weekly workouts // november 19

Monday, November 19 – a run AND vinyasa yoga all before noon today?! All Mondays should start like that! My legs were a bit sluggish on the 3.5-mile loop down Summit and Selby, but it felt great to be outside in the sunshine. And, running in crops and a long sleeve top in November?! It doesn’t get much better. Usually by this time of the year there’s a few inches of snow on the ground, and even though I’m excited to start skiing, I’m ok with a few more days sans snow.

Run: 3.5 miles, about 30 minutes.

Post run, Amelia lead a lovely vinyasa at the Grand Avenue studio. We flowed through the same sequence as last week… the half moon to tree transition is getting easier!

Yoga: C2 vinyasa, 60 minutes.

And, happiest 30th birthday to my beautiful sister! We surprised her tonight at La Grolla for dinner; she had no idea, and we had a great night celebrating. I swear it was just yesterday we were bickering in the back seat on family road trips, and now, we’re best of friends in our 30s 🙂

Tuesday, November 20 – tonight’s Performance Power P2X run started at Raspberry Island downtown Saint Paul. Teammate Rob and I climbed the Wabasha Street bridge stairs for about 20 minutes before Curt joined us for another 15 minutes and about 10 minutes of flat around Harriet Island. Coach Matt met us about halfway through, and we finished the “around the world” stairs near the bridge. My legs were rubber by the end of the run; the last couple stair climbs were tough!

Run: about eight miles (not sure on distance; I ran sans Garmin), 90 minutes.

Wednesday, November 21 – after a lazy morning of espresso and blogging, I met Nick at his office in Eagan with our mountain bikes. We hit up Lebanon for a couple loops through the woods. My third mountain bike spin, I felt a little more comfortable on the single track boulder and tree root lined trails. It’s just such a change from the road, and I forget that the chunky wheels are quite a bit more forgiving than my road bike’s skinny tires.

Mountain biking: eight miles, 60 minutes.

It was far too beautiful out to not hop on the Madone for an afternoon spin, so after Lebanon we got out for a quick loop around MSP on the Ford-Franklin loop. What a treat to mountain bike AND road bike on the same November day in Minnesota! I have a feeling that today was the last time I’ll be outside on the road bike in 2012. Sad.

Road biking: Although I used my Garmin Edge 500 on today’s ride, it’s now missing. Estimated biking stats: 15 miles, about 55 minutes.

Thursday, November 22 – Nick and I had every intention of running the Turkey Day 5K downtown Minneapolis this morning, but we changed our minds at the last minute, opting to avoid an extra early alarm, crazy traffic and crowd chaos (16,000 people trotted). Instead, we joined our P2 teammates at the 740 building on East River Road for some serious stairs. I lost count of how many times we ran up the stairs at Minnehaha, but according to Nick’s Garmin, we climbed more than 1,600 vertical feet.

In the nearly five years I’ve lived in MSP, I’ve never explored the stairs or trails at Minnehaha. What a fantastic place to run!

Run: 4.6 miles, 1,600 feet vertical climbing, 90 minutes.

After running… so.much.thanksgiving.food. We joined Nick’s family friends in Stillwater for four – yes, FOUR! – turkeys! And, Washington state oysters flown in on Wednesday… what.a.treat.

Friday, November 23 – today, we brunched with friends at French Meadow, stopped at Urban Tri (and, got a feel for an Argon 18 E-118 tri bike… yes, please), avoided all Black Friday madness and relaxed the rest of the day.

Saturday, November 24 – since I hadn’t swam all week, I started today in the pool. After 500-yard warm-up – with a lane to myself the entire workout – I swam a ladder: 100, 200, 300, 300, 200, 100. And, rounded it out with a slow 100-yard cool down. After yesterday’s laziness and all the food from the past two days, moving in the water felt amazing.

Swim: 1,800 yards, about 37 minutes.

We joined my aunt + uncle in Burnsville for thanksgiving round two this afternoon. And, we rounded out the day with friends at an all you can eat sushi benefit for NAMI. Such a fun day of visiting with family and such a fun evening with friends!

Sunday, November 25 – I had to run today to burn off some of the weekend gluttony, so I joined P2ers at the Cathedral for a 90-minute jaunt around Saint Paul. We ran up and down stairs, up and down hills, up and down parking ramps, and explored beautiful streets I didn’t know existed, just blocks from my house. That’s one of my favorite things about running: It’s the perfect way to explore and take in all the details you’d otherwise miss when you’re driving by in a car.

Run: about 9 miles, 90 minutes.

Post run, my throat was a little scratchy and I was a bit congested, and I thought it would go away once I warmed up. Instead it got worse. Stupid cold. I probably should have stayed home tonight with a bowl of homemade turkey-quinoa-sweet potato soup, but couldn’t miss yoga. I’d been looking forward to it all week!

Brigitte lead a lovely vinyasa under twinkle lights at the Yellow Barn Wellness studio. What a magical space! We flowed on the second floor of a restored barn to Shahar Eberzon‘s beautiful voice… the perfect way to end a wonderful holiday weekend.

Yoga: vinyasa flow, 60 minutes.

Weekly stats

One of my biggest running weeks all year – and, it feels great!

Swim: 1,800 yards, ~37:00
Bike: 16 miles, 1:55
Run: 26.1 miles, 4:50
Yoga: two classes, 2:00

This week: I’m hoping this cold doesn’t get any worse, so I can thoroughly enjoy my last week off of work before I start my new gig. If I can breathe through my nose, there will be more of the same this week… running, yoga-ing, swimming and maybe a spin class or trainer session (or two).

I hope everyone had a lovely thanksgiving weekend!