Depressing Weather

We saw the sun last Saturday at the farm… It was bright and beautiful, shining from a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. By the time we got home from the farm, it was nighttime and rain had moved in. We woke up last Sunday to a cloudy day with a few sprinkles and it remained that way for the rest of the week. The sun surprised us by peeping out for less than three minutes on Thursday, but just to tease us because it immediately hid behind clouds again. Finally, yesterday the pattern broke and the sun treated us to a beautiful day. Today, though, it’s overcast and misty and dreary; and I am so over this weather. Sigh…

On a much more serious note, our less than desirable weather pales in comparison to what people are experiencing in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene left many towns and communities devastated as it slowly moved over the region.

 

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

We hadn’t gotten home from our trip to the farm until after 11 PM Saturday night so I slept in a bit. My gravel bike was still in the shop so we had to skip the ride portion of our annual VeloPigs pignic held at Wheatland Spring Farm and Brewery. We had a lot of fun seeing our friends (without their helmets), the food was delicious, and the beer was flowing. Not being a beer drinker, I tried a sour cherry hard seltzer and it was pretty good.

 

Monday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Even if it hadn’t been a lifting day, I would have taken a little time to lift on National Weightlifting Day!

 

Tuesday

Cycling: 20.1 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.5 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:32 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in basement, 61° and raining outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Walking: 3.06 miles
• Average pace: 14:43 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 139 feet
• Start time: 12:11 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 63° and misty, turning to a light rain
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor

I knew rain would keep me from getting out for a morning ride so I multitasked with a ride on my spin bike while training a virtual client. After the morning rain finally ended, the weather was gross with just a fine mist hanging in the air. I kept procrastinating on going out for my walk hoping it would clear up, but finally decided that wasn’t going to happen and headed out. I’d waited too long and ended up getting caught in light rain before finishing my walk.

 

Wednesday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

I had a busier than normal workday scheduled, but squeezed in a trip to the bike shop to pick up my gravel bike just before they closed. I had the guys double check my seat position (front to back) and it looked good. They’d moved the saddle forward and the handlebars up for me slightly a month ago and those small changes made riding much more comfortable. At the time, they’d advised me to ride my bike a while before considering moving the seat any farther forward. Ends up, they’d nailed the position last time.

 

Thursday

Cycling: 15 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.7 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:51 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63° in basement, 69° with tropical level humidity and heavy rain outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and tank

Walking: 2.79 miles / 1.36 miles
• Average pace: 14:31 minute/mile / 14:40 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:28 AM / 9:25 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in basement, 70° with tropical level humidity and rainy outside / 66° in basement, 72° with tropical level humidity and drizzly outside
• What I wore: shorts and tank

For the first time in ages, Kim and I were both inside on our spin bikes. After wrapping up our call, I hopped on my treadmill, but had to jump off when a client arrived for a workout (I stayed on and chatted with her while she warmed up on the elliptical next to me). Once I’d finished training her, I walked some more so I’d hit 4 miles walking for the day.

 

Friday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Walking: 2.15 miles
• Average pace: 14:46 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:42 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in basement, 71° with tropical level humidity and rainy outside
• What I wore: shorts and tank

Balance and stretching: 45 minutes

 

Saturday

Cycling: 32.66 miles
• Bike: Salsa Warbird
• Average speed: 11.6 MPH
• Surface: gravel
• Elevation gain: 2,795 feet
• Start time: 8:54 PM
• Location: Virginia Tech Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center
• Weather: 71° and partly cloudy, climbing to 81° and mostly sunny
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves

We awoke to warm and incredibly humid weather, but with the humidity dropping as the day wore on and with very little chance of rain in the forecast, we felt quite lucky that we had great weather for the Tour de Conservation Easement (for more on the event, click here to read my 2022 recap).

The recent rain had certainly taken care of the dust and for the most part the roads were in really good condition. My husband had attached our ass savers so our backs stayed relatively mud free of what little mud was being sprayed off of our back tires. At places, though, the mud was soft and it felt more like riding in soft sand.

We were registered for the 66-mile ride, but afternoon family plans had us riding the shorter 33-mile course. We were not the least bit upset, though, and were thrilled that there was still plenty of food left when we finished the ride… not dead last.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

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

 

Questions:
  • • When registering for an event where there are a variety of distances, do you think the longer the better? ~ I still have a marathoners mentality, so yes, I think that, but I’m trying to break myself of the habit. 😉
  • • How was your weather this week? Were you anywhere near Helene’s path? ~ We were not, but the farm and surrounding area has had a lot of flooding and many downed trees blocking the roads. Communities not far away from the farm were absolutely devastated.
  • • 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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