Rest Day

Today is a rest day, so no riding.

This is sometimes the hardest part of cycling, at least for me. I get so into wanting to ride, that if I didn't know better, I'd ride every day. In fact, when I started 2 years ago, I think for awhile I did ride every day.

The furthest back I have training logs for is August 1, 2005. I was using a program called Biker Gold which I have since lost the key for, having had a computer issue since I got it. Luckily I had moved most of the data over to a spreadsheet I had built based on Chris Carmichael's training diary. In that week I rode every day, totaling 8 hours of riding time and a whopping 92.7 miles. It wasn't until the Aug 21st that I show my first rest day. Assuming that I hadn't taken one in July, which is a good bet, that was nearly 7 weeks of riding 7 days a week. I do show a couple recovery days where I didn't ride much, but I was on the bike every day. And the next week I was back to 7 days straight.

I think I know better now, and my plan is to ride 6 days (one of them a recovery day) and have one rest day. Because of my work schedule, Wednesday is the best choice for a rest day and Sunday is my recovery day. As I don't work on Monday's they are usually the days I take my "long" rides, although for awhile they won't be any different (or at least not very different) from my other days.

Looking back at this old data has proven sort of interesting. I am definitely stronger today than I was back then, even being overweight and out of shape. I know the routes I rode back then are the same I'm riding now, and even though I'm 21 lbs heavier than I was in the week of August 1st 2005, I'm riding roughly .6 mph faster. Some of that difference is probably the bike, but I'd like to think not all of it is. Also, that August 1st week, I had been riding longer and longer for 3 to 4 weeks, and was riding as long as 2 hours (ok, 1:52, but still) and routinely over an hour. I haven't done a ride over an hour this time around yet as I don't feel I have the stamina for it. Hopefully by the end of this week that will change (maybe even tomorrow), but it will take a few weeks before I think I'll be ready for a 2 hour ride, even at the pace I've been going. Well, at the speed. The power output isn't really all that bad with Np being around 220W on my last ride. Granted, thats about 30W less than my average rides toward the end of last season, but all things considered, not too bad.

Also got a box of stuff from Bike Nashbar today. Over the weekend I ordered some spare tubes, tires and some (unfortunately) larger cycling clothes. Hopefully I won't need to larger stuff for very long, but I wanted to have more than 1 set of bib shorts that fit. Will have to try them out tomorrow.