Nature Therapy

Hi everyone-

I hope you're all staying safe. Here's a look at how my week of workouts went, which was full of really great content by Peloton, including one emotional bike ride. 

Monday

20 min 80s Fun Walk with Matty

Took Selma around the block this morning. It was a pretty chilly day so it felt great and refreshing! This was a fun playlist to listen to, and was a good way to start the week.

4.5 mile bike ride

It was still nice and cool (and sunny) out later in the day, so Dan and I decided to bike around the neighborhood. I'm still practicing some skills on the bike, so today Dan had me go up some steeper hills and stand up while I pedal. It's such a simple skill but scary for me! If I want to do more triathlons in the future I know it's important to learn though, so I worked on it for this ride.

Tuesday

30 min Pop Fun Run with Andy

I don't do a lot of workouts with Andy, so this was a nice change of pace. He's much more chilled than some of the other instructors and doesn't talk too much, but luckily there was a great playlist. Took this nice and easy and enjoyed an empty park (since it was drizzling a little in the morning!)

20 min Holiday Yoga Flow with Anna

Yes- I did a Holiday class in June. What can I say- I love holiday music and it's never the wrong time to be in that spirit. This was a pretty cheesy class but I did enjoy it! Nothing too difficult but I liked the stretches and relaxing postures at the end.

Wednesday

30 min Speak Up Ride with Tunde

I want to start by saying that if you have the Peloton app (or are planning on downloading it)- this should be required watching. Even if you don't have a bike and can't do the workout, the words that Tunde shares during this 30 minutes are important to hear. The music was heavy because she didn't want to distract from the heavy words and heavy emotions that came up. During this class Tunde shared statements from the other Peloton instructors of all races and backgrounds, along with some of the other staff. She also gave some amazing quotes about racism, one that really stuck with me- in order to empathize with someone's experience you must be willing to believe them as they see it, and not how you imagine their experience to be (Brene Brown). If someone got a paper cut and told you how painful it was and you never had a paper cut before- you would believe that pain until you experienced it for yourself. We can all start listening more and believing others experiences, especially if we have the privilege of not experiencing that racism first hand.

10 min Breathe In, Speak Up Meditation with Chelsea

Following the spin class was a meditation led by Peloton's newest instructor. This was a beautiful class, where we all breathed in and out together in memory of the men and women who died because of the color of their skin.

Thursday

40 min run

Nice and humid morning run! I put together two classes for this outdoor run- Adrian's premier run (which was awesome- he might be my new favorite run instructor!) and Bec's pop fun run. I took this pretty easy with a few pick ups, but felt great.

15 min Bodyweight Strength with Adrian

Man this was a tough workout! Adrian had us working non stop for the entire time, with 20 second breaks between sets. I was drenched and exhausted by the end, but his personality had me smiling the entire time! He's definitely moving into favorite instructor territory..so glad Peloton brought him on.

Friday

30 min Intervals Ride with Irene

I did this class to get my final "Quest" badge with Peloton and it was awesome. Irene is a German instructor, and has a few classes in English. I loved her energy and peppy attitude, plus the German phrases here and there were awesome. Need to keep practicing my German to take one of those classes!

Saturday

9 mile Trail Run

Back to North Park for some trails early in the morning- this time it was the red trail. Super hilly and lots of elevation gained, but an absolute gorgeous trail. Definitely want to come back here. Followed it up with a full body stretch as soon as I got home.

Sunday

20 min HIIT Run with Selena

Lately I've been doing a short speed workout on Sunday mornings, and this one was great and simple. 1 min on, 1 min off x 4, followed by 30 sec on, 1 min off x 4, and finishing with a progressive 2 minute run. Went by super quickly and got a little speed in my legs.

3 mile Hike

Checked off new park #1 for the month- Deer Lakes Park. We went around all of the small lakes and followed some of the trails to make a loop. It was a nice park that's just a short and pleasant drive from my house! A few of the trails were hard to find and we had to hike through some unmaintained and grassy areas, but overall I liked the park and Selma had a blast.