This was a great week in workouts! My only regret is that I did not get in as many PT mini-sessions as I would have liked. Everything else fell into place beautifully, and I was really happy to be successfully increasing my distance on runs and getting in a lovely Sunday morning bike ride. I would like to order up more weeks just like this, please.

Here’s what went down:

Monday: 4-mile Tempo Run. The tempo part was the first three miles (9:48, 9:34, 9:30), and then I ran the last one at an easy pace of 10+. Sadly, that is pretty fast for me these days, with the heat and the general tiredness — by the time I got to the last mile, actually, there wasn’t really a choice as to whether to keep going at tempo pace or make it a cool-down mile. My ass was tired! Felt good, though. [Steps: 11,718]

Tuesday: 3-mile Elliptical + Body Pump. Lately I have been having trouble with the fact that I’d like to add more weight on squats, but I’m only able to clean+press so much weight, which limits the mount I can get up onto my back. This class, I was finally able to get the higher weight up there. I should admit, this is a total of, like, 40 lbs — including the bar. I feel like I could squat a lot more than that (especially with fewer reps than you do in Body Pump class, which is maybe 100), but without a rack, this is where we are. Shoulder/rotator was a little sore throughout, so I had to skip the rotator raises on the right side. I hope that goes away soon…  [Steps: 11,466]

Wednesday: 4-mile Run + PT Mini-Session. The internet reminded me it was National Running Day! This translated into me putting on all my brightest gear and taking a pre-workout selfie, because that’s just how I roll, I guess. I wanted to run sans watch/music, but in skipping those parts of my prep, I also wound up leaving my water bottle at home. OOPS. Made it, though. PT was all balance: trees, tippy birds, more trees on a pillow, airplanes on a pillow. Feeling a lot stronger on all of these! [Steps: 12,517]

Thursday: 2.7-mile Walk-Run + Body Pump. Alternated running and walking for 8 laps of the track at the rec center. In Body Pump, I maintained my weight increase everywhere and added weight on lunges. Feeling good. A little shoulder wonkiness still, but I’m largely unconcerned.  [Steps: 11,515]

Friday: Rest Day. Happy hour and a (veggie) burger and fries for dinner. Excellent. [Steps: 4,285]

Saturday: 6-Mile Run + PT Mini-Session. Nice run today! The longest I’ve gone since before my most recent bout of PT. Feeling good. No emergency pit stops, so that’s already better than last week. I kept it slow/easy effort for the first three miles, then gradually picked up the pace. Started at about 10:40 and did the last mile in 9:48. PT was Clam Shells (RB), Bridges (RB), Single-Leg Bridges. [Steps: 14,624]

Sunday: 21.5-mile Bike Ride. Great, easy-paced ride this morning with CW and our friend Nolan. The guys usually do their rides together, but I got to come along on this one and we had so much fun. Lots of pretty landscape and a few stops for pictures and to wait for a train to pass. Afterward, N and his wife made brunch for us, which included fabulous eggs Benedict. Excellent Sunday morning if I do say so. [Steps: 5,997]

Totals: Steps 72,122 — For the first time since I’ve been logging my step totals with the week in workouts, I have exceeded my goal of 70,000 per week! Hooray!

Goals: This next week, I would like to get in three solid runs of about the same distance as last week’s but with the addition of a speed workout on Monday*. I’d also like to continue my strength training with two weights classes and at least 3 PT mini-sessions. Getting in another bike ride would be the icing on the cake.

*I am posting this Monday night and I can tell you that I have already succeeded at getting that speed workout done. BOOM.