While some of my friends are celebrating the off season, I have officially begun training for the 2013 Furnace Creek 508.

My last 508 was in 2011. I finished. I finished in 46:32, less than an hour and one half to spare. I was five hours slower than my first finish in 2006.

2011 was a very hard ride. I suffered from sleep deprivation. My Morton’s Neuroma was very painful. I had very disturbing hallucinations. But, I refused to quit and my crew got me to the finish line. With an hour and one half to spare.

I want 2013 to be different. I want a good ride. And I know how to have a good ride. Firstly, I had surgery to address the Morton’s Neuorma. It has been removed. Secondly, I have hired a coach to prepare me for this year’s race. Tonight, I did the first of many workouts that my coach will prepare for me.

Basically, this was a long warm up, then five “hard” intervals, with a longish cool down. My coach specified what my heart rate and power output should be based upon the time trial I did a few weeks ago. The problem was that in order to get my heart rate up to the requested level during the “hard” intervals, I had to ride at a much higher power output that he wanted me to. Oh well, I sort of split the difference and had fun!