There is a road in West Glenville/Charlton that can make you cry, and its name is Potter Road. My friend and triathlon training buddy Greta first introduced me to this road last season during a bike ride. I am usually pretty wussy when I ride and do my best to avoid hill work. However, Greta is very good about pushing me outside of my comfort zone.
"We're doing a good one today," she'd said, adding that she liked to use it for hill repeats. I knew it was going to be bad.
The first indicator was that the route to GET TO Potter Road was entirely uphill. Fun. And then the hill began. I had to come out of the saddle early, huffing and puffing to the top. But I managed to get up. When I caught up with Greta, I said, "Yeah, that was tough, but I did it!"
"That wasn't the hill."
And she wasn't kidding. The "real" hill was a swear-word inducing, thigh-burning, heave-your-body-into-each-pedalstroke mess. I BARELY reached the top, thinking my heart was going to burst out of my chest from beating so hard. It was quite a reality check for me.
After that day, I added the Potter Road hill to my mid-week bike rides. I was swearing so much each time I rode it that I'm sure the Potter Road residents knew me as "that cycling girl with Tourette Syndrome." But by the end of the season, I was notably better on hills. Now, I use that route as a barometer on my overall leg strength and fitness. The first time this season that I planned to tackle the hill was last week. And...it just didn't happen. I basically psyched myself out all the way there. I built the hill up in my head as this gigantic obstacle that I wasn't yet fit enough to overcome. I got within one block of Potter before turning back and picking a different route.
On this week's long ride, I was determined to conquer it. I set my mind and headed out for Potter. I told myself if the fake-out hill kicked my butt, I could turn around and pick another route. But it didn't. And neither did the real hill. Sure, it was hard, but I did it -- and without as much strain as I thought there would be.
The lesson I learned is that a lot of this stuff is mental. Last week, I took a defeatist attitude and couldn't accomplish my goal. This week, I had a more positive approach and met the goal. It's a good lesson to add to my racing toolbox.
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