Intense
Yeah, I know...it's been awhile. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon last October with my worse time ever on a half marathon, 2:24:48 (11:04 min/mile pace). I actually did better than I expected, though, considering my training was very difficult. The course was a bit hilly, but I saw sides of Baltimore I had not seen before and I enjoyed running through Camden Yards and towards the football stadium for the finish.
I did not enjoy training last fall and, in fact, it stressed me out. I was dreading my mid-week runs, etc...not fun. So, I finally decided to take that much needed break from running. I've only been doing recreation runs since last fall - if that. The last race I did was the Boulevard Bolt 5 miler at Thanksgiving. I can't even remember what my time was and they don't give chips to the recreational runners.
I joined a gym near my house in January and finally started doing spinning class. I LOVE IT. It's the only thing that I have found that can get my heartrate and sweat going as well as running. Which brings me to today and why this post is titled "Intense"....I did my first "real" climbing ride outside. Now, I've rode around DC (city, Mt. Vernon, towpath, W&OD) plenty, but evidently any hills you encounter on those trails don't count. My spinning instructor coordinated a small group to go out to Skyline Drive for a twenty mile ride, sounds easy right? I mean, I can ride twenty miles in my sleep. The first five miles are uphill, climbing an initial section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So, five miles that normally takes about 15 - 20 minutes now took over an hour....yikes. There was also about another mile or so of climbing after some reprieve at mile 5. It was tough, really tough. Thankfully, my spinning instructor hung out with me, otherwise I would have stopped. The spinning instructor told me stories and talked to me on the way up, so it took my mind off of it....good guy. My legs were in good shape due to strength training in spinning for the past few weeks. I started running out of steam around mile 8 or so. I should have eaten a snack earlier. I made it, though. It was worth it....the scenery was beautiful, the downhill was thrilling....over 30 mph! (Keep in mind I'm on a hybrid and the speed limit for cars is 35 mph). A bonus....I'll be on an endorphin high for the rest of the day.
I did have a bit of a nasty fall on the climb. I tried to come up out of the saddle for a short time, shifted to a higher gear, and my handlebar grip came flying off, my handlebars turned, and I went down while the end of the handlebar jabbed into my rib area...knocked my breath out a little. I quickly got up and got off the road. Meanwhile we noticed my glove had come off, too, and had turned inside out....I have no idea how that happened. I had a major adrenaline rush combined with having a bit of my breath knocked out, I got a little woozy, and I had to sit for a minute to recover. I drank some water, felt better, and started climbing again. I almost had one other fall when we stopped at the gate on the way out to see if we had to pay. I forgot my right foot was clipped in and I tried to use my right foot to hit the ground. I recovered and didn't fall. I just started using my clips yesterday after installing my pedals last weekend. Since this climb was slow, I only clipped in one foot.
I think we climbed around 2000'. One guy said the elevation change was 2500' and I think we started at an elevation of about 500'. Again, it was tough, but I did it and am glad.
I signed up to do a Century (100 miles) bike ride in October. Thankfully, it's a fairly flat ride but I've heard the wind can be brutal since it's on the Eastern Shore...we'll see.
I did not enjoy training last fall and, in fact, it stressed me out. I was dreading my mid-week runs, etc...not fun. So, I finally decided to take that much needed break from running. I've only been doing recreation runs since last fall - if that. The last race I did was the Boulevard Bolt 5 miler at Thanksgiving. I can't even remember what my time was and they don't give chips to the recreational runners.
I joined a gym near my house in January and finally started doing spinning class. I LOVE IT. It's the only thing that I have found that can get my heartrate and sweat going as well as running. Which brings me to today and why this post is titled "Intense"....I did my first "real" climbing ride outside. Now, I've rode around DC (city, Mt. Vernon, towpath, W&OD) plenty, but evidently any hills you encounter on those trails don't count. My spinning instructor coordinated a small group to go out to Skyline Drive for a twenty mile ride, sounds easy right? I mean, I can ride twenty miles in my sleep. The first five miles are uphill, climbing an initial section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So, five miles that normally takes about 15 - 20 minutes now took over an hour....yikes. There was also about another mile or so of climbing after some reprieve at mile 5. It was tough, really tough. Thankfully, my spinning instructor hung out with me, otherwise I would have stopped. The spinning instructor told me stories and talked to me on the way up, so it took my mind off of it....good guy. My legs were in good shape due to strength training in spinning for the past few weeks. I started running out of steam around mile 8 or so. I should have eaten a snack earlier. I made it, though. It was worth it....the scenery was beautiful, the downhill was thrilling....over 30 mph! (Keep in mind I'm on a hybrid and the speed limit for cars is 35 mph). A bonus....I'll be on an endorphin high for the rest of the day.
I did have a bit of a nasty fall on the climb. I tried to come up out of the saddle for a short time, shifted to a higher gear, and my handlebar grip came flying off, my handlebars turned, and I went down while the end of the handlebar jabbed into my rib area...knocked my breath out a little. I quickly got up and got off the road. Meanwhile we noticed my glove had come off, too, and had turned inside out....I have no idea how that happened. I had a major adrenaline rush combined with having a bit of my breath knocked out, I got a little woozy, and I had to sit for a minute to recover. I drank some water, felt better, and started climbing again. I almost had one other fall when we stopped at the gate on the way out to see if we had to pay. I forgot my right foot was clipped in and I tried to use my right foot to hit the ground. I recovered and didn't fall. I just started using my clips yesterday after installing my pedals last weekend. Since this climb was slow, I only clipped in one foot.
I think we climbed around 2000'. One guy said the elevation change was 2500' and I think we started at an elevation of about 500'. Again, it was tough, but I did it and am glad.
I signed up to do a Century (100 miles) bike ride in October. Thankfully, it's a fairly flat ride but I've heard the wind can be brutal since it's on the Eastern Shore...we'll see.
posted by Aud at 2:45 PM
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