When I got up this morning, I knew yesterday's mileage had killed my legs. And with that, I'd gotten up fifteen minutes early to try and meet Joe Metro at the East Falls Church Metro stop. He didn't make it out though, so I kept on trucking a pretty slow pace. I kept my HR nice and low and coasted a lot.

Just at Reston, I passed Mel Swartz going in the opposite direction. Always nice to see the team colors out riding and at that point I was half asleep. Quite the surprise. I did pick up another rider going in my direction and drafted for only a mile before he turned off.

I really need to get better food in me and more sleep at night. I'm tired and struggling along. I think I can handle this load, but only if I set it up right.

Yesterday, I noticed that my Polar cyclocomputer has developed this nasty habit of not detecting my speed randomly. It'll act as if I'm at a stop, then start back again. I tried adjusting it some, but so far no luck. That's the reason for the commute being less than 23.3 miles yesterday, and that's why yesterday's ride at lunch wasn't listed as 20.

On the ride home, I was joined for about ten miles by Will Kruse. He's a friend of a friend, working in the area around Orbital and we met up in the parking lot for a ride. There was a stiff headwind the entire way home and riding with him I was really short of breath. We weren't going all that fast, but I guess I'm worn down. As it was getting dark, Will turned to head back towards Sterling and I kept on trucking.

About six or seven miles from home, I got passed by a guy on a mountain bike. I was stunned and pissed. I sat on him though and tried to chill out. When we got to a light I realized that he was at least riding skinny slicks on it. That made me feel a little better, but still, I've got to rest some. I kept my HR pretty low throughout and was happy to finally make it home. Despite the headwind, the weather today was excellent in the afternoon. It hit temperatures at or above sixty! That was a far cry from the 28 I saw this morning.

After showering and woofing down some pasta, Jess and I went rock climbing with Sean and Jack at SportRock in Alexandria. It was a lot of fun except for the fact that I was way to tired to be doing anything that requires so much strength. After an hour I was dead and wanting to fall asleep. But I managed to hang around and we had a big snack of waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast at a nearby diner. I'm eating like a madman!

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Avg HR / Max HR / Odo
20.8 / 1:19:20 / 15.8 / 28.8 / 148 / 179 / 461