The Week in review in Photographs.

Update coming soon.

Andrew McCartney

Good Song, Sad But Good;

A much more in depth video of San Francisco

This is a bit of a better portrayal of the way things unfolded.

Training Update coming soon.

Ciao for now,

Andrew McCartney

Good Day In San Francisco

In 1974 the wonderful sport of Triathlon began in Mission Bay, Southern California. So it is only fitting that I have my seasonal best performance thus far, here in San Francisco, California. I had the absolute pleasure of rooming with Whitfield, with a last minute decision to race in San Francisco. It was a great opportunity to watch and learn from someone who knows exactly what to do and without being too much of a backpack I hope, I soaked it up.

Race morning, I kept it simple, ate rather light, had my coffee and found ways to distract myself as to keep my nerves and anxiety well in control. I warmed up running early for 20min. Swim warm up was no more than a minute but was good enough. I was introduced to the start line as, "Andrew McCartney, ranked 8th in the world cup Series." Ha ha ha. (I was ranked 8th in this race)

On the line I had Whitfield on my left and Collington on my right. A little bit of a slow reaction rate but all in all a good start. I saw Dustin McLarty to my right. I worked my way over to him and we were off. First lap, we stuck rather close. Second lap he would put in an effort in and gap me out into T1. Boy those McLarty’s can swim. On to the bike with a good transition McLarty and I began riding together, holding steady with Kyle Leto and Whitfield close behind. The 4 of us started working together narrowing down to Leto, Whitfield and I. After a strong pull around 4 of 6laps, I had a moment of weakness and a lapse of concentration. So for the final 2 laps I made things pretty hard on myself, trying to hold off the second pack and to keep in contact with Whitfield and Leto. With a fast transition, my legs were there right away. Finally. Although the course was flat, the winds made for an extra challenge. (explaining the slow run times all around) I set my eyes on Leto about 40sec ahead of me and ran myself into 2nd, while running scared due to the charging chase pack behind me. I held it together finishing 2nd to Simon with Kevin Collington in 3rd, James Elvery in 4th and Kyle Leto rounding up the top 5. I am quite pleased with the final result and feel this is a start of something good.

Hesults Can Be Found Here.

Well racing to come is a bit up in the air, which makes training a bit up in the air as to whether I focus on a good training block or rest up for more racing. I will keep you updated.

Hope all is well.
Ciao for now,
Andrew McCartney

Paris of the west and Music.

The City by the Bay, Frisco, The City That Knows How, Baghdad by the Bay and The Paris of the West. These are all nicknames of the city I will be visiting next. San Francisco. More specifically I will be racing on Treasure Island a small artificial island no more than an area of 2.334 km2! So what does this mean for the race, Flat with the exception of a false flat up towards the bridge, but super technical! There are 20 corners in a single lap. There are 6 laps, and correct my math if I am wrong but that is an impressive 120 corners in 40kms of riding. The swim is in the bay(ocean) so wetsuit. Luckily I have a new Nineteen Wetsuit arriving tomorrow just in time. The run must be something similar to the bike.

Wow time is passing so fast! Already July 7th! I feel over the past week or so I have been on the go hustling from one thing to the next, completely devoting myself to every training opportunity I get. Never really stopping for a breath of air. Often I feel a bit blue pre-flight to another part of the world, even if it is just San Francisco but I always feel I am leaving something unsolved, unfinished and disorganized. Leaving Friends and family. But wow, what opportunities may await me in San Francisco! It is very exciting. The race where everything comes together on race day? I will never know unless I try.... I shouldn't think so much.... Ha ha. I will be rooming with Whitfield for this trip and there in itself is an opportunity to follow and learn and I know I have much to learn.

Now for some new music.

Check out this fantastic song. New music from Pilot speed. Sounds a bit like Modest Mouse. I have had it in my head all night and I would like to share it with you now. What a high energy song.

And now for something much different. Another high energy song but in a different way. A less happy song and almost makes you feel upset. It is a rather negative song but I believe music is something to show and encourage emotion. This song certainly does just this. May not be every ones cup of tea.

That is all for now,

Hope all is well,

Ciao for now,

Andrew McCartney

Taper time

Sunday concluded my arduous week of training with a fantastic run early in the morning and a delightful bike ride with the guys in the afternoon. My run in the morning was accompanied by Lysanne motor pacing me on her bike. Starting on Quadra, down to Dallas road, around the inner harbour to the Triathlon of compassion in Esquimalt and home. I kept a good clip running along the coast and some fantastic urban running.

Swim in the ocean and as I was preparing to catch a wink, I got a call saying, "were riding now." Zip over to Pacific Sport as hard as I could to accompany Scotty, Austin and Brook for an hour and a half ride which turned into a bit of a tactical ride as every so often someone would lay down an attack (only for like 30sec), sprint up a hill or to chase after a car. Whatever the reason, it was sort of playful ride, out enjoying the sun.

Another swim in the ocean and off to do some baking with Kirsten, Scotty and Brook. I made Espresso Belgian Brownies, Scotty made sugar cookies with icing, Kirsten made a fantastic three berry crumble (with a couple of my "secret ingredients") and Brook made Mud ball cookies. (Which I can't get enough of, recipe please?) All for the "Kick Nick out of Canada BBQ" Yes, sadly Nick is going back to Switzerland. He will be missed by all. It was great training with him as you could always count on him to work hard. Best of luck with the remainder of your season.

My Favourite Jersey.

More on that later,
Hope all is well,
Andrew McCartney

Tough but motivated week continues.

It is amazing how the body adapts. So much for my week of destruction. Don't get me wrong, I can assure you I am doing everything I can. Thing is I am doing everything else (recovery wise) right. Then again I am having Micro successes. Within workouts I do manage to Destroy myself by the end. I figure the closer to the end the better though, so that is the goal. Please don't be concerned, I find this therapeutic, it is making me very happy. It is a great feeling. Trust me.

So continuing from my last post here is how it is going.

Friday was a early bloody morning. 5:30 in the water! Reminded me of my swim club days. I must have had some difficulty waking up as I was kind of stuck in second gear(out of 5) this morning. Not too super. 3 hours later we had a moto pacing Which ended up being very much sans moto. We made this a very hard ride. 3 laps of the waddling dog loop. Hard pulls with big attacks and counter attacks and the works. All was well until after a pull and returning to the back of the pack, the scooter came and the pace went up a notch, just enough to finish me off nearing the end of the set. So close. Later, thinking the run was at 3:30 I got a phone call as I was getting into the car, where are you practice starts now. I gun it down to the track, quick 7min jog and toe to the line. The set was, 4x800, and 4x400. Slight struggle to get going in the first set with times being; 2.28, 2.19, 2.18 and 2.25. I redeemed myself in the second set with 400s as;1.11, 1.04, 1.02 and .59 Pretty pleased with this as I felt quiet exhausted going into the workout and I managed to pull something out. Some fast running by all. Everyone having a turn at the front including a great Simon Whitfield sprint impression by Swiss Nick on the 3rd 400. Nice running. Again, the effort certainly was there today.
Double Ice of the legs today and an Epsom salt bath.

Today being Saturday means, Thetis for a swim, Bike ride and run off the bike. Swim with Whitfield and the gang included some efforts around the small island which made for some solid swimming. I am feeling better in the water again. It has been lagging a bit since my travels home. Ride at 1pm would not disappoint and I got some interesting Powertap files. The ride was a 2 hour 40min ride at 90kms of riding. Within this time was 2x30min[20min tempo 10min race pace with tactics] First set was very tactical. Everyone drilling everyone. It could be seen in the wattage. Although the average of the first set was 5 watts less then the second set, ( Set 1 260avg, set 2: 265avg) the max wattage was much different (Set 1: 1170 watts Set 2: 770 watts) This can be explained by the number of athletes in the pack. Although the overall efforts for both sets were very much equal, the second set ended up being Andrew Russell and I workout together. So there were no attacks on each other, simply solid efforts on both sides for mutual benefit. Although half way into warm down, the efforts and lack of nutrition caught up with me and made for an absolute struggle all the way back to the pool, struggling to keep my head up off the handlebars. I arrived back just in time with a fast transition to join Aruss for a 20min run off the bike. Surprisingly I felt pretty fantastic after blowing up. Made easier by company of course. Thanks Aruss.
Another swim out with the seals to ice the body and home for a salt bath.

But I am exhausted now, so bedtime for me.
Night,
Andrew

Since I've been Back.

Thanks Kyla.

So I return from my ventures in Montreal and Des Moines, and all I want to do is just get going.
And that I did. I have been quite tired as of late most likely due to the time zone change.

Tuesday Morning I told myself(in the words of a friend) Today I am going to destroy myself.


Swim workout was a set of 2x[6x100] set 1 is build set 2 was Best Average. I challenged myself and swam 1.03s across the board. Hard 1km Pull Padels to finish and off to get ready for the ride.

Out on the road I descided to just get into a steady pace avg above 200 watts for warm up. Then the main set was 30min. Steady State. My wattage went up to about 275 watt avg. Then with 6x1min efforts I averaged around 550 watts. I did the majority of the workout alone as I wanted to hold my own Powertap numbers. And gather some info on the type of rider I am. I am learning. I shall gather results from many workouts and look for patterns and averages.

So after a nap and lunch out with me pa. We had a wicked run at Beaver lake. I ran with Aruss and this workout would finish me off for the day. The set was 10min Tempo 1, 10min tempo 2 and then 5 min Tempo 1. (Tempo 2 being faster then Tempo 1)
My legs were a bit numb at the end of the day.

Wednesday, I opted out of the Hurricane Ridge Group ride/race for a swim at the lake. I got smashed at the lake. EVERYONE is swimming well. 5km tempo run then 90min ride to finish off the day. Absolutely Nakered.

Thursday(Today) -Recovery, Swim out in the ocean with the Seals and the sea weed. Epsom salt bath and now a coffee,


Cheers,
Take care you yourself,
Andrew McCartney

Some Nice Air Time.

Hy-Vee Des Moines World Cup (Click Here)

Team Triathlon World Championships (Click Here)