1 January 2010

Gung hay fat choy

Quick Update...

First off, happy new years to all n'Gung hay fat choy. I had a nice mellow new years with a friend. We watched a movie called, "La Vie en Rose" This is the story of Édith Piaf who was a French singer and cultural icon who "is almost universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer." Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads of love and sadness. Most note worthy songs include "La vie en rose", and my favourite, "Non, je ne regrette rien"(which I had in my head throughout this mornings swim).

Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien

Edith Piaf - La Vie en Rose

The Senior Squad and I finished up our pre-Christmas build with a run on 'the horse track.' 6x1mile. Equipped with my Garmin I hit my goal times spot on

Then the Holidays came, a lot of OYO (On Your Own) training.

Sunday was the beginning of Patrick Kelly's Christmas Holiday Training Camp. So we kicked it off with a 70min run as the sun rose with a 30min Zone 3 effort. We quickly jumped in the cars after zipped over to the pool for the first 6km swim of the year for me. We finished the day with a 2hour ride out west saanich on frosty roads.

Monday was another full day. Beginning at 7:30 and pretty well going steady till 5:30. First off a 6km swim with a solid series of 400s. Directly from the swim we set up in the mezzanine for a 2 hour rollers ride with some High cadence work and some steady state work. With just enough time for some pancakes and a 20min nap we were on campus for a 85min run. The run included a 20min warm up, 6x40" 3km pace/40" easy then 2x12min Steady State. A quick bite to eat then two rounds of strength left us laying on the stretching mats talking about all the wonderful food we were going to eat when we got home....just after this nap.

Tuesday. Yup, 6km swim workout to start the day. Austin and I split off the pack in the middle of the cross ride and we quite literally got lost in the Thetis lake park. With cloudy skies we were guided only by our intuition... "It must be that way..." We did end up doing a lot of big circles. Austin riding through a pond, halted by a layer of ice only to realize it was not the correct direction anyways. For my second Cross ride of the season, it was a challenge, my confidence increased as we went along. All in all it was a great bonding period with Austin and a lot of fun. 2 hours and 40min later we found our way home.

Wednesday, was a relatively easy day with a 4.2km swim. Strength at PISE with the guys, and a pleasant lunch out with the the gang organized by Christine. Thanks for the setting that up for us. Run from the house with drills and strides finished off the day.

Thursday consisted of a swim in the morning, A solid run and a 90min ride. The Skies opened up to pouring rain. For the run we ran on the "Harder than Hamish Loop" (2km loop with a 300m hill in the middle) Good strong efforts by all. It is nice to run with such a large group.

Today was simple. A trainer ride with some Steady State and a simple 6km swim. All in preparation for tomorrows Grand Finale 10km swim. Should be interesting. And so I am in need of rest.

Ciao for now,

Andrew McCartney

1 comment:

Simon Thibeault said...

Great blog, very interesting read. Keep up your good work.