Some like it HOT!

If we’re talking weather, some like it hot. 

Myself? I’m definitely part of that jurisdiction. This past week had me enjoying all kinds of summer-like feels, and I had the glistening & glowing to prove it (not to mention a surplus of laundry). 

As I’ve said numerous times, I’ll take the summer heat, any day, over the winter cold. 

Before I dis on the deets from the heated week. 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 blog as well...please don't link-drop & dash ;-)

Anyways, here’s what went down this week in my little world of fun, fitness, and whatnot:

Sunday gave me a double dose of fitness fun.

I had entertained a trail run (like the previous weekend), but decided to keep it local. I’d also considered an early morning walk, but the warm summer-like morning had me in a recovery run state of mind. I’d done an 8-mile run 24 hours prior, and the temptation was too great to ignore…so, an easy-paced 2-miler kind of happened all on its own. No regrets!

A few hours later, a group of friends rallied at my place, and we set-out on a bike ride to Ankeny, via the Chichaqua Valley Trail and part of the High Trestle Trail. Honestly, is there anything better than a fun (though hot, humid, and windy) ride with friends? I may have crashed on the couch, after cleaning-up, for a couple hours afterwards. Just saying. 

Monday had me stepping outdoors several times.

The day started with a muggy 2-mile morning walk (ugh, it's SO dark in the mornings now, no matter when I head out). There was a mid-morning walk and lunchtime walk (three cumulative miles). Then, I had a busy evening, including several hours in the kitchen (full-moon running while a lasagna baked, see below, and showering while an apple crisp took its turn in the oven). Finally, lights-out at midnight.

Tuesday treated me to some low-key, low-impact fitness.

I started the day with four miles on the indoor bike and some upper-body strength work. There was another 1-mile mid-morning walk, as well as a 2-mile lunch walk. Then, Busy Evening:Take-2 involved a social club gathering for a few hours, after work, before commuting back home. I actually was in bed before 10:30, which is early for me, LOL.

Wednesday had a lot of action. 

It was just Hannah and myself for this week's 4:45AM run. I'm not sure what got into us, but we ran those three miles at a decent clip. She had to head home afterwards, but I continued on for two bonus miles. This run was a good confidence-booster! I haven't been doubting my running, but I haven't been doing any focused speed-work either (again, I blame the residual grumpy left hammy and the untimely stumble-tumble on August 1st). The splits were not only (somewhat) speedy on a  very early, very humid morning, but their paces were surprisingly consistent. I'm good with that! The day got very hot, so there was only a quick 1-mile morning walk and nothing more (other than hosting a family dinner with my two older kids and their significant others that evening). I was in bed even earlier than Tuesday night, shortly after 10:00 (who am I???).

Thursday had me feeling a bit fatigued...

Even after three busy evenings, and three especially long days at the office, I managed to wake-up before my 4:10AM alarm, LOL. I was out the door at 4:30 for the weekly early morning cardio hour with Deb. It was 70F and mucho muggy. I made it to four miles (of walking) and finished with some upper-body strength work afterwards. Michele, Susan and I got out for a 1-mile mid-morning walk at the office, and called it good due to the heat.

Despite the heat and humidity (and requisite wind), I saddled-up and went for a ride after work. Seriously, these summer temps are my gig, and I refuse to stay inside (there will be plenty of indoor riding soon anyways, by default). I had a nasty 12mph headwind heading out, but was rewarded with a nice tailwind after the turn-around.

Ahhh, finally Friday!

Although I was tempted to do a long-ish indoor bike ride, I decided to head outside upon wake-up. I won’t have many more of these warm mornings, so why not take full advantage? It doesn't show in the pic, but there was major patchy fog. I felt like I was on the movie set of a horror film. Two miles of power walking suited me just fine. Later, the temps had warmed up (mid-80F’s), but the humidity had mellowed, so a 2-mile lunch walk beckoned me outdoors. Later, there was a nice evening walk, post-dinner, in the still-wonderful temps.

Saturday surprised me with another run worthy of celebrating! 

After last weekend's successful 8-miler, I was planning on a cutback distance of 10K for this week's "long" run. Well, the weather was near perfect (mid-60F) and, after the first mile warm-up, I just let my legs do their thing. Every time my Garmin beeped, at the mile splits, the times looked consistent (hmmm, just like Wednesday's run, and practically at the same pace, LOL). Suffice it to say, things continued to feel good. I briefly contemplated going for eight or nine miles, but settled on running seven, ending with my fastest split of the morning. I took a 10-minute break at home, grabbed some water and slammed a Greek yogurt, then headed back out for a quick 5-mile bike ride for a leg flush-out and cool-down. There also may have been a 3-mile walk in the early afternoon because the sunshine was so beautiful. 

…and what's happening on Sunday?

The weather is looking substantially cooler as this goes to press. There might be a recovery run, or a walk. Maybe a bike ride? Stay tuned. 

This week had a little taste of a recovery week, with the scaled back running (16 miles), but there was still plenty of low-impact active recovery to keep things in motion. Walking was on-par with 22 miles. Biking held its own with 52 miles (most of which were from Sunday's long ride). I'm keeping consistent with upper-body strength work, but my lower-body mojo has been on sabbatical for awhile. I'm doing very minimal focused lower-body workouts (which is better than nothing), but still. I know I need to kick that back into gear.  

In case you missed it, there was only one post on the blog this week:

A Summer Weather REWIND!

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair. Another Hawkeye football game (on Saturday evening) warranted black and gold attire. With the summer heat outside, the A/C makes it chilly inside at the office. I thought the black and white leopard-print cardi added a bit of a funky flair. Spoiler: the Hawks were victorious over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, on the Gophers' home field nonetheless.

I've lost count of how many full moon runs I've done, but I haven't missed one since I started this streak (May 2021). Two different sources told me two different evenings when the Harvest Moon would be official. Truth is, neither of those evenings (Tuesday or Wednesday) would fit my schedule, so I ran Monday evening, and the moon looked completely full to me (and still looked pretty full-size on Thursday morning's walk with Deb).

So, that’s the latest and greatest. This was a warm, late-summer weather-enhanced week. I guess that made it a perfect send-off to this next season (which shall not be named). 

Did your weather take an abrupt turn back to summer? Any significant workouts to mention? Did you race (or register for any) this week? Are you sad to see summer go, or are you ready for fall to set up homestead?

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