FUN in the Sun!

After last weekend it finally hit me, exhaustion!  Yes, I am human & Yes, I was expecting it at some point... everyone warns you it will strike usually at the end of Build I.  Mine hit a week later at the end of recovery week. The hills of Vanderpool sucked every last ounce of energy I had left in me.  By Sundays long run I was dragging along, good thing it was a recovery week and all we had to do was 8miles.  My fatigue was confirmed by my heart rate, I was struggling to keep in zone 2 at a lot slower pace than I would normally go.
Monday swim is always a welcomed workout.  Mainly because it's active recovery & that's usually "all" I have to do for that day, but also because it feels great to shake out your muscles from the weekends workouts.

 Tuesday Kris, Shelly, & I rode out to Castroville for a donut.  It's always a nice treat when we can all get off from work a little early and get a ride in.  There was a nasty headwind on the way back, but the day was sunny and beautiful, so it made it less painful.  Regardless of weather conditions, and believe me we've been tested by a few days recently, it's always a privilege to be able to be outside in mid-February... and in short sleeves! :-)
Wednesday I had a great swim, followed by a wonderful trip down memory lane, 6mile track workout. I went to the track at Brandeis HS around 2:30pm, there was only one group of kids with their coach.  I asked if it would be ok if I ran & got the ok.  By the time  finished, half of the high school was on or around the track!  Surprisingly, I was able to get my workout in with too much crowding.  I started my warm up and was quickly drawn back to 1994.  Probably the last time I had ran on a track, senior year of high school.  My workout called for 4x800 with recovery in between.  As I was huffing & puffing, "sprinting" my 800's, the young kids were running in the outside lane, chatting away & laughing keeping up with my "sprint"!  Ahhh, man it was so easy when I was young! :-)
Thursday and Friday were both great workouts, and then came the weekend!  70mile steady ride.  Finally!!! A true "recovery" ride.  We decided to keep it light and keep it FUN!  It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a nice tailwind in many directions!  The ride from TA to Exxon started out cold as usual, but by 5miles out we were all pealing layers!  Luckily, Herb met us at the Exxon to ride to Castroville and back with us, so we through our layers in his car.  The ride to Castroville was flat and fast... it seems that the promise of a donut is like a light at the end of the tunnel!  We quickly grabbed our donut and started on the return trip.  From Exxon to TA, Kris, Alphanso, & I cruised back leaving it all out on the road.  It was a strong finish to a really FUN ride!

Today's run with Kris ranked right up there with yesterdays ride.  Sunny, beautiful weather and a nice conversational zone 2 run= FUN!  Again, up until last week all of our long runs ended with some efforts or we were racing 13.1, so it was nice to be able to enjoy a run, no pressure.
This weekend ended up being a much needed "break" from the last two long rides/ runs we had done & which each of us found "less than fun" at one point or another.  I know training isn't suppose to be FUN all of the time, but it's a nice reset point to come back to every now and then, especially when you hit the exhaustion point.  Now it's time to hit Build 2 with a strong positive attitude and a tank full of FUN!!! :-)