The Redemption Run!

Today was one of the most perfect days that I can imagine for training.  Warm temperature, humidity not out of control, a light breeze and the sun was as bright as it has ever been.  The entire day there was not a cloud in the sky to be found!  It was amazing!
I started my day today with a pal who is new to cycling.  It is great to have someone who sees the passion that so many people share and goes out and jumps on board. What a way to start!  Perfect weather, little wind and smiles all along the road as people are so enjoying the summer!  As today was a recovery ride it was a great day to get out and get someone started in the awesome sport of cycling.  He has made the investment and bought a new bike so I wanted to make certain that he got a good drink of the Kool aid while out on a great first morning ride.
We headed out on a route that was quite flat with very gentle rollers and great scenery along the way.  For a new rider I always think  about having an environment that shows both the physical fun of a ride as well as the awesome scenery that you can enjoy along the way.  The great thing is that the guy is physically fit so we rolled along at about 30km/h for most of the ride.  As we rode along I made sure that he was enjoying rolling along and all the things that are great about being on a bike. it seems that he got the bug, he was asking me about tri's and races and when they are so that he could start to consider riding and working towards his first event.  I consider that an awesome day and another person into the fold of the awesome sport of tri!
After a great ride I had a run scheduled with the Running/Yoga clinic that I lead.  I offer the run as an extra to the sessions that I lead as I know that I am going to go out and do a run at some point.  Although this weekend I did my run yesterday, I figure the extra few miles would not hurt me in any way.  As I was on my way out I got an email from one of the participants saying they were not coming out as they were at a pool party.  Can not blame them as it was such an awesome day!  I figured with the great hot weather it might be a thin crowd.  Oh yeah it was!  It was me!  So, I figured I had a couple of choices.  Not run and go home and enjoy the day, or run and then go home and enjoy the day!  Option 2 was the best one!  I did my run so that I could make up for the struggle I had yesterday.  I am happy that I made that call.  Although it was crazy hot, the run was very productive for me.  It help me to determine a little about my HR as I was out in hotter weather, I chose a route with some hills which compounded the benefits of what I was looking to learn.  With the heat, I am learning to adjust my pace so that I can keep it at a level that will ideally allow me to continue to move along without hitting the scary wall because of the heat!  It was a great run!  Stopped along the way and visited LULULEMON to say hi(and get some water), saw all kinds of smiling people enjoying the sun and best of all, redeemed the tough run that I had yesterday with a good result this afternoon!
Overall a great weekend, as the clock continues to tick I must say I loved it.  Good training, good mental space and a good feeling of the event that I am working towards!
I hope that all my American friends had a great Independence Day and are looking forward to the day off tomorrow.  TO everyone else, I hope your training rocked, your race was a blast and you had time to smile!