Hill training

Living in Houston, aka “The Flatlands”, really puts me at a disadvantage at most races because of the hills, or lack thereof.  I never thought about it much until my first race.  I thought I was going to die on the hills.  I think at one point I had to get into my lowest gear, and even at that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it up the hill without having to dismount first.

I’ve been determined not to let that happen again, so I changed my bike route to take in the only hills around.  That has served me well for the races so far this year, but only because the hills in those races were pretty minor.  I hope it will be enough for my next two races, but am concerned about the final triathlon of the season in Austin.

It’s time for plan B'!  A few weekends ago I traveled to Austin to ride (and run) in the hills.  I rode a bit easier not knowing what to expect.  Yes it was difficult, but it didn’t kill me.  In fact after the bike ride I felt like I could run much further than I needed to.  I think I was fooled because most of that run was in the shade and pretty flat.  I also ended up riding much slower than I would have back home on my familiar hills.  The run was difficult, but not something I couldn’t handle.  I remember thinking while going up hill:  “Holy cow, I’m doing this!”  That said, both my run and bike times were slower than normal, but these were different hills.

This weekend I’m off to Kerrville to stay with my parents and try out some of their hills.  Dear old Dad has set me up a course for a long bike ride and run.  Let’s hope he hasn’t overestimated my abilities and scheduled a couple of killers.

These are the only out of town hill training sessions I will get before California in 2 weeks, but I plan to get in several more before Austin.  I also want to do a couple of training rides/runs on the course I will tackle in October.

This past weekend I changed my route up to try out some new roads.  I didn’t expect much difference, but either I was sandbagging it or by not being familiar with the road I didn’t ride as fast.  Now I understand why Lance rides the TDF rides so many times before the actual event!

I love Houston, and have lived here most of my life, but I sure wish it wasn’t so flat!