Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Cracked.

Last night's attempt at threshold intervals went up in smoke. I dive into the first interval. Usually... the first interval feels too easy. Last week I did this workout and it was easy. This is not. My legs are achy after the third minute. I stave off the temptation to quit and make it to the end (18:min). Barely. I do the prescribed 5:min rest period. I ramp up into the second interval and it - just - is - not - happening. I give it another 5:min and attempt again. Same result. I haul it back to the house.

The data download tells a tale. My heartrate was 15 bpm higher than last week during the first interval. On my two later attempts it shot up immediately, rather than making a nice smooth transition like usual. Almost hit my maxHR. No way it should be this high.

What's going on? I'm not sure. It's either detraining, fatigue, or oncoming sickness. Trifecta? Detraining is certainly possible. Over the last couple of weeks my HR has progressively been dropping for an equivalent power level. Good indicator of fitness. Did I give back some fitness with my slacker effort last week? I'm certainly fatigued. My sleep pattern has been disruptive for the last week. Definately contributing. I always see a rise in HR 7-10 days before a sickness. So that's a possibility, too.

Today, my legs are achy. They feel like they did a major effort last night. But I didn't. I'm going to try sleep and re-attempt this workout on Thursday. If that goes similiarly... I'll consider regressing my training by a couple of weeks. Remedial training, HAHA! Interpreting what the body is doing is not a simple task. May be the most challenging part of training. Always learning...

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