Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

"With ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable"



Monday 29 October 2007

Plus and minus

Plus: Yesterday's training was a mix of road and track..the plan was 45 mins easy on the road then 20 equally cruisy laps on the track.

What actually happened was 30 mins of extremely dangerous riding on the road fighting gale force winds before retreating back to the track for 30 laps of cruisy riding. Why go out at all?..well initially it didn't seem too bad and it was only the last part of the ride (out east from the velodrome,turn right, turn right turn right) that I realised just how strong the wind was . Actually it was when I riding the suspension bridge over the Yarra river and was grateful that the side fences were fairly tall that I realised a hasty retreat was the best option.

The task of getting my track bike out of the car and putting my road bike in provided me with a major problem since the swirly nature of the wind prevented a lea side of the car being evident..ie no matter where I put the bike it was likely to fall over and actually closing the tailgate was no mean task either...followed by battling my way indoors..ah sweet relief!

Then 30 laps (give or take) at a nice speed on 49/15 gearing and I felt GOOD!!

So that was the plus and now I'm feeling that I might, just might pull this off.

Then the minus..the other hour record rider's "management team" want to create a whole lot of publicity for the attempts..flyers, banners in the 'drome foyer, newspapers, letters to clubs etc.etc. And suddenly all my good feeling and rising confidence evaporates, 'cos now a poor performance is not only a matter of my ego being bruised in front of friends..its a whole load more and I'm not sure I can deal with that.

Rest day today and test early tomorrow..20 mins at a sub threshold HR..a sustainable level and a good indicator of just where I am fitness wise.

2 comments:

Niki said...

Best of luck! I hope your tests show that you are on track (no pun intended). Three weeks will hopefully be enough time to train, right?

Liz said...

tnx Niki..yup beginning to look okay and confidence once again on the rise.