WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

     Actual data versus "feels like" otherwise known as Perceived Exertion. Yesterday at my return to the Driveway, I once again met my goals of hanging with the peloton for a lap (this time a lap plus a little more) and only getting lapped once.  I also managed to lap one rider, and finished ahead of several others.  Official results aren't posted yet, but I count some of the DNFs, those not taken out by a crash.  I felt good, worked hard, and saw impressive, for me, numbers in the stats.
     Training Peaks tells me I set four (4) Peak Performances: 5 second heart rate (163), 1 minute HR (162), 5 minute HR (158), and 10 minute HR (156).  Considering I have a max HR of 169, that's impressive.   Of course, there is no way I could sustain the 160's for any length of time, and once I waved good-bye to the group, the HR dropped back to the 158 range.  The last lap was in the high 140's.
     As for the race itself, it was fun on the first lap, powered up the hill without difficulty, 700 watts and holding back a bit to stay on a wheel.  Accelerating on the back stretch is where I hit my highest HR but when it came to the next acceleration, I had to back off a bit.  But I wasn't the only one.  A few hundred yards ahead was a guy in a pink jersey and I was slowly reeling him in.  However, after another lap he opted to not finish, so I lost my carrot.  After a couple more laps by myself, Carla my mentor, gave me a break and took the front for a few more laps and helped drag me up to one of the other dropped riders. We got out of the way of the peloton and tried an acceleration to jump on the back, but I was too late.  That was my second highest wattage reading.  Then it was cruise around for another two laps.
     I cooled down for six plus minutes on the bike, consuming the Nuun left in my water bottle, stopped off at the water coolers and refilled with plain water and drank that.  Changed out of my bike shoes, returned the timing chip, and had another bottle of water.  All in all, it took a good twenty minutes for any semblance of normalcy to return.
     Now for the real shocker, the comparison to my races in Colorado.  In the time trial, my average speed was 20.9, last night 20.2, average wattage 171 vs. 167, average HR 137 vs. 154.  In the criterium, my average speed was 19.9 vs. 20.2,  average HR 133 vs. 154 (I've left out the power since I followed a wheel the whole race).  So, for the last two weeks I've been whining and complaining about my muscles not performing up to par, but apparently the only muscles under-performing were the heart and lungs.  Well, even that is an over-statement.  Yes, my HR in Colorado was twenty beats low, but apparently the legs were supplied enough oxygen to be able to put out the same amount of power.  I'm flabbergasted.  As Professor Dumbledore told Harry when asked if it were all real or imagined: "It's all in your head."  I need to process this revelation for awhile.