle Trail Loop in Glacier National Park
Questions:
- • What’s your favorite way to celebrate your birthday? ~ I love spending time with my family, and of course doing fun workouts that play on the number of years I’m turning.
- • Have you spectated a marathon? ~ This was my first time spectating anything longer than a 5K.
- • Which workout did you enjoy most this past week? ~ I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday walk!
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
*********************************************************************
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!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.









Your birthday numbers game blows my mind – 68 miles on the bike and then stacking 6.8 miles of walking on the actual day is serious commitment. And getting up at 4:30… respect!
I like how your new Garmin is already pulling its weight – auto-detecting that cheer-squad march is amazing! My Garmin doesn’t do that – it might be something to do with the settings.
Congrats to your son on his first marathon! That’s a big milestone and he looks so happy! I bet that was a super-proud-mum moment, too!
This morning before my walk I discovered that I do indeed have my Garmin set for auto start. It must have been a factory setting because I don’t remember setting it as such.
You bet it was a proud momma moment when my son finished his marathon. It was fun watching him walk down the stairs today – he took my advice and walked down backwards. 😉
What a solid celebrational week!!! It’s SO great when our kids test the waters of racing, especially long distances. Are you recovering today, along with the new marathoner? 🙂
Thanks, Kim! Yes, we had a pretty chill day; although, I lifted this morning and then went on a walk. This afternoon Bill went on a 40-mile bike ride on our son’s bike (that used to be Bill’s bike).
Congrats to your son! Following right in your footsteps! Happy birthday my birthday twin times 2. Spending birthdays with family is the best! Glad you had a great week too and yay for the kidney functioning
Thanks so much, Deborah!
Nice job this week! Way to get up early and getting all those miles. Happy birthday!
Thanks, Melissa!
Happy Birthday, and congrats to your son! What a fun birthday weekend. And, I’m giggling at you riding 1 mile on your tricycle for your first birthday.
I’m definitely up for planning fun workout that match the years of my birthday! It gets harder the older we get, right? ; ) Luckily we’re not letting age slow us down.
Thanks, Jenny! It has been a fun birthday weekend. At some point I may need to go metric!
Happy birthday, Deb! And as I’ve said before, your way to celebrate it is so cool! I’d like to plan something similar, except my birthday is in February and planning a longer walk at that time of the year isn’t really practical. Or maybe that’s just me!
I remember that my Garmin picked up that I was walking and would start recording a walk, I think that’s the default setting. I switched it off after a while. I didn’t mind that it recorded a walk but it wasn’t accurate at all times.
Hope your doctor will be satisfied with the test result and let you move on!
Congrats to your son’s marathon too!
Thanks so much, Susanne!
As for the Garmin, whenever I’m officially going out on a walk, I hit start, but it is kind of cool that it picked up that I was walking yesterday during marathon spectating. I think I’ll leave it set to auto start for those types of activities. We’ll see…
Sounds like a great birthday! I have spectated many marathons. I’d say it’s probably better than running them LOL! It is a lot of fun seeing the range of emotions in the runners and knowing they all have completed so many miles to get to that start line, which is an accomplishment all on it’s own. Congrats to your son on becoming a marathoner! I’m glad it was a positive experience for him.
It was so cool to celebrate my birthday along with my son’s marathon. We’ve had a fun weekend!
Happy belated, Debbie! You are amazing, riding 68 miles on your bike! And congrats to your son, running his first marathon! What an athletic family you have!
Yes, I have spectated a marathon, and it is one of the most fun running-related things I’ve done besides running one! Last year, when my sons and I spectated Chicago, my youngest said he wanted to run it. He’s still talking about that–I’m not sure if he’s looked into a charity bib yet.
Thanks so much, Wendy! You’ll love cheering your youngest son on whenever he decides to run the Chicago Marathon!
Happy Birthday. Not sure I can keep up with you when it’s mine.
Congrats to your son. Spectating is exciting… at least you only had to follow one person.
I bet your son runs more… you obviously had influence over him and your talent rubbed off.
Thanks, Darlene!