A wonderful weekend!

Another weekend in the books!  This chapter in the book will read quite well!  Why?  Just because, what was wrong it?  It was sunny, spent it with family and friends, weather was cooperative, got some good training in, and whatever bad may have happened, a little perspective puts it all back into place!  My Life is good!
So Friday was a rest day and I took full advantage! Did nothing, caught up on work and spent some quality time with my wife.  Friday evening we headed out for dinner to a great local fish restaurant that we like.  We know the owners of the place so we like to support them.  as well as that the food is great, the staff is friendly and it is a comfy place to unwind and enjoy. Fridays' also has great music which makes it all the better to hang out.  We shared some wine, ate awesome food all while listening to some great live blues/jazz in the background!  can't think of a better way to spend and evening.  As i get into my training and obsessed with races and associated stuff, these evenings will become a great way to catch up and spend time with my most awesome support woman!
 Saturday AM was no longer rest day, so up and at it early.  My schedules workout for the day was my bike ride.  But, I started my day out with my Running/Yoga - ROGA clinic.  It was a beautiful morning with the entire group out for a run.  This week marked 1 month to the race that they have set as a goal.  Over the past weeks we have worked at building miles and experience for those who are new to running.  Yesterday's run marker a benchmark for them.  As they are building towards a 10k run, yesterday was a pivotal kind of run for them.  We did a 7.5k run at an increased pace(for the group) and finished it feeling good.  I let the group know that this was the day that they should know they can do the 10k race.  From here forward it is a matter of building up strength, increasing speed, and most of all learning how to stay healthy as a runner.  It is a great feeling knowing that all the participants in the group I have lead are able to meet the goal they set out to do.  It brings me back to my first 10k race and  the feeling of accomplishment getting to the line!   hope that they all continue in the next session and push on to a half marathon goal!
After a very satisfying morning session I went home and got bundled up for a bike ride!  It was still damn cold out.  As I was getting dressed it was only 5 celcius.  Although it was cool, the sun was shining bright so it was a good day to be out on a ride.  Mentally I was in a good space to go out.  I wanted to do a route that had some hills but nothing to crazy. The ride is to be a HR1-2 ride so relax was the theme for the day.  As I got out on the bike, the wind was blowing strong, straight in a direction that would be in my face for the first half of the ride.  As I said last week, I have myself in a good mental space when it comes to wind!  I am going to suck it up and not be bothered as it is going to be that way and it is not worth wasting energy.  SO I rode out to meet a friend to do the day ride.  Once we got out, the first half was a bitch, under 30kmh with the wind howling in my face, not only windy but the first 30km was uphill.  But the sun was awesome and I was happy to be out.  When I turned with the wind to my side the ride changed.  My speed went up over 40 kmh and my heart rate was consistently under 140, I was flying.  I actually left my buddy a little behind as I got into an awesome groove and wanted to ride it out.  I rode about 25-30k over 40 kmh with a rate of perceived effort of 3 out of 10 and a HR of 135. It was an awesome feeling of a few weeks of hard work and good base training.  It was one of those days that makes me want to sweat and work hard and intense through my workouts!  21 more weeks or work here I come.  The total ride was a little over 70k and a pleasure.  ddi some hills, flew the speed of traffic and felt like I am an athlete!  Love it!
Saturday night was a little more entertainment!  A copy of Friday night although it was not a rest day!  Some good friends who travel a ton for work were home so we all gathered for dinner.  We started with a hottub before dinner, with the required beers to make it more relaxing.  The hottub beer was followed by pre dinner beer, then some dinner wine, then some after dinner beer.  Needless to say, it was a lot more beer than I planned on having, but, what the heck!  ONce in a while it isn't going to kill me!  I plan on abstaining for the most part of my training.  I don't recover well from beers, so why bother.
This morning my plan was my run.  As yesterday evening moved along my thoughts were of this morning, probably why I was at home in bed by 11:30.  It all worked, entertaining night with friends and still home for a good night sleep for my run.  I love Sundays after ski season, it is a treat to be at home and not have to be up and at teh hill for teaching at 8AM.  So this morning I was in bed until 8:15.  WOW!  I slept in!  I had a great morning!  The temperature was great for running, beautiful sun and no wind.  My day was a HR1-2 for one hour.  So I headed out feeling like a million $$.  I ended up doing a 12k run in 63 minutes with a 140 HR at a 5:20 pace.  Another one of those workouts that confirm the base I have worked on.   A year ago that same pace would have had my HR at 160 and likely a lung on the sidewalk!  I probably could have kept going for another 2 hours!  Following my run, I took advantage of the optional swim on my workout schedule.  I spent 30 minutes in the pool swimming to swim.  I did not do any drills, just thought about my form as I slid through the water enjoying the relaxing time in teh pool. I followed my calm swim by some resistance training.  I spent 30 minutes with light weights doing the prescribed program I have.  I am actually going to change my program a bit based on some studying I have done and training that will provide me far more direct benefit on some of my areas of weakness.  I will say that the resistance training i have done is showing results in my training areas.  It is incredible how following a little direction provides such quick benefits.
Overall the weekend was full of mental and physical positives.  I was able to feel the benefits of the work I have done and spend some time developing some training strategy for the weeks ahead. I am looking forward to the coming weeks and the increase in intensity that it brings.  I have a couple of workouts that should prove to fit that bill this week.  Looking forward to it!
Hope your weekend was full of fun and entertainment!  happy Sunday and a great week ahead to all of you!  CHeers