Failed Indoor Time Trial (again...sigh)

Joy here...Coach Andrew had an indoor Time Trial on the books for me today.  But before heading out there for that, I had to drag my slightly hungover self out the door to complete an easy run as part of my training with Coach Woods.

The bright world above reflected below in the still waters
of the canal.

So out into the chilly autumn day we headed for a little, light run along the canal.

We kept our egos and pace in check knowing that that indoor Time Trial would be coming up later in the day, and so we just chatted and enjoyed being outside.

Then we came back home, stretched, showered, ate, and had a nice, long nap before hopping on the bike to tackle that indoor Time Trial.

I've not had a great track record with indoor Time Trials so far (failing my first one miserably and then succeeding in my second one, only to truncate my third one from 10 minutes down to 6).

This time I hopped on the bike, feeling a little bit nervous.  Then I started going through the warm up as Coach Andrew outlined for me.  I got to the 5minute section at my tempo pace (wattage 177-203w, or my Time Trial effort), and partway through that section of the warm up, I got the WORST EVER PMS CRAMPS.  Seriously.  Like hop off the bike and writhe on the ground bad.  I've written before about cramps, and Nomi just said she "pops a painkiller and runs like normal" when she gets hit.  And maybe I should have done that, because even though I got back on the bike and tried to do my workout, I was deflated.  Utterly deflated.  My legs felt heavy, and my heart wasn't in it.  It took all my effort just to finish a mediocre 50 minute ride.

And now in the wake of yet another indoor Time Trial fail (I'm working on a 25% success rate so far), I'm wondering if I don't have something psychosomatic when it comes to this kind of effort.  Maybe I just don't really know how to push myself to the limit?????

Any suggestions?

Over and out,
Joy

Run Stats:
Ran for a total of 35:03:13 for a distance of 5.6km with a pace of 6:16min/km.
Ride Stats:
Rode for a total of 50minutes...with a truncated "hard" session, followed by one 5 minute set at ME (moderate effort)