Finishing at a high Octave.

The last week has been fantastic. I have lots of energy and am getting very excited for my first race of the season. I am recovering well and having some great training sessions.

More specifically we had a Beautiful climb up Kitt Peak. This is a 12mile climb to an elevation of 6800ft. So only 1000ft lower than Mt. Lemmon but about 14miles shorter. I finished strong at a time of 50min and 28 seconds. The Descent was a blast! At the base Scotty and I continued to Team time trial for 40.9kms when we got a double flat and were forced to wait for the van. Solid day's work.

Friday was a fun 3 hour ride but windy windy windy!! I was reminded of how Greg Lemond would ride along the coast for 3 hours into strong strong winds and drive home because he liked the challenge of a head wind. So with that in mind, it only excited me.

Saturday instead of the Shootout, the plan was to climb to the top of Mt. Lemmon with the addition of a set of 3x3min 3x2min 3x1min. Austin and I pushed each other through these made difficult by the constant grind of the hill. After, we continued to hold a steady pace to the top with an overall time of 1hour48min not including a break at 5miles to explain the workout. It is quite the sense of accomplishment when at the top. As seen in this video with the reference to 'Breaking Away'(the movie) tossing water over the shoulder. Ha ha. Favourite movie.

Returned home for a 60min run with Austin, negative split in our usual fashion. Ha ha.

Sunday's highlight was a track workout in the afternoon. The set was similar to last weeks as it was;
3x[800m 400m 400m 400m] Paced it a bit better than last week. But not bad for my 3rd track workout in 2 years.

2.30, 1.10, 1.09, 1.09
2.26, 1.07, 1.08, 1.07

2.21, 1.07, 1.07, 1.05

Swimming has been consistant. Although swimming is not my focus for the camp I still keep the pressure on. Keeping track of splits and testing myself to make sure I maintain my swim. Making sure there are no garbage miles.

And now after 3 Weeks of digging a hole for myself, I feel I am springing out nicely. I feel fit and ready to put my toe to the line.

Hope all is well and Ciao for now,
Andrew McCartney