Black out

This morning after a few days of low intensity recovery it was time to try and crank it up again and excite myself about a 30 minute critical power test. No big deal, you just go as hard as you can for 30 minutes and try and hold the best wattage you can. Except as you know if you have been reading my blogs, I always have some sort of fear about the test. Maybe it has something to do with how much it hurts? Maybe?

But I am getting better. Getting better at preparing myself mentally and physically for these tests and getting better at pacing myself so I am not totally smashed at 15 minutes but rather at 28 minutes. The last couple of minutes are never pretty.

So I had woken up on my own accord, no alarm was set, I decided I would get up when I was ready. Typical triathlete, 6.15am I was cooking 2 pieces of fruit toast and having a stretch getting ready to go. 

I have worked out I need a really good warm up and stretch because I am rather slow to get going, so 40 minutes later the IPOD was on and I was pumped. Time to start!

The first 5 minutes is always a little uncomfortable trying to find the right gear to push a good wattage yet keep the cadence up then get into some sort of comfort yet just on the edge of uncomfortable zone. 2 1/2 minutes at a time was the progression this morning and the mantra was "Give what youv'e got!". Which was exactly what I was doing.

Time was ticking by and I had 9 minutes to go! The wattage was not at my best but not too far off so I was happy with how things were going then bang...! Black out!

No, not me! I didn't collapse on the bike or see stars! Instead the garage went black, I lost my screen on the lap top and all my data, I began spinning over 105rpm and the fan went off!

Bugger! A Power black out! At the worst possible time! (I don't think there is a good time!) But with 9 minutes to go I had lost everything and the legs were now pounding full of lactic acid. I kept spinning for about 15 minutes hoping it would come back on soon then I would hit the last 10 minutes. An hour later after a good stretch and chat with mum, the power had returned. The question now was, do I do that last 10 minutes? For some reason I felt like a glutton for punishment this morning. After a slightly reduced warm up I pumped up the tunes again and went for 10 minutes. The reality, that last 10 minutes was a disgrace! The numbers were way down on the previous 20 minutes, maybe I had shut down physically and mentally after the earlier session. Oh well, I felt better anyway in my mind. That was all that mattered.

These things happen. I will have an opportunity to redeem myself on Sunday when I have a 47km time trial in Wanneroo. 6 laps will give me plenty of opportunities to race hard and feel the burn!