Check it out...

My favorite race website is going to have a weekly column starring my coach, and a few other superstars like Alison Dunlap and Namrita O'dea. This week Lynda focuses on what it takes to do a hundred miler, both for newbies and people who want to have a PR.

I've been training under Lynda for 1.5 years now, and she has completely changed the way that I workout. I never used to pay much attention to how many hours of sleep I get, or what I ate, or how I spaced out my races. I would just go out and ride, ride, ride. Don't get me wrong, I still have long days of riding, but I also have really short intense workouts where afterwards I'm reduced to crawling. And it's a complete no brainer, but getting enough sleep and eating the right foods makes a huge difference in recovery. I could go on and on about the changes that she made, but seriously...I'm procrastinating. I need to finish packing.

Oh, another great thing about Lynda? She humors me. Like yesterday, when I sent her an email asking, "is it OK to do this marathon race that I just signed up for?"

Ok, I know that doing a marathon race in January might be a little rough, but I was planning on doing a long ride anyways. And what better way to get to know my bike then to race it? Never mind that I haven't ridden trail in months, or that it's supposed to be 70 degrees on race day. 70 degrees? I have no concept of what that feels like. All I know is that I somehow convinced my BFF to do this race as well, so I'm going to quit pointing out that it might be a little rough. Juli, if you are reading this, don't worry about a thing!!! I have it all planned out...kind of.

I have exactly 2 days to reacquaint myself with singletrack (desert singletrack at that) before I race. But Jason has promised to take me somewhere mellow the first day, so I won't be trying to launch over crazy desert rock or anything right away :-) More on the race later, but now I am turning....off....the....computer....for....real....