Just when I think I'm getting into shape...

...I go and do my first hill workout on the bike! Wow - talk about humbling! Did a total of 7 repeats on 3 different hills, along with some other riding (15.9 miles total in 1 hour). Looks like I'll be backing away from the long base-building rides and focusing on hills and/or intervals until the race in August. I knew these hills would be tough, but I didn't realize how much differently my legs would feel vs the long, relatively flat rides I'd been doing. Quads and lungs were burning! It's almost like I'm starting my training all over again. One thing I did notice, though, was that my legs bounced back fairly quickly between the hill repeats. If I hadn't been doing the base work, I'm sure that wouldn't be the case. I'm still training for my 5k race next month, so I can't totally ignore the running in favor of the bike. It seems hard to focus on sharpening in both disciplines. My hat's off to all you hard-core triathletes. Maybe when this is all said and done, I'll sign up for a duathlon!