The Tale of 8 intervals

So going to bed Wednesday night after a tiring day, what do I do? I lay in bed wide awake easily past 3am. I might have slept from 3 to 6am... I am up and start my coffee and exercises and Audrey calls from upstairs. Up before her alarm as usual!! I walk up the stairs and my thighs are burning. Not a good sign. Then I do squats, lunges, core and boy oh boy are my legs not happy to be moving today. Two sets, miserable and now it starts.

You'll know exactly what I mean "it starts" in a second. That self doubting, negative voice in your head that says "I dont want to train today!!" "How about a day off or a Z1 ride?" Nope, Ive got a set of 8 intervals at sub threshold followed by 5 consecutive jumps with little rest. Can you say dreading the day?

You know always building for the State Time Trial and thats exactly the statement I keep leveraging all morning as I pack my gear and drive to work. Over and over in my head the EXCUSES and LAME inner monologue. I keep asking myself is it better to rest, what about RATL, arent you worried about being tired for that race? Will Friday be enough rest? What about Fridays workout? Should I skip it? is it worth doing intervals if you cannot hold the wattage? Am I being a complete pansy? NO, you have to, RATL is fun, its training, but its not an A race. Intervals prepare you for time trialing and next week there are worse and longer intervals!!! Whats wrong with me that i cannot do 3 hard days in a row? Do I need to eat more dark green leafy vegetables? Did I take my vitamin this morning?

AiiieeeYYYAahhhh!!! Make it stop. So after checking to make sure my desk was still in my lousy little office and my warehouse was still full of everyting it was full of yesterday I suit up and drive to my lunch time ride place. Theres a perfect 2 mile (exactly) stretch perfect for 4 minute intervals with 2 minute rest. I warm up really slow and long and then off on my first interval. But not till a good bit of hearing that voice. Its telling me my left knee hurts a bit, maybe you should stop, maybe its bad to ride hard when your tired, maybe you shouldnt on less than 3 hours sleep.

#1 and #2 interval are wretched. No power, HR wont come up into Zone 3 much less igh Z3 and my legs are just screaming. By #4 its almost as if a vale is lifted and I am up around 320 watts on and off and I am looking forward to #5. But by #6 I am counting to see if I have one more or two more. OH crap, Ive got 3 more. #7 and #8 are agony again, but dammit I am doing them. But that damn inner monologue is horrid. I almost stopped to call Sean to ask if I could stop!?!?! WTH is that all about? I usually always go for broke on the last one, but this time I am past halfway and notice my wattage is only about 230 (down a small roller) I push and get 250 so push more to finish it off at 330 watts. But I get 260. Upshift and I push on the pedals really hard and get 288. Thats it, I'm done!! Feels like 350 watts, but in reality its 288-ok.

Finish up with the 5 jumps and roll back to the car and back to the office. My office isnt all bad though, it does have a nice shower!!


Man-you just got to hate that little voice!! Why doesnt it ever say something useful like "hey-heres a sure fire plan for a successful business venture" or "heres how you can alleviate world hunger and suffering" Nah-mines just a simple voice for a simple mind I guess. Well I heard you loud and clear today, but I wast listening!!!