5 days a week

My total cycling mileage for the week: 85

My two goals for the week:

1. ride to work every day
2. beat my roommate in a set of tennis

check and check!

I have so much zest for life right now!

Rides, Garden Work and Barefoot Running

This week my goal is to ride to work every day– that'd be a total of 60 miles logged just commuting. I rode my bike to work on Monday then worked hard in an amazing medicinal herb garden (weeding, spreading compost/topsoil, then mulching) for close to 5 hours, and got a bit sunburned– I mean bronzed.

I was beat by the time I got home, but I still went out to play tennis with a friend around dinner time. It felt good and I had plenty of energy when I woke up the next morning. Tuesday morning, I rode in to work to labor away in the garden again. We did considerably less work than the previous day, but more walking around with tours of our facility than anything. I rode home and enjoyed it a lot. I celebrated the summer solstice by processing 20 lbs of beets to can 4 quarts of sweet pickled beets for 4 hours. I was so ready to be off my feet at the end of all this that I basically collapsed into bed at eleven.

Today (Wednesday), I rode my bike to work in a huge hurry and rode 6 miles in 20 minutes, my PR thus far. I rode back pretty leisurely in late afternoon, pickled some more beets (beets all day err'y day) then went for a great workout at the local fitness trail. I ran about 3+ miles and did 35 pull ups, 20 1 legged step ups, 32 push ups, 5 sets of various crunches/sit ups/bicycles/ab ladders, and stretched while enjoying the sunset. Great evening workout!

City Ride

Today I did a long, morning ride with my dad and older brother for Father's Day. We rode about 25 miles on a hilly, urban route. It felt like I was riding a roller coaster at times– so fun! Since the day hadn't heated up yet the ride was nice and cool and I felt nice and relaxed the rest of the day :)

Friday!

On Friday I rode my bike to work, vigorously weeded the garden for 30-45 mins and rode back home in the afternoon. Total of 12 mi ridden today.

Gum Springs Ride

I rode 6 miles to work early this morning, stomped around a farm for soil samples for an hour, then in mid afternoon when it came time to leave work, I took the long way home (approx 13 miles). It was a stunningly gorgeous if hilly journey!

Ticks and Trails

Went on a 30 minute walk with my lovely coworker in the woods today and came out with 15 ticks on me...fun. Moments that followed included the most thorough tick check in my personal history (read: North Carolina foreplay) and a super sudsy shower to try to get any poison ivy oils off me, just in case. The trail was overgrown for the most part, but the last .5 mile was stunningly beautiful and conveniently enough, mowed. I'll return to that section for sure.

Later I went to the Active Trail (the paved one with pull up bars and monkey bars and step-up ladders etc on the side of the trail) and ran 3+ miles and did lots of the trailside exercises. I meditated on top of the hill afterward and watched a storm front move across the wide open sky. I love that place because I can actually see the curvature of the horizon and sky since it's so wide open.

GREAT SCOTT!

SO MUCH energy today! I've been eating mostly raw, vegan meals in attempt to do a 2 week seasonal raw foods cleanse. I have so much fresh, organic produce from my CSA, and I can't express how good it makes me feel. I feel like I'm smiling all the time and have boundless energy. forreal. And its only the 2nd day.

Today I bikes 4 miles to the park,

did 4 rounds of:

10 pull ups/chin ups

100 sit ups/crunches/bicycle crunches, ab ladder to 50 counts

15 push ups

400 m run/sprint

then biked 4 miles back. I was charging up hills in top gear when I normally shift down on them. When I got back after the 1.5 hour workout, I felt like I could've done it all again.

This was a great all around crossfit workout. I'll be repeating this one for sure!

Monday

I played 3 hours of tennis with my friends and my roommate, Greg!

repeat

same routine as yesterday- slightly cooler and with some blueberry bush pruning.

FUN

Fun day! HOT DAY. Rode to and from work for a total of about 12 miles. So good for maintaining fitness. Dang, I love cycling to work.

Focusing

This morning I ran 1 mile of hills, did a full ab ladder with 50 count intervals, 20 push-ups, 100 bicycle crunches at varying speeds, 20 more pushups, then ran another round of hills. SO SWEATY! Great core workout too.

SO ACTIVE

I rode my bike to and from work today, logging 11.4 miles total. I also played 1 hour of tennis and 1 hour of basketball. Gonna be sore tomorrow from all that defending :D

Sunday

In the early evening, I played 2 hours of tennis with Greg, Gabe and Sebastian, some new friends.

To the Farmer's Market

I rode my bike 4.4 miles to the farmer's market and back today (8.8 miles total). I really attacked the hills on the way back. I'm feeling stronger after spending all last week riding my bike around town.

Fitness Trail

Today I ran around a paved fitness trail ~3 miles and did various strength exercises throughout. There were different exercise stations on the trail every now and then like pull up bars and push up bars and step-up platforms, etc. It was a great, classic crossfit workout.

BIKE TO WORK!

Rode my bike to work today! This was the first time I've ever really commuted to work aside from the .5 mile commuting around my college campus. I rode 5.7 miles to my office in the morning, which took 24 minutes, and then rode the 5.7 back this afternoon in 26 minutes (more uphills). Splendid route! I took the necessary precautions like wearing a helmet, plenty of experience riding in traffic, using the road shoulder when necessary, and having a visible backpack/outfit and a seizure-inducing flashing taillight. I'll be biking to work on the reg :D and you should try it too!

Swimming hole!

Today I rode 3.6 miles to my friend's house to do work for the day. I went swimming in their swimming hole for 30 mins too. Such a great way to cool off. Then I rode back later in the day. The way back was pretty much one long uphill climb. Great day!