I knew I was coming down with something last weekend when I struggled with my field test. By Tuesday, I was coughing enough that I only completed 1 1/2 of my scheduled 4 VO2max intervals. By Thursday, I was dizzy enough to go home from work early. I went home, took a couple sleeping pills to make sure I stayed unconscious, and went to bed. (At some point I posted some pictures to Facebook that night, but have no recollection of doing it!)
Friday I woke up and felt terrible, still coughing like crazy and had a hard time concentrating. I emailed my coworkers that I wouldn't be in and went back to bed for most of the day.
A smart person would have skipped riding today. I never claimed to be smart. I woke up and didn't feel too bad (after sleeping about 20 hours in the last day and a half) so I figured I'd go into the shop and do an easy ride.
As I was warming up, I could tell I was a little off. My body heat was WAY high and I was uncomfortably warm the entire time. I managed to stay with Todd and Jason for about the first 30 minutes, then I dropped off and rode the rest of the course alone. I stayed ahead of Andy and Kacy, who were about a mile behind me most of the time. Kacy has also been sick and been off the bike for about 3 weeks.
It was an interesting day since I couldn't spin over 90 RPM for the life of me. My aerobic system just wasn't cooperating. I tended to stay about 85 RPM, making my leg muscle do a little more work than normal.
I finished the course with a stunning average of 242 watts. That's a decent wattage for any day, let alone one where I don't really remember much of it because I still don't have a lot of focus. Once I was done, I was coughing really badly and all my teammates were giving me loads of grief for not staying in bed.
They're right. I probably should have stayed in bed all day, since now I'm coughing even more and can have that "warm" feeling that usually means I have a fever.
I need to be better for next weekend. After waiting for months, I finally decided to get my next tattoo: it will be the same style as much current one and will be on my right shoulder/upper arm. I called Mony the other day and made the appointment. I don't want to be coughing while he's working!
So now, maybe 18 more hours of sleep and I'll be ready to ride tomorrow ;-)
ADDENDUM: Uhhh..... huh. Wow. I just downloaded my power meter information. I was messing around while I was warming up and tried to do a couple sprints. I just spotted a number I've never seen before: 5 seconds at 1015 watts, with an instantaneous maximum of 1096 watts. I don't know how the hell I did that kind of power, but the numbers are there (and I thought I saw it on screen, but it could have been a delusion). My target for March 1 was 1000 watts for 5 seconds, so I guess I need to increase the goal a little.
