Thursday 7/10

Got out on the road bike today. I needed some new brake pads for my bike as mine had worn out, so I stopped by Urban AdvenTours in the North End to pick some up on my way home. Threw them on my bike while watching the Tour de France and was out the door for my ride by 6pm. Unfortunately, I still needed to make some adjustments to the brakes, but I didn't bring the right tool to fix them. By the end of my BC loop, I basically didn't have brakes, but thankfully, I didn't need to stop short at all. The weather was great: mid 80s, sunny, and very little wind. I felt like I put in a solid effort today and split 1:17 for 25 miles. When I got home, I decided to make it an even 30 miles by adding on 5 miles on my indoor bike in 14 minutes. I would have just added on with my road bike, but not having brakes in the city is pretty risky. I'm not quite skilled enough to ride Premium Rush style. 30 miles in 1:31.

Wednesday 7/9

Another day on the bike. My heel is showing no real improvement, and I'm beginning to fear that I may have just lost the fall as well as the summer. Today's workout was one long session on the indoor bike which I won't be doing again any time soon. The effort itself felt fine, but when I got off the bike, the top of my hamstrings were very sore from the seat. I really need to figure out a way to fit a traditional bike seat on my indoor bike if I am going to continue biking. 30 miles in 83 minutes.

Tuesday 7/8

Another day on the bike. On Sunday, I put in Sarah's A/C unit, and she thanked me today by making some amazing chicken chili. Absolutely delicious. Since I knew I'd be heading over her apartment for dinner, I went home at lunch and did 10 miles in 28 mins. After work, I did 12 easy miles on my road bike including the ride to Sarah's apartment to see how it felt on my foot. Still not great, so I did 10 miles in 30 mins on the indoor bike a bit later rather than riding outside. 32 miles total but it was a fairly easy day overall.

Monday 7/7

My workout for today was 2 rounds on the indoor bike. I've been favoring the indoor bike rather than my road bike because the former puts less pressure on my heel. The only downside of the indoor bike is the saddle. It has more of a seat than a road bike saddle, and the seat isn't terribly comfortable. It presses against the top of my hamstrings which get sore after a while. To avoid this, I usually break up long workouts on the indoor bike into 2 sessions. Today's first session was 22 miles in an hour right after work. Since I don't typically use my indoor bike for my primary workout, this was actually one of the hardest efforts I've put in on this piece of equipment. It was the fastest I've made it to the 20 mile mark and the farthest I've made it in 1 hour. The second session was about two hours after the first. Another solid effort but not quite as far. 13 miles in 36 minutes. 35 miles overall.

Friday 7/4 - Sunday 7/6

No workouts what so ever. I decided to take a few days completely off to see if it would make a difference. Doing so over the 4th of July would also help me to focus on other things and, hopefully, not go completely crazy due to lack of exercise. It worked in that sense. My 4th was a ton of fun. Unfortunately, the situation with my heel isn't looking good.

Thursday 7/3

I felt like my road bike was putting more pressure on my heel than my indoor bike, so I wanted to see if riding two short sessions on my indoor bike would give my heel a break. Since I was doing two short sessions, I went a bit faster than I had been going recently. My AM session was 10 miles in 28 minutes, and my afternoon session was 10 miles in 26 minutes. Felt like a solid effort and didn't seem to be pressing on my heel. I think I am going to have to take a few days completely off though. As much as I love bike riding, it isn't a full running replacement.

Wednesday 7/2

Going a bit crazy not being able to run, but my heel is still sore. Today was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday with the exception that I picked up the pace a little. It was in the high 80s when I got home, so I decided to wait for things to cool off. After some food and TV, I started off on the indoor bike again. This gives me some extra time before heading outside which is usually more enjoyable around 7 pm, and it also makes the workout seem shorter by breaking it up. Spending nearly 2 hours on the bike can get a bit boring for me. I did 10 miles indoors in 29 minutes while watching some Netflix before heading out on my road bike. The weather was slightly better than yesterday as it had cooled off a few degrees due to some cloud cover. I ended up doing the same 25 mile loop out to BC and back in 1:18. Total workout was 35 miles in 1:47.