Sunrise over the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges on Saturday morning’s long run.

Week 8! Featuring … the continuation of Week 7’s “heat dome”! This is my sixth summer in New York City and it’s definitely the one I’ve complained about the most.

Monday 7/25/16: In addition to being my sister’s birthday, today was a rest day. Good day all around.

Tuesday 7/26/16: 5-ish miles on trails in Prospect Park with a friend. This was so hard – I just felt like a complete mess. Stomach, heel, some heat in my knee. Got home, iced, ate, and went to bed.

Wednesday 7/27/16: Biked to the climbing gym in the morning, top-roped for an hour, biked to work, biked home. After work I headed out for an intense run: 3 miles of loops on the Mount Prospect hill (6 loops total) then I met up with two other running club members for a fast (for me) loop of the park. Garmin’s giving me a 9:46 overall pace for this 6.6 miles but I’m not sure that’s accurate.

Thursday 7/28/16: Climbing in the morning (bouldering! Tackled a V4!) but otherwise a rest day.

Friday 7/29/16: Morning rainstorms meant this morning’s bike loops were canceled. And with a long run coming up tomorrow I decided to skip the 1-mile time trial on my training plan and just make it a full rest day. It felt luxurious.

Saturday 7/30/16: I set out at 4:45 am for my 15-mile long run. It was a good one, even though it was still humid, and I kept the pace pretty steady and even had some faster miles near the end. I finished up at Central Park, where the NYRR Team Championships 5-mile race was going on, and cheered as loud as I possibly could for my teammates who were running.

Sunday 7/31/16: One hour of bouldering in the morning (finished a V3+! Still working on that V4 though!). Then I ate a huge bagel/egg/cheddar avocado sandwich, then met up with C for a lap of the park in the pouring rain (just short of 4 miles).

Totals: 29 miles running, 13 miles biking, 3 hours climbing.

Another week, another training log.

Monday 7/18/16: Rest day! Boy did I need it after all the weekend’s hiking. Also it was about 200% humidity with a scary afternoon thunderstorm that took down multiple trees.

Tuesday 7/19/16: After work I met up with a new running club friend for a “trail circuit” in the park (about 4 miles), and bookended it with a few loops of the hilly Mount Prospect Park for a total of 7 hilly miles (avg. pace 10:46).

Wednesday 7/20/16: Tonight was race number 5 of the summer Wednesday night 5k series. It was great to see a bunch of friends and I ran around a 26:30 – still waiting for official results. Second fastest 5k for me! Since I had 6 miles on tap, I ran 3 miles home . . . 3 very hard miles. My left knee was hurting at the end, which is a new and unsettling thing.

Thursday 7/21/16: Rest day!

Friday 7/22/16: I went out for 5 miles in the morning (first and last easy, middle 3 at marathon goal pace) but only made it to 3 before my knee started hurting again in the same spot. Dang it! Did I twist or yank something on trails Tuesday or at the 5k Wednesday? Walked home, iced knee sadly, went to work.

Saturday 7/23/16: This was the first of a few long training runs that New York Road Runners organizes in the months leading up to the NYC marathon – they’re not races but they’re fully supported with fluid/gel stations, medical crews, pace groups, etc. I decided to go and just see how my knee felt. I ran with the 11:26 pace group and felt fine until mile 5.5, then started getting some angry messages from my knee. The pain wasn’t as bad as Friday, but I called it a morning at mile 6, “borrowed” some ice from the medical tent, and headed home. The run itself felt great, despite the blaring heat, but I’m proud of myself for not pushing once the pain started. Back in Brooklyn, I biked 16 miles’ worth of loops in Prospect Park. Hot hot hot.

Sunday 7/24/16: Early morning bouldering session at the climbing gym, plus 5 bike miles to/from, then a mid-morning 5-mile run to a food court in Sunset Park with some running club buddies. The heat made this run really hard, but I didn’t feel any knee pain (maybe because the heat kept me from going too fast?). My phone’s weather app was giving a heat index of 100 by mid-afternoon.

Totals: 27.5 miles running, 22.3 miles biking, 45 minutes climbing.

Saw a deer while hiking Saturday.

What a week! Heavy humid weather continues.

Monday 7/11/16: Rest day, but with 18 miles on my bike (to/from work, plus a couple laps of the park on the way home). My poor bike didn’t get much attention last week, and it was fun to be back on two wheels.

Tuesday 7/12/16: A little bit of everything. Bike to climbing gym, an hour of bouldering, bike to work, bike home, then 6 miles of trail running in the park with friends.

Wednesday 7/13/16: After work I ran 5 miles (avg. pace 10:07) with 5 strides near the end. The strides are the closest I’ve come to speedwork in weeks and weeks and they felt weird but good. I was pretty tired going in to this – heavy legs and all – but by the end I felt like I was actually running.

Thursday 7/14/16: Rest day.

Friday 7/15/16: Met up with the women’s cycling group for four laps of the park before work. Then I tackled the week’s long run after work. I was aiming for 15 miles and made it to 12 before I threw in the towel. Points for effort, and for stopping before I hurt myself. Avg. pace 11:22.

Saturday 7/16/16: 6.8 miles hiking to an overnight campsite. Hot day, full pack, but we got to swim in the lake and sleep outside.

Sunday 7/17/16: 6.5 miles hiking back to civilization.

Totals: 23 miles running, 45 miles on bike, 1 hour climbing, 13.3 miles hiking.

This week is short because Monday’s long run got wrapped into last week’s log. The heat has been rough. Here’s how this week went down:

Tuesday 7/5/16: 7 steamy miles running as many hills as possible in Prospect Park. A few repeats on one hill, run to another, do another few repeats … it was hard, hard work but I did it.

Wednesday 7/6/16: Bike to the gym, 1 hour of bouldering, bike to work, bike home, 5K race. Whew. The weather is so hot and humid and I’m really happy with how the race went – results aren’t posted yet but I think I was around 26:50, which would be my 3rd fastest 5K time. Two women were crossing the finish just behind me and we all had a nice finishing kick, which felt good. (Update: final time was 26:53.)

Thursday 7/7/16: 4-mile run before work, with the middle two miles at a faster pace. This was really hard with the weather and the cumulative fatigue.

Friday 7/8/16: I headed out before work with the intention of getting my 10-mile long run in before our planned weekend camping trip, and managed to run all of one mile before realizing I just didn’t have it in me. Basically a rest day. The heat wave broke and I got caught in a wonderful rainstorm later at Brighton Beach.

Saturday 7/9/16: Camping was canceled because of the rotten weather forecast. Rest day.

Sunday 7/10/16: Redeemed myself with 10 miles at a 9:50 pace.

Totals: 25.3 miles running, 14 miles biking, 1 hour climbing.

I’m making this into an 8-day week since the long run waited until Monday.

Monday 6/27/16: Rest day. I could’ve slept all day after the weekend’s trail running and biking, but I had to go to work instead.

Tuesday 6/28/16: 4-mile run in the park before work.

Wednesday 6/29/16: An hour of top-rope climbing with J, followed by a bike ride to work, followed (eventually) by a bike ride home. I was considering doing a one-mile time trial tonight but I have a hill workout tomorrow morning so the mile will wait until Saturday.

Thursday 6/30/16: 5 miles running back and forth on the Williamsburg bridge, plus biking to and from. I truly enjoy starting my day with this weird workout.

Friday 7/1/16: I met up with a group of women cyclists for some laps in the park before work. It was fun! I haven’t ridden in a tight pack like this before – we went two-by-two, with the front two moving to the back after every lap – and it kind of felt like being part of a bigger organism. 4 laps = 13.5 miles, averaging 15.7 mph.

Saturday 7/2/16: Ran a one-mile time trial. 10 minutes warmup, timed mile, 10 minutes cooldown. Mile time was 8:22 and I’m not so thrilled with that. I got home and almost immediately banged/stubbed my last two toes on my right foot SO hard on the end of a rolled-up carpet that’s been sitting in the bathroom hallway for too long. Ouch! Biked into the city for day one of wilderness first aid class, took the subway home at the end of the day, foot was throbbing and I couldn’t really walk on the right side of it by bedtime.

Sunday: 7/3/16: Foot was impossible; no running or biking. Took the subway into the city for day 2 of wilderness first aid. Feeling a little better by the end of the day.

Monday 7/4/16: Epic 13.1-mile run from our place through Sunset Park and Bay Ridge to Coney Island with F. He’s been training for a half-marathon-length run and he rocked this! It was hot and humid but we stayed pretty well hydrated and celebrated with beer and cheesy fries on the boardwalk. Foot was sore afterward but not a disaster.

This week’s totals: 25 miles running, 41.5 miles biking, 1 hour climbing.