Second rest day; could I have ridden?

Yes, I could have, but I'm guessing I'm better off for waiting.

Decent sleep, awoke early, minimally stiff. Stretched a little, spent 2 or 3 hours in garage, with just enough bending and stooping to loosen my legs up.

SUBJECTIVE READINGS ALL GOOD. No sign of breathlessness when I went out for mail; likewise climbing stairs. Legs are responsive, feel (relatively) strong, with no sign of letting me down.

I’ve been reading about “overreaching” and “overtraining,” and seen repeated warnings against increasing the volume of training too quickly, “such as a 10 to 20 percent increase in training volume over a three- to four-week period.” That, I think, must apply to athletes training at a far higher level than I. My ride on Saturday was a 25 percent increase over Wednesday’s. And towards the end of my training last summer I was adding 14 miles every week. I did that for four weeks, between August 27 and Sept 20, and not only survived it, but actually thrived on it. On August 27 I rode 33.5 miles; on September 16, 74. All the time maintaining my 10mph average. That’s more than doubling – 100-and-something percent increase – of my “volume” in less than four weeks.

I’m glad, now, that I hadn’t been reading about over-reaching and overtraining at the time!

10PM: cut my finger while putting away carving knife. To ER for 3 stitches, home and to bed by 1:30.