Out of my comfort zone

For the month of March, Lead Out Cycling have the following training schedules - VO2 training on Tuesdays, rolling and track turns on Thursday and long hilly rides on Saturdays.


Due to work commitments and slightly unwell through the month, I had only done one VO2 session. It was good to do these rides on threshold. I have done all three Thursday sessions this month. I have enjoyed this session as I park at my work and ride down to Luna Park to meet the group and then do a good quality ride down Beach Rd. I enjoy this session as I get to work on expanding my comfort zone within a group, work on my rolling turns - we are talking about constant rolling turns and not just do turns when the person at the front feels tired and track turns working as a large group and a smaller group of 3 or 4.




With these groups, I am also practising on riding down on my drops and not on the hoods. As we are doing constant rolling turns and track turns, we don't have chats so I can ride on the drops without feeling like I am being anti social.




I have only done one Mt Pleasant road ride this month. I didn't end up doing that ride last week as I had a hectic week of interstate work and dealing with my car being broken into and credit cards stolen. The Mt Pleasant ride is tough. Much more tougher than Dandenongs or in the Alpine region.


Mt Pleasant road ride starts at the Heidelberg football ground and then we ride along Mt Pleasant road and then we do a loop through Kangaroo Ground, Watsons Creek and Panton Hill. Then we rode back towards Eltham and then back to Heidelberg. It was a tough ride with over 1200m of climbing within 60km.




I was totally dead at the end of that ride. The rolling hills just zapped my energy levels down and I was riding through lactic acid filled legs. Nutrition wise I was fine, not bonked but just tired and totally over the whole ride. Mentally, I was also struggling with the fact that I am the slowest of the low group. I feel like I am holding the group back and that I am not recovering enough by the time I catch up with the group who have been waiting there for me. I am finding myself consuming nutrition whilst I am on the bike rather than eating at the scheduled stops. This ride has left me with a great sense of anxiety thinking about it.

I know that I am becoming a stronger cyclist by doing these rides. I just have to step out of my comfort zone which is still very daunting for me. I have had a few anxiety moments which has made my heart beat fast and my back seized.

On other news, I have my Wilier Back! This is the bike which I had mentioned previously with the campy groupset. It now has Shimano (Ultegra) on it and I can shift gears and brake on the drops!!!

This week coming is recovery week. I am looking forward to it as it is the only week where I don't feel like a total noob.