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It’s Finally 2021, Can I Get an Amen?

The day that we’ve all be waiting for – the last day of 2020 – finally arrived! Do I feel differently? Of course not, but even though many good things happened to my family in 2020, a lot of people struggled with the loss of loved ones, businesses forced to close, and schools abruptly switching to virtual. 2021 brings hope with a vaccine that was developed in record time and with many health care professionals already receiving their second dose this first week of January. Once the elderly and most at risk have received their vaccines, I will feel more comfortable that we’ve turned our first corner. 

 

Overview of the Week

Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll down for daily details…

 

Sunday

While Bill was out riding gravel in the too-cold-for-me-to-ride-weather, I decided to walk 6 miles on my treadmill (affiliate link). I set the speed to 4.0 and kept it there finishing my walk at a 15:00 average pace.

 

Monday

I had several morning clients and completed an hour of strength training once I wrapped up my last client. With a free afternoon, I didn’t know what to do with myself so I grazed on cookies and M&M’s which seemed like a good idea at the time. JK, I knew I would regret it!

 

Tuesday

I only had one client at 6:30 AM and felt exhausted after I wrapped up our session so I went back to bed and slept for over 2 hours. Remembering the junk I’d eaten the day before, I wasn’t surprised. My motto is, “You are what you eat,” and if I feed myself crappy fuel, I should expect not to perform at my best. Later in the day, I hoped on my spin bike (affiliate link) for 10 miles at a 17.1 MPH average speed and then headed out to walk to the grocery store with Bill which was 2.25 miles roundtrip (15:23 average pace).

 

Wednesday

Even though I felt well rested after my morning nap and ate very well on Tuesday, I overslept. Luckily my 6:30 AM client was on vacation and I woke up in plenty of time to see my first client. I didn’t have time to lift weights and do my core strengthening exercises until after wrapping up my appointments, but I got it done and it felt great!

 

Thursday

I wrapped up work for 2020 with only two clients for the day. Interestingly, my last client I saw at the 55+ gym on March 12th before the whole pandemic went down, was the  last client I saw for 2020. Virtual training has been the lifeline of my business, but I do miss the energy of being in a busy gym.

Workout wise, I gave myself the day off from both cardio and strength training with my Virtual New Year’s Day 5K on the horizon.

 

Friday

It’s time for me to come clean about about something that happened over the weekend… On Christmas afternoon and evening I lay on the sofa for a while with my family watching TV. Then on Saturday evening I was a complete couch potato and watched several hours of Christmas movies. On Sunday afternoon I developed not just an awareness, but downright nerve pain radiating down my right leg. I know better than to sit on anything soft, but didn’t really think lying on the sofa would bother me so much; however, lounging on the sofa is something I rarely do and my body reacted in an ugly way. Fortunately, by Tuesday I was feeling almost back to normal, but decided not to run until my virtual race on New Year’s Day.

I had big plans for the Virtual 2021 New Year’s Day 5K and didn’t want to mess it up by trying to run before I felt back to 100%. Ten days ago I had run just over 2.5 miles at an 8:29 pace and set that pace as my goal for my 5K. Not only did I meet my goal, but surpassed it with an 8:10 average pace, and more importantly, I felt great during and after the run.

Considering I wasn’t able to run during the first half of 2020 and then without taking walk breaks the second half until December 5th, I am thrilled with my performance!

 

Later in the afternoon I completed just over 15 minutes of core exercises.

 

Saturday

I had been on the fence all week about joining Bill and my Dawn Patrol biking friends for a 44-mile ride to Harper’s Ferry, WV on Saturday. As the weekend drew near and the weather forecast looked decent, I decided to make good on my goal of riding throughout the winter. A high in the low 50’s in January was too good to pass up even if I had to shiver a bit with a 36° start. We hit three states – Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia – during our ride and it felt good to be back outside on the saddle. My legs felt the six-week absence since my last outdoor ride, but I still finished the hilly course with an average speed of 13.7 MPH.

 

Here’s What You Might Have Missed

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

 

Questions:
  • • How has your eating been over the holidays?
  • • What did you do to ring in the new year?
  • • Did you run in a race this weekend? If so, was it live or virtual?

 

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.