Something familiar?

I need to eat quickly. My wife has an appointment and I have to squeeze in an hour just after dinner, because I have to look after the kids. Pancakes. After a few you feel really full. Not ideal 15 minutes before a VO2max session. But I need to train. I need to ride on that wave of supercompensation. No way I am skipping my workout today.

 

What's on the menu? TR Charybdis. Bread and  butter VO2max: 6 x 3 minutes VO2max intervals @ 117% FTP. Hard. Very hard. Simple.

 

First some warm-up minutes with increasing wattage levels before the suffering starts.  From the last 1 minute interval I conclude I need a cadence of 94 all the time at the chosen gear.

 

First 3 minute interval. First one and a half minute are OK. I can still look up. 1.30 minutes to go....it is starting to feel worse, and worse and worse. But I can hang on to it. Last minute my breathing goes deep. I feel I don't get enough air. My lungs fill up as much as they can. My mouth is wide open, trying to get as much air in as possible. The sound of my breathing is like I am getting a cough, I also feel that deep in my lungs. Look down. Just don't look up. Legs start to really fill up. Change position a bit. Look up hope it's almost over. O no, still 20 seconds to go. Just hang on. O no. Still 5 to come...............

 

How did the rest of these intervals go??? With every interval the time my body responded the way it did the first interval became longer and longer. From 1.30 minutes to 1.40 minutes to approximately 2 minutes with that agonizing feeling. Sound familiar?

 

Last interval I did a little above treshold....pffff.

 

1 378 AP = 118% FTP

2 370 AP

3 364 AP

4 367 AP

5 353 AP =110% FTP

6 332 AP