Night recovery

Tuesday, I got on the road a little late, and was going to have trouble even getting my fifteen mile loop in.  I did it anyway, and got back a little late, but it worked out ok.

How did the ride go?  It was ok.  I finished in sixty-three minutes, which works out to 14.3mph average.  Not too bad.  Power was 114W, which was ok, with heart rate of 126bpm.  I think, though, that I wasn't doing too well with regulating that.  I hit a max of 142bpm, but I'm pretty sure that had to do with a car.  Still, I went over too many times.

I was amused that I, for the second time, passed someone heading up the W&OD around Glencarlyn, got behind them when I took Wilson and Roosevelt back to the W&OD while they stayed on the trail, then caught them again going up the W&OD through Falls Church.  And this time it wasn't an elderly woman.  Not a big deal, but I was amused.

My wife had to go in early Wednesday, so I couldn't ride early.  And work completely hosed me during the day, so I couldn't squeeze one in, then.  So I had to do a night ride.

Mostly, that's fine; it was much like my rides over the winter, despite the change in time of day.  But it meant that I couldn't watch the meter for my heart rate, which had me a little worried.

I wanted to get done a little faster than usual, so I cut out the stretch along George Mason from Wilson to Shirlington, and just took Wilson all the way to Roosevelt.  That cut the ride down to eleven miles, which I finished in fifty-two minutes.  So, the good and the bad, there.  The good is that my max heart rate over the whole ride was 130bpm.  The bad was that I was only doing 12.6mph, although some of that could be route selection; I kept most of the hilly parts, and jettisoned relatively flat parts.

Regardless, it was a pleasant drive; far fewer cars around than I expected.  And I only saw two other bikers (one of whom was riding on the road with no light; not bright, literally or figuratively), and very few walkers/joggers, so that was nice.

Yesterday, same issue with early to work.  And work seriously hosed me during the day (mostly not their fault, this time, though; the army was having computer problems).  So again, I was out at night, and did the same route.

And the ride went fairly similarly, except that I finished much faster.  Not sure why.  Finished the 10.9 miles in 48 minutes, an average of 13.8mph, average heart rate of 115bpm (max 131 (!), sweet), power of 106W.  Much better, although I do have to wonder about why.  Still, I'm very happy now that I'm looking at that.

I do need to spend more time on the bike, though; I'm going to lose the conditioning if I keep cutting back to 45-50 minutes instead of 75-90 minutes.

In any event, I wasn't able to ride this morning either, so I'll have to talk about my ride later, after I do it.