Taking Care of the Details

At the first sign of a cold this past week, I threw everything I could at it; Echinaecia, Cold FX, Emergen-C and Hot Lemon with Ginger. I will never know which one worked but things are looking up. I have been swimming just 3km most mornings, testing the aerobic system, spinning on rollers and sticking mostly to treadmill. Just returned from a workout on the track with some encouraging results. I did a simple set of 8x200m. And my splits were as follows: 32, 32, 32, 31, 31, 31, 30, 30. All feeling very in control and springy (You have to love that feeling) and better yet, not a sniffle. I think (With the approval of Coach CT of course) that I am ready for another build.

As for a catch up...wow "January 03"...I am sorry. Computer problems...and Craig I have heard enough I give in, you are a Mac, I'm a PC and I''m still waiting for a new Hard Drive... no comment. (I apologize for the nerd-speak)

But TRAINING! :)
January 1-8th was quite the swim build. Most of the Tri. group was doing double swims, for example 6km in the morning and 3km or so in the afternoon. Because I am on a run focus I did the 6km swim and I just continued with my running in the afternoon. Here are some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks:

The Vikes first workout of the new year was a good start to the new years resolution with a workout of 2x {4x 400m} Darren and I circled the track at a 1500m pace, holding 1.05's +/- 1 sec

The usual Steady state workout with surges up and down the hills at Lambrick Park.

Due to poor weather our usual Friday workout was delayed to a very sunny Saturday morning. The set was 4x 800m on the "wind tunnel" aka the track. Logan Burke, Zack W. and I worked together holding 2:18's.

In my last blog, I mentioned my New Years Resolution, "To get everything I can out of every single workout" This does not just mean swimming, biking and running all out at every workout. I already know how to do this. So Craig and I have put to work a plan to ensure I get the most I can get out of the time I have leading up to Hamburg, Germany and the season to come. It means resting heart rates each morning to monitor my health. It means examining every detail of my daily nutrition as well as pre-workout and recovery intake. I need to keep my Training Peaks Log up to date, and take advantage of the resources at pacificsport - including nutrition advice, massage, and sports psychology. If I want to reach my goals, I need to become a more complete athlete. On race day , I will be confident that I have done everything.

Well there you have it, some strong training, a tough past week and the beginning of what will be a grande training block.

That is all,
Ciao for now,
Andrew McCartney

Todays Top 5

Top 5 Superfoods I'm going to start eating more of:

1. Green Stuff
2. Yams (Simon was right)
3. Pomegranates
4. Gregor Robinson's Happy Planet Drinks
5. Blueberries