Busyness!!!

 

If we were talking busyness, this week was a doozy.

We're talking all kinds of work-related stuff, daily run streaking, and a host of pre-holiday to-do's that needed attention. Oh, and did I mention we have a college graduation happening soon (like next weekend!)?

I was especially thankful for each and every fitness fix (aka coping vice) that I had at my disposal this week....if you know what I mean. 

Before I dis on the deets, 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 the lowdown on what went down in my busy little world this week:

Sunday: a busy and action-packed morning

If you recall, I had a grandiose plan of doing a 25-mile ride, followed by a 5K run (title pic, above). Both of these would reward me with a couple more Garmin badges (which I really didn't need, but they were up for grabs, so why not?). Well, the joke was on me because after finishing all these biking and running miles, only the 5K run badge popped up. It turns out the biking challenge wasn't due to start until this current weekend (#FacePalm). Oh well, the miles still count in my fitness arsenal, so no big whoop.

Another Never Miss a Monday

A little bit of everything happening. The morning started with 10 miles on the bike and a quick 1-mile streak run. My friend and I took advantage of the nice weather, and knocked out a couple of 1-mile walks during our work breaks. And, I got in another 2-mile walk before dinner (followed by a full  evening of knitting...see below).

A very non-typical Tuesday

The morning Barre and lower-body strength work were on task, as was the 1-mile morning walk at work.  The weather was beautiful, again, but with a big company-wide meeting happening on Thursday and Friday, it was a mad scramble with "email overload" in preparation for the two days of "inactive" work...so no afternoon walking.

With the forecast showing much colder temps and cloudy skies for Wednesday evening, Allison and I decided to do our full moon run an evening early. Hey, the moon looked pretty full to us, and the weather was immaculate. Our Full Moon 4-Miler felt almost effortless!

A surprisingly sunshiny Wednesday

Coming off of the previous evening's full moon run, I chose to keep things low-impact. I hit the bike for 12 easy miles before heading to my 7:30 PT appointment. Oh my...this session was intense with a lot of monster walks (in numerous directions), deadlifts, squats, and a lot of balance work on the glutes and hammies. There was more walking at work (two 1-milers), and a spontaneous 1-mile run in the bright noontime sun (I'd originally planned to run after work but simply had to take full advantage of the beautiful 39F day). The evening also saw a couple upper-body strength workouts.

 

A much needed easy-peasy Thursday

By Thursday morning, my mind, body and soul were ready for some TLC. I cued-up a couple of mobility classes (Peloton app), for the hips and the spine. I also did a short 1-mile streak run (in the cold wind) before heading to the office (for a full day of non-stop action).

    

Friday's fitness...recharged!

After a somewhat late night (see below), there's nothing better than full-on cardio to wake-up my body. Enter: Tabata on the bike! I did a 20-minute low-impact ride as a warm-up, then hit it hard with a 30-minute Tabata class (and finished with a 10-minute upper-body strength session). Then, I headed back to the office for Day-2 of company meeting fun.

  

Finally, after work, I headed out for a 2-mile run to ease into the weekend (and prep for an evening of knitting and Christmas movies).  

A Saturday slow-down

After a slight sleep-in, I mounted the (new-to-me) spinning bike, who had just joined the family. Sebbe, the stationary bike I'd grown to love, had really been showing his age recently (I'm not even sure how long we'd had him because I'd never ridden him until the past few winters). This will take some trial and error, in getting used to the new bike, but this first ride went well (10 miles). Afterwards, I headed outside and knocked out a couple more miles of run streaking. 

 

...and what's on deck for Sunday?

Well, there's that 25-mile ride on deck (in the early hours) and also a streak run (probably a short venture of 1-2 miles). And, there will be even more knitting, LOL.

So, all in all, this week played out pretty nicely. The weather was a bit cold and windy, at times, but overall wasn't too bad. My running miles topped-out at 14, which is the biggest mileage I've had in a couple months! Walking took a major nosedive, due to the cold days...so, a whopping seven miles. Biking, was on-task with 73 miles in the saddle. Currently, my YTD biking miles are at 2817. As mentioned recently in my coffee post, I'm hoping to break 3,000 by year's end. Doing the math, that means 183 miles remain...so I would need to average 61 miles in each of the three remaining weeks. That shouldn't be a problem, but I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed

In case you missed out, there was only one blog post this week:

Weathering Another Wild Ride

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair. Have you ever discovered a long-lost treasure from the depths of your closet? I've had this red and green "Christmas flannel" for decades, but I'd forgotten about it. Well, upon it's (re)discovery, I had to showcase it. After all, 'tis the season. 

Thursday evening, the son and I hustled over to Iowa City to see our Iowa Hawkeye men's basketball team defeat our inner-state rivals, the Iowa State Cyclones. What a game...final score: Iowa 75, ISU 56.

...and, because I needed a few more time-consuming tasks on my plate, LOL, I'm working on a couple of "ugly Christmas sweaters" for the son and youngest daughter. I jokingly offered to make one for the son last year, in the UofI team colors, and now his younger sister wants one as well, in her team's colors. BTW, she'll be graduating from Iowa State on Friday, December 16th. Can I just say that sleep is so overrated this time of year.

sweater #1

So, yes, it's been a week of busyness! I had to take a pass on blogging to devote any and all free time to the knitting needles, in between the daily streak running and extra stuff at the office. Speaking of which, I just realized, on Friday, that I had forgotten to reply to all of the comments on last week's WRD post. Oops, another #FacePalm. The run streak is going well. Sunday's run will be Day-18, so the halfway mark (Day-20) is almost a reality.

Anyways, that's this week's story and I'm sticking with it.

How did your week play-out? Any extra busyness happening in your world as well? Did you catch the full moon? Any fun workouts that need mentioning? Have you been able to opt outside most days?

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