Be flexable and reap the rewards.

I set out today for day two of my triple up for "Go Long Climb Strong", I had my route planned. 15 minutes into my warm up I came to a section of the road(back road) they were re-surfacing it with tar and chip. I was going to bo back and do a different route but the trucks with the chip were coming that way on and I could not ride on the new road it wasnt even possible. So I continued on. Well, then I got a flat. Fixed the flat and on my way. I decide to take a different route after this section of road. It was actually the reverse of the route I did yesterday for over reaching. I knew it had two decent and one steep short one. I did not want to get anareobic so I figured I would just spin a small gear and hope for the best. Well, the first climb is short but a little steep, I was above where I wanted to be for the work out today but not for long, so all was well at this point.I had a fairly flat section so I did a 12 min chunk at the sweet spot, then came the first long climb (2miles) about 200 yards into the climb it gets steep and my HR was over 180 this is not where I wanted to be so what to do! Not much I could do I was already commited I started doing some rhythmic breathing and found my HR starting to drop even with the same effort. It went from 184 down to 174 then down 170 at about the 3/4 climb mark, but my RPE was at what I would call about a 8 not bad this is about where I wanted to be. The top of the climb mellows a bit so I shifted to a little harder gear to roll over the top and still my HR (with the rhythmic breathing) did not elevate but 2 bpm and I felt my RPE (rate of preceived exertion for those that dont know) actually dropped a bit so I shifted yet again. I found myself on the last 1/4 mile of the climb at about 17 mph probably about a 4% grade. Not much past that maybe 5 minutes of recovery, I have another climb not quite as long but starts out steep. I did this breathing pattern again and my HR and exertion level was well in the area I wanted it to be. So I decided to drop the hammer, I did the climb (faster than every before with less effort) at the top I get onto a rolling 8 miles or so I got into the drops and let the hammer drop all the way to the end, which the end by the way is a 2 1/2 mile 12% down grade (50+mph) wooooohoooo what an end to the work out. Then I was able to spin home do Zen Fix the back flexability, cyclo breath and myfacial release. Lesson I learned, a curve ball is only hard to hit if you take your eye off the ball and let it be hard to hit. If you focus and be open and flexable you can take this sort of situation and turn it into one hell of a work out and moral booster. gun