Time to FREAK OUT!



Need some stress relieve? Click here and circle the cat.

Two months is a lot of time right? I know it is, it just doesn't feel like it right now.

Today in exactly two months, I will be attempting the Assault on Mount Mitchell and I am a little lot freaked out about this right about now. I scraped the surface a little, when I mentioned in my blog about the Caesar's Head climb, that this climb made me question Mitchell a lot. I know that doubts are normal at points in training and I know that the human body is a wonderful thing and it can adapt fairly quickly... Still, I wonder, if I bit off more than I can chew.

Looking up the route and the elevation profile of AOMM really didn't help to calm down my nerves. My coach's comment about Mitchell being 30 miles of the kind of climbs that we did last weekend on Caesar's Head pushed me even a little further into freak-out zone. Her response: "I need you to be freaked out, this way you are going to get your training in!" Oh yes... It certainly helps, otherwise, I would have most likely never pushed through the 4.5 hour trainer ride from two weeks ago.

On the other hand.... There are still two months left to get ready and then I also made the experience, that the first time I do a hard climb always sucks big time, but the next time, it's never quite as bad anymore. Either it's the body adapting or your mind just knowing what to expect and also when it's going to be over.

I guess, I can test this "second time you do a climb, it's not that bad anymore" theory this weekend. My training partner and I will ride "Marquis de Sade" (here for the climb info and here for where the name is coming from.... yes, not funny) this Saturday and part of the route is a climb up Callahan Mountain Road. The climb is short (around half a mile) and very steep. I did this climb in April (I think, but I can't find a blog about it) of last year and ended up getting off the bike and pushing it.... I really hope, that with all the climbing I have been doing in the last couple of weeks/months, that won't be necessary this time around.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

****************

Happy St. Patrick's Day!