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Saturday, December 18, 2021

Tis the Windy Season


Holy hyper wicked wind, Batman!

It was a week to hold on (tightly) to one's hat! The temps were a bit all over the place, but the wind was constant. Oh joy!

None the less, I was able to continue my daily "outdoor action" streak. The RW Run Streak continues, as does the (new) Peloton streak. Call me crazy, but it beats sitting idle (don't worry, I'm being careful and am not over-doing it with my #sweatequity). Rest assured (literally, LOL), I'm having fun this holiday season.

Before I share all the wind-blown details, welcome to the Weekly Run Down!

I love hosting this link-up with Deborah (from Confessions of a Mother Runner)! If you write a fitness-based blog, you're invited to join the party. The link-up opens at 8:00AM (EST) on Sundays and remains open through noon on Monday. We love reading about everyone's weekly fitness endeavors, training highlights (or low lights) and race recaps. We ask that you link back to both hosts, and we encourage you to read/comment on the other linked blogs as well...please don't link-drop & dash ;-)


Anyways, here's what went down this week in my windy fitness world:

Sunday: Just "brickin' it"
After a slight sleep-in, I spent 12 miles on the bike (spinning and grinning with Cody, courtesy of Peloton), ran the day's streak run (just a 1-miler) and finished with another 8 miles on the bike. Are you ready for this? The second ride was all on my own...no Peloton workout required. I don't want to have every moment on the bike be a specific workout...sometimes it's nice to just do your own thing (or, at least it is for me).


Later, that evening, I decided to give Milly a kick-start. She'd been out of commission for the better part of nine months, but the hubby had found a reset button (about a month ago)...and guess who came back to life! I cued up a Peloton 15-minute walking workout, and all was well. Milly made a lot of noise (she's 20+ years old, for heaven's sake) and the workout was kind of meh...but it was 15 minutes of action and I felt revived. 



Never Miss a (windy) Monday!
Amy and I resumed our ritual 1/2-mile walk--3-mile run--1/2-mile walk routine. The temps were almost pleasant (emphasis on almost) with the single-digit mph wind. Later, a co-worker and I were able to get outside for two different 1-mile walks in the sunshine. After work, I was summoned for 90 minutes of pickle ball. Finally back home around 7pm, I felt like a train wreck. Did I mention I'd gotten my Covid booster that morning? I'd felt fine all day, but the pickle ball session must have been the wild card that set every possible discomfort into motion. At least I slept well that night.

Day-1 of the 12 Days of Fitmas -1 push-up

A tricky Tuesday
Still feeling the effects of a nasty vax hangover, I kept things on the down-low with a short 6-mile ride inside. Later, at work, there were a couple of 1-mile walks in the windy sunshine. By end of day, I finally was feeling mostly back to normal, so I took my streak run to the town square for two miles of holiday lights, and did a core workout after returning back home.
 
Day-2 of the 12 Days of Fitmas - 2 jumping jacks added

Double ride Wednesday
While I was feeling better from my booster hangover, Barb was now under-the-weather, so we took a pass on the #5at5. Instead, I did a Peloton ride (and cool-down), for 12 total miles. I knocked out my streak run (just a 1-miler) and finished off with the 12 Days of Christmas Day-3 set: three bicycle crunches, two jumping jacks, and one push-up). I walked another 1-miler at work. Then, after work, I cued up a couple more cycling workouts, for 10 bonus miles, while dinner was in the oven. Then, the weather took a crazy turn with dangerous wind (30+mph), wind gusts (upwards of 70+mph) and thunder storm conditions for most of the night (see below).

Day-3 of the 12 Days of Fitmas 

Thankful Thursday!
Honestly, there's plenty to be thankful for on a daily basis, but this particular day had me praising Peloton for a fun early-morning strength session. Full body, upper-body and an ABBA-infused core workout...does it get much better in the wee hours in one's basement?
 
Day - 4 of the 12 Days of Fitmas - 4 plank jacks added to the mix

Later, after a long day at the office, Barb and I arranged for a #5atTwilight run. We saw the last few minutes of a beautiful sunset and got our five miles done in the midst of mild wind and cold temps. Sometimes it's not a matter of when the run happens, so long as it happens


Finish strong Friday
I'd only been home a few minutes from my Thursday evening run when a text came in from Allison, asking if I was up for a #5at5 run Friday morning. Remember Allison? I've known her for several months. We've done several full moon runs, but we haven't done a lot of other running together (due to our schedules). She runs a lot more weekly miles than I do (and she's a lot younger, LOL), but I agreed to run a few miles with her. She ran to my house, we left my driveway around 5:15 and ran about three miles together, and she was able to get her five total miles in by the time she returned back to her house. Hmmm...this may be a new routine! Aren't running friends the best!

Day - 5 of the 12 Days of Fitmas - today we added five burpees!

A bit of a struggle bus Saturday long run...
Brrr...another cold morning (18F feels-like with the 9mph wind). Barb and I had decided to wait until 7:30, so we'd have some sunshine working in our favor. I had 6-8 miles on the agenda, and this run was one of those that just felt tough from the get-go. We ran kind of a hilly route (to avoid the headwind), so that didn't help matters. My right hamstring was feeling grumpy, and my right shin started moaning and groaning after the first few miles. Ugh. My energy was a bit compromised as well. Even though the wind wasn't particularly strong, it still was cold. We parted ways just after the 6-mile mark, and I had enough mojo to loop around the college to finish with seven miles for the morning. That said, I finished this run feeling more victorious than defeated. I did a post-run stretch session (Peloton) and rode five easy "flush-out-the-legs" miles on the bike and felt much better afterwards. 
 
Day - 6 of the 12 Days of Fitmas - how about six curtsy lunges (each side)?

What's on tap for Sunday?
Believe it or not, there's another full moon already! A group of us will be #FullMoonRunning Sunday evening, so I'm planning on a long bike ride in the early hours. My body is really feeling fatigued, so I'm keeping the action on the low-impact side so my legs can have some recovery time. There may be an afternoon nap happening, as well as some yoga and/or stretching.

So, yes, there was all kinds of wind this week! A friend told me she'd heard (on tv?) that Iowa is the country's most windy state. Well, I will not argue with that, whether it's fact or just speculation. Honestly, I'd have a much better attitude towards the winter season if the wind played a little nicer, just saying. Despite Momma N's cruel antics, this wound up being a pretty strong week for me. I finished with 22 miles of running, 8 miles of walking, and 51 miles of biking. Let me just say, Monday's pickle ball (some of which was singles play) came with some serious cardio and exertion (12 hours post-vax, LOL). Also, this week had some solid strength workouts, a couple of core workouts, and some yoga! As for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge...it started out pretty easy, but has already picked up momentum, and that will continue on through most of next week. 

In case you missed out, here's what all went down on the blog this week:

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair! Cheers to the holidays and company parties! My place of work had its official Jingle and Mingle Friday afternoon, so I sported another festive swing dress, this one in a mad red plaid. After work, the hubs and I hosted a small dinner party, so the party dress stayed on for several more hours. Does your place of work have a company party this time of year? 


Iowa's second derecho (in 16 months) swept across the state on Wednesday.  The temps were massively warm...like, in the 70F's! Unfortunately, it was far too windy and dangerous outdoors to enjoy the warmth. We had increasing wind all day, we were under a tornado watch most of the afternoon and then had storms in the evening. It sounded like a severe blizzard was raging outside, overnight, but no snow.

as a point of reference, my town (Grinnell) is an hour east of Des Moines, and about 30 minutes southeast of Marshalltown, so our conditions were very similar to theirs.

How about some good news? Tuesday, December 22, is the Winter Solstice!  We've just about made it, my friends!!! Getting past the Solstice is HUGE for me, every winter, because it means we will be on the other side of the darkness. Brighter days ahead, literally! 


Finally, this meme made me laugh out loud. Let's hope 2022 plays a little nicer than it's "big sister," 2020.


And that's a wrap! How did your week play out? Any new workouts? Crazy weather? Are you excited for the Winter Solstice?

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33 comments:

  1. I definitely had to take a few days on the fitness D.L. after my booster on Monday. But I've still got my streak! I'll be running on the treadmill on Tuesday but I'm going to get a bonus mile outside during sunrise to celebrate the shortest day.

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    1. Right? The booster (as did both of the previous shots) just did not agree with my body. Thankfully, the side effects were relatively short-lived. I:m so excited the Solstice is almost here!!!

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  2. Yay for Milly's resuscitation! And oh my gosh, that meme - let's hope not!

    Thanks for the linkup and have a great rest of your weekend and week! Merry Christmas!

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    1. Yeah, Milly totally surprised me! I certainly don't plan on spending much time with her, but it's good to know she still has some juice in her.

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  3. I am excited for the solstice as well! Yay! That wind was scary and I am grateful we escaped any tornadic action. Great to hear Milly is back to life! Gotta love those older mills! They are workhorses for sure!

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    1. I heard there were several tornadoes that touched down, but (thankfully) our town didn't get any. We're barely recovered from the other derecho (August 2020), so another disaster would not be good.

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  4. Yes the solstice will be nice to start bringing in some more daylight to the afternoons. We do get a lot of wind as well but usually more in Feb/March around here. Way to keep it super active this week. Nice variety!

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    1. I remember last January, I already could notice a big difference in the daylight after work. Looking forward to brighter days!!!

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  5. Love the swing dress so much!! It's so festive and flattering.
    And thanks for the reminder about the solstice- i can't wait for brighter mornings!

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    1. I won't notice much in the mornings for awhile (I'm up way too early), but I'm looking forward to having more daylight at least after work ;-)

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  6. The wind has been ridiculous lately! This week was the worst. There were a lot of downed trees all over the hood. Glad nothing bad happened this time. Busy busy!

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    1. We had such crazy wind, especially Wednesday, it's amazing there wasn't much damage (other than that big tree pictured above). I heard it's because most trees were barren from leaves, so there wasn't much "resistance" to the wind.

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  7. I do always love the solstice especially as it makes it easier to stay longer at my mom, but of course that won’t happen for a month.

    Great variety of workouts, Kim—as always!

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    1. It's most ironic how much I LOVE the Solstice, LOL. I'm such a daylight/warmth/sunshine gal, but the Solstice feels like such a conquest to get beyond.

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  8. A great week of varied workouts and congrats on keeping up the streak.

    Hoping for less wind this week and for a nicer 2022.

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    1. Gosh, I am ready for NO WIND for a very long time...as if,LOL.

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  9. A great week of sport, brava!
    I'm excited for the solstice. It has many meanings too.
    Here we had a sunny week even if with an unusual cold for this place. However ideal weather for running.

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    1. It just feel so good to have the Solstice behind us...it's such a buzzkill to see the days getting shorter (and darker) in the late summer and fall. I can tolerate the cold a little better knowing we're at least headed towards longer days and warmer temps.

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  10. What a busy, active week and how fun that you were able to run with friends!

    I can't wait for the days to get longer. The constant darkness..ughh. Luckily there's a Lights Festival near where i live, so I'm planning on checking it out.

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    1. The darkness is really tough to deal with. I don't think I have SADD, but I definitely miss the long days of summer (and the heat, too!).

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  11. Yes, I know all about your crazy weather because my sister lives in Illinois. I just have to say- bring the colder temps down here! It's been in the 80s for the last couple weeks and we would like something a little cooler for Christmas.
    Great job on all your workouts! You kept your streaks going and even got the Covid booster in the middle of it all. I love all the festive clothing!

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    1. The Covid booster nearly knocked me down Monday night (and most of Tuesday), but I'm glad to have that behind me. The festive clothing is fun ;-) I wish I could wear it year-round without garnering strange looks...

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  12. I thought of you on my blustery run today! That Chase Tucker bodyweight workout was a fun one, although my shoulders were wondering what was up with those kick-through push-ups! I hope the weather settles down now. :-(

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    1. Yeah, those push-ups were tricky! I'd never seen that variation before. We had a very blustery full moon run tonight, 13mph wind and 17F feels-like...brrrr!

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  13. I had a day off after my booster as had aching joints. Feels so good to be more protected, though. No holiday party here in my sole trader world but husband had a meal out with his work colleagues last week. I wasn't keen on him going but he does miss seeing them! It's been really cold today but still up and down - went for a slowish run round some advent windows locally and a coffee outside and I was a bit blue when I got home!

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    1. It got really cold tonight here...the wind has really been a mean dragon!

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  14. The wind has been so crazy lately! I am so happy we're closing in on the Solstice :)

    You had another awesome week of fitness! Enjoy your full moon run tonight!

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    1. Thank you, Michelle! Ugh, the wind has really been tough! We had 13mph wind tonight for our run. It was brisk!

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  15. Nothing wrong with a runner friend who runs a bit more mileage and is a little younger! I love how running actually gives you those friendships where age doesn't really matter (like my friend from Texas who's in her 60s!- we still have SO much to talk about!)

    I'm surprised you weren't hit by any of those tornadoes! We had a thunderstorm here in December, which was nuts!

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    1. Somehow, the tornadoes missed our town, but there were several that did touch down (or so I heard). The wind was absolutely out of control.

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  16. I am shocked and amazed that Milly came back to life! She just needed a little rest, lol.

    The weather was hot and cold here last week but the wind was the one constant and I'm so over it!

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    1. Yes, I'm so over the wind as well. It's really a challenge to deal with this time of year when the temps are already so cold.

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  17. OMG. I have the booster hangover today. Ugh. I love all your festive shirts and lights. So fun.

    The wind has been nasty here. We have another nor'easter coming through.

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