Week in Review (January 14 - January 20)

Tuesday (12,927 steps) - Peloton and dog walk before going into the office. Went to the gym at lunch. Did another HIIT program on the StairMaster, one level up from last week. It's definitely a good workout, even with the slower climbing. 

Also did some upper body. Took Olive for  walk when I got home before going out and doing a few deliveries. 

Wednesday (22,870 steps) - Walked Olive before going into the office for work. Had another workout/tempo run at lunch, which obviously I was dreading. It was actually relatively nice weather (for January), and I ran most everything outside of the warmup in a tee shirt and thin tights! I didn't quite hit my goal pace of 9:55, but I did get under 10:30 for the 19 minutes (I know it shouldn't be that hard to sustain, and yet...) - even with a few minutes of walking. When I was actually running, I was in 9:40-9:55 pace range, I just struggled to hang on for the whole time. Meh.

Thursday (14,022 steps) - Work from home. Did some time on the Peloton before taking Olive for a long walk since the weather was INCREDIBLE. I wore only a sweatshirt and was fine, almost hot. After lunch I actually pulled out my step and barbell and weights and did a BodyPump video. Holy cow, I haven't done one of these in ages and I was sweating to death while doing this. I did forget how much it hurts to have the bar on the back of my neck though, I might need to invest in some foam (or a pool noodle) to fix this. Did some packing for our weekend trip, but didn't finish. We did our usual Torchy's Thursday, then I took Olive for a walk. We are now watching the Dexter prequel, which is decent. 

Friday (13,521 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang. Another boring day for Olive at work.

Also heard back and I'm back on the Roost team for another year. If I hadn't taken a few years off during Covid I think this would be my 10th year, so this is probably year 8! Go Roost!

Thankfully, I got home from work before any weather came in. Dropped Olive off and did a few deliveries before meeting Ben at 4 Noses for an NA. Ben picked up pizza and I finished packing/cleaning. Dexter.

Saturday (10,876 steps) - I had my alarm set for 7:45, so of course I woke up at 6. Double checked all my gear, poked around, ate breakfast and had coffee. Got Olive all dressed up in her puffy coat and boots for a walk. She doesn't mind the coat but HATES the shoes (still).

She made it about 2 minutes before she started chewing on her front boots. It was incredibly cold and I got tired of it, so I took off the front boots. She doesn't seem to mind the back ones as much. She loves the snow and had a fun time burrowing, like usual. 

After a few minutes I noticed she was chewing on her front paws so we headed back home. We left the house at 9:30 with a quick stop at Dutch Bros. before going to pick up Ariel in Golden - it was snowing pretty decently, so I was glad Ben was driving us.

We were really surprised to be boarding on time, but then we sat on the plane for nearly two hours while they fixed some valve. It was truly bizarre, they actually were letting people off the plane, so when it all got fixed we had to wait for everyone to get back on, which took forever. BUT, we made it out!

We had to wait for Lisa to get out of church, but it wasn't bad and it was warm enough for me to pace outside and get all my steps in for the day. Juju was with her, and we went back to Lisa's house in Elgin for dinner. Lisa and I watched a movie "I See You" that I swear I had already seen, but couldn't remember how it ended. Was midnight before I got to sleep. VERY long day.

Random pic of Lisa's dog, because he is adorable

Sunday (10,226 steps) - I had set an alarm so I could go for a short run before we drove down to San Antonio. It was much colder than I expected it to be, so I wore my joggers and a hoodie (which I never do). Especially for Texas, feels like 10 and windy was COLD. I ran up and down her neighborhood, including a new section that hadn't yet been completed last year.

Juju made breakfast tacos, we had coffee, and got out the door by 9:15. The drive to San Antonio was 1:45, but we stopped at Buccee's along the way to get some drinks and a snack. Our first stop was Ariel's grannie's house - I haven't seen her in many years. We spent a few hours talking and then headed to Ben's parents house. We got there just in time to join them for brunch.

Bill, Ben's stepdad, is President of the Board of their building, and he gave us all a very thorough tour of the building. Lisa and Juju stayed long enough to get the tour of the building and their unit before they had to head back home. 

Ariel me, Ben's mom

Bill showed us a slideshow of their Vermont property (they sold their 80+ acres in 2020, and unfortunately we never got to see it in person) and the grounds of Shelburne Farms where he was a tour guide for years. Very neat to see the photos and hear stories. We continued the tour and watched the sunset from the 22nd floor (the room where they do social hours and get togethers - I swear they are more active socially than me and Ben).

They don't have dinner in the building on Sunday evenings, so we decided to go out. The first two places they wanted to go were closed, so we went to the 410 Diner. It was delicious! I got a BLT with egg and a side of mac and cheese.

It was after 9 before we got back to their building, but that just meant it was time for dessert! We had ice cream and talked until 10!!

Monday (10,221 steps) - I actually slept pretty well and got up just after 7 to do a quick run. It felt even colder! The temperature was supposedly only "feels like 14" - but it felt more humid. Bill had shown me a good neighborhood to run in behind their building. It WAS a very quiet neighborhood, I didn't see a single vehicle on the roads the whole time I was out. It was a little hillier than I expected, but I'm glad I went out - plus, I saw the yard of the month!

Quick run to the room to change clothes before meeting Ben's parents for breakfast - I had french toast and strawberries.

His parents are incredibly popular and friendly and seemingly knew everyone! Many people came up to introduce themselves and they had all obviously heard stories about both of us, inquiring about Ariel's school and my running. We were just about to head to the airport when I got a notification our flight was delayed an hour. We opted to grab our bags and have a quick lunch before going to the airport. I had a club wrap and carrot cake!

Bill drove us to the airport and I got a selfie of me and Ben's mom in the back of their fancy electric Mercedes.

We left for the airport with an hour until our flight was supposed to leave, but with a 15 minute drive and only a dozen people ahead of us in line at security, we still made it to the gate just as they were starting pre-boarding. I watched a few more episodes of Squid Games 2 on the flight. We actually didn't even land that late and Ben picked us up. We stopped for dinner at Table Mountain Inn for dinner on the way to take Ariel back to school. 

I had thought about taking Olive for a walk, but it was really too cold for it. Unpacked and watched an episode of Dexter before I called it at 9 to go to bed early. 

Stats:

• 94,663 steps
• 8.52 miles run (and that's only because I voluntarily ran in TX, didn't have anything on schedule)
• 15.39 miles walked
• 60 minutes of cardio
• 40 minutes of strength

Week in Review (January 7 - January 13)

Tuesday (10,167 steps) - With Olive's paw still hurting, no walk before walk. I did do a row session (and starting Squid Games 2) before going into the office. Went to the gym at lunch. Did a HIIT on the StairMaster, which was kinda fun. Also strength training. 

Still no walk with Olive after work because she is still limping a bit.

Wednesday (23,925 steps) - Work in the office. Did my run at lunch. Speed work, but not as horrible as what I've done recently. I would 100% rather do sprints vs. long and sustained paces. Like Ben says though, that is my weakness, so I guess I have to work on that. 

I still think something is wonky with the paces though

Olive was feeling better, so I took her for a walk after work.

Thursday (10,737 steps) - A half hour on the Peloton before logging in to work at home. Took Ariel for coffee, took Olive for a walk, rowing and some strength training. Busy day! Olive had a fun time doing "workouts" with me.

Friday (12,919 steps) - The group decided it was too cold to go to Wash Park, so I just took Olive to work again. It was a very busy day, as is evidenced by my messy desk.

Started a new series "The Day of the Jackal."

Saturday (35,463 steps) - Headed to Boulder to meet up with Terri and Larry for a day of adventuring! I had 3.5 hours on schedule, and I had created a somewhat beefy route. It was sunny, but windy out. 

I wasn't feeling spectacular, yet again. I wonder if I will ever feel rested and "in shape" again.

Once we passed the spur for Fern, I made the executive decision to do the Shanahan loop FIRST - it always sucks and leaving it until the end seemed like we would end up bailing. I like this picture of Larry:

This felt hard, hard, hard. We opted to cut out some of the miles we had planned since it was already taking longer than we planned. We headed towards Shadow Canyon, which unknowingly added back in the miles we had taken out earlier AND added more vertical gain. Oops.

We are all VERY happy to have this done. It was a long, tough day. Good company, though. We went to 4 Noses afterwards. I had an Athletic Brewing Hazy IPA and a Topo - plus the BBQ food truck was there again, which we like. Went home to walk Olive. I suggested to Ben that we go sit in the sauna at the rec center because I still couldn't warm up from being so cold all morning. We had a soft goal of a half hour. I am pretty sure I have never sat in a sauna for that long and I thought I was going to die and/or pass out.

Home to shower and Ben made dinner. Yum!

More Jackal.

Sunday (17,752 steps) - Took Olive for her first long walk in ages. She had a great time!

We still had a run to do, and neither of us was looking forward to it. I thought I was overdressed in a fleece-lined long sleeve and vest. By the time we started the run it was breezy and cloudy and I was NOT overdressed. I slogged up the first hill (but ran the whole thing). This actually was not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be, so that's good. Slow, but ran all the hills.

Stopped at 4 Noses. More NA beer for me and the Ninja Ramen food truck was there and I got a very delicious "power bowl." 

We were basically done for the day. More Jackal. We had a late dinner since we were still full from lunch.

Monday (14,587 steps) - Work from home. I had to go for my run early, but thankfully it was only 45 minutes, and it wasn't terrible. 

Immediately took Olive for a walk after. Worked until I had to go to the dentist. Did some deliveries after work. Ben made dinner while I took Olive for a walk. Jackal.

Stats:

• 125,550 steps
• 26.99 miles run
• 13.69 miles walked
• 75 minutes of cardio
• 47 minutes of strength

Week in Review (December 31 - January 6)

Tuesday (20,314 steps) - Rower and Olive walk before going to work. Gym at lunch, where I did the StairMaster (Transamerica Building) and a full body strength workout.

Took Olive for a walk after work and hoped to do some deliveries, but it wasn't very busy. We ended up going to Parry's as our New Year's Even dinner/beer. I have plans on doing at least dry January again)

Watched more Yellowstone and I took a look at all my final numbers for the year. Most impressed, honestly, with all the reading that I got done. I had a Kindle many years ago that I sold because I never used it. Ben got me one last year and I've used it a TON.

It appears that I was higher in every area EXCEPT running. I think I was a few hundred miles shorter than last year, but that's not really a surprise. I was getting burned  out after FRUD and cut back to 4 days of running a week.

Steps were up this year also!

We finished up the night with our mug club bottles from 4 Noses. At the time, 14.2% beer seemed like a great idea...

Wednesday (26,427 steps) - Until I had to get up early so that we could go to Morrison for our annual New Years Day run. Curse me for being in charge and having to show up!! We got there a couple minutes late and discovered that only Kristin, Pete & Janet had committed to the day. Pete and Janet were planning on doing their own thing, so that left me, Ben & Kristin to do the route we've done since 2020.

I felt absolutely horrific at the start of this run. Very heavy legs, labored breathing and a pounding headache. It thankfully wasn't nearly as cold as we thought it would be.

Even saw a herd of deer on the road to Red Rocks.

Shortly after finishing all the climbing I mentioned that I kind of wanted to cut the run short (by cutting over near Dinosaur Ridge). We all decided that would be a good idea. Probably because I was moving at basically a brisk walking pace.

Even running down the hill on the backside of Dino Ridge didn't feel great, and I had to stop and use the bathroom at the visitor center. 

I did, thankfully, start to feel a bit better by the time we got to the bike path. We weren't fast, but we ran basically the whole segment. Kristin had finished up a few minutes before me and Ben, and Pete and Janet arrived not too long after. We decided to continue our tradition of going to the Holiday Bar in Morrison. They charge for parking now, so we parked at the free parking, which is 1/3 of a mile from town, if you were wondering. Ben got us some NA beer (yay, dry January!) and we had delicious burgers and fries.

We talked for a bit before dispersing for the day. After getting home and showering I took Olive for a long walk to the lake since the weather was nice. 

Thursday (10,647 steps) - Work from home, so did a long walk with Olive at lunch and a Peloton ride/strength at lunch. I still really like playing lane break on the bike.

Drove for a bit before going to Torchy's for our weekly dinner. Took Olive for a walk after we got home.

Friday (15,043 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang - with another gorgeous sunrise!

We went to Costco and got some groceries for the week & picked up a pizza for dinner.

Saturday (26,176 steps) - Procrastinated going out for our long run. Finally we headed up to Boulder around 10. We had planned a pretty good loop, but once again, I felt horrible. It was very foggy and humid and COLD. I hoped to have run a lot more of this, but ended up hiking quite a bit. I hope if I can continue with not drinking for a bit that some of this fatigue will eventually go away.

At some point we were on the upper Goshawk Ridge Trail and we missed the "right" road to complete the loop and had to use Gaia and offline Strava to get back on course. Stupid. I have done this section dozens of times. But also... come on Boulder, put a freaking sign there. We decided after completing the loops that we would just back the way we came instead of doing the big loop we had planned.

Can you tell I have windburn from the cold?? And frozen hair?

Ben is doing "damp" January, so we went to 4 Noses afterwards so he could have beer. I got an NA beer and a Topo. We were pretty hungry and got Gyro bowls from the food truck.

Took Olive for a walk when we got home, then showered and proceeded to sit on the couch for the rest of the night.  Watched 1883!

Sunday (18,821 steps) - A needed to move back into her dorm room, but we didn't really have a timeline. I took Olive for a walk while Ben picked us up Dutch Bros. 

A was finally ready around lunch time. We helped her get everything to her room and then went to South Table to get our recovery run in. Definitely felt like I overdressed a bit, but at this point in winter, I would rather be warmer than cold.

I didn't feel quite as bad on this run, but still wasn't great. We did see a coyote, which is always neat.

We decided to forgo our normal lunch/post run food/drink options and went to Rock Rest Lodge. I didn't think I had ever been there, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot I recognized it from one of Heather's birthday parties years ago. They had a great deal on sliders and fries and we watched the first half of the Broncos game. Ben made pork chops and veggies for dinner (delicious!) and we watched more 1883.

I took Olive for a walk and slipped/fell on some black ice. Have I mentioned how much I hate winter recently?

Monday (17,946 steps) - Work from home. 

Took Olive for a walk. Put off my run for a decent amount of time. It wasn't as bad as I feared, and I mostly dressed pretty well. My hands got warm and I abandoned my gloves after probably 1.5 miles. One of the slowest times I've ever done this route, but just happy to get out the door. 

Did some driving after work. I had noticed that Olive had been slightly limping after our lunch walk, but still took her for a walk when I got back. She was limping more than earlier, so she will be on "bed rest" for a few days while it is feeling better. I can't see any trauma, but if I put too much pressure on the top of her paw, she yelps. Ben made chicken tortilla soup for dinner (yum!) and we finished 1883 and started 1923.

Stats:

• 155,374 steps
• 29.55 miles run
• 19.22 miles walked
• 60 minutes of cardio
• 46 minutes of strength