It was the King’s birthday this week and “normally” the entire county celebrates with parties in the streets, wearing fun orange outfits or accessories and on that day there is a “free market’ – basically one giant yard sale, where people sell all the crap they’ve been dying to get rid of all year. Oh and we all pretty much eat an orange colored tompouce (also known as the worst engineered pastry in The Netherlands, of which no one can eat without the inside getting all over your face, hands, plate or a combination of all three).
Of course in corona times it’s different. Last year nothing at all happened and this year, well, many people decided for themselves to just go ahead and disregard any rules put in place to protect people, hospitals and health care workers and have a party anyway.
I am truly embarrassed and ashamed at the way people behave. At this stage I’m just holding out for the vaccine and trying to limit my exposure to other human beings as much as I can.
Shall we Run Down the week?
Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!
WEEK 31
Plan vs. Actual
Monday – 3.25KM walk, GLI gym 1 hr intake – no workout (appt w/different PT), 3.5KM biking
Tuesday – 3KM walk (office day) to and from train station
Wednesday – 3KM walk, W6R1 run, 6KM, GLI 1 hour, gym 55 min
Thursday – 2.22KM walk, gym
Friday – 2.75KM walk, W6R2 run , gym 55 min
Saturday – 2.5KM walk, parkrun in Alkmaar 5KM, 17/17 Dutch parkruns done!
Sunday – 2KM walk, long run W6R3, 1.4KM w/u walk, 10KM run (!!!)
Week 17 – walking towards the finish
Monday – 5KM walk with the hubs
Tuesday – 9KM early AM walk before the park filled up
Wednesday – Bodypump 110, 9.35KM Intervals
Thursday – 9KM early AM walk
Friday – RPM 79, 9.1KM Walk
Saturday – 7.7KM Intervals (5KM notparkrun), Bodypump 110
Sunday – 8.65KM Walk in Den Haag, 1.5KM walk home
Walking
I mention “walking towards the finish” and increased my walking kilometres because I realised Monday evening I’m still a bit far off of my goal of finishing the Criss-Cross Challenge. Originally it was until the 1st of May but they extended it to 1st of June – thank goodness.
I also tend to at least get a good walk in if my schedule gets messed up, like having a holiday on a Tuesday…
Monday – I started work early and powered through lunch so that I could “leave early” . Everyone wanted to finish up by 3pm and I am always on board an early quitting-time. That meant that my walk got pushed out until around 4pm, which I did with Ron.
Tuesday – King’s Day! The weather prediction was such that I knew if I didn’t walk early there would be loads of people out. We were NOT supposed to be having celebrations, but people did it anyway. So I got up early and did 9KM before 9am.
Thursday – another 9KM VERY early so that I could start work on time. With more kilometres means I need to get up and start earlier. If I want to make it to the finish then it’s just what I have to do…
Friday – another 9.1KM back to the old flat again to pick up post, then all the way back into the city centre to deliver post to the former owner of our house. Got to see a gorgeous new building mural, “Still life with cello” – amazing work!
Sunday – I went to Den Haag too meet up with my friend Yvonne; we did a walking food & wine tour that covered 8.65KM. I loved this concept, but only had 1 glass (well, paper cup) of wine as I didn’t want to be bonkers back on the train home. I hope they continue these kinds of self-guided food tours; it’s a great way to try out new restaurants to maybe also decide if you want to go there in the future!
Running
As per usual, Wednesday, Ron and I headed to the park to do intervals. Today was 1.6KM (1 mile) / 400 m recover x 4. It was slow but consistent, which I’m always happy with. Total 9.35KM.
Saturday – otherwise known as notparkruday – ended up being intervals day number two! My friend Marie-Jose contacted me and asked if she could join as she just started running again! Of course I said yes! As it happened, the rest of the group couldn’t make it for various reasons, so it was the three of us. I programmed my watch for her program, 4 min run/ 1 min recover.
Strength & Spin
This week I got up early on Wednesday to do bodypump 110, which I’m not convinced was the best idea before running (especially since it contains about 3,592 squats).
After running Saturday morning (and refuelling with a donut and coffee – ha!) I did bodypump 110 again. I’m enjoying this particular release and think I stick with it a bit to see if I can increase my weights and improve myself with some of the exercises.
Friday morning I did hop on the bike for RPM 79. A good sweaty workout, but my only cycle workout of the week.
This Week In Numbers
Walking: 42.3KM
Running: 17.1 KM (includes walking intervals, w/u + c/d)
Strength: Bodypump 2x
Biking: 1 full RPM
Total steps: 109,729 (avg: 15,675 daily)
That’s a wrap!
Those murals are simple breathtaking. I love the pic of your profile with the one of the gal…nice photo capture!! I was able to finish the “required” miles for the Criss Cross, but continued logging my miles through yesterday. It’s going to be odd to not have to be so meticulous about reporting them on the site LOL I’m definitely a lot more mindful of all my “around the block” walks with Max (which are 1/2-mile endeavors).
I love those murals! You live in a very cool city. Great week, way to go!
love all the tulips! Must be a really pretty time over there. Hope work is not too crazy for you this week. Thanks for linking
I love those murals! I really wish we had more street art like this in my city. It just adds so much so much extra flair, especially when you see it during a walk or run. Tulips are my favorite type of flower so I love seeing all the different colors of them this time of year – so pretty!
I hope that work goes okay for you next week and isn’t too hectic.
I’m glad to know it isn’t just the US who doesn’t behave–you probably didn’t see the Kentucky Derby and no one wearing masks…
Nice week of workouts and enjoy spring!
3592? That’s a lot of squats! :-D We don’t really have many mid-week holidays — July 4th, Christmas, New Year’s. July 4th people try to extend to the weekend or take the whole week off.
That mural is amazing!
Glad to hear the Dutch are just as foolish as we are! It reminds me of 4th of July LAST YEAR (at the height of the pandemic) and people had parties. Having said all that, King’s Day sounds super fun. In normal times I mean.
You had a great week and it looks like you had some nice weather too. Those murals are gorgeous! I don’t think we have any mid-week holidays. July 4th and Christmas are the only ones that come to mind.
That food and wine tour looks amazing! I would love to do something like that.
Since we are both flexible with our works schedules, we just celebrate whenever. If the holiday is big enough, A won’t have school either. We don’t go at things too hard anymore LOL.
I’m sorry people weren’t behaving well, and I hope vaccines start picking up. Everything is just so hard right now.
Since we live in the suburbs, it’s relatively easy to avoid crowds if we want to. Don’t worry, it’s not as if you don’t see things like that here, too, unfortunately!
I hope that you can get vaccinated soon. It helps.
I love food tours! I’d be all over that. Looks lovely. In fact, all your photos do and the murals are gorgeous!
Great job with your workouts! The murals are awesome. Its too bad people don’t follow the rules. The same thing happens here. Hopefully the vaccine will be available to you soon!
Love the public art.
Holidays are so challenging. I wonder what memorial day is going to look like here. Covid is over May 19 or July 1 in NY, depending on who you talk to.
Those murals are amazing! That food and wine tour sounds like fun!
Yes people are still behaving badly – As Cari said, I’m afraid to see what the Memorial Day weekend is going to look like…and the 4th of July – yikes!
I truly do not understand why people are still not following the rules. Those are some great murals. I rarely venture out into the city for running but I have seen people post of a few nice ones here. Maybe one day!
It looks like the weather was lovely for your many outdoor workouts and activities. And I love all of your photos!