Yesterday, I did a very short ride after dinner on Danger Kitty to ensure that she hasn't forgotten who I am, and climbed up a road near my house. It was awful. I had to stop twice just to catch my breath and swear.
I didn't have my Garmin with me, so I loaded it into "map my ride". The result was immediately disappointing. The map and profile were not nearly as grueling as it had seemed to me at the time, so, I squished the profile to make it more dramatic. Here it is:
I seem to have lost my nerve, particularly with respect to going downhill. I kept hitting my brakes and just kind of squeaking my way back down. I did the whole ride in the big ring, because I need to build up my cycling legs pretty fast. BSLT has a lot of short, intense climbs on the bike, and the bike has always been my weakness.
The plan is to do this ride once on 2 evenings a week until I can do it without stopping, and then, do it twice on 2 evenings a week. This is in addition to a longer ride on the weekends that incorporates a long, 6-mile uphill grind. A good friend once told me, "I hate hills, but I love what they do for me." I've noticed that as I've become more experienced in many things, the stuff that seemed scary and un-doable before seems less scary now. And so I hope it will be with steep hills and bicycles.
Meanwhile, absolutley NO change on my weight so far, meaning that I'm still hauling 170 pounds of my butt up whatever hill is in front of me. Crap. It's not that I care so much about the appearance. I just want less to haul around.
This weekend begins the first of a series of long, hilly hike/run things that Sweet Baboo will be taking me on out into the Sandias to get me ready for the "Run the Valles Caldera Marathon" on the 13th. I also, having been suitably humbled in the pool at the Jay Benson tri, am returning to swim-training with paddles.
I have one month to get ready for a half iron. One month. Crap. That went by fast.
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