Even before we turned our calendars to March, the weather has been turning towards spring. Actually, our weather has been all over the place this year, but we’ve had enough warm, sunny days that early spring flowers are in bloom.
I guess if I had that fancy Google phone I could edit out those cars.
Marching On Towards Spring
For many runners, March marks the start of spring racing season. My first race of 2023 isn’t until April, but then I’ve got both Cherry Blossom (April 2) and the Parkway Classic (April 23). Speaking of Cherry Blossom and flowers, the National Park service has predicted peak bloom for the Tidal Basin cherry blossoms between March 22 and March 25. If we don’t get too many windy rain storms, they could still be around on race day.
Since I am ramping up my long run miles, I decided to modify Jermaine Johnson’s 3-day split strength program. I did the (tough) upper body “push” workout on Monday and the upper body “pull” workout on Friday, but swapped out a different 20 min lower body workout for the 30 min class in the program. If I’m being honest, I found that workout a bit boring, but I justified the swap by reasoning that my legs don’t need a 30 minute strength class right now.
Weekly Run Down
I missed yoga on Tuesday because I needed to be home in the morning. After experiencing the joy of breezing into the office at 10:30 am, I did my workout at home Wednesday, worked for a few hours, and then went into the office. I did hit the office gym on Friday morning. It was surprisingly busy, but nobody else was interested in the Peloton bike.
Sunday: 30 min Legs + Core + 30 min Peloton Ride
This is the one day I did the lower body class from JJ’s split program. The “core” mostly came in as 1 minute planks sprinkled throughout the class. I figured Cody and Leanne’s ride would be more fun than fierce, and I was right.
Cody said they looked like Lisa Frank notebooks. Leanne didn’t get the reference, but I think he was dead on!
Monday: Core + 30 min Upper Body + 3.25 Tread Miles
I was planning to do a 45 min tread run, but by the time I finished JJ’s class, I was feeling the pressure of all the work I had to get done, so I chose the new 30 min 2 for 1 run with Alex and Marcel instead.
Tuesday: Core + 10 min G&L + 4.15 mile Run
Tuesday I made running a priority, but didn’t want to overdo it since I had run the day before. It was dark when I started, but broad daylight when I finished 4 miles later.
Wednesday: Core + 20 min G&L + 30 min Peloton Ride
In search of a lower body workout to replace JJ’s, I like the exercises in this class with Ben, but wish he worked in 3 sets instead of just 2.
Thursday: Core + 4.8 Tread miles
I dug way back into the Peloton library and took this Jess Sims heart rate zone class before it gets purged. Unfortunately, my heart rate was all over the place, so I couldn’t really follow her cuing, but I kept to the pacing called for on my Matt Wilpers plan, until the last 5 minutes when I joined in with Jess’s speed pushes.
I have no idea why my HR started out so high, but it’s not the first time it’s happened.
Friday: Core + 30 min UB + 25 min Peloton Ride
I made it my office gym and started with a 5 min core class before gathering all the weights for JJ”s upper body “pull” class. I ended up using the 12.5’s and 15’s, so next time I will only take those. (No one else was there anyway) Then I hopped on the Peloton bike for a 15 min class with Hannah F and a 10 min Lanebreak class.
Saturday: Core + Barre + 9.05 Scooby Miles
With my longest run in ages on tap, I warmed up with a 10 min core class and then Hannah C’s newest booty-focused 10 min barre class. When I headed out with Scooby I knew right away I wouldn’t need my gloves, and 3 miles in I regretted my vest. It was a gorgeous spring-like sunny day.
These classic rock playlists were perfect for a long run.
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
Are you racing in March?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Great job on the activities this week! Your spring weather looks amazing!
My racing season is all year round but optimistically I’m looking at June (maybe May.)
In hindsight I’m glad I didn’t sign up for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler.
But hope everyone gets to see them at peak at race time.
We have lots of snow… hard to think about flowers.
We definitely missed winter around here. I can’t believe how everything is in bloom right now. I knew you could run 9 miles and 10! Way to go out there w Scooby too
You thought JJ was boring?
I thought his lower body split workout dragged on ….
Nice week of fitness! I didn’t mind JJ’s lower-body class, but I don’t do a lot of lower-body focused work due to all my stair-training. For me, it was a nice mix, though it was a bit “mild.” I’m still debating on starting his program again, or just cherry-picking other workouts for awhile…
How lovely that the cherry blossoms will be in full force for the race! Sounds like a fun race schedule for the spring.
I had to Google “Lisa Frank notebooks” and you’re right, Cody nailed it. LOL
I always loved running the GW Parkway classic, but that concrete road did a number on my legs! Have fun!
If you have an iPhone you could probably still edit those cars out of the photo. I edited all of the people out of a picture of me with my bike at the Key West buoy at the completion of our ride last year. I did it in Photo on my MacBook. It’s worth a try if you love that picture of Scooby!
Sounds like a great week! Yes, it’s hard to work those lower body strength workouts around long runs sometimes. But you got them in. That 9 mile run in beautiful spring weather must have felt amazing. I don’t miss winter, but I do miss that feeling when spring finally comes (although when I was growing up it was more like the end of March or beginning of April.)
I would definitely love to try out a Peloton bike! What is wrong with your colleagues? All the more for you!
Sometimes my HR (according to my Garmin) is randomly high. Since I never feel differently when that happens, I ignore it. Mostly I never see it until the run is over anyway.
Nice to have warmer, no glove runs, i’m sure!
Before I was a Peloton user, I never tried to figure out the bikes at a hotel gym, so I get it!
Very nice! And of course, Scooby looks very pleased with himself.
I did back to back races this weekend, and that will be it for March. I have two
I want to run in April, too.
I have never seen the cherry blossoms. It’s something of a dream for me.
They are so lovely, but hard to plan ahead for unless you can wait for the prediction to make your plans — and still be flexible!
Oh yes, breezing into the office in the middle of the morning is great! I always felt more energetic when I did that, especially if I got a workout done earlier on.
I hope the cherry blossoms will be out for your race!
Thanks! There’s a whole 1.5 mile section lined with trees, so when they’re in bloom it’s gorgeous!
i love that photo of Scooby – he’s very photogenic!
I agree that the Leanne and Cody ride was fun – i hope they do more 2 for 1 rides together in the future!