T-14 – where have my legs gone?

    kaBOOM!  I am as weak as a kitten 😦

14 hrs, 310k for the week, with a 120k ride to/ from my dads mid week.

Where have my legs gone?

The weather has been pretty good over the last few weeks, and so the ride volume, especially at the weekends has gone up.

220k, 219k in one weekend, then 30k… Oops,  and 250k last weekend.  I am aiming for regular 200k rides with the odd longer ride building tothe odd 300k

All looks good. – Oh and the weight is starting to fall off again.

However there is a problem – my legs seem to have vanished as the distance/ volume builds.  I used to be strong on the bike.  Hard up the hills, surge up rises, strong riding on the flats down on the tri bars

Now I feel weak as a kitten.   I use a power caps of 300w whilst racing ironman too reduce power spikes on the hills.  At the moment I can’t get near 300w.  240 is a major effort, and that was my old average when pushing on the flats…wtf

On the flats 200w is a challenge. Ok for a couple of minutes then kaboom!

Is my power meter screwed?, yes a bit(it keeps dropping out).  However the hr is down(more fitness?), but the speed is also down.  I used to cruise at 30 kph on long rides with slightly lower averages for the ride.

Now 25kph feels a success.

Essentially, my legs hurt when trying to ride anything more than steady. And steady is slower than before.  The legs feel fine off the bike, no doms etc.  It’s just they hurt very early, and the brain / body just says no, and I back off.

So is this just because (for the first time) I am pushing the volume and am genuinely tired?  Is this what I should be feeling?  And a recovery week means I bounce back super strong?

Oh I have back to back 200k rides planned this weekend… Doh

Or has my brain changed and I have no appetite for pain anymore…?

I backed off at the weekend and did nothing, all in the name of recovery !