Memorial Day

As we enjoyed time with family and friends over a three-day holiday weekend, it was important to remember that Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember and honor our military members who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. These heroes gave the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedom.

 

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: 25 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.8 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:45 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in the basement, 46° and partly cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Cycling: 25.58 miles
• Bike: Salsa Warbird
• Average speed: 10.8 MPH
• Surface: gravel
• Elevation gain: 1,827 feet
• Start time: 8:58 AM
• Location: Goose Creek Historic Bridge loop
• Weather: 57°, sunny, and breezy, climbing to 65°
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, jacket, and fingerless gloves (took jacket off about 10 miles in)

I didn’t get into bed until 11:20 after a late night with friends and only got 4:55 of sleep, but didn’t let that stop me from getting up early to get some miles in on my spin bike before our gravel ride. It was worth it, too, because I got an email from Chuck during my ride letting the team know that Dawn Patrol had moved into 1st place in the Great American Ride! The gravel ride moved me into 6th place overall and I noticed that the lady who logged 1919.4 miles a couple of days before has been removed from 1st place.

Once home from our ride and lunch at Lost Barrel Brewery I cooked for our barbecue. I had hoped to take a nap, but before I knew it, it was time to leave for 5 PM mass. Dinner was the aforementioned barbecue, just the two of us.

 

Monday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Cycling: 32.65 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 13.4 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 1,230 feet
• Start time: 12:37 PM
• Location: W&OD Trail Ashburn/Hamilton loop
• Weather: 68° and mostly cloudy, climbing to 72° and mostly sunny
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, and fingerless gloves

I had made sure to get to bed early to make up for the previous night’s lack of sleep and even slept in a bit – the combo gave me 9:19 of sleep. Once it warmed up a bit, my friend Betsy and I went out for a ride. I was very disappointed that there weren’t pictures of fallen military members every half mile on the W&OD Trail as there have been the last couple of years, nor was the old lime kiln decorated with flags as in years past. While out we saw my friend and Great American Ride team leader Chuck and stopped to chat. This ride moved me into 5th place overall and earned me the Memorial Day badge in the Great American Ride.

 

Tuesday

Cycling: 32 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in the basement, 54° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

Walking: 1.01 miles
• Average pace: 36:32 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:37 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in basement, 57° and raining outside
• What I wore: shorts and sweatshirt

Back working after a fabulous long weekend with family and friends, I got up early and hopped on my spin bike while virtually training my first client and ended up staying on longer than planned. This ride earned me the Garmin May 100K Cycling badge.

I planned to walk at noon once it had warmed up a bit, but rain moved in at 11:30, much earlier than initially forecasted. I just didn’t feel like walking on the treadmill again, so I skipped my walk until my brother called and I got the great idea to track my walking laps with my Fitbit while chatting – I’m a pacer when I’m on the phone.

 

Wednesday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Cycling: 17 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 14.9 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:58 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 66° in the basement, 53° (feels like 47°) and raining outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

I  got in some bonus riding miles when I decided at the last minute to hop on my spin bike while training a virtual client. It rained all day so I skipped walking.

 

Thursday

Cycling: 71.13 miles
• Bike: Specialized Roubaix Comp
• Average speed: 13.3 MPH
• Surface: paved
• Elevation gain: 2,359 feet
• Start time: 9:08 AM
• Location: W&OD Trail to the Custis Trail and onto the Mount Vernon Trail into DC
• Weather: 60° and cloudy, then 5 minutes of very light rain, then sunny, and finally climbing to 73° and cloudy again
• What I wore: bike shorts, s/s jersey, jacket, and fingerless gloves (took jacket off after 5 miles)

With decent weather in the forecast, I reached out to Chuck to see if he wanted to ride with my husband and me into DC. Chuck lives east of us, but rode west to meet us adding mileage to the 70-mile ride we had planned. We rode on trails to the Memorial Bridge which we took to the Lincoln Memorial. We hung out just long enough to take a picture with the Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument, and US Capitol behind us.

The combined effort of the three of us added 250 miles to Dawn Patrol’s total for the Great American Ride and moved me into 4th place out of 413 participants.

 

Friday

Strength training: 1 hour of total body

Walking: 2.04 miles
• Average pace: 15:48 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 96 feet
• Start time: 10:17 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 71° and sunny, climbing to 73°
• What I wore: shorts, s/s shirt, and visor

Balance and stretching: 45 minutes

Cycling: 26 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.6 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 3:25 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 68° in the basement, 76° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

After asking Kim to reschedule our virtual workout from the day before, we got our workout on with a walk.

Chuck let me know that I’d slipped out of 4th place so I made sure to add a spin to my day’s workout repertoire to regain my place once I got home from teaching my balance and stretching class . I’m looking forward to next Friday when this challenge ends – I may not get on my spin bike again until fall. 😉

Collage credit: Kim

Saturday

Cycling: 50.4 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.7 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:09 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in the basement, 55° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra

With a full day of family fun on tap, I was up early to do a few chores before pounding out a bunch of miles on my spin bike. With rain storms on and off all day, I never made it back outside to walk… oh well.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

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

 

Questions:
  • • Did you do celebrate Memorial Day with a parade, race, or some other way? ~ We’ve gone to Arlington Cemetery in the past, but didn’t this year.
  • • Have you been to DC? ~ Many times – I used to work in DC.
  • • Which workout did you feel was most successful this week? ~ Sunday’s gravel ride was challenging and just the right distance.

 

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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