Spring Has Sprung

Spring is absolutely in full bloom here and everything looks stunning and my allergies are well aware of it. I have to say, though, that I’m quite lucky that my spring allergies are nowhere nearly as bad as a many people I know and I’m able to be outside without too many repercussions. This past week I was outside a lot between taking walks and working in my yard and gardens. It was a good week!

BTW, what ever was going on last week with my sleep has mostly vanished and I had no trouble falling asleep this past week. Whew!

 

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: 14 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.6 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:49 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in the basement, 69° (feels like 63°) and partly cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Pilates: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 10-Minute Pilates

Once I returned home from 7:30 Easter morning mass, I hopped on my spin bike for a quick ride and saved my pilates class for the evening. We spent most of the day with family, having a delightful time despite rain which lasted until about 4 PM. Once home, I considered going out for a walk, but it was crazy windy.

 

Monday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Pilates: Peloton Ally Love 10-Minute Lower Body Pilates

Stretching: Peloton Ally Love 10-Minute Lower Body Stretch

I had a busy day seeing clients all over the place. Normally I see clients either in my home gym, the 55+ gym, or in the client’s home. However, a long-time client asked that I train her at her condo gym so she can supplement her workouts there on days we don’t workout together, giving me one more location to drive to, but it was well worth the extra time.

After my stretch, I got a notification from Peloton that I’d just completed my 50th stretching class. That’s 50 stretching sessions since December 17th that I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t subscribed to Peloton. Go me and go Peloton!

 

Tuesday

Walking: 6.08 miles
• Average pace: 15:32 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 202 feet
• Start time: 2:10 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 54° (feels like 47°) and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, fleece jacket, visor, and gloves (took jacket and gloves off after second mile)

Stretching: Peloton Joslyn Thompson Rule 15-Minute Full Body Stretch

Because I hadn’t had a designated walk all week and had the time, I went out for a longer walk. The highlight was seeing this tulip patch in a side yard along one of my regular walking paths. They have so many varieties planted and it reminded me of my mom’s tulips and other spring flowers she always loved so much.

 

Wednesday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Pilates: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 5-minute Into to Program

Pilates: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 15-Minute Core Strength

Walking: 3.08 miles
• Average pace: 15:10 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 93 feet
• Start time: 1:01 PM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 49° and sunny, climbing to 51°
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, fleece jacket, gloves, and visor (took jacket and gloves off for last mile)

Gardening: 1 hour

I joined Peloton’s ‘Straight to the Core’ program and was very surprised that the first class was just the instructor explaining the program. And since I’d just stood there for 5 minutes expecting her to start at any minute and I hadn’t moved a muscle, I took the second class.

Later during my walk, I checked on the tulips I’d enjoyed photographing the day before and was happy to see that they’d experienced no damage during the previous night’s freeze. I’d covered our peonies and teacup rose, all transplants from Mom’s gardens and they all looked great as well.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to cover our prized Japanese maple and it’s beautiful spring red leaves froze. They’re somewhat brittle and shriveled up right now, but should put out new leaves in the next few weeks.

 

Thursday

Walking: 6.02 miles
• Average pace: 15:39 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 302 feet
• Start time: 6:03 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 35° and mostly cloudy
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, fleece jacket, puffer jacket, knit hat, and gloves

Strength: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 10-Minute Standing Core Strength

Gardening: 5 hours

It was cold and cloudy when I headed outside for my virtual walk with Kim – her temps were a good 10° warmer than ours, but I warmed up nicely in my layers and had a fabulous walk.

 

After we parted ways I did my Thursday chores while letting it warm up a bit before heading outside to play in the yard and gardens for just over 5 hours. I planted pachysandra, transplanted hyacinths, spread mulch between the patio stones, and cleaned up my gnome garden. This year I added an old mill stone from my parents’ garden to the gnome garden – who knows where or when my dad got it, but he had it buried even with the ground next to their pond.

 

Friday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Pilates: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 5-Minute Core Strength

Pilates: Peloton Rebecca Kennedy 10-Minute Benchmark Test

Balance and stretching: 45 minutes

Part of my new core program included a benchmark test with the following results:

  • • High plank – 90 seconds of 90 seconds
  • • Hollow hold – 1 minute of 1 minute
  • • Left side high plank – 30 seconds of 1 minute
  • • Right side high plank – 36 seconds of 1 minute
  • • Tuck ups – 40 reps doing as many as possible

I had a numb right foot for the rest of the day – it’s back to normal now – I think it’s the hollow holds because I’ve had the same thing happen when doing them in previous core workouts.

Before making dinner I prepped braciola for the next day, and made myself a delicious margarita to cap off a busy week.

 

Saturday

Cycling: 7.73 miles (Peloton Matt Wilpers 30-Minute Power Zone Ride)
• Bike: Peloton+
• Average speed: 15.4 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:15 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in the basement 57° (feels like 51°) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Cycling: 1.11 miles (Peloton Matt Wilpers 5-Minute Cool Down Ride)
• Bike: Peloton+
• Average speed: 12.6 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:49 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in the basement 58° (feels like 53°) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Stretching: Peloton Matt Wilpers 5-Minute Post-Ride Stretch

Walking: 2.04 miles
• Average pace: 14:49 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 78 feet
• Start time: 12:58 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 66° and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor

Gardening: 30 minutes

It was a Matt Wilpers kind of morning. My husband had done a 2-hour Matt Wilpers power zone ride on Wednesday, and not to be outdone, I decided to take my first class of that type. I’d done Matt’s 20-Minute FTP Test Ride a couple of weeks ago, but then I got sick and never followed up with any power zone classes. It was a great workout!

Later, I got out for a walk before starting to cook for the afternoon for our Italian dinner party which we were hosting that evening.

 

Garmin Badges Earned

No Garmin badges made their way to me this week.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

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

 

Questions:
  • • Do you ever take fitness benchmark tests? ~ rarely, but I have
  • • Did you have freeze warning this week? ~ Yes, on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
  • • Which workout was your toughest this past week? ~ Saturday’s power zone ride was tough!

 

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!

 

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.