I set out to do a long ride today but after about 30 minutes I gave in to all the warning signs of the beginning of over-training. First of all, was the way I felt when I woke up — groggy with some head congestion. I thought it was just my allergies, so I got ready to do a long ride anyway. I was planning to do the Payette Loop. Since I was going long, I started out at a very easy pace. So easy that I couldn’t tell I was feeling bad. But after about 15 minutes, I started noticing my wattage was only around 150-160. Usually, my “easy” pace is around 200 watts. When I would consciously try to raise it, it just felt hard. Not hard like an interval, but that it was mentally difficult to maintain a higher wattage. I thought maybe I just needed more time to warm-up but after 30 minutes I decided to turn around. I was reluctant to do so since I had a big week planned, and with the rain earlier in the week I was coming up against a balloon payment of training time this weekend. But I convinced myself that it was smarter to my projected hours this week than dig myself in another over-training hole. Better be safe than sorry!