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Gotta Love a Good DIY Project
Oh, hey there, remember me? It’s been a busy two weeks! In addition to working, working out, and managing a house, I decided there was no time like the present to finally tackle a big DIY project that I’d been putting off for over a year – painting our kitchen table and six chairs.
I kept a close tab on hours spent sanding, priming, and painting, and the grand total came to 61 hours and 15 minutes over a 12-day period. The project turned out beautifully and I can’t wait to share pictures at our next coffee date!
Overview of the First Week: April 9 – 15
Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from the first week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Cycling: 15 miles
• Average speed: 17.5 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:55 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 62°
• What I wore: bike shorts and jog bra
With a busy Easter Sunday ahead, I started off the day with a ride on my spin bike (affiliate link).
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Tuesday
Cycling: 10 miles
• Average speed: 17.6 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:30 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 62°
• What I wore: bike shorts and jog bra
Running: 5K
• Average pace: 9:42 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 92 feet
• Start time: 7:48 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 44° and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, tank, nylon shell, gloves, and visor
Rolling: 10 minutes
Stretching: 10 minutes
Sanding: 4 hours
I couldn’t resist taking this picture of our neighbors’ Kwanzan cherry tree in full bloom – note the much brighter pink blooms as compared to the Yoshino’s almost white blooms from the picture I shared in my last RunDown.
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
I always finish up my workouts with 35 McKenzie press-ups, focusing a little more on spinal extension than in a yoga cobra pose. I found these to be particularly helpful after spending so much time bent over sanding and painting!
Sanding: 4 hours
Thursday
Cycling: 16 miles
• Average speed: 17.4 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:00 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65°
• What I wore: bike shorts and tank
Priming: 8 hours
Even though I had a busy day on tap, I wasn’t about to miss out on my virtual workout with Kim!
Collage credit: Kim
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Painting: 4 hours
Saturday
Painting: 11 hours
Overview of the Second Week: April 16 – 22
Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from the second week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Painting: 11 hours, 45 minutes
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Painting: 5 hours, 30 minutes
In celebration of Boston Marathon Day, I donned my jacket and found my name on my 2010 poster.
Tuesday
Cycling: 10 miles
• Average speed: 17.8 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63°
• What I wore: bike shorts and jog bra
Running: 5K
• Average pace: 9:58 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 45 feet
• Start time: 7:46 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 52° and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, tank, nylon shell, gloves, and visor
Painting: 7 hours, 15 minutes
I love dogwood blooms and couldn’t figure out a way to get a good picture of me running past any of the blooming trees. I ended up hanging my selfie stick across a tree branch and it worked pretty well. I didn’t have to worry about what my neighbors were thinking, though, because this is the view out of our library window. I love that we live right next to one of our neighborhood trails!
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Painting: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Gardening (spreading mulch): 2 hours
Thursday
Cycling: 16 miles
• Average speed: 17.2 MPH
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:58 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63°
• What I wore: bike shorts and tank
Painting: 3 hours
Kim and I had another great early morning virtual workout together.
Collage credit: Kim
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Painting: 45 minutes
Saturday
Cycling: 32 miles
• Average speed: 11.6 MPH
• Bike: Salsa Warbird
• Surface: gravel
• Elevation gain: 2,362 feet
• Start time: 8:51 AM
• Location: Western Loudoun County
• Weather: 64° and partly sunny, dropping to 61° and cloudy, finished about 5 minutes before the rain hit
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves
Painting: 30 minutes
And with that early morning final coat of paint on the top of the table, my project was complete with the exception of reattaching the top pieces to the table pedestal. There’s no rush, though, because the paint has to cure for a week before we can use it.
After painting, we drove to western Loudoun for a gravel ride out of Philomont. We love parking at the rec center and riding from there because next door is an old country store that sells the best made-to-order sandwiches! It’s always a treat to get one after our ride.
There were several dogwoods blooming along the route and even though we were in a rush to beat the severe storm headed our way (we kept getting alerts on our Garmins (affiliate link)), we stopped for pictures. The storm didn’t hit until after we got home, but heavy rain started about 5 minutes after we finished our ride.
Last Week’s Blog Posts
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, you didn’t miss a thing! There was barely time to eat, so there definitely wasn’t time to blog.
Questions
- • How is your spring shaping up flower wise? Do you have lots of blooms just starting or are they almost gone? ~ We’re probably approaching the latter half of our blooming season. It seems to be an especially long one this year and I’m loving it!
- • What was your favorite workout of the week? ~ I loved getting back outside on my gravel bike. I felt strong on the hills – all those squats, lunges, and early morning rides with Kim must be working!
- • Did you run in 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.
Love your photos… I haven’t tried running past flowering trees yet.
This was a busy work week but my favorite workout was a walk in Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
My hikes were rained out Monday and today!!!
Thanks, Darlene! A walk through the Botanic Gardens sounds lovely.
Well you have been busy! Congrats on finishing your painting project. I wish I were better at those types of things. I just hired a task rabbit for this week to help put together a few things-I know my limits
There are definitely areas where I know my limits and hire out as well. I won’t do anything electrical or that requires me to climb up very high on a ladder.
We have returned to winter, but all the spring blooms are bursting through regardless of the weather. Yes, it was a busy week here and I raced yesterday. I’m glad to be done with that!
I have so many DIY projects here that I don’t know where to start!
Hopefully, you’re starting to have more springlike days than winterish days. I think we’re all ready for spring!
I would hire someone to do that. Wow! That is quite the workout in & off itself! Great job!
Thanks, Judy! I got two estimates to do the job – one for $1,600 and the other for $4,000. I spent less than $300 on paint and supplies so I’m feeling pretty good about the job.
WOW, that is a huge project- I can’t wait to see the pictures. And, you can come visit me anytime! I have some projects that need to be done… : )
Your running photos are amazing. I need to up my game- I just keep taking the same ones over and over again and it’s getting old.
LOL, I’ll be wary if you suddenly invite me to come visit!
It looks like it is just gorgeous there at this time of year! We are not quite there yet. Way to keep your virtual time with Kim going. Can’t wait to see the DIY project!
We’ve had a beautiful spring this year for sure!
LOVE your flowering trees pics! I have to stop and take a picture whenever I see a good tree in bloom – or at least take a sniff. Some are so fragrant! I love spring. Hopefully the weather stays nice-ish near you this week.
PS – love the boston marathon jacket pic! OF course you need to wear it every year!
Thanks, Melissa! I’m taking advantage of capturing pictures of the tree blooms while they last.
Why yes, I did race this morning 😉 It seems like a lot of our trees just went blooming crazy this week. It’s so nice to see all that color where there had been several months of bare branches. Always fun doing our Thursday morning rides…kind of a bummer they’ll probably be tapering off as the weather continues to warm up, but I’m excited to get back outside on a regular basis!
Looking forward to reading your race recap!
I know, it will be a bummer when we end our rides for the season, but it will be fun getting back outside on my bike on a regular basis. We’ll have to do weather updates with each other on Wednesday evenings. 😉
Haha, Debbie! I can tell you have a super-busy schedule by your sleep!!
Now that your fabulous project is nearly done, you will be able to get more sleep, I’m sure.
Can’t wait to see the photos. We need to see all the details!
Yes, good catch, Catrina! My lack of sleep was a dead giveaway. 😀
What a good week of various workouts, Debbie! Those flowering trees around you are absolutely stunning. Here spring is in full swing and all the gorse along the roads are all in full bloom, it’s wonderfully colourful.
How nice to get the painting project done. Repainting whether it’s furniture or walls gives some good freshening up in the house!
Thanks, Susanne! Other than missing my cardio workouts over the weekend in the middle, I made sure to keep up with exercise despite all that painting. I certainly needed it!
I had to look up gorse because I wasn’t familiar with it – it’s very pretty. Apparently we have it along the coast here in Virginia.
I’m just rejoining the WRD – lots to catch up on! I love that you and Kim have virtual workout dates!!
my favorite workout last week was my 5K yesterday with my husband in my favorite running spot in town! Flowers are blooming in some areas and some not – I stil don’t have flowers from the bulbs I planted ages ago but I have their leaves HA! but I see the buds coming on the smoke bushes I have and on the dogwood and whatever kind of tree i planted last year (can’t remember the name haha!) so there’s hope it will happen soon!
It’s great to have you joining us again on the WRD. Yay for a run with your favorite person at your favorite running spot!
Well done on putting all those hours into your house project! Cannot wait to see the final product!
Very clever getting that photo of you running past those blooms – talk about creative thinking! LOL.
I did my 10th Half Marathon this weekend – it was a small race and I ended up being the only woman in the 21K race with a group of young super-fast lads – so let’s just say it was quite the experience with a police escort for the last 6km! I will try to have the race recap up this week!
Thanks, Shathiso! And a police escort, how cool!
Omg where’s the finished product??? I want to see!
I have to repaint our kitchen table and chairs. I just don’t want to.
Nice job this week! Painting and sanding is a whole workout, in addition to all the rest of it!
Well, I procrastinated for over a year on starting the project so I totally understand you not wanting to start yours. The table tops haven’t been attached back to the pedestal and the chairs are in the living room curing so I haven’t taken a picture. I will next week as soon as the set is back together.
It looks like Spring has taken hold there – so pretty! It’s still a mixed bag here.
Congrats on finishing your project!
Thanks, Michelle!