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A Down Week
With several of my clients on vacation this past week and another sick, I had a rather easy week. I used my spare time to work on my blog; although, I only posted one additional recap from our June vacation (I’d planned for two). I did; however, write the outline and insert pictures for three new posts that I won’t post until after I finish our hike recaps. And that’s when it hit me, I really enjoy planning new posts – I have 25 drafts – but, I’m not so good with my follow through. 😉
I also spent quite a bit of my extra time working in our yard and flower gardens, and completely ripped out a couple of forsythia plants that I’d planted too close to our deck. I’ll miss the little yellow flowers during the week they would normally be showing off in the spring, but otherwise, the green leaf covered stalks protruding through the deck railings won’t be missed at all.
And finally, I worked on some house projects that I’d been putting off due to lack of time and interest. I also had a few leftover projects from the master bath remodel which I wanted to wrap up – I didn’t, but got a little closer. Last up is cleaning the windows over the tub which are a filthy mess, but since they’re always covered by the closed shades they’re pretty much out of sight, out of mind…
Wildlife Encounters
While watering the flowers on our deck on Wednesday, I had a close encounter with this praying mantis. He’s quite a handsome fellow, but didn’t want to have his picture taken so I had to contort myself into quite the position to capture this image.
I saw deer again on all of my runs. I didn’t start Friday’s run until 6:15 AM and since the sun was up and I wanted to run a little farther, I ran on the W&OD Trail. I saw several fawns and enjoyed watching this mom and baby watching me. I ran past one baby right on the trail, but he ran away before I could get my phone out of my SPIbelt (affiliate link). I also saw a little fawn taking naps in our next door neighbor’s back yard most afternoons this past week.
My final wildlife encounter happened on Sunday on my way home from my bike ride when a raccoon ran right across the trail in front of me. It’s rare for raccoons to be out in the middle of the day so I was glad to be on my bike instead of on foot. There’s no picture, though, because I was on my bike instead of on foot…
And Now on to a RunDown of this Past Week’s Workouts…
Running
Two of my runs were early, but not quite as crazy early as usual and it was daylight by the time I finished so I captured this sweaty selfie on Thursday.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t start Friday’s run until 6:15 AM and since the sun was up and I wanted to run a little farther, I ran on the W&OD Trail. I ran eight miles, my longest distance since early November when I also ran eight miles. I felt quite good – probably because I ran about a minute per mile slower than usual (I was tired from running the day before). I was really stiff when I woke up on Saturday, but my stiffness went away as soon as I started moving around and I felt fine for the rest of the day.
During my run, I stopped for a picture when I saw these lovely wildflowers lining the W&OD Trail.
Biking
Last Sunday, Bill and I rode to Purcellville and back on the W&OD Trail, totaling 40 miles. On the ride out, we ventured off the trail to have a little fun on some hills on a lightly-traveled road. I actually got my speed up to 32.4 MPH at one point which was quite fun!
While in Purcellville, we stopped by Bicycles & Coffee to chat with the owners. Jason let us know that there’d be a Mellow Gravel Ride today, so we’ve got that planned for 4 PM.
We had a quick lunch before turning around and heading home – something I could never do when running. Bill wanted to get in some more hills on some gravel, but I thought it best that I head straight home. On my way back, I stopped at the world sculpture in Leesburg for a picture. The vine is new since last summer.
Strength Training
I’m back to pretty much where I was before surgery to remove the basal cell on my left upper arm. I do notice a little tightness so I’m careful on my range of motion, but other than that, things are going really well.
Yoga
On Friday morning’s I teach a balance and stretching class at the gym, and this week I added lots of easy yoga poses that become more difficult as we get older when balance becomes an issue. I also incorporated yoga poses into the stretching portion of the class.
It’s on the Blog
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
- Sunday – What if Deer Were Mountain Lions
- Tuesday – Hiking into Ice Box Canyon in Red Rock Canyon
My recap of our four hikes in Zion National Park is almost complete and I hope to have it ready to post on Tuesday or Thursday. It’s going to be chock-full of pictures (35 so far) and I hope you’ll enjoy it.
In addition to the workouts I mentioned above, here’s a complete rundown of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…
- Questions:
- Bloggers: what’s your favorite and least favorite part of creating new content?
- Runners: would you be able to stop for a bite to eat in the middle of your run? ~ My stomach has enough trouble behaving even when I don’t run until the following morning after dinner…
- Did you race this weekend? ~ I’d planned on running the Leesburg 20K or 5K today, but with our gravel ride this afternoon, I decided not to register. Who am I?
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
Disclaimer: This post may contain 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.
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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 the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
WTG on the long run on Friday! I haven’t done 8 miles in a few months and I’d def say that’s a long run, and it’s great to get it done on an easy work week.
Thanks, Melissa!
Well I bet you are glad that you did not do the Leesburg race today. It’s unbearable out there! I wish they would move that race to spring or fall. I could eat mid bike ride but not mid run. When we do our coffee or iced tea runs we walk back afterwards. Thanks for linking up and have a great week ahead
Yeah, I kind of let the Leesburg 20K/5K sneak up on me. Surprisingly, I do better in the heat now that I’m older and it doesn’t make sense since my internal thermostat is whacked out these days. LOL
That’s smart to walk back to your cars after your coffee/tea runs instead of running.
I think the longest (or most tedious?) aspect of blogging is all the downloads/uploads of pics and linking various things (other blog posts, link-ups, etc.). I’m having issues with uploading pics to Blogger (the app on my phone no longer will accept pics???), so it’s a hassle copying them from my FB running page…but once all the pics are loaded, the writing goes easy LOL
Same here – when working on my race and vacation recaps which are always heavy on pictures, I spend a tremendous amount of time on the pictures. I hope you figure out your Blogger app issues quickly!
Well, I eat on the run but I don’t stop to eat.
Everything seems to be coming together well for you! It always feels nice to get back to where you were.
It takes time to write a post! And proofread it. And add photos. Make title grahpics . . .
I always feel that I take much longer than other bloggers to put together a post. I think I’m getting slow in my old age. 😉
I think quality takes time! And sometimes the well is dry. I too have all kinds of draft posts but if I don’t feel like writing about any of those topics on a particular day, it’s tough! Funny thing, Friday’s post was done on Thursday and then I rewrote it that night. I liked the way it turned out much better than the original. Blogging is definitely a labor of love.
Your posts are so creative! And I agree, it’s a labor of love.
Holy moly, that is fast on the bike!! I get excited if I see a “2x” on my speed. I need a new bike 🙁 I could write a blog post every day if I had time. A million ideas pop into my head, but I guess putting the pictures in the post is my hang up. Time consuming!
It was fast and it was SO FUN! I glanced down and saw the 32.4 MPH, but looked right back up so I wouldn’t wreck. I hoped that I’d gotten faster after I looked, but my Garmin confirmed that 32.4 was my fastest speed.
I would love to post three times a week. Hopefully, one of these days I’ll get back to it!
I wish I could blog from my phone. By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer again.I really wish speech to text were more accurate as I’d dictate if it were. I have so ma ny stale drafts it’s ridiculous
Awesome sh ot of the praying mantis
I can’t eat on the run beyond chews
Cari recently posted…Super busy, wonderful week
Wouldn’t that be great if you could blog via speech to text during your commute?
Same here, chews are my limit for eating while running as well.
I keep hearing about the W&OD Trail and would love to check it out one day. For me the most difficult part of blogging is coming up with interesting content. Eat in the middle of my run? No way.
Zenaida Arroyo recently posted…Weekly Run Down: Room set up and it is here
The W&OD Trail is a 44.5-mile paved trail with a parallel gravel horse trail that starts just west of DC and goes the distance farther west and within 1.33 miles of my house. I literally can leave the back corner of our yard and immediately get on our community trail that leads to the W&OD Trail. I consider myself quite lucky to live so close and pretty close to halfway between the two ends!
Agreed! My stomach would misbehave something awful if I stopped to eat a light meal in the middle of my run.
Glad to hear that you are able to up your mileage after your injury! I would love to run and/or ride on the W&OD Trail. I heard about how nice it is from a friend of mine. I also have visions of riding from Pittsburgh to DC on the Great Allegheny. I have to have more time on the bike before I attempt anything like that. You are much better at cross-training than me.
Laurie recently posted…The Week That Was
My husband is dying to do the Pittsburgh to DC on the Great Allegheny ride, and I bet we do within the next two years!
25 drafts? Wow!! I don’t think I have any since I like to just write and post within a few days. I love hearing other blogger’s processes though! And you do a lot around the house – I wish I enjoyed gardening more but I’m pretty limited to fitness activities outdoors 🙂
Great shots of all the wildlife. We have had a few praying mantis on our front porch but they move FAST. I’m impressed he stayed still enough for you to get that shot!
Yeah, I just need to work on those drafts, don’t I? 😉
That praying mantis kept running around the top of the candle holder. It was quite hilarious and I was surprised that I finally got him to hold still long enough for a picture. At one point, he turned his head and looked right at me, but his head was blurry so I didn’t use that picture.
OK, so one of those mantis flew on me while I was at the pool. I had NO idea these things could fly, I was scared sh*tless 😉
HaHaHa! 😀
love that praying mantis guy – I never see those anymore! loving the wildflowers as well.
Oh blog drafts… so many of them. so little time. Yeah I have great intentions. But it’s really time consuming to be honest! With work, running, gym, eat, sleep, it really is challenging. I don’t know how people crank out three posts a week. It takes me all week just to comment on all the blogs in the link up IF I manage it!
I definitely could not stop to eat mid-run. Nope! AFTER. Yes. I’m there with bells on.
My next race is coming Saturday. well I’m using it as a training but it’s a Half Marathon.
I’m glad I’m not alone with tons of unfinished blog drafts…
Good luck on your half tomorrow!
How cool that the praying mantis stopped by to visit! A few years ago I had one in my garden that came back many time to visit and used to hang out on a dill plant. I learned later that they like dill so I’ve always made sure we grow some.
The one thing that I love hearing about with ultra runners is how they stop for food breaks. I think I could do it as a break if I was running a really long distance, but since I’ve never gone above 13.1 I’m just theorizing.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie recently posted…Weekly Eats: return of the salmon bowl and my fall race calendar
Years ago I ran the JFK 50-Miler and we stopped and ate real food several times along the way – you have to during a 10-hour race. Back then my GI tract didn’t rebel as much as it does these days, though.
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