PopTarts turned out to be a great gel replacement. Awkward to carry, but tasty and they sit well in my stomach.

Week 7! Mileage is inching up!

Monday 7/31/17: I meant to ride 15 miles or so this morning but didn’t get up early enough so … 3.4-mile bike ride. Sigh.

Tuesday 8/1/17: Morning run, significant humidity. 5 miles at 11:00 pace, plus heel dips at end.

Wednesday 8/2/17: Unexpected day off. The evening 5K was canceled due to thunderstorms in the forecast. The storms never happened but it was incredibly humid and I decided to not run at all.

Thursday 8/3/17: Morning run (initially planned for Wednesday evening). 7 miles with the middle miles faster, running by feel. It was nice to realize that even though this was hard, I felt strong through the whole thing. 10:45/mile average.

Friday 8/4/17: I woke up with a slight sore throat so I ran after work instead. 4-mile regular run, faster than it should have been but it was fun. 9:16/mile average.

Saturday 8/5/17: Morning foam rolling! This felt good and I need to focus on doing it more regularly. I got out for a few loops of the park on my bike in the afternoon.

Oh my gosh these waffles.

Sunday 8/6/17: Long run: 15 miles across the Manhattan Bridge then up the west side of Manhattan along the Hudson River. The weather was incredible (high 60s at the start!) and overall this run felt really good. I spaced out and forgot to bring gels, but I stopped by a bodega in Chinatown and bought some PopTarts and they ended up being surprisingly good running fuel. I grew up on the things so I guess my stomach knows how to handle them. I felt some pain in my right foot during the last few miles and it has me thinking it might be time to buy new shoes – I wore my Hokas but they have (*checks Strava*) 321 miles on them. I’ve been alternating between the Hokas and a pair of Brooks Launch 3. I really love the Launch but they don’t have quite enough structure/support to use for long runs regularly. I want to check out the Brooks Revel (okay, because they LOOK COOL) to see if they might be an acceptable replacement for the Hokas. Anyway, good run, faster final mile, 11:08/mile average pace and ate some amazing waffles afterward.

Totals: 31 miles running, 13.5 miles biking, really hoping I have time to climb a little next week.