Quote Originally Posted by martinler View Post
I've been riding about 10 months and everything seems to be progressing well except my ability to ride hills. I struggle so much on hills that I dread them and I am just before the panic stage when I start the climb. On long or steep hills - I push myself until it feels like my lungs are going to burst and I stop. The crazy thing is - I can rest about 15-20 seconds and then finish the climb with much less effort. What is up with that?
This sounds a little like what sometimes happens to me.. I psych myself out when I see the hill coming. My heart rate is going up before I'm even in the bad part of the hill. Because I just KNOW it's going to be hard. And I am slow on hills. So slow I don't know why I don't just fall over! But, I always make it and then chastise myself for all the drama!

I've been working really hard on letting the hill come to me, controlling my breathing -- also if you blow air out of your mouth and empty your lungs it somehow makes it easier to pull in a really deep oxygenating breath. If you are holding your breathe or only trying to suck in air without exhaling properly, you will quickly become breathless. Then follows increase heart rate, lactic acid.. and all that loverly stuff.