The Yin and the Yang of the Times.

I've had better weeks. I've had worse weeks.
The law of extremes dictates that this will be true of every single week we ever have in our entire lives - save two. Still this was a week of extremes.
As I mentioned before, Peter was kind enough to agree to help me in my efforts to have a good season this year. This first week wasn't top heavy with hours by any means - 13.5 but it was the first time in many moons where I incorporated much in the way of intensity - either running or riding.
I've climbed (bike) Mt Doug twice in the last four days. Mt Doug is a steep hill.
I've also gone over (run) Mt Tolmie six times. Not too flat either.
The training felt good and my weight this morning was 168.5 - a 12 year low by .5 of a pound. So that's pretty cool.
But there are other things going on.
Cancer sucks. It's an ugly damn bit of business. One of my athletes, a young man from Seattle I've become quite fond of, lost his mother to the wretched disease a few weeks ago. I never met the woman, but she raised a good boy and... well, it just felt badly. It stays with you. I thought about him often while I was enjoying some of the nicest riding and running I'd ever experienced in my life during those weeks in Tucson.
So I come home and as I mentioned, had a great week of training with some of the coldest damn riding I'd ever suffered through. Everyone is talking about the weather but I didn't miss a minute. That's a good thing.
Then Thursday I get a call from another of my athletes, a young woman who was a dear friend before she was one of my athletes. It seems now her mother has been given the diagnosis everyone fears. My athlete and friend was really excited about some decisions she'd recently come too. She was going to take a big leap in life and move to the United Kingdom. Now that's a gutsy manoeuvre. Her one way ticket was purchased. She would be out of the country before the new moon. Of course now, she'll stay with her mother while she undergoes major surgery and then chemo. I can think of worse things - but only because I have a vivid imagination. What a hell.
Two days later (yesterday) I had the hardest day of training I'd had in probably 3 years. It felt good.
Later in the day, something I've been trying to build for the last 8 months broke beyond repair. That felt bad - really bad.
Today I woke up feeling numb but I had a small group of athletes counting on me to put them through a swim and a two hour run planned for myself. I didn't want to do either. I wanted to stay in bed but there's not much to be gained by staying in bed so I dragged my ass down to the pool and stood on deck while the group went through the workout. Then something happened. Those guys really started to get into the workout. They did some distance stuff and some pace line stuff. It turned into one of those moments for a coach that stays with you. I left the pool feeling better than when I arrived.
Starting out for my 2 hour run wasn't so much of a chore anymore. I felt good running. Really good - for the first 90' then the wheels fell off, suddenly and soundly. The last 30' I did the IM shuffle but that's okay. It suited this week.
I finished the 2 hours and capped off one of my best training weeks in years.

Just got a call. Heather Wurtele crashed on the bike today.
What a week.