Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links

 

Celebratory Miles

Three years ago I started doing a special birthday ride by cycling the same number of miles as the number of years old I was turning. The past two years my friends joined in on the fun, but this year it sort of fizzled out when the weather forecast was iffy and I decided to keep it closer to home and on the W&OD Trail (rather than out on a big road loop) so I could bail if necessary; although, those who know me well, know that would be nearly impossible for me to do. 

I’ve started doing something similar with birthday runs and walks, but at my age, I need to add a decimal. Hopefully, today I’ll walk 6.5 miles and tomorrow afternoon I can run 6.5 miles…

 

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: 5 miles
• Average pace: 16:30
• Elevation gain: 165 feet
• Start time: 10:31 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 70°, cloudy, and humid, climbing to 73°
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor

I met my friend Betsy for a walk between rain showers.

 

Monday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Gardening: 1.5 hours of fall clean-up

 

Tuesday

Walking: 2 miles
• Average pace: 17:23
• Elevation gain: 97 feet
• Start time: 11:56 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails to my polling place
• Weather: 56° and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, nylon shell, and visor

I took advantage of a pretty day, albeit much cooler than the past few weeks, and walked to our polling place to vote.

 

Wednesday

Running: 5K
• Average pace: 9:25
• Elevation gain: 112 feet
• Start time: 6:01 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 34° (feels like 29°)
• What I wore: capris, s/s shirt, nylon shell, gloves, mittens, and ear warmer headband

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Foam rolling: 10 minutes

Stretching: 10 minutes

My morning started with a crisp pre-dawn run. I find running in the cold is so invigorating and running in the dark so peaceful. The combination of the two made for a perfect run.

 

Thursday

Cycling: 12 miles
• Average speed: 16.9 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:53 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63°

Gardening: 1 hour of fall clean-up

I multitasked by riding my spin bike (affiliate link) while training a client virtually.

 

Friday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Balance and stretching: 45 minutes

 

Saturday

Cycling: 65 miles
• Average speed: 14.5 MPH
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 2,343 feet
• Start time: 9:38 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail Sterling to Hamilton, then Sterling to Leesburg loops
• Weather: 61° and sunny, climbing to 68° and cloudy

It was a beautiful day for an early birthday ride – my actual birthday is tomorrow, but work will preclude us from doing a long ride so we did it two days early. Even though there was pretty constant wind and wind gusts up to 25 MPH, it wasn’t as much of a factor as I’d feared and we had a great time.

 

Bill took this picture with his phone while riding along beside me. If I tried that, not only would I drop my phone and break it, but I’d crash, too.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

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

 

Questions:
  • • Do you do any special mileage running, hiking, cycling, etc. on your birthday? ~ I just started this a few years ago…
  • • What was your favorite workout of the week? ~ No doubt my birthday ride was my favorite workout especially since it was with my favorite workout partner.
  • • Did you run in a race this weekend? ~ No

 

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.