Spring Projects
I’ve been on a roll with spring projects lately! In case you missed Friday’s post, I shared the two updated walls in my basement gym, which are now home to new National Parks galleries. Swapping out the old race decor meant a full day of prepping the walls—filling nail holes, sanding, and repainting. It turned into a fine-tuned balancing act between home improvement and my own workouts, but the refreshed space was well worth the effort!
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: 20 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.2 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 9:56 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in the basement, 44° and sunny outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Stretching: Hannah Corbin 5-Minute Post-Ride Stretch
Walking: 5.12 miles
• Average pace: 15:13 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 179 feet
• Start time: 1:35 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 51°, breezy, and sunny
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, light jacket, and gloves (took jacket and gloves off about 3 miles in)
When mid-morning plans got canceled I made a major pivot and took advantage of my newly found spare time to complete some household projects that needed attention, and I wove my workouts around drying time for spackling paste, paint, etc. I even had the unexpected treat of my brother calling right after I headed out for my walk and had him to keep me company for most of my miles.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 10-Minute Core Strength
After high cardio the previous day, I chose to focus only on strength. After my regular strength training session, I re-started Crush Your Core 2, a 4-week program I really enjoyed last month.
It started snowing on my way home from training my last client – huge snowflakes fell from the sky covering the drab brown grass in no time at all. My husband decided to go out for a walk (that’s him waving in the top collage) in search of birds at the nearby lake. He was certainly in luck and his pictures are in the second collage. He saw our first Robin of the spring which surely means spring is around the corner.
Tuesday
Cycling: 5.81 miles (Matt Wilpers 20-Minute FTP Test Ride)
• Bike: Peloton+
• Average speed: 14.8 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:40 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in the basement, 32° and snowing (turning to rain) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 5-Minute Core Strength
Walking: 4.02 miles
• Average pace: 17:20 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 120 feet
• Start time: 12:33 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 39° (feels like 31°) and cloudy, climbing to 41° (feels like 33°)
• What I wore: fleece lined tights, l/s shirt, fleece jacket, knit hat, and heated gloves
After my husband Bill kept talking about taking endurance rides on Peloton, I decided to do an FTP (functional threshold power) test so I could give them a try. I was honestly confused about what I should be doing until Bill walked came into the basement and stood beside me for the final ten minutes coaching me to the end. I plan to retake it in a couple of weeks to be sure I’m set up for success when taking the endurance ride classes.
The previous day’s 2-½ inches of snow had melted quickly in the overnight rain; and after seeing Bill’s bird pictures from his snowy walk, I decided to walk to the lake in search of those cool Bufflehead ducks. It’s interesting that the lake is less than a half mile downstream from the creek behind our house, but the Buffleheads never swim upstream for us to admire them – we do have Mallards behind our house, though. Unfortunately, the Buffleheads were too far out in the lake for me to get a decent picture with my iPhone, but the Great Blue Heron let me get close enough for a picture before taking flight.
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Stretching: Peloton Adrian Williams 15-Minute Stretching for Longevity
After a super busy day of clients and teaching my monthly 2-hour fitness orientation class, I was too spent when I got home to walk on my treadmill so I did a stretching class instead. Had it not been raining I might have mustered up the strength to walk outside, though.
Thursday
Walking: 5.21 miles
• Average pace: 16:23 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 236 feet
• Start time: 6:01 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 46° and foggy
• What I wore: capris, l/s shirt, light puffer jacket, knit hat, and mittens over gloves (took jacket and mittens off with about a mile to go)
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 10-Minute Core Strength
Neither Kim nor I were able to see the almost full moon in its waning gibbous phase… for me heavy fog was in the way and Kim had cloud coverage since it was full on Tuesday. We didn’t let the weather get in our way of a walk for me, and run followed by a spin for Kim. Per usual, the time flew by as we chatted away the miles.
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 5-Minute Core Strength
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Squeezed between workouts, training clients, and teaching my class, I hit up two grocery stores (one was Trader Joe’s) to stock up for our fun upcoming weekend!
Saturday
Cycling: 20.2 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.7 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:44 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63° in the basement, 42° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 5-Minute Core Strength
Pilates: Peloton Emma Lovewell 10-Minute Core Strength
Walking: 3.06 miles
• Average pace: 14:22 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 61 feet
• Start time: 11:20 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 51° (feels like 44°) and cloudy, climbing to 55° (feels like 48°)
• What I wore: capris, l/s shirt, light jacket, gloves (took jacket and gloves off for last mile)
After an easy multi-tasking spin I eventually got outside for a fast-paced walk. Even though I was hoofing it, I ran across all side streets really increasing my speed on this route I often walk.
Also, guess who’s in town? Pablo and his humans are visiting for the next week so expect lots of pupster pics!
Garmin Badges Earned
Three Garmin badges made their way to me this week. Interestingly, I haven’t gotten into seeking out Peloton badges yet. Occasionally, I do check in on my status, though.
Last Week’s Blog Posts
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
- • Sunday – Weekly RunDown: February 22 – 28 / The Loss of a Legend, Enjoying the Great Outdoors, and National Margarita Day
- • Tuesday – Training Tip Tuesday: Don’t Just Lift – Visualize
- • Thursday – Catching Up Over Coffee: Getting Buff with AI, Beautiful Birds, and Florida Miles
Questions:
- • Did you get snow this past week? ~ Unfortunately, we got snow, but at least it melted quickly.
- • Do I bore you with posting so many Pablo pics? ~ The only correct answer is, “No, of course not!” 😉
- • Which workout did you enjoy most this past week? ~ I loved having my brother keeping me company on Sunday’s walk!
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!
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You do have some serious DIY skills! Iv’e been on more of an organizational stint lately. I’m getting rid of things and getting more organized. It must be some nesting type phase I’m in lol. This weather this was crazy! Have so much fun with Pablo!!
I attribute my DIY skills to growing up on a farm and watching my dad and grandpa repair things. You must be in the pre-wedding nesting phase. 😉
Your bird photos are spectacular–especially the one of the blue heron taking flight! When I see them at the preserve where I run, they take off before I can get close enough for a photo! Last week was really foggy, but I heard the sandhill cranes overhead. Spring is definitely here! And to answer your questions, that was my favorite workout/run of the week.
Enjoy your visitors! And share all the Pablo photos you want. Cocoa was groomed yesterday–she’s very proud of her fresh, clean look!
Thanks, Wendy! I was surprised that the great blue heron allowed me to get so close. He usually doesn’t!
Pablo just got groomed so he’s looking quite spiffy just like Cocoa.
Nope, never too many Pablo pics! 🙂
If you join the Peloton Powerzone Pack FB group there are some good posts with strategies for the FTP test. “They” say you should feel like death at the end, but I did not take that approach—although I did push myself. It’s possible my zones are too easy, but I still find it challenging to hold zones 4-6 for the times they prescribe, so I don’t think it’s that far off. Honestly, just taking a few classes can hjelp you decide if your level is too easy/hard.
Good to know, Coco. Thanks!
You are really rocking the Peloton workouts! I need to hit up EMma for the core program…my abs are looking softer than they should, LOL. I love that pick of the robin in the snow! Quite a colorful capture 😉
I really enjoy Emma’s core program. My back bothers me far less since I started taking her classes!
You will have a fun week coming up.
Yes we got snow and then rain so a lot of it is gone. We are supposed to have warm temps this week so maybe it will all be gone.
I do love those bird pics. Bill is talented.
Though the 10k was quite slow, I do enjoy racing.
I’m hoping our snow (and yours) are gone for the season! Agreed, Bill is quite the talented photographer!
It’s always nice to see Pablo photos! As long as I can spam people with photos of Elsa, of course (I actually didn’t even post one this week).
Bill’s bird photos are great, again! The third one (bottom left one) is my favourite. I really like your top right one too. It’s hard to get close enough to anything with a phone camera so fair play to you!
Home improvement jobs are SO MUCH WORK, always more than at least I anticipate (or, I know it now and that’s why I hesitate to start anything.. lol)
Yes, you can spam with Elsa pictures all you want! I’ll let Bill know you’re enjoying his photos (from one photographer to another).
Great photos- but the best one is the one of Pablo, obviously! Feel free to post as many as you want.
It seems like you did a lot of extra walking this week, in addition to the strength and cycling. I guess the spring weather (aside from the snowstorm) drew you out there.
My favorite workout of the week is a tie between my trail run and long treadmill run- which is funny because they seem to be total opposites. I enjoyed them both though!
Good catch on the walking distance! My weekly goal is to walk around 15 miles per week – ideally 5 3-mile walks; but with cycling claiming my time, too…
I’m impressed that you include a long treadmill run as a favorite!
PABLO!
I loved your national parks walls and decor. It’s so pretty and such a great reminder of your awesome trips!
Sorry about not getting to see the moon. The fog and clouds have been pretty bad for the views here, too!
Thanks, Jenn!