Good Start to the Block

“When the final came I had built myself up to withstand any set back. I no longer wanted to be wrapped in cotton wool. If my spikes had split now I should have run in bare feet. If I were knocked over I would not feel martyred, but would draw new impetus from my anger.”
-Roger Bannister

After a sloppy 1500m heat, where Bannister allowed a number of things to affect his race, (a split spike shoe, pushing and elbowing) he had only one day to change his frame of mind. And he did. This is a quote I am going to bring with me in my carry-0n when I travel to races. In a 2 hour race, especially in the sport of Triathlon, any number of small things can happen. And you can allow those things to defeat you. Simon was involved in a bike crash in the 2000 Olympic Games in which he won gold. No Cotton Wool.

Thursday was a tough tough day. Woke up early for Core now scheduled in for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Got pumped up and into the pool we went. Swim was a blast with a challenge 400. The Challenge was keeping my stroke count below 30 strokes per 50. add them all up and how many strokes below 240 equal push ups for both coach Craig and Neil. But it didn't end there. There had to be a limit on the time. mine was 5.20. Not a problem. I was pretty excited about this so I ended up giving both Craig and Neil 29 push ups. Kirsty topped that with 36 push ups. In the end Craig and Neil had 79 push ups to do at the end of the workout. Ouch. I had sympathy pains or maybe that was just the swim.

Anyway, off to campus for a run with the Vikes. I was warmed up and ready to go and Brent Fougner pointed and said you are running with them today. He said, "chase after them" So I did a set of 5-8x2min Tempo out on the trails with Zach Whitmarsh, Achraf Tadili and Kris Swanson. I can tell you now that I felt that for a couple of days. Although Hot/Cold helped a fair bit.

Friday was a day of preparation for the 1000m TT on Sat. Although in the pool a 400m TT was written up on the board. The time was descent pulling a 4.30. 5 sec off my LC PB. With a light 30min run in the afternoon I was set for the TT this morning.

My first ever 1000m TT on the track. It felt like the entire running community was out on the track Saturday morning, and the Tri. guys stopped by in the middle of their base ride. Thanks guys for the cheering. After a hectic warm up I refocused. With a relaxed first 400(64sec) I moved to the front of the pack on the corner of the second 400(not the best idea but i did it) I focused on a strong build in the next 400. The last 200 I just gave her while trying to stay relaxed. The final time was 2.39. I will take it considering the wind on the back stretch, but I know I can do better.




5min after we did 2x{300, 200, 100}
Set 1: 1.47, 30, 13
Set 2: 1.45, 30, 13

Well that is all,
Take Care and ciao for now,
Andrew McCartney

Todays Top 5

Top 5 Songs of the 80's:

1. Toto - Africa
2. Joy Division - Love will tear us apart
3. U2 - Pride in the name of love
4. The Cars - Drive (Scotty will kill me for saying this but both Scotty and I started to cry listening to this. I don't know about Scotty but I was going through a rough time...)
5. Duran Duran - Hungry like the wolf