Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

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



Sunday 20 January 2008

Motorpacing and training in general

My training week has settled into a general pattern of flogging my self stupid on Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun with a rest or spin only on Mon and Fri plus a gym class on Wed.

The Thursday session is a motorpacing one on the track which is an absolute blast. Currently I'm on a major learning curve, but last week I managed to get closer to the bike and was also down on my pursuit bars. Sadly the Powertap wasn't working properly and I was only getting speed readings..unless I really was outputting no watts at all! My HRM indicated I was working beyond my normal road TT max, but I must remember not to check it during the effort...I was not overly feeling stressed but when I saw my more than usually elevated HR I believed my eyes rather how I felt and backed off after 6 mins of an anticipated 10 min effort.

It interesting working with a group of people but one of these days I'll beat the stubborn pride thing that prevents me peeling off the warm up when it gets too effortful. What for the younger peeps is a warm up becomes a major effort for me.

Yesterday's ride was a slog fest. It was s'posed to be either a road race or an hour's fartlek within a longer ride and I chose the latter option once the weather started to look unsettled. My self appointed task was to attack all hills and to do a sustained speed effort over the flat bit near Coldstream. I chose a new route that I thought would take 2 hrs+ to get to the restaurant at the end of the universe .ie Ranges at Olinda.

However I was wrong on three counts and Fixmawheel will be delighted when she reads this: problem no. 1 was that as I hooned down the first hill on Brysons Road I suddenly remembered I meant to fix the alignment of my brake pads which I'd noticed were too close to the tyres. Stop/ fix. Problem no.2 was that when I hit the Warburton highway I was not at the spot I expected to be and had to ask where the road I was looking for was(!). Problem no 3 was that I was about to follow those directions when I saw a sign indicating Wandin East, which is the spot on the map I knew I had to pass through to get to the Sylvan Dam..so I took that road instead of spending time on the highway. BAAAAAAAAD move. Bad because it took me up the steeeeeepest hill I have ever ridden (and not got off and walked) and bad because later on I again had to ask for directions(!). The steep hill bit was made easier because there was this rather beautiful archway of trees at the top..well I thought it was going to BE the top until I got there..another blow to the psyche.

On arriving at the Sylvan Dam I had to talk sternly to myself and invoke the black HTFU band. I desperately wanted to turn right and go straight home, but I had a loose arrangement to meet up with the aforementioned Fixmawheel and co. for coffee at Ranges, so I turned left and went up The Wall.

This hill is etched in my memory from early training as a monster. On those rides I frequently had to get off and die quietly for a minute or so, before finally celebrating loudly when I managed to ride it in its entirety without getting off. That was a decade ago and nowadays I'm much stronger but the memory is etched deep.

Anyhow, clearly someone has flattened great chunks of this hill, cos despite the fact that this hill came towards the end of what is now known as the "Tour de F*&^%ing Undulations" and therefore was an HC climb for me, it was not as bad as I recall.

So, gasping for coffee, a cake, a rest, someone to brag to I made to stop at Ranges until I realised there were no bikes parked outside. Bugger, too late... I'd missed them.

At home after chugalugging down my torq recovery drink I finally checked my phone and discovered they'd not even started the ride...just as well I didn't check it during the ride eh?!

I had plans for shopping, gardening etc etc..instead sleep took over, which is why I'm writing this on Sunday rather than yesterday!!

Oh and I finally managed to pluck up the courage to get on the scales to check on the damage wrought over Xmas....and no probs at all...phew!

5 comments:

Rich Gift Of Lins said...

I think I am beginning to understand why you want that Garmin Edge!

hippy said...

I have a new toy that might help me 'find' any killer hills nearby.. :)
http://thehippy.net/nucleus/index.php?itemid=954

Liz said...

yup..need a Garmin of one sort or another to avoid any more nasty surprises. Luckily they're hard to find in Melb's outer burbs, so I've kept my money in my pocket... but it WILL happen, if only to keep me "found" when I hit the roads in UK and Austria this year.

Lawrence said...

Wot? nasty surprises or garmins are hard to find in Melb's outer burbs?? heheh I did delight in reading point no. 2. ;-P and will make no further comment on that.
What was the rd with the nasty pitch and aesthetic arch of trees? So I know to avoid it ;-P

Liz said...

Picky, picky you English language teacher you!

And I will not divulge where the killer hill is, I will take you there instead!!!

Evil laughter follows, echoing into the distance........