Riding at sunrise

Yes, a bit dangerous I know... but with relatives flying in from out of town today I really wanted to get a jump on things this morning. The crappy part of riding at dawn is obviously reduced visibility of the rider AND the motor vehicle opperator. The nice part about riding at dawn in Florida is illustrated by the picture above.

With my neon yellow-green reflective jersey and my LED tailight and headlight, I'd venture to say that I was quite visible to other motor vehicles. The few cars that I encountered went around me (or waited for me to go through an intersection) without hesitation. It was ungodly humid this morning at 66F with 94% humidity, but very little wind. I maintained a nice 17mph pace on the straightaways. The loop that I ride in my community has too many stops and turns, which brings my overall mph average down from what it should be AND it's a pain in the butt for me (all of that slowing down, speeding up). I really need to find another loop to do from my home, but that means I'd have to venture out on US41 for a bit and I'm SCARED!!!

I completed 15.7 miles this morning in under an hour and then followed it up immediately with some "brick" work... a 1 mile run. I'm realizing that it takes me a solid 1/2 mile to feel like a runner again instead of someone with lead in her legs.

ORN for 3-11-08: 2.61 mile tempo run at 9:54 min/mile pace. This is the first sub-10 run ever for me!

OCN for 3-12-08: 15.7 miles averaging 16.1 mph in 58:30.
ORN for 3-12-08: 1 mile brick transition