I SERIOUSLY love hilly races

Triathlon Forum
1

Did a very flat and crowded sprint last Sunday, and then today did our smaller and very hilly local race. What a difference! In the flat race, I felt like I never really settled into a groove on the bike. Actually felt like I overcooked myself, trying to get around big clumps of slower bikes (I was in a late wave), and was disappointed in my 5K time (also on a dead flat course).

Much better today. Great feeling, whenever I saw the next climb on the bike or the run approaching, and just know that I’d gain ground on the people ahead, or would drop the ones right ahead of me, or put distance on the ones trying to catch me. Also nice to know that the whole thing is short enough so that I can burn a match or three every time I do this, and will still have something left for the end. Ran a much faster 5K today, even with the crazy hills.

It makes me think, though, of a recent thread where we discussed the relative ease of flat vs. hilly races. Is it just psychological that a hilly course feels easier to me? Or are there some people who just work better with bursts of effort followed by downhill rests? (During one long downhill coast, my HR even dropped to the high 120s.) And does anyone think that this changes with longer races?

2

personally I prefer flat course. The feeling of going at 42+ km/h for an hours, hearing the sound of the wheels, pushing like crazy…

3

my thing lately has been hilly trail races (just running, not tris). way more interesting than flat road races, IMHO.

4

If you love hilly races, try:

Sprint http://informationinenglish.blogspot.com/

Half IM distance http://axtri.no/Home.html

IM distance http://www.nxtri.com/

You have to fly to Norway first :wink:
.

5

Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you dont.

6

Those look like really cool events. I’ll bet that the sprint up Trollveggen isn’t very sprinty, though.

I wish I had roads like that to train on here.

7

If you ever cross into cycling you have to do the race I did today. Bob Cook memorial mount Evans hill climb. 7000 vertical feet of climbing in 27.5 miles. You end at 14,100+ feet. Pure awesome.

:slight_smile:
Jodi

8

I too prefer hilly races. I’d rather work really hard, then get a bit of a break, than be on the gas constantly.

Plus, it’s mostly hilly where I live, so that’s the kind of riding I do all the time, so it’s what I’m good at, by default.

Multisport races don’t get any hillier than American Zofingen. We’ll see you there next spring. : )