Coach said to work the climbs. So I did.
training stuff
Coach said to work the climbs. So I did.
I will be the first to admit that my perspective around fitness and sports is completely jacked. Most of my network is based in the bike racing community. To most people I know, riding 100 miles on the weekend is NBD. Training every day? Well, yeah, at least.
It’s so exciting when you’re new to a sport or activity and you start seeing gains really quickly. Every week you slash seconds, minutes, miles off your previous week’s record. I remember when I started cycling with Portland Velo, I did my longest ride ever every single weekend for a summer. Every Saturday I rode 5 or 10 miles longer then I had ever ridden before. After I finished a 70-miler, I rode in the inaugural Portland Century, on my heavy-ass flat bar hybrid.
Two and a half years ago I raced the High Cascades 100, a 100 mile mountain bike race around Bend, Oregon. In typical Kristin fashion, I raced without a Garmin, without a bike computer, without even so much as a watch. I hardly looked at the course map or elevation profile (I dunno, we climb up Mount Bachelor a few times, whatevs). Unsurprisingly, around what was probably mile 40 I thought I was like 80% of the way through. So I went into some dark places later in the race.
I used to call myself a runner. Now I’m a cyclist trying to run. I ran 8 miles on Leif Erikson yesterday, which is a gravel/dirt double track trail/fire lane in Forest Park. It’s not very soft, it’s a bit rocky, and yesterday it was pretty muddy. So lots of hopping over puddles, avoiding the particularly deep mud, and trying not to sprain my ankle on the rocky bits.
I always knew recovery was important, but it seems to have hit home this season like non other. Considering I have had only 1 day off since the first of January, with many days containing two workouts, recovery from one to the next has become vital. If I don’t recover fully, it will effect the next workout, with potentially cascading effects that could put me out for week, either from soreness, fatigue and/or illness.