Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links
Stalking the Weather
When we stepped out for our Sunday morning walk we noted how perfect the weather would be for riding the Reston Century scheduled one week from that day. At 6 AM it had been 63° and clear with low humidity. The high for the day was 82° with continued low humidity.
Just for fun, I did a quick weather check for the day of the century (today) and didn’t like what I saw. As with any good weather stalker, I knew that a lot could change in a week, and sure enough, as the week progressed the forecast looked better – reasonable temperature for late August, but with very high humidity, and more importantly, minimal chance of rain during the day.
However, things changed again on Friday and we got a weather alert from the Reston Century organizers on Saturday morning on what to do if we got caught out in a storm. At this point there’s nothing we can do but wait and see…
Overview of the Week
Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Walking: 3+ Miles
• Average pace: 18:42
• Start time: 7:45 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 65° and sunny with low humidity
• What I wore: shorts, short sleeve shirt, and visor
This was a walk with two technological fails… First off, after ten minutes or so of our walk, my brand new Fitbit Alta (affiliate link) died so I didn’t get credit for most of the steps on the walk. I’ve had to give it a hard reset every couple of days for the last three weeks since opening up the box and haven’t had time to call Fitbit. Today after it died, three resets couldn’t keep it going so I pulled out my old scratched and chipped Fitbit and synced it back to my phone.
The second fail was of my own accord when I forgot to restart my Garmin (affiliate link) until halfway home after a stop for breakfast in the middle of our walk. I have it set to auto-pause, but pressed the stop button so it wouldn’t auto start while walking around inside the restaurant.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of full body
Walking: 5K
• Average pace: 15:22
• Start time: 4:01 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 69° and cloudy
• What I wore: shorts, short sleeve shirt, and visor
I had planned to run, but by the time I had a chance to go out it was later in the day and I didn’t want to run with only 16 hours of recovery before the next day’s hill training ride.
Tuesday
Cycling: 42.5 miles
• Average speed: 14.4 MPH
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 2,083 feet
• Start time: 7:53 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail Hamilton loop with Thomas Mill and Woodburn climbs
• Weather: 65° and sunny, climbing to 77°
• What I wore: bike shorts and s/s jersey
My friend Rob and I had amazing weather for our last hill workout before Sunday’s Reston Century. I had a great workout and finished tired, but recovered quickly.
Apparently, 42 miles with over 2,000 feet of climbing wasn’t enough to impress Garmin. Seriously, Garmin, why are you such a hater?
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of full body
Thursday
Walking: 5K
• Average pace: 14:26
• Start time: 8:39 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 65° and sunny, climbing to 72°
• What I wore: shorts, tank top, and visor
Friday
Strength training: 45 minutes of upper body and core
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Saturday
Rest day
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: August 7 – 13 / GPS Discrepancies
- • Tuesday – Running the Alphabet: Races and Locations S – Z
Questions:
- • Do you stalk the weather before scheduled events? ~ As the daughter of a farmer and a longtime runner, I stalk the weather with the best of them!
- • What was your favorite workout of the week? ~ Mine was Tuesday’s bike ride!
- • Did you run in a race this weekend?
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
*********************************************************************
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.
Yes I’m a weather stalker. Hope you have good weather for your century. No rain!
5k last Sunday but no race this weekend. Just a 12 miler.
My favorite workouts were my hikes on Monday and Thursday.
I suspect most of us runners and outdoor sports enthusiasts are weather stalkers. 🙂
I hope you get ok weather for your ride today! of course, I stalk the weather, lol, just like a good runner should…
My favorite workout was yesterday’s run/hike in Park City!
I’m sure your Park City hike was fabulous! It’s been four years since I’ve hiked there, but we’re planning to go back in June.
I am a definite weather stalker although it’s frequently wrong around here. I hope you have a great ride together
Thanks, Deborah, it was great!
I try not to weather stalk because it just stresses me out. But it usually happens anyway.
Fitbit, ugh. I finally gave up on it for that reason. It just quit behaving.
I hope you stay safe and have fun today
Thanks, Cari! We had a fabulous time and the rain almost held out (just two short showers).
I stalk the weather with the best of them, too! I don’t know why, because it usually causes more stress than reassurance, LOL (yesterday, for example, with my trying to get out for my ride to the lake). I hope your ride is going well!
The weather forecast changed so much over the course of the week that I don’t know why I bothered checking it until the night before. Even so, two different weather apps had completely different forecasts on the morning of the ride.
Thanks, Kim! We had so much fun on our century.
I hope you have great weather! Have a blast!
Garmin also tells me I’m not productive. Argh!
The rain mostly held out (two short showers) and we had a blast!
So I’m not the only one Garmin hates? LOL
Yes, I’m a weather stalker and I even stalk the weather for other people’s events! I hope it was good today for you- I’m looking forward to hearing all about the ride.
My favorite workout of the week was my epic trail adventure in Texas. SO different from my runs here!
Yes, I’m sure you loved that trail run. It was fun reading about it!
I did race today. It was a hot one (we’re forecast to go to about 90 today). Luckily not too humid and mostly (but not completely) shady. But too many roots & rocks! I had trouble finding places I could actually run.
Tech fails are so aggravating!
My favorite run this week was definitely the 5 miler on the trails!
I enjoyed reading your race recap, Judy. It certainly sounded challenging!
When I was training for races I would normally stalk the weather for race day but not so much for my training runs. I hope that your ride went well yesterday!
Thanks, Kim, we had so much fun!
I love when Garmin says you are unproductive when you clearly are not…haha. Sounds like a great week. Can’t wait to hear how the century ride goes.
Yes, I am a huge weather stalker and tend to freak out before I need to. My husband always has to remind me that it will probably change.
Garmin can be so rude! LOL
I definitely stalk the weather! Glad it turned out pretty OK for Reston, although it looked gloomy.
I hope you get your new fitbit sorted out — or returned. 😉
Thanks, Coco! The weather turned out great for the most part. The cloud cover kept the temps down and we only had two short rain showers. A friend who started about 30 minutes after us didn’t run into any rain. Go figure!
I do stalk the weather but Florida is a liar so it’s rarely super accurate. They say if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. That’s the truth.
LOL, I’ve heard that about Florida!