WTF? Help with training issue ...
 

Hey ...

My season got started very late this year (June) as I was without a bike for a while. I'd spent the winter on the trainer, and was in pretty good shape but 9 weeks without a bike sucked, and got my season off slowly.

I progressed fairly well (I thought), and was regularly doing rides of 60+ miles (in about 3 - 3 1/2 hours), shorter tempo rides and intervals. Where I live is fairly flat, and I had stopped riding in the small ring of my compact all together.

Four days ago I did my last set of intervals. Went well, was hitting 26 mph on the sprints, which is great for me. This is only my second year on a bike. Took a day off, and went for a short 20 miler ... it hurt. Hills I usually had no problems with took effort. I was winded when I got home. Another day off due to rain. Last night I took a little tour around the neighborhood, and that took more effort than it should have. After struggling with a couple of hills that should have been no problem, I shifted into the small ring and went for an easy spin for about 1/2 hour. This morning I did the same thing ... small ring, spinning on the flat for about 30min.

WTF??? Is this normal? What did I do wrong? How do I get myself back on track? The summer here has sucked (rain, rain, rain) and school starts again soon which will limit my riding time. I'd like to be back on track and feeling better before I have to start using the trainer again.

Thanks!