I got sick with some sort of respiratory infection last Tuesday, figured I was recovered enough to do my workout (5x9’ @ 102%-105% FTP). I was wrong…or was I?
My legs felt like lead which I just attributed to being off the bike for a week, I could still push the pedals. My lungs were on fire more than I expected, but I wasn’t short of breath or coughing. I started feeling dizzy but I just attributed that to coming back from being sick. All in all, I could still get the power out even though it felt like a 10/10 effort.
But I pulled the plug on the third set. I felt like even though I “could” do this, my body and mind were hitting what felt like a rev limiter. Something was telling me “you need to dial this back NOW”. So I did.
I felt super angry at myself when I pulled the plug because I knew I couldn’t finished the set. I’ve failed workouts before but I knew exactly why I failed them, I couldn’t get the power our no matter how hard I tried. Now, an hour after the workout I feel horrible and I think I may have set my body back in terms of recovering from the illness. It was the right thing to do to stop the workout but it would’ve been better if I’d skipped it completely.
So what is that internal rev limiter that I was feeling? Have you guys experienced anything similar?
