Friday November 23, 2006 (day after Thanksgiving)

I was tired last night so I crawled into bed at 8:30pm (yes that is right). Slept till 9:00am this morning. For sleeping a solid 12 hours I still felt a bit tired...maybe it was too much sleep. So as I was laying in bed trying to convince the dog to go make me some coffee (he wasn't stirring), I decided that if it was raining I'd ride around Lake Sammamish (29 miles when ridden from home) and if it wasn't raining I'd ride 50 miles. So I crawled out from under the covers and made my way to the bathroom where I looked up at the skylight and saw no rain....so it was a 50 miler type of day.

After some peanut butter and jelly toast washed down with 2 cups of coffee I drove to Marymoore. I decided the 50 miles wouldn't include any major hills. Last week 17 miles from my car my quads began to complain and they were screaming by 7 miles from my car. So this week I wanted to make sure I didn't over do it. I left Marymoore with a tail wind and began hoping that it didn't rain before I got to Seattle. I figured I could handle 25 miles of rain (the whole ride was dry). I was a bit cold when I started my ride (it was 44 degrees). Once I warmed up a bit, I began enjoying the ride. I made good time till I entered North Seattle, my speed dropped considerably as I began the gradual climb into the U district and the winds picked up a bit. I made it to Gasworks still feeling good with a time of 1:55. Stopped long enough for a bathroom break and started back towards Redmond. I got nice speed on the trip back until I hit 40 miles (Bothell). The head winds began to pick up and at mile 43 my legs began to burn. I decided that I wasn't limping back to the car...I wanted to finish strong. So I didn't let my heartrate drop below 80% and it was up around 85% quite a bit. The last 4 miles seemed pretty long but I finished well and didn't coast till I could see my car. I was trying for a negative split but it didn't happen. One thing I worked on today was trying to get my cadence up to 90 rpm on the downhills and some on the flats.

Total distance 50.4 miles. Ave mph 13.2. Max speed 24 mph. Cadence 78rpm. ride time 3:55 (includes stop lights). Ave Heart Rate (as % of max) 80% (this includes stops at lights and my break at Gasworks).

Over all, I'm very happy with my ride and most of all I had a great time. I enjoyed the ride!