Hills Are My Nemesis

Sunday, BJ sent me my workouts and I looked at what today's workout was and I just about died! It said:

warm up 20 min
3 x 15 min climbs up any road you
choose in bountiful. When 15 is up
then turn around descend and start
over
cool down

I've never been good at climbing hills on my bike. I've got better than I used to be, but I'm not as good as I'd like to be.

So...I chose to ride my bike up 4th North in Bountiful. It's one of the steepest hills in the city. It goes from as far West to as far East as the city goes. 4th North leads you up to the LDS Temple on the hill. If you ever have to drive this hill in the winter time, you dread it because you just slide everywhere.

So, I did a 20 minute warm up and then looked at my watch and headed up 4th North. I got about 1/2 way up 4th North to a street calle Davis Blvd and that's where I had to stop. I was out of breath, I felt like I could barf, I felt weak, I was thirsty, my heart was beating out of my chest, I basically felt like I was going to fall over and die.

So, I pulled off on Davis Blvd, looked at my watch, and I'd only been climbing this hill for 7 1/2 minutes. I was only 1/2 way done. Well, tough noogies. The hill only gets steeper the further East of Davis Blvd you go, I just knew I physically couldn't go further. As I was catching my breath, I thought there was NO way I was going to be able to climb this hill 2 more times. I would have a freaking heart attack!

I'm finally feeling stable, so I decide to decend down 4th North. As I'm decending down 4th North, it's like your mind totally forgets what you just did because I remember thinking to myself, I can do this again! No big deal! If I can do it once, I can do it again!

So, I got back down to the bottom of 4th North and turned around and headed back up the hill! Oh dear Lord, what have I gotten myself in to? I made it back up to Davis Blvd again and felt like I was going to die. I felt like I was going to chuck my guts up once I stopped.

But once again, as I was decending down 4th North, I thought I've done this twice I'm sure I can do it one more time. Well, this time I was wrong. I made it up to 700 East (about 1/3 of the way up the hill) and I came SO close to upchucking that I decided to call it quits.

I turned my bike around & headed back home. I kind of feel bad that I didn't make it up the hill a third time. I feel like I kind of wussed out, but I honestly think if I would've climbed all the way up to Davis Blvd, I would've puked my guts up once I got up there.

Will hills EVER get any easier? I sure hope so.