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| Clint, Rosie, myself and Gramma Rosaleen on Boxing Day |
After Ironman Arizona and Cozumel, I took a 3-week break. Clint and I started planning for 2012. We spent Christmas in Ontario with my Dad and his wife Mary, who had never met Rosalee. And Rosalee got to meet her namesake, my 101-year-old grandmother Rosaleen. I amused myself with big days of mountain biking and cross country skiing, not to mention a lot of family visiting.
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| Rosalee, age 1 and Rosaleen, age 101 |
On our return to Vic the plan was simple, improve my cycling. One of the things we did was talk to some knowledgable people about how to reach my goals. One of the people we talked to is Clint's friend Patrick, who also happens to coach Paula Findlay. Among other things, Patrick said that I need to find 2 or 3 Game Changers and implement them in training. For some reason I loved this phrase and it stayed with me.
One of the Game Changers we decided on was to attend a camp put on by the Pacific Sport Cycing Centre's Houshang Amiri, who is generally regarded as one the best cycling coaches in Victoria. This meant attending a 5-day, big-volume bike camp with some of the best riders in town. For me, this felt akin to jumping off a cliff, at least in terms of fear, and the possibility of pain. Its safe to say, I would be outside of my comfort zone.
Nervous as I was, I rolled up to the camp feeling positive about what i would learn. The first couple days were a bit of a struggle, especially in terms of my pack-riding skills which are negligable especially compared to guys and girls who race bikes at a high level. It took 2 days of falling off the group on corners, riding 2 feet behind the wheel infront and generally having to focus so hard i couldnt make conversation, before I settled into a reasonable skill level. Its still a work in progress, but at least i can now talk and ride at the same time!
On the first day, we did a couple time trials. One was a 12-minute quad-buster up a big hill that got steep at the top, and the other was an undulating 20-minute effort. Following the advice of another girl on the camp, I turned off my brain and went as hard as i could. I found out later that my times fell right in with the other girls, which i was quite pleased about. On the second day, we did some hill climbs. I was hurting and was already partially blown before we even started climbing. The second day was the roughest for me. I wondered if i could survive 3 more days.
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| Enough with the boring cycling talk Mom! |
On the third day I started to come into my own, felt more comfortable with the group and was really starting to enjoy all the time in the saddle. We did team time trials that day, which were very fun, especially because i didnt get dropped. The fourth day was hills again, and my legs were getting heavy after 4-5hours of hard riding each day. I did my best, but still got lapped by the boys on the hill repeats. At least i know what i have to work on!
The last day of the camp got snowed out, and I was more than happy to go for a run and rest up. I came out of the camp having learned a ton, and also gained a new riding group. We met today for some more hill repeats and I fared a lot better than last week!
Here's a list of my "Game Changers" from the week;
1. A new skill level for riding in a group, cornering and generally being comfy on my bike.
2. A new group to do long rides with on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
3. Some great advice from Coach Houshang about my cycling training.
4. The feeling that maybe, just maybe, I can kick an ass or two on the bike.
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Are you done writing yet? Can we play chase? |
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