Scheduling Workouts
Each Sunday I look ahead to my upcoming week and plan out my workouts. For the most part, my workout days are pretty set.
- Strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Cycling on Tuesday, Thursday, and one or both weekend days
- Walking on Monday, Wednesday, and maybe Friday; and one weekend day if I don’t ride
This might be boring to some, but I thrive on routine and an organized schedule. This past week, I had two doctor’s appointments, one each on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (both were routine exams) so my normal workout days were moved around. Throw in family in town at the beginning of the week and a stormy day thrown into the mix and my cardio workouts fell a little short. No worries, there’s always next week!
Overview of the Week
Before getting into each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Rest day
With family still in town, we hit up a brewery during the afternoon. So fun!
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
I had every intention to go for a walk, but just before my last client left, the sky got dark and the wind picked up as a thunder storm rolled into the area. After the storm moved out it was so humid and gross that I gave up on walking outside. By evening, the air was more tolerable so I took Pablo out for a little while, but mosquitos ran us back inside.
Tuesday
Cycling: 12 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.0 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:30 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63°
• What I wore: bike shorts and tank
Walking: 4.02 miles
• Average pace: 15:41 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 207 feet
• Start time: 11:33 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 90° and sunny
• What I wore: shorts, tank, and visor
With my annual physical scheduled for mid-morning, I didn’t have time to get out for a ride so I multi-tasked and hopped on my spin bike during an early morning virtual client. Once home from the doctor’s office, I toughed out the heat and went for a walk. After my walk, I took Pablo out for a short slooow (39:16 average pace) ½-mile walk. That pup sure likes to sniff! Sadly, Tuesday after work Pablo and his humans returned home to NC.
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Cycling: 34.17 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 13.5 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 1,293 feet
• Start time: 1:06 PM
• Location: W&OD Trail Ashburn/Hamilton loop with Meadowlark, Irene, and Quail Creek
• Weather: 96° (feels like 103°) and mostly sunny, climbing to 99° (feels like 107°)
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves
The heat was ridiculous, but hey it always feels cooler on the bike so I went out anyway. At least I was smart enough to skip climbing hills and tried to stay in a more shaded section of the trail. The last two miles were tough and I felt downright dizzy and nauseous when I finished. I walked around to the deck and hosed off my legs and arms with cold water, then lay down on the basement floor for about ten minutes. I felt perfectly fine after that, but it was a good lesson to be a little more careful with afternoon strenuous workouts on such hot and humid days.
Thursday
Walking: 5.08 miles
• Average pace: 15:41 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 142 feet
• Start time: 5:35 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 75°, cloudy, and humid
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor
I was up early and out the door for Kim‘s and my weekly virtual cardio workout in the ridiculously humid air. We both walked and I even got a bonus mile when I found myself almost a mile from the house when my Garmin hit 4 miles. Lively conversation certainly makes the miles fly by!
Collage credit: Kim
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Saturday
Walking: 3.05 miles
• Average pace: 15:05 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 73 feet
• Start time: 8:22 AM
• Location: neighborhood trails
• Weather: 72°, cloudy, and humid with a light mist
• What I wore: shorts, tank, and visor
I went to bed without setting my alarm and with every intention of sleeping in for the first time in ages. Unfortunately, I woke up at 4:54 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up around 5:15 (I despise lying in bed in the morning after I wake up).
I got a lot of paperwork done while waiting for the humidity to drop – it didn’t – so I eventually headed out for my walk.
Last Week’s Blog Posts
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
Questions:
- • Have you exercised outside when it was too hot and you had a negative reaction? ~ A similar thing happened to me many years ago while mowing our lawn.
- • Are you able to sleep in or does your internal clock wake you up before dawn every morning? ~ That’s me most mornings.
- • 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!
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The heat really impacts my ability to run–and yes, I’ve had a few times where I felt really bad running in the heat! But there’s no predicting. This week I struggled with my runs–I wasn’t feeling well, so I’m going to chalk it up to that. Glad you got some decent workouts in!
Thanks, Wendy! I’ve been fighting something, too, but mine didn’t hit until Thursday night. Hope you start feeling better soon.
I don’t love the hear but I usually run early enough that the sun hasn’t risen and I can manage. I don’t know how people run in the middle of the day in the heat and humidity!
I set a very early alarm on week days. On weekends my 3 year old is up by 730, so I don’t know what sleeping in would be like. And I’m usually awake before he is anyway so i guess my internal alarm is set for earlier than that!
Sleeping in to me is sleeping until 7:30 to 8’ish. Anything later and I would feel like I’ve missed the day.
What a shame that the storm didn’t clear the air to make things more tolerable!
I don’t like hot weather, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt squeamish.
It’s good to be careful about feeling dizzy, especially on the bike! Lying down on the basement floor was the right thing to do!
Sometimes storms are followed by such clear crisp air, but we weren’t so lucky this past week.
As you know, my internal clock “buzzes” usually before 5:00AM most mornings, even on the weekends (no matter how late I’ve been up). I really struggle with sleeping-in, both in terms of not being able to fall back to sleep (most of the time) and also with the guilt of wasting valuable time. I know, what a paradox! I think I’ve only had issues with running in the heat one time where I had some light-headedness and dizziness. I had the sense, thankfully, to slow way down and walk, but it was freaky!
We have similar internal clocks. That must be why our virtual workouts are so early. 😉
I love hot weather, but my body doesn’t. I’ve learned from a few mistakes in Italy to take it easy and not go out for anything strenuous or even close to it, during the afternoon hours. I had a really scary event in Bologna once, after a long walk, I started feeling really sick and I nearly passed out in a park. After that I’m VERY careful! There is a reason they have the siesta over there..
That sounds like a scary situation that happened in Italy. Those usually serve as good reminders to be more careful in the future.
I don’t love the heat, but I’ve never really had a bad experience, or a time where I felt unsafe. Maybe more like, things feel super hard and I just slow down naturally. All you northerners should be getting a break from the heat soon!
The weather shifted on Monday and it’s delightful now!
my internal clock wakes me up at 4:40… I struggle to stay in bed until 6.
After the Brooklyn half and the ice cream 10k, the heat had me feeling dizzy… ugh.
Yes I ran a half marathon this weekend…
Oooh, can’t wait to check out your race recap!
I definitely thrive on routine too, so I love to see you also have a set schedule as well. And I love your virtual meetups with Kim!
I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but…
Aww cute pup pics, I love those. 🙂 I read that walks with sniffs are like reading a book, and I like to make sure the dogs get that mental stimulation even though I might be craving the physical movement of a faster walk!
“Sniffs are like reading a book,” I love that. 🙂