Self Induced Suffering

I've been feeling a bit like I'm not getting nearly enough miles in on the bike lately and now with the new ride I've been even more anxious to get out and ride. Today I decided was the perfect time to log a few miles and get some good moderate and steady riding in. I think that may have been a bad idea.

Not really sure what the temp got up to today and I probably don't want to but with just under 70 miles at a good tempo for most of them I'm feeling more drained then I've felt in a while. What's worse is that my first mountain bike race is tomorrow so now I'll definitely suck it up. Oh well, as long as it doesn't kill me for Sunday's Reston Grand Prix.

The lunch time haines point ride was rerouted once again due to the sprinklers, though this time we went up to the Clara Barton Parkway and out a ways into MD and back. The majority of riders split off somewhere along the way and so it ended up being myself and Jose Nunez chasing a group of four further up the road for a while. It was a good moderately hard ride and was basically exactly what I was looking for today. The two hour lunch and 30 miles was a little more then I was thinking however.

After work I joined Chris and we rode out to meet Bryan for his commute out to Vienna. Bryan, who said he needed an easy ride took off like right away and I knew I was going to be in a bit of trouble. The ride was not fast but certainly not slow and I struggled to keep my legs turning over. I also made the mistake of not filling my bottles after the noon ride so by the time we got to Vienna I was just about bonked. Luckily when I really started to die out there Chris and Bryan slowed up for me and I was able to get some water out in Vienna.

The ride back was much better with some water in me and Chris and I cruised back through the city. I'll probably think twice the next time I want to try this kind of riding on a day like today; at least I'll make sure I have more water and food. I doubt the small chicken salad and small bag of trail mix was enough recovery food after the old heart rate monitor said I'd burned 1300+ calories during lunch.