Hills and watching the wheels go round

Watching The Wheels - John Lennon




Garmin Map of the Ride in the Hills 15 October 2011


It was slow ,  hot and painful. But I survived.  Saturday I did a 150km bike ride but in the Hills.
I ended up with 1700m of climbing , the most I have done in a training session . (2000m for the weekend)
I started off just before 6am from home and headed to Guildford and then Helena Valley , Mundaring , Kalamunda and Pickering Brook. There was a constant succession of hills both steep and gradual. I had a short break at Kalamunda after 85km and then rode the same route back which was hard . One of my slower rides but with so much climbing it was unavoidable.

I had four bidons including 1 of Gatorade and 1 Powerade (bought at the Petrol station) . Food was 5 gels , sweets and dates .
I consumed about 400 calories. I did not have any issues with cramping or soreness. I was just slow on the climbs and faster on the flats. I hit 51km on one of the downhill stretches and after Mundaring the road had a slight downhill gradient and I managed to average over 40kph .

It was a hard session but I think it was worthwhile . There wasn't too much activity on the roads ...just lots of motorcycles on Mundaring Weir Road. I had done the route once before but not as far . It is a good ride but can be demoralising for the fact that the averages are so slow. I had no one to draft off today as there did not seem to be that many riders about. Just before Kalamunda ,  two groups caught up and passed me. They had just finished their ride and I wasn't even half way through mine.The positives were that again my nutrition was spot on and so were the electrolytes.It was hot by 10am and I was holding up . I was comfortable on the flats and even at 130km mark I was able to ride stronger on the flats. it gives me some comfort that I think i can maintain the pace on the flat courses.

Having said that , after 6 hours I was tired and opted to skip my run and do the run on Sunday.



Sunday , turned out to be a really nice hot day. I was out by 6.45am and the legs were feeling tired this morning but managed a nice easy ride to Cottesloe and then back through the city . I ran off the bike for 30 minutes but I was just slow. I only managed 5km and 48km on the bike.

The focus is on the last on the 3 week cycle with emphasis on speed work and building on the base over the last 2 months. My weight remains just under 70kg and so hopefully I will drop a few more kgs before December. The hay fever is bad at the moment and still feel very wheezy and heavy in the chest .

Time for recovery and the Beach as Perth gets a feel for the first real day of summer.

Training for the week:
Run: 5.5 hrs or 59km
Bike: 11hrs or 275km
swim; 2.10 or 5.4km

Total : 18.6 hrs