Eggs, mirrors, plumbers and me

What do all of these things have in common? Crack. Which pretty much sums up tonight's bike ride.

The ride shouldn't have been that tough. I'd done similar two weeks ago, although I was picking up the intensity, it wasn't by any great degree. 3x1-4 minute ladders @ 315w (up from 300w). This should not be that hard a session. And it wasn't.

Until it was.

Everything was good the first time up the ladder, and even well into the second. As I was midway through the four minute interval of the second ladder, I knew I was putting in a solid effort. My heart rate was way up (>175 bpm), and it took all my concentration to stay over 315w. After my rest, the third ladder began. One minute hard ... doable ... one minute easy ... two minutes hard ... this hurts ... two minutes easy ... three minutes hard ... I think my legs are numb ... three minutes easy ... four minutes hard ... didn't happen. After about 90 seconds at target effort, there was a small explosion and any strength I had disappeared. The wattage graph for the rest of the interval is kind of interesting, a series of downward trending humps, as I kept trying to pick up the pace, then collapsed again: 315, 290, 300, 275, 280, 250, 260 ... and on for 2 1/2 minutes. I think at the end I was pushing to keep about 240w.

Cooldown was a struggle. There was nothing left in the tank. Then I did my transition run, which may have been a mistake. I was light-headed and getting chills, but I had written it down in my workout log, so it was getting done, dammit!

I am so tired.

Bike: 90 minutes, w/ 3x1-4 minute ladder @ 315w
Run: 2 miles @ 6.8 mph