Out on yesterday’s ride in the wind and hills I experienced something Coach and I have talked about in the past, but don’t think I had ever had the pleasure of seeing myself: a pooped heart.

My normal ‘zone 4’ (anaerobic threshold) is around 160 bpm, something I usually have no trouble getting myself into on climbs and big efforts. Well, yesterday I just couldn’t….um…get it up. My legs were feeling the week of training, no question, but I was still climbing alright, I think. I just couldn’t get the heart to get above 145 or so on the few sustained hills I climbed.

Today is a rest day, so I assume the ticker will bounce back tomorrow. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, has anyone else out there experienced this sort of thing? I am guessing ‘yes’, since the heart is a muscle, after all, and probably should get fatigued once in a while.