Power of Rest

Rest weeks can be so funny.  At the start of the week I often find myself going 'ahhh, thank goodness.  A rest week.'  You know you need to drop some mileage and overall volumes and you're generally tired (if your last few build weeks were effective).  However, it can be difficult mentally to allow yourself that much rest or a break in training because we tend to panic and think irrationally like we are going to lose all the fitness... or we compare our week to what we hear others doing and lose faith in our game plan.  So my goal this week is to stick to my recovery schedule, embrace the rest and know that when I enter into my next two build phases that I will get that much more quality and progression out of them and most importantly - ward off injury and potential burn-out before my first 50km arrives in March.
This past week was probably the first solid training week I've had since Europe.  I have been getting lots of fitness since then, but nothing really too structured.  I managed 55km (of running) and almost a 13hr training week.  I also hit the bike/trainer for 3 spins and managed to fit in some yoga, my fitness classes, a ski and snowshoe.  The best part of my week, however was I had some really fun moments with friends, the PACE crew and family!

This was one of those magical moments.  After a family ski at telemark, Trent took Carter and me out for lunch downtown.  After lunch Carter just started running around, laughing and smiling and I had to capture that 'Dance like nobody is watchin' moment. 

Early morning bread & butter loop with the PACE Crew

Arrival upon Sunrise - So Cool!

The third lap had the 'coach' suffering a bit.  My hip flexors were so sore from my ski the day before that I had to just take it super easy.  Alana hung in there and kept me company.  It was great we had some laughs together and she promised not to tell anyone that she had to piggy back me part way... ;)

We had an amazing dinner with Glenn, Cindy, Karen & Scott on Sunday.  Cindy is such an incredible cook and her and Glenn outdid themselves with clams, chicken stir fry, rice and a delicious salad.  Oh!  And we also got to taste test Glenn's infamous kettle core popcorn!