Taking the Week Off from Work, Mostly
I took the week off from work with the exception of seeing my 6:30 AM virtual client on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I usually see her four days a week, but she left on a cruise Thursday afternoon so my upcoming weekdays will start a little later.
The first half of the week was filled with non-stop cooking and family time, but the end of the week was very chill. I started reading one of the books I purchased during our family’s annual book night, a 25-year-long Christmas week tradition.
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
Cycling: 50 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.5 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:52 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63° in basement, 32° (feels like 28°) and cloudy outside with wintery mix in the forecast
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Walking: 2.6 miles
• Average pace: 15:02 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 137 feet
• Start time: 10:07 AM
• Location: neighborhood streets
• Weather: 28° and mostly sunny with a few snow flurries
• What I wore: long pants, l/s shirt, down jacket, knit hat, and mittens over gloves
While everyone was still asleep, I hopped on my spin bike to get a head start on the day. My last few miles flew by when my son, daughter-in-law, and Pablo joined me in the basement. They chatted with me until I finished riding and then they lifted weights and ran on the treadmill. Pablo went back to bed. 😉
Even though it’s a short distance we usually drive to church, but I opted to multitask by walking there and back.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 50 miles
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.03 miles
• Average pace: 15:22 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 117 feet
• Start time: 3:55 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 33° (feels like 28°) and mostly cloudy
• What I wore: capris, l/s shirt, puffer jacket, knit hat, and mittens over gloves
By 8:30 AM I had started cooking, making slow cooker chicken fajitas for dinner and braciola meatballs with southern Italian sauce for Christmas Eve dinner. Mid-afternoon I tried to roll out the sugar cookie dough I’d made on Saturday, but it wouldn’t budge. I covered the ball of dough and went out for my walk while it warmed up to room temperature. I called that a win because if it had rolled out successfully when I first tried, I probably wouldn’t have made time for my walk later in the afternoon.
Tuesday
Cycling: 30 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 17.4 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:16 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 60° in basement, 29° and sleeting outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
I multitasked while riding by training the client I mentioned earlier.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 20 miles
Wednesday
Strength training: 15 minutes of core
Thursday
Cycling: 25 Miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 17.2 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 61° in basement, 32° and partly cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Kim and I met as we do on most Thursday mornings for our virtual cardio session. I had hoped I’d cross over 5,000 miles while we were together, but I was about 3 miles shy of my goal when we said our goodbyes (I’d hoped to start earlier, but got distracted doing stuff in the kitchen before heading down to the basement). I surpassed my goal while training my aforementioned client virtually and finished the ride (according to Strava) at 5,005 miles for 2024. Any additional miles will just be bonus miles.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 0 miles
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Walking: 3.07 miles
• Average pace: 14:35 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 134 feet
• Start time: 3:38 PM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 46° (feels like 42°) and partly cloudy
• What I wore: lounge pants, l/s shirt, nylon shell, and gloves
Saturday
Cycling: 30 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.7 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:39 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 63° in basement, 42° (feels like 39°) and raining outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Walking: 3.04 miles
• Average pace: 16:11 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 215 feet
• Start time: 5:03 PM
• Location: neighborhood streets
• Weather: 50° and foggy
• What I wore: long pants, l/s shirt, light puffer jacket, knit hat, and gloves
Thursday’s ride took me to 5,005 miles on Strava, but I realized later in the day that Garmin showed I’d only ridden 4,989.9 miles. After spending over an hour cross checking both Strava and Garmin against my written log and each other, I couldn’t find the 15.1 mile discrepancy. My gut tells me that Strava is correct and I just missed logging a 15.1-mile spin on my Garmin app, but I can’t find the mistake. Sooo to be certain that I legitimately rode 5,000 miles in 2024, I hopped on my spin bike to cover those missing Garmin miles.
I was even lucky enough to have Kim join me virtually for a few of those miles.
By the end of the day the rain had stopped, and after lazily lying on the sofa reading and napping, I walked to and from mass.
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: December 15 – 21 / Closing in on My Goal
- • Thursday – 2024 End of Year Runfessions: Tank Tops, Bike Math, and Hot Spots
Questions:
- • Would you have just trusted your Strava miles or would you have made up the miles so Garmin showed your goal number of miles, too? ~ There’s no way I couldn’t have both Strava and Garmin showing I ridden 5,000 miles.
- • What was your most productive workout of the week? ~ I guess it was Saturday’s ride to get my numbers where I needed them.
- • 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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5k. WOW. That’s amazing. And yes, I’d have done what you did to make them nice and even! Glad you had virtual and human company, but especially Pablo. Cutest cheerleader. We finally found a good no stick and no fuss sugar cookie recipe, but I didn’t end up loving the cookies as cute as they were. No win! I love the idea of a book tradition
Oh and I’ll foodfess. No tree butter this year.
Thanks, Cari! Bummer on the sugar cookie recipe not tasting as good as you’d hoped. No tree butter for us this year either because I didn’t make it to Wegman’s in time to buy any before it sold out.
Congrats on reaching your 5000 mile goal — on all trackers. LOL, I’d probably do the same.
Thanks, Coco!
Nicely done with all those end-of-year biking miles! I’m typically not a numbers gal, but be in that close to surpassing a quest like that I’d be OCD on reaching it. I think my most rewarding workout was the 5K group run…. We were flying through the fog!
Same, I usually don’t have those numbers goals, but when I saw how close I was to that “magic number” I became quite obsessive about reaching it. 😉
Congrats on meeting your goal.
I don’t use garmin or strava nd I keep track on the blog… very slow year for me but the healthy so life is good.
no race.
I had Monday off and ran more than 2 miles = productive. Raining today. Icy yesterday.. Winter is not my friend so far.
Thanks, Darlene! It sounds like you’re having a rough winter so far.
CONGRATULATIONS! You did it!!! Oh yes, I would have ridden those extra miles so that Garmin showed 5000.
My runs have all been feeling great lately (which means I’m probably headed for some crushing injury, lol.) Hard to pick the best one. Strength training has been really meh, but that’s what the New Year is for- getting back on track.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!
Thanks, Jenny! While reading “which means I’m probably headed for some crushing injury” I had my fingers in my ears while singing, “Lalalalalalalalalalla,” pretending not to hear what you were saying. LOL I’m sending positive vibes for no new injuries!
Wow, Debbie, you didn’t just cross the 5,000-mile mark—you smashed it twice!
That definitely calls for two celebrations! Well done!
I’d expect nothing less from you than making sure you hit that milestone on both Strava and Garmin.
Are you already thinking about a biking mileage goal for 2025? ♀️
Thanks, Catrina! I haven’t really started thinking about a mileage goal for 2025 yet. And honestly, I didn’t have a 5,000-mile goal set for 2024 until I realized how close I was to reaching it.
Ooooh all that food looks great! Nice job getting in the walk while the dough softened. And omg too funny (or frustrating?) About the Strava vs Garmin mileage. Nice job reaching 5,000 – wow, congrats!!!
I found the missing 15.17-mile ride last night! Stay tuned to Sunday’s recap for what happened.
At that point I sure would hop back on the bike! You want to be sure! 🙂 Congrats on crushing that goal. Your Christmas Eve dinner sounds delish! Happy New Year!
Thanks, Lisa! And yes, I think most of us would do the same regarding the mileage. 😉
Congrats on your 5000 milestone! I was thinking about your question–I’ve never been credited for more miles than I’ve run, so I bet you probably forgot to log those 15 miles somewhere. Today I forgot to shut off my Garmin after I finished my run and started to drive home. My Garmin beeped at the mile (8 miles), but I finished at 7.5. I’m not going to change it though, just because I have run plenty of times when I forget to restart my Garmin after stopping.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, lol.
I found the missing 15.17-mile ride last night – I’ll explain what I DID WRONG to cause the discrepancy in Sunday’s RunDown.
LOL on that speedy last half mile of your run.
YOU DID IT! 5K is amazing! You should be so proud of yourself!
And I love that Pablo wanted thong out with you, too! You know I think he’s on e of the cutest blog doggies!
Your Christmas feast looked amazing – my mom made meatballs, two kinds of lasagna, and vegetable latkes with parsnips, sweet potatoes, and zucchini, while Mr PugRunner made pastrami-style turkey. My stepdad is newly-ish diabetic so it’s been challenging to keep him on track with his food.
Thanks, Jenn! Pablo thanks you for the compliment, too!
I hope your stepdad gets his diabetes and eating in sync without too much difficulty. Sending hugs!
Congratulations Debbie! What an accomplishment.
Your feast looks so good! Love it when Pablo pops up on the blog 🙂
Thanks, Jessie! It was so nice having Pablo and his family visit for the week.