Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links…

 

I’m Not a 100-Year-Old Rider

When I posted the following picture of my Garmin (affiliate link) to my Facebook after the Reston Century, my friend laughed and commented that now that I’ve ridden a century, I’m a centurian; to which I replied, “Not to be confused with a centenarian…” LOL 

 

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

Bill, two other friends, and I rolled out of our driveway at 5:45 AM in the delightful 70° for an early start to the 2021 Reston Century. Mile 90 of the course goes within a mile of our house and we had the genius idea of starting early and riding the last 10 miles first so that when we got back to that particular rest stop, we’d be finished. We arrived at the official century start at Reston Town Center and used the restrooms before heading back out at 6:30 AM, the early side of the 6:30-9 AM recommended start time.

To say we had a fun day would be a huge understatement and I am still on cloud nine from my first century. The weather was perfect, I felt great, and the time flew by. I was pleasantly shocked to see that my average speed was 15.1 MPH on a very hilly course (5,500 feet of elevation gain).

Once home and our guests had left, I did a quick stretch focusing on any muscles that felt tight from being on my bike for 6:39:29.

For a complete review of my first century, check out my recap here.

 

Monday

I was shocked when I woke up without any soreness from the previous day’s century ride. I gave myself some grace and skipped legs during my 30-minute strength training session allowing them another day of recovery.

During the afternoon I dusted off my Rodney Yee Yoga Conditioning for Athletes DVD  (affiliate link) and spent 8 minutes pampering my cycling muscles.

 

Tuesday

I really wanted to sleep in on my day off, but I hopped out of bed at 5:15 AM and we were rolling out of the cul-de-sac at 6:15 for my first real ride on my new Cannondale Topstone gravel bike. The weather was agreeable at 72°, but rose to 81° (feels like 86°) and sunny by the time we finished. I rode with Bill for the first 17 miles until I sent him ahead to get home in time for work meetings. A few miles later, I just happened to meet my friend Betsy and turned to ride with her for almost 6 miles before finding my way home. All told, I road 38 miles of mixed pavement and gravel and averaged 13.3 MPH.

My legs started out pretty tired, but warmed up nicely and got into a decent grove until I started climbing Thomas Mill (they asked why I was trying to kill them). The bike did great on the gravel, but I’ve got to work out a few kinks – seat needs to go up a tad, the handlebars need to be raised and tilted forward slightly, and the disc brakes make a terrible noise when I brake hard. The bike shop has a handlebar riser on order so that might hold things up a week or so…

Once home, I stretched for about 10 minutes focusing on my pecs, traps, rear delts, quads, and hammies.

 

Wednesday

With plans for a 5:30 PM run, I wanted to give my legs some recovery time between strength training and running so I lifted for a little over an hour at 7 AM. I brought leg exercises back into my routine and my legs and glutes were not amused; however, I squeezed in 10 minutes of foam rolling immediately afterward and they were happy again.

I’m not a fan of afternoon runs, especially when it’s 92° (feels like 101°) and we’re under a code orange air quality alert; however, sometimes that’s just the way it works out. Long-time Cruisers friend Vamshi was back in town from India for business and had reached out to get together for a run. Six Cruisers met for a hot and humid run along the W&OD Trail and it was as if we’d never missed a run together – there were lots of stories and laughs and the time flew by. We ran 5K at a 9:45 average pace and some of us even stretched together afterward.

During our run I kept hearing a funny sound that I didn’t recognize coming from my phone. When we finished our run, I checked my phone and saw that the alerts were warnings that a severe thunder storm was eminent. That storm cut short our post-run chatting when thunder, lightning, and torrential rain hit and we all sprinted to our cars.

 

Thursday

I went for 5K walk at 7:15 AM in lieu of my planned early morning ride. With a late run the evening before I decided that my legs could use an easier workout. It was 72° and humid, but it felt pretty good on the shaded circle and I ended up maintaining a 14:35 pace.

 

Friday

Like every week, after a full body strength training session, I taught my balance and stretching class at the 55+ community. I participated leading 45 minutes of strengthening exercises, balance drills, and stretches., always a nice low-key workout.

 

Saturday

Bill and I joined the VeloPigs (party pace) for another fun ride along the gravel roads of western Loudoun County. We decided to ride to and from the start/finish location at Plum Grove Cyclery which added 16 miles. We finished our 45-mile ride with a 13.8 MPH average speed while gaining over 2,000 feet of elevation. The temperature started out comfortable at 73°, but climbed to 85° by the time we finished.

 

If You Haven’t Checked in, 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:
  • • When do you prefer to run, mornings, evenings, or sometime in between?
  • • How was the weather in your neck of the woods this past week?
  • • 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.