I'm confused by my body! When I try to tackle long steep hills, my heart starts to race so fast that I eventually end up dizzy and have to stop dead in my tracks to rest. I feel like my legs could keep going no problem. No kidding...my legs feel great. But my breathing and heart rate seem to suddenly go through the roof. I don't have a heart rate monitor (and I don't really want one because I think I'd be obsessed with watching it). I try to relax on hills and I'm in my granny gear so I'm really not mashing.

If I'm riding flats or rollers, I can easily ride without stopping to rest. But high intensity...another story. I can only last about 5 minutes. It doesn't seem logical to me that I could do a 40 mile flat/rollers bike ride, mow the lawn (and I have a lot of lawn), go on a 4 mile walk, plus other activities in the same day and be fine. But if the only thing I do in a whole day is jump on the bike and head up one steep hill, I have to stop after 5 minutes. Is this like a strength versus aerobic fitness thing? Maybe it's that I am strong, but I have no aerobic capacity...is that what's going on? One other thing to mention...I have a very minor heart murmur and if I squat down, I usually get VERY dizzy when I stand up. I told my Dr. about that and all he said was to stand up more slowly. I don't have any blood pressure issues or other health problems.

I'm going to try to ride slower on hills, but other than that, I don't know what to do. I guess just keep riding hills and this will improve? I think I'm having one of those days when I'm just super frustrated with myself and I don't want to be a newbie anymore!