Ah... weekends.

It's an intriguing feeling to wake up with one's legs feeling heavier than when you went to sleep, and then to check the time and realize that your body demanded a full ten hours of sleep. For some of you this may be a common happening (the sleep part), but for me a ten hour night's sleep is near unheard of. Taking into account the sensation of ballast in my legs, I couldn't deny the argument that my body needed it. I suppose these are the sorts of revelations I can look forward to as I acclimate myself into a full-fledged training lifestyle.

You could argue that I've been living a training lifestyle for some time now, but what I'm referencing here is an entirely different beast. I would argue that the corner was turned when I started viewing meals as "refueling" or sleep as "recovery". To do so - in my mind, anyway - dissipates a certain humanity from the day's offerings, but within the sacrifice lies the discipline. It's not to say that I don't enjoy a good meal with good company or a good night's sleep for what they are, nor do I diminish the value of these things as they stand, but my perspective has shifted. The first steps are being taken.

I enjoyed my weekend (which includes a "rest" day in my self-imposed training program) smiting Mother Nature and going snowboarding. I had grand plans to do some cycling, but a mid-April storm fouled up the streets - unswayed, I headed for the resorts and chased down some turns.

I spent both Saturday and Sunday at Copper Mountain, which is a freestyle Mecca in the snowboarding world (I'd argue top 10 in the US) and the home base of Camp Woodward, the US's premier snowboard and skateboard training facility. The camp is home to a number of trampolines, foam pits, air bags, and dive pools - all of which exists solely to allow riders to hone their skills in a low consequence environment before waging battle in the real venue. Pretty cool stuff, and a very unique perspective on the sports.

Copper was a good time, and their many parks (you can hit 5 in one run) provided a plethora of stimulation for my freestyle-oriented mind. I didn't push the limits much, but I had a lot of fun looking at some new features, thinking creatively (one of my favorite lines of the weekend was a rail-to-fence ollie out of the park- to fence ollie back in- to jib barrel combo), and playing around. Something about closing weekend brings a little mischief and mayhem out of people, and throwing snowballs and spraying unsuspecting skiers never gets old...

I'm back at my home/office/training compound now, and am fresh off of a 90 minute hammerfest on the spin bike (the streets were still too fouled up to launch an outdoor assault on my legs), and am looking forward to that aforementioned "recovery". I have a heavy week ahead of me, and hope to do some sightseeing as well.

Keeping busy is a skill only granted to the creative and a burden only laid upon the subservient. Perspective is everything.