weekly workouts // september 17

Monday, September 17 – my legs ached a bit today after yesterday’s 7.5-mile run, so I took a nice, relaxing rest day and lounged on the sofa, reading and blogging while drinking some tea. Lovely.

Tuesday, September 18 – an unintended rest day, as I had a meeting in Albert Lea that went late. Today was all about perspective.

Wednesday, September 19 – following a 500-yard warm-up at 6:15a, Nick busted out his swim bag-o-goodies (we’ve lived together six months; how didn’t I know about this before?!), including hand paddles and pull buoys. And, whoa – and I never thought I’d say this – swimming is suddenly fun. Who knew?! We alternated use during 6 x 200-yard intervals, which flew by. It took me a few laps to get used to the paddles, as your arm has to enter and exit the water just right or your stroke is thrown way off-kilter and you end up having to lift your head awkwardly to breath (but, that could just be me). We finished up with a 300-yard cool down.

Swim: 2,000 yards, 47 minutes.

Who else is loving autumn?! My run splits have been decent, but they really seem to have stepped up now that the temps have fallen. Tonight’s windy, cool run felt pretty good… nothing fantastic, just steady, pound-out-the-miles feel good. My heart rate stayed high – an average of 168 with a max of 204… whoa – and my HR strap continued to irritate. Nothing like chaffing to the point of scabbing on Sunday’s run, and today didn’t help. Also, as much as I love the weather, I’m not quite ready to give up running in speed shorts!

Run: 5.57 miles, 44:16, 7:57 min/mile.

Tonight’s dinner: curry tuna cakes + roasted acorn squash. YUM. Which was followed by some sofa time and updating my training log.

Thursday, September 20 – you know you haven’t biked for a few days when you forget to put on your helmet. I biked three blocks before I realized I wasn’t wearing it. Weird. I felt exposed, unprotected and unsafe.

Also unsafe and scary: All the drivers who blatantly run red lights. I saw one at nearly every single stoplight on Summit Avenue. C’mon, people!

Bike: 18.62 miles, 1:07:36.

Friday, September 21 – kind of a mishmash today…

1. Happy 59th birthday to my amazing dad! I’m so lucky you’re my dad 🙂
2. Too many books, not enough free time to read!
3. Pho is the most delicious dinner on cool autumn evenings. Especially pho at Ngon.
4. Monopoly seems way more complicated as an adult than it did as a kid. It took us four hours to finish one game! But, when you’re playing with fun friends at a toasty warm cabin in the woods – er, maybe it was the wine that made me toasty? – four hours flies by. Thanks, Nick + Shannon!

Saturday, September 22 – not so toasty today when we removed the dock and boat lift! Brrrrr.

Crazy triathlete swimming in 55-degree water.

Removing the boat lift chilled me to the bone. Despite being bundled up in Smart Wool and a down puffer vest, I shivered until I stepped into the yoga studio. The heat + humidity felt like a cozy blanket, and I instantly warmed up, relaxed into child’s post and fell asleep in savasana.

Yoga: C2 vinyasa, 75 minutes.

Sunday, September 23 – I’m not quite ready for these chilly fall mornings – 40 degrees! – so I wasn’t sure what I should wear for this morning’s run with pal Sonia. So, I brought two different jackets and two long sleeve tops to her house, and after a bit of discussion, I opted for the two long sleeve tops, which turned out to be perfect. Our 8a run was great for two reasons.

1. Running with a friend is much more fun. Sonia and I run the exact same pace and always have tons to talk about. Thanks for an awesome run this morning, dear!
2. New routes rock. As much as I enjoy running Summit Avenue, it gets old. Switching up the route keeps it interesting and makes the miles tick by faster. Plus, the Lilydale path along the Mississippi is gorgeous!

I had originally planned to race the Women Run the Cities 10-miler today, but by the time I got around to registering, it was full. Lesson learned: No more race sign-up procrastination. But, I still logged nine miles and saved $60 😉

Run: 9.09 miles, 1:22:50, 9:07 min/mile.

I hopped on my bike intending to ride for just an hour. But, it was far too beautiful for that short of a spin. After an uncooperative Garmin – it read only one foot for the first three miles – I switched up my regular route for a cruise around Nokomis, down Minnehaha, around half of lakes Harriet + Calhoun, around Isles and back home on the greenway. Ride highlight: I came within an INCH of being doored by someone getting out of a parked car near Isles. It frazzled me so much that I had to stop for a couple minutes to calm down. Yikes. Has anyone else been close to being doored – or, worse yet, actually been doored?!

Bike: 30.41 miles, 1:34:51 (including the three miles my Garmin didn’t count).

Weekly stats

I feel rather lazy about this week. Three rest days?! That’s almost unheard of for me.

Swim: 2,000 yards, 47:00
Bike: 49.03 miles, 2:42:27
Run: 14.66 miles, 2:07:06
Yoga: one class, 60:00

This week: I’ll be on my bike, soaking up what’s left of the early evening sunshine as well as a couple early morning swims and yoga classes.

What do you have on tap this week? Any weekend races? And, who raced this past weekend, and how did it go?!