Week in Review (February 16 - February 22)

Tuesday (15,649 steps) - Work from home. Went for a solo run late morning. Writing this so long after the fact, I don't remember anything specific about this one. I had a warm up and then 4 x (2 min hard, 4 min "normal") and my only comment on Strava was that it was better than last week. I hit all my "fast" paces (under 10 minute miles, lol) and I don't think I had to walk at all. Took Pika for a walk. Big excitement of the day was... FINALLY GETTING OUR PELOTON! Even though Ben works there, we did not get any sort of delivery priority, so this was exciting. All of us did a ride to test it out. Fun!

Wednesday (19,552 steps) - Work from home. Did a BodyPump video in the morning. Don't remember if I liked this release or not. Took Pika for a walk. Since we were still quarantined, we couldn't do our normal "meet up" with anyone, so I created a route outside Boulder. This ended up being SO FUN. With the snow starting while we were out, we only saw maybe 5 people in the course of an hour. I was wearing my Smartwool Merino 250 1/4 zip under a jacket and got SO HOT. I did most of the run just in that with my jacket tied around my waist. Crazy. By the time we were heading down there were zero tracks at all, I rarely get to run on fresh now, it was fun. I really like these trail systems, and I may actually pay for a pass for Boulder trails when Covid is over.

Quick ride on the Peloton when we got home before dinner.

Thursday (11,063 steps) - Work from home. Took Pika for a long walk at lunch because Ben had a call he needed to do on Zoom and it was going to be easier to to do from the laptop. Also did a Peloton ride, Ariel joined me for a core video, and then I did a quick row. Phew... for a "rest" day, I sure did a lot. After work I had to pick up an order from Target, and Ariel and I decided that would also be a good time to stop and get cupcakes. I'm not sure if the cupcakes were more delicious, or this amazing German Chocolate Stout that Ben found. YUMMY!

Friday (10,706 steps) - Work from home. Took Pika for a walk, and since I already had overtime logged for the week, I did a BodyPump video. I decided that since we just got the Peloton that I was not going to continue with the Les Mils for now - this may change later, but for now, I can only do so many activities, and there is no sense in paying for multiples of things. Peloton ride. 

Saturday (19,681 steps) - Again, since we are quarantined, we had to do a solo run. I know Ben gets jealous of the different trails I run, so I tried to give him some different options, but apparently he is just as much a creature of habit as I am, because we ended up just going to North Table. Since we can't socialize, we didn't park at the brewery, and instead parked at the base of the fire road. I was pretty excited to get this out of the way right at the start, because I super hate it.

There were actually a surprising number of people out, considering the amount of snow. With the sun out, however, it was really warm, and I was glad that I had opted to just wear a t-shirt for the run, it got warm! The top of the mesa was pretty nice, packed down snow and easy to run on.

As soon as we started to head down the south side, things changed. We went from snow-covered to some ice, but mostly MUD. Ugggh. I hate running in mud and always feel badly about being on the trails when they are in less than stellar condition. At least we only saw about 4 bikes all morning, because they tend to damage the trails even more. The east side was super sloppy and gross, but once we turned back onto the west, we got back into snow, and I finally seemed to catch my groove. 

Starting at the base of the fire road actually cut the run shorter than we had planned, by over a mile and a half, but due to trail conditions we both felt like we had done adequate work, and were fine with the shorter mileage. Stopped at Home Depot on the way home because apparently they were unable to process the refund for not installing the dishwasher over the phone. We also got a new smart thermostat (mainly because Ben really wants to be able to control the temperature from his phone...)

Sunday (10,263 steps) - Ben and I had planned on a "maybe" run. I had also challenged him to do a barre video with me, and after having coffee, the plan was to get started on activity so we could relax the rest of the day. The universe had other things in mind, and when I was changing the cat box I noticed the floor in the basement was wet and pooling with water. Where it was located I immediately thought it was the water heater. WTF! But after Ben came and did some investigating, we discovered there was an active leak, although we couldn't tell where it was coming from. We went BACK to Home Depot, this time to buy a scope so we could put some smaller holes in the wall while trying to figure out where the problem was. While Ben was investigating, Ariel and I took Pika for a walk, and when we got back, he had already cut a hole in the drywall. The leak was coming from somewhere behind our (newly remodeled) bathroom. We were thankfully able to get a plumber in once we figured out where the leak was (thankfully NOT from anything they did in the remodel, but still...)

Yup, all that drama to replace this tiny connector :(

After spending an entire day doing MORE home improvement, we decided that margaritas were in order. I hadn't been to Chili's in years, and it was really neat the way they are doing contactless curbside. We did have to purchase food (we got queso) in order to do carryout margs, but it was worth it. What a freaking day.

Did a quick Peloton ride to keep my streak going!

Monday (14,330 steps) - And just like that, quarantine is over, and I had to go to work in the office. With crazy, unseasonably warm temperatures, I went for a run at lunch. I REALLY do not like running in Denver right now. I hate having to keep my mask on for so long because of all the people out. This did not go quite as well as the last time I ran this loop, but I only took one walk break (around the halfway point). I don't know if it's my shoes, or what, but I've lately had so many instances of numb feet and really tight calves again. I hate to think it's my shoes, one pair of my Newtons only has a little over 100 miles, and the other is definitely closer to retirement at maybe 300 miles. I did get some new ones on sale, but hate "wasting" shoes, although if it IS my shoes for some reason, it'll be worth it. I dunno. My coach seems to think that I need to be mindful of my sodium and potassium intake, so I've been trying to work on that to see if it helps at all. 

Trey came over to visit (and to drop off a belated wedding gift from his parents. It was fun to visit with him, I didn't get much of a chance at the wedding. Ben made tacos for dinner. Yum! (And ironically, today was National Margarita Day, although we decided two days in a row might be too much.)

Stats:

• 101,244 steps
• 20.67 miles run
• 85 minutes Peloton (!)
• 10 minutes rowing
• 65 minutes cross training

Week in Review (February 9 - February 15)

Tuesday (12,930 steps) - Work in the office. 

I had plans to meet up with friends at Milk Market for a run after work and to drop off cookies, but they had to bump the run to 5:30 so I ran solo when I was off. It wasn't terrible.

Wednesday( 17,594 steps) - Work from home. Walked Pika at lunch. After work, Ben and I headed up to meet Kristin, Jeramiah and Tyler in Boulder for a run. It was a really pretty evening, and I actually had a pretty solid run. Starting as early as we did, we were able to do the entire run without headlamps!!

We stopped and picked up pho for dinner on the way home. Cold front coming in!

Thursday (10,243 steps) - Work from home. Went on a long walk during lunch. After work did the Fitness Blender barre video (omg, how is this so hard) and rowed for a bit. 

Friday (10,216 steps) - Work in the office until early afternoon when I got an email that A had a positive exposure at school and had to quarantine. I let everyone in the office know and headed home to finish out my shift. Took Pika for a below freezing walk with A after I got off work. 

Saturday (10,022 steps) - Slept in and decided to not run, or do much of anything. Temps were still around 0, so we just took Pika for a short walk. Big excitement of the day was our furnace not working, and it being FREEZING in the house. Thankfully, I have my Selk bag to keep me warm.

Sunday (10,151 steps) - Thankfully, Ben got the furnace working in the morning - temperatures were nearly 10 below when we got up! I did a BodyPump video, which wasn't too bad. Then we had a nice breakfast and Ben gave me a really beautiful flower arrangement.

I took Pika for a walk alone because Ben was too wimpy for the "hovering around 0" temperatures. Didn't do much of anything for the rest of the day.

Monday (15,806 steps) - Work from home. Finally a break in the awful cold temperatures, and since A is quarantined and was at home (also a holiday for her), we went for a run together. It wasn't terrible, thankfully. Took Pika for a walk after that. After I was off work I did the FB barre video again, while A rowed. Then we did some random exercises and stretching. It was fun!

Stats:

• 86,962 steps
• 12.78 miles run
• 17 minutes rowing
• 74 minutes cross training

Week in Review (February 2 - February 8)

Tuesday (17,030 steps) - Work from home. I had to switch days because Ben wasn't able to get the day off and we were FINALLY having our appliances delivered. They arrived within their window, but that was basically the highlight of the delivery. First off, what a shock that the change I had made weeks ago adding the haul away was not on their work order, and I was told only "they would see what they could do" about getting the old appliances taken. OF COURSE. To keep the story short, they were not able to install ANY of the appliances. The outlet for the fridge wasn't working, they thought because the new fridge had too much "output." So we had to have an extension cord and drag it across the entire kitchen for it to work. The hardwire for he dishwasher was too short (or alternatively, needed an electrician to add a dedicated outlet), and the cable for the stove wasn't long enough to reach the closest outlet, but they used an extension cord for that as well to test to make sure there wasn't a gas leak. What a freaking hassle that all was. 

Took Pika for a walk, then went on my run. Coach finally has me doing some speed work, and I'll admit I was feeling apprehensive about this run because my legs were pretty tired. Turns out, the run went VERY well, with the exception of getting about 80 texts during the run, plus phone calls. That was annoying. Bathroom is almost done!! 

Also, we managed to coerce an electrician to come over, and he was able to fix the wiring for the fridge outlet, installed the plug for the dishwasher, AND dropped the cable for the stove through the wall, which was actually even better. So happy we have so many good contractors to help us!

Torchy's for dinner, which was delicious.

Wednesday (11,272 steps) - Work in the office. Someone stole my lunch out of the freezer, so I had to run down the street to buy food. WAS NOT HAPPY. Ben also called while I was at work to alert me to "pouring water" under the kitchen sink. Apparently, Home Depot never capped off the water line when they did not install the dishwasher, so we had water running under the sink/cabinets/floor for 24 hours in. We have an insurance claim in with them now. (I can't make up all the stuff that is going wrong!) Ariel went with me to take Pika for a short walk when I got home because I hadn't done anything all day. 

Thursday (10,615 steps) - Work from home. Ben finally got the last of the cosmetic stuff done in the bathroom, meaning, I actually could brush my teeth and use my own toilet! It was SO windy that I skipped my run again. I did take Pika for a walk, did Bodypump, and rowed for a bit. Finally, FINALLY the guys were done with the bathroom. Finally!!! (Well, except for the glass. We have to wait about three weeks for that. But since we still have our rod and shower curtain, the bathroom is fully functional).

Friday (10,193 steps) - First shower in the new bathroom, and it was awesome. Water much hotter than it was before, and the water pressure is much better, thanks to our cool shower head. Work in the office (boo, hiss). Did my run with hill repeats after work. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be, although I didn't quite time the hill correctly, and pausing my watch somehow messed up the timing of the intervals in the program I had put in my watch. 

Ah well, I know I did them all! And with this run, I managed to nail all my runs all week, without walking during any of them. Woo hoo!

Saturday (34,168 steps) - Met up with the group to run Dirty Biz. I hate running on Fridays before a long run because I just seem to start out tired, and this was no exception. Tyler and Joe took off, and I felt bad that Kristin kept stopping to wait for me, I know she is so much faster and better trained than I am right now. For the first few miles I thought I was a bit overdressed, but then the wind picked up and it was FREEZING. Really happy to be done with this.

Went to 4 Noses for a beer, then home for a quick shower before picking up more cookies and then driving around for hours delivering. 

Ariel and I did stop and pick up Mac n' Cheezy, which we haven't had in ages. 

I met up with Kim for a beer at Rails End. 

Sunday (12,321 steps) - Drove to Runners Roost Boulder for the first run club in 11 months. We still started from the trail head, but luckily the fast people didn't catch us until we hit the top trail, so I was at least able to keep up on the descents. 

Delivered cookies to Carrie and Ben, then met Greg and Tyler at New Image for pre-Super Bowl beers.

We watched part of the Super Bowl, but weren't really into it. Fell asleep on the couch.

Monday (17,452 steps) - Work from home. Walked Pika, and then went for my run. It was easily my worst run in at least a month. I had to walk at least 6 separate times and my calves were sooo tight even during my warm-up that I thought they might burst. I'm really sick of this issue and wish I could find some relief. I at least hit all my faster tempo paces. Did another Bodypump video before picking up A at practice. Heather came over to pick up her cookies and look at the house.

Stats:

• 113, 051 steps
• 29 miles run
• 12 minutes rowing
• 52 minutes cross training