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01-08-07, 05:47 PM
Yep...that only took about 15 years. Always toyed with the notion of racing back in the day, but never figured I was quite good enough. I'm generally a very competitive person in a fairly unobtrusive/inconspicuous kind of way....if you ever saw me drive on the highway, you'd see....so this should hopefully be a good learning experience.
I guess back when I was younger, I was halfway ok with climbing, since I'm only about 5'7" and was 130-135 pounds then. My main problem was I didn't know **** about proper nutrition/hydration or a structured training schedule. I'm quite sure I did a lot of my rides at least slightly to somewhat dehydrated, and I didn't eat all that well. I won't even get into the riding aspect of things. When I got back on the bike a year and a half ago at 180 pounds after taking a year off from running due to injury, I felt like I was towing a trailer behind me up the climbs. I still have 10-12 pounds to go to where I ideally want to be (140-145), and expect to be there by spring. Once I get there....I should be at least satisfied with my physique. Only trick between now and then is staying healthy :).
My fitness seems to be doing ok; been logging in the base miles. One thing I am really starting to notice is how fast my heart rate responds and recovers....much faster than ever before. In the past, that's pretty much what killed me....was recovery after hard efforts, and being able to repeat them....and that's basically what discouraged me from racing back then. Now, hopefully with having better focused training efforts over the last few months and in the future, that can be mitigated a bit. The last year, year and a half was all about getting miles back into the legs and getting my fitness (and weight) in the ballpark of where I wanted to be. Now, I'm pretty much there and need to fine-tune things a bit.
Oh well....I don't have too much in the way of "natural talent", so we'll see what happens and how my luck works out.
I guess back when I was younger, I was halfway ok with climbing, since I'm only about 5'7" and was 130-135 pounds then. My main problem was I didn't know **** about proper nutrition/hydration or a structured training schedule. I'm quite sure I did a lot of my rides at least slightly to somewhat dehydrated, and I didn't eat all that well. I won't even get into the riding aspect of things. When I got back on the bike a year and a half ago at 180 pounds after taking a year off from running due to injury, I felt like I was towing a trailer behind me up the climbs. I still have 10-12 pounds to go to where I ideally want to be (140-145), and expect to be there by spring. Once I get there....I should be at least satisfied with my physique. Only trick between now and then is staying healthy :).
My fitness seems to be doing ok; been logging in the base miles. One thing I am really starting to notice is how fast my heart rate responds and recovers....much faster than ever before. In the past, that's pretty much what killed me....was recovery after hard efforts, and being able to repeat them....and that's basically what discouraged me from racing back then. Now, hopefully with having better focused training efforts over the last few months and in the future, that can be mitigated a bit. The last year, year and a half was all about getting miles back into the legs and getting my fitness (and weight) in the ballpark of where I wanted to be. Now, I'm pretty much there and need to fine-tune things a bit.
Oh well....I don't have too much in the way of "natural talent", so we'll see what happens and how my luck works out.