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Reston Century Goal Met
The week started with the Reston Century and in addition to having fun and not getting injured, I had one goal for riding this year’s Reston Century and that was to increase my average speed to above last year’s 15.1 MPH. I finished at 15.2 MPH and was thrilled. I watched my average speed drop from around 16.4 MPH to 15.1 after hitting the 3 significant climbs late in the course, but by pushing hard the final 10 miles I brought my average speed up to 15.2.
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
Cycling: 101 miles
• Average speed: 15.2 MPH
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 5,341 feet
• Start time: 5:47 AM
• Location: Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, VA
• Weather: 69° and overcast, gorgeous sunrise, climbing to 80° and cloudy with 2 short rain showers
• What I wore: bike bibs and s/s jersey
I completed my second Reston Century under very similar circumstances to last year: overcast skies kept the temperature down for late August and my knee started hurting badly enough to have to stop and take Advil at mile 52. And just like last year, a mile or two later it felt fine. Unlike last year, we had two short rain showers. Overall it was a super fun day and I love that my husband and I do this together. I hope to get a recap written later in the week.
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 2 miles
• Average pace: didn’t time it
• Start time: 7:02 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 70°
• What I wore: shorts and short sleeve shirt
I walked laps around my basement while chatting on the phone with my brother, but didn’t wear my Garmin (affiliate link) or get on my treadmill (affiliate link). I guesstimated the distance based on my pace and the amount of time I spent walking.
Tuesday
Cycling: 20 miles
• Average speed: 15.4 MPH
• Bike: LifeFitness Lifecycle Spin
• Surface: NA
• Elevation gain: NA
• Start time: 6:55 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 69°
• What I wore: bike shorts and jog bra
Walking: 1 mile
• Average pace: didn’t time it
• Start time: 7:34 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 70°
• What I wore: shorts and short sleeve shirt
Up early, I hopped on my spin bike (affiliate link) for an easy shakeout ride to loosen up my legs. Later in the day I walked laps in my basement, this time while chatting with my mom.
Wednesday
Running: 2 miles
• Average pace: 10:16
• Start time: 5:39 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 63°
• What I wore: shorts and tank
Walking: 1 mile
• Average pace: 14:39
• Start time: 6:01 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 63°
• What I wore: shorts and tank
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Rolling: 10 minutes
Stretching: 10 minutes
Even though I had time later in the day, I decided to beat the heat and avoid the sun with an early morning run. After 2 miles of running on lead legs, I decided to walk the final mile.
Thursday
Cycling: 36 miles
• Average speed: 14.4 MPH
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 1,375 feet
• Start time: 6:37 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail Ashburn / Hamilton loop
• Weather: 66° and sunny
• What I wore: bike shorts and s/s jersey
Two miles into my ride, I came up behind my friend Angela running on the W&OD Trail. I slowed and rode alongside her for a half mile as we chatted. Eventually, she turned off the trail and I continued on eastward to meet my cycling friends who were riding toward me from the east – they thought they’d missed me since I was much later than expected. Once we were all together, we headed west for our usual weekday loop minus the two side road hills.
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Walking: 1 mile
• Average pace: didn’t time it
• Start time: 7:15 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 84°
• What I wore: shorts and short sleeve shirt
Just before dark, I walked two neighborhood laps while chatting with my mom.
Saturday
Cycling: 32.6 miles
• Average speed: 12.1 MPH
• Bike: Cannondale Topstone
• Surface: gravel
• Elevation gain: 2,090 feet
• Start time: 9:10 AM
• Location: Bluemont Recreation Center
• Weather: 72° and sunny, climbing to 80°
• What I wore: bike bibs and s/s jersey
This ride started out rough and at two miles in I wondered how I would make it to 32 miles. Even though I’d eaten a bagel and a few bites of a protein bar before leaving home, I wondered if I was low on fuel so I popped four Honey Stinger chews (affiliate link) and ate another few bites of my bar. Within minutes I perked up and by the halfway point I had not only caught up with the guys, but I was leading at times. Never underestimate the importance of fueling!
Yep, we rode gravel!
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 14 – 20 / Cycling’s Version of Tapering
- • Tuesday – New Cycling Gear: Two Must-Have Items
Questions:
- • Would you have reset your Garmin after riding so slowly for a half mile (or if you’d been running and had slowed to a walk for a half mile)? ~ I considered it, but didn’t.
- • What was your favorite workout of the week? ~ Even though I had a blast during the Reston Century, my favorite workout was riding the last half of Saturday’s gravel ride.
- • Did you run in a race this weekend?
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.
Congrats on riding 100 miles and also meeting your goal.
No race for me but a half next Sat. Yikes.
I read your biking posts and they sound like my running. Starts out hard but we get it done.
Thanks, Darlene! Good luck and have fun on your half on Saturday!
Incredible work on your 100 miler and meeting your goal. How nice to connect with your friend on the trail; I probably wouldn’t reset my Garmin unless I was doing a workout and wanted to separate it out. (which I guess you kind of were? So maybe reset!)
Thanks, Jessie! Yeah, I can’t believe I was able to refrain from restarting my Garmin. 😀
Congrats again on killing it at Reston. That is not an easy course. I kind of miss cycling when I read all of your fun exploits. I have no idea why I let that slide. We’ll see. No, I would not bother resetting my Garmin unless I was trying to hit a specific programmed workout.
Thanks, Deborah! You need to get back out on your bike at least once a year for a ride with Coco and me! 🙂
Awesome…another century ride!! I seem to be the only one interested in doing a “second century” this year (I seriously don’t know what’s wrong with people, LOL). There’s a big group of gravel riders here. With the rural area, there’s plenty of hilly gravel roads. I probably could muster some of that with Gustavas, but have yet to take on that challenge.
I just learned from watching Ryan Van Duzer’s videos that RAGBRAI has one day with a gravel option which he and his girlfriend did. I think it was a 40-mile day. You could definitely ride Gustavas on gravel. I’m starting to enjoy gravel more than road. Who would have thunk? 😉
Congratulations! It’s nice to have a goal like that- pushing yourself is fun. Of course just completing a century ride is an accomplishment, but having a pace goal makes it even more interesting.
I’m not surprised your legs felt like lead later in the week. That was a LOT of cycling! I like the picture of the legs after the gravel ride- I had a picture like that after my trail run a couple weeks ago!
Thanks, Jenny!
Awesome job on your century ride!
Fueling can absolutely make or break exercise. I’ll never understand people who can run fasted!
Thanks, Judy!
I seem to notice fueling issues much more on my bike than when running, but then, I run for 30 minutes and bike for 3 hours. 😉
Glad you had a great Century! Glad knee re sponded quickly
Deborah and I had that pause/re-set Garmin conversation when we ran. At this point in my running life, I don’t. Two fold: I truly don’t care about pace in summer. I only wear the watch so I can track distance covered *AND* I ihave a bad habit of forgetting to un pause/re-start. But other times I have wanted to have exactly my running pace.
Thanks, Cari!
I hear you on forgetting to restart your Garmin. I finally had to set mine to auto-pause and auto-start because I kept forgetting to restart it after stopping.
Awesome job increasing your average speed for the Reston Century! I am sure that was no easy task, especially with the hills.
Thanks, Kim!
Fabulous, Debbie!
15.1mph is already a great speed! How satisfying to bring it up to 15.2mph on the last 10 miles!
I don’t think I ever reach that speed, even on a perfectly flat route.
Is the Cannondale Topstone a gravel bike? I’m thinking about buying one but haven’t done any research yet.
Thanks, Catrina! Yes, the Cannondale Topstone is a gravel bike. It’s a great bike that’s available in a wide variety of price points depending on whether you get it in alloy, carbon, and a variety of other options.
Yes, I would probably reset my Garmin LOL. Preserve the good numbers, right?
Lots of great cycling for you! I love that!
Jenn recently posted…week 87: enter the chaos
Thanks, Jenn!
Congrats on your century ride and for nailing your goal. That elevation gain looks crazy so great pace. I’m very impressed that you got so many more cycling workouts in. I will stop by Garmin if I stop, but if I am still moving forward, I want to count those miles. The slower overall pace can be explained on Strava with a description to save my ego 🙂
Thanks, Michele! “Save my ego,” LOL, that’s me! 😉
Congrats on 100! I sometimes think about resetting my Garmin if I start to walk, but I usually start running again and want to capture the full workout. It’d be great if they had a slowdown function to account for those breaks!
Thanks, Melissa!