One word of caution, because I've done it, is to overtrain.

I wass dating someone, and I was too blind to see that his veiwpoint was that if I wasn't losing weight I wasn't exercising enough. And to top it off I would feel like if he challenged me to do something, I had to prove I could do it!

We would go hiking, and he would insist on walking, and I would be stumbling over my own feet, and he'd say another hour, before he would turn around. I wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day, because of fatigue. At the same time I was rowing crew (which was VERY intense, but I enjoyed it.). But somehow, it just didn't transfer over well to running, which he would goad me into doing, and which I have never liked.

Once I broke up with him, I quit doing EVERYTHING. I just didn't enjoy any of it anymore, because of him. Except the crew, but I couldn't get to practice at the right time from my house. I was too far from my carpool.

I am convinced that the asthma I developed during this time was due to over-exertion. Funny that all the years I was smoking, I never had a problem. I never lost any weight during this period, in fact I gained weight, probably muscle, but never lost weight and I was at 230, so I had plenty of fat to burn.

I don't know what your condition is, but if you are worried about training too hard for your health, just listen to your body. Take it slow at first, talk to your doctor, perhaps a stress test is warranted. But if you start to lose your enthusiasm for cycling, you are not being lazy, but probably overtraining.

I find it so easy to feel guilty and beat myself up for being fat (I am now 260). I am embarassed by it, and tend to blame any other problem I have with performance on my obesity. But skinny people can be just as unfit and unhealthy. Fitness is just not as obvious as fatness.

Please don't make the century your most important goal. Keep it secondary to enjoying cycling.

I am still making a lot of false starts at regular exercise after quitting five years ago. You would be cheating yourself if you completed your century, and then quit cycling. It is not the goal of a century I am concerned about, it is the arbitrary date of "before I'm forty", that concerns me. The idea of intermediate goals is excellent. Perhaps pick a shorter ride in the near future as a motivator.

I hope that I am reading too much of myself into this. But I tend to go overboard in my goals, and then give up. I will start studying one language, and wind up buying materials for seven languages. Get frustrated at how much I need to learn, get rid of everything and then start the cycle all over again.

Good luck

Mary