short history first...been on the bike consistently since Jan 06, never taking more than 3-4 days off in a row but consistently riding 4-5 days a week and 150-200 miles a week. I've done 21 races this year since the last week of jan..a mix of RR's and criteriums and a couple of TT's. I was consistently in the running for the win and have only been out of the top 10 once or twice over the last 3 months.
I showed up to a race this last sunday expecting to put the hurt on everyone as it started with a long climb. about 3/4 of the way up my legs just went dead. My HR wasn't elevated to a point where it should have been a problem, I was under LT the entire time. Guys that I have been dropping in every race this year, including a teammate that got 2nd place just rode away from me. There were still 30-40 guys left in the main field at this point and I haven't been out of the top 10 on a climb all year. I couldn't figure it out, but after riding yesterday and today and having no power in my legs I'm now chalking it up to fatigue.
I've been feeling burned out lately also, not wanting to train.
What would you experts recommend I do? hang it up completely for a week or two? My initial plan i have come up with is to cut out the racing for a month and just do some mild/moderate rides and get my aerobic base back up since I feel I've lost some having to race on the weekends and recover during the week. I've never experienced this kind of fatigue before so i'm a little stumped. Thanks.