Aiii! Week 3 already.

Monday 6/20/16: Rest day. Respect the rest day.I didn’t ride my bike to work even though I really wanted to. But I did take the farther-away subway so I got a good half-mile walk past the botanic garden before and after work.

Tuesday 6/21/16: “Easy” 3-mile run before work wearing the heart rate monitor for the first time in … literally years? I tried to keep my heart rate between 130 and 150 which resulted in an average pace of 11:15/mile. I don’t know if it was the humidity or I was still tired from the weekend’s runs or maybe I’m just looking for excuses, but this felt really hard. Add on 14.8 miles of bike commuting.

Wednesday 6/22/16: Summer series 5K after work (third one of the summer). The first half mile is uphill and I charged up that hill (!) and then paid for it the rest of the race. Got gaggy at the finish line. Gotta start pacing myself better. 27:11-ish.

Thursday 6/23/16: Morning trip with J to the climbing gym for an hour of top-roping (4.5 bike miles to get there and back).

Friday 6/24/16: I actually got up in time to go run the Williamsburg Bridge! Biked to the bridge, ran over and back twice, and biked home. I thoroughly enjoyed the run – it was hard but I felt good the whole way. My watch was weird on the run segment so it didn’t record mileage, only time. But I’m guessing 5.2 miles of running (1.3-mile bridge x 4), which at 50 minutes gives me a pace somewhere between 9:40 and 10:00/mile. Biking to and from was 7.5 miles total.

Saturday 6/25/16: Early-morning pilgrimage to Washington Heights to run across the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey. 12 miles of trail running on the Long Path, which follows the Palisades cliffs north from the bridge. I love this trail – it has some technical parts but nothing crazy, and not much elevation gain/loss, plus the views are spectacular. Some days I see deer; today I just saw a million chipmunks and a few rabbits (all of which ran away from me). I think I did good on hydration/fuel: I carried two water bottles in my hydration pack (one with Nuun) and took a Clif shot (chocolate, yum) around mile 4.5. Pace was 12:20/mile. Not fast but whatever.

Sunday 6/26/16: And another early morning: I met up with friends and we took the Hudson Line train from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie for the Discover Hudson Valley Ride, which OH MY GOSH I LOVED. This was my first ever supported long-distance bike ride and it was so well organized and such hard work and really hot and the area was just gorgeous … farms and ponds and hills and old houses and open land. Okay, done gushing.

Totals: 23.4 miles running, 78 miles biking, 1 hour climbing.

This was a much better week than last week! Apart from shortening Tuesday’s run slightly, I did everything in my plan. The highlight was wading through the icy cold surf at Coney Island after Saturday’s long run.

Monday 6/13/16: Rest day, still feeling sick and gross.

Tuesday 6/14/16: Ran an “easy” 3.3 miles after work. Was aiming for 4 but this really felt like the limit of what my body could handle.

Wednesday 6/15/16: And . . . we’re back! Feeling a whole lot better. I ran a full 5 miles after work with my “runspiration” playlist (I’m a dork) on my headphones to keep my steps per minute high. Avg 9:24/mile, pretty steady (miles 2 and 3 a little faster).

Thursday 6/16/16: No running; 12 miles total (clipped in, no less!) for my bike commute.

Friday 6/17/16: Getting up at 5 and biking to the Williamsburg bridge for some hill running seemed like a great idea last night. The reality was I woke up at 6:30 and just ran loops of the mellow hill between my apartment and the Brooklyn Museum, plus a bonus run up the steps outside the museum, for 4 miles total. Plus 15 “extended bike commute” miles.

Saturday 6/18/16: 9 miles running through Prospect Park and down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island. The middle 7 miles were ridiculously well-paced – all really close to 9:45/mile. Taking off my shoes and wading through the surf was the best post-run experience. Icy cold!

Sunday 6/19/16: Morning: 6 or so miles on my bike, as lead bike and then sweep at a 5K race. Evening: Tagged along on part of F’s long run to get 5 easy miles.

Total miles: 26.4 miles running, 33.5 miles biking.

Training for the Steamtown Marathon is off to a kind of crappy start. I’m basically following the intermediate 16-week plan from the Runner’s World Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training, with two added weeks in August that will likely be all-hiking-no-running. The first half of this week went well and I actually ran a nice PR in a 5K race on Wednesday night, but Thursday I came down with some sort of cold and I’m still not feeling quite human again yet.

Monday 6/6/16: Technically a rest day, but I biked to and from work and went on a 10-mile bike ride with F after work for a total of 22 bike miles.

Tuesday 6/7/16: First run! 4 miles easy in the park before work. Second run in my Hoka Clifton 2s and I still like them.

Wednesday 6/8/16: Biked to and from work (12 miles total) and ran a 5K race in the park after work. The weather was incredible – sunny and cool and NOT HUMID – and I ran a PR at 26:11 (8:27 per mile).

Thursday 6/9/16: Woke up with a sore throat, worked a half day but did nothing else.

Friday 6/10/16: Managed an easy 4-mile run in the park before work and 5 miles biking after (trying out my clippy pedals).

Saturday 6/11/16: Still feeling sick, headed out for a 9-mile long run but bailed at 1.5 miles.

Sunday 6/12/16: Repeat of Saturday. Managed 2.3 miles. Ugh.

Highlight: 5K PR. Lowlight: Couldn’t manage a long run this weekend and also missed a 4-mile hill workout I was planning. I was able to rest a lot from Thursday through Sunday. I thought about trying again for 9 on Monday, but maybe I’ll just let it go, take my usual rest day Monday, and restart at week 2 on Tuesday. Still, ugh.

Total miles: 15 miles running, 40 miles biking.