I'm exhausted. I've been training hard and unfortunately not getting quite enough sleep. It's taking its toll -- my workout this morning was all suffering. My legs hurt, I have no energy, and I'm wearing holes in my skin where my bones press into my saddle. My mantra was "just get through this. Just get through it."

If I didn't have a coach who told me what to do every day, there's no way I would have pushed myself this morning. The coaching has been the key to all of my improvement -- the coaching and my willingness to DO the workouts faithfully.

Thank god tomorrow is a rest day. I get an extra hour of sleep in the morning and while I DO have to sit on my bike for an hour, I just have to soft pedal. I'll spend some time stretching and using the roller on my ITB. And hopefully be ready for seven hours of endurance this weekend. At least I can nap on the weekend.