"Each decision we make, each action we take, is born out of an intention" - Sharon Salzberg

Music:

Brian Burton and James Mercer (originally the lead vocalist and guitarist of 'The Shins') came together in 2009 to form 'Broken Bells.' Here is their first single.

Broken Bells - The High Road

So there is some new music, now going back 11 years to this classic by The Tea Party. I have heard some people say they don't like his music but I was reminded of this song recently and you know, it brings out so much emotion. What a voice too.

The Tea Party - Heaven Coming Down

Training:

Back in town I have jumped right into taking care of business. First off, with a number of pokes, prods, twists and cracks Rob Hasegowa put my cuboid back into place. He makes it seem so simple. Now what I need is some time to heal (bruising and what-not) and to loosen up my calf which is either the cause or the effect of the cuboid. (Sort of the Chicken and the egg scenario; which came first?)

Second a visit to the Clinic diagnosed me with a Virus of the Bronchioles giving me random attacks of coughing and asthma like symptoms. This is also now improving. With a prescription I should be able to kick this virus that has been affecting me for the past month or so.

Considering Monterrey ended up being simply a good brick workout I am determined to get training hard. We have been very fortunate to have 3-time Olympian Rick Say on deck picking apart our technique. My Technique has gone rather unchanged for a long time and over this time I have picked up some bad habits. I’m not exactly an old dog, but still learning new tricks is hard. The last number of workouts I have been constantly thinking about how I finish off my stroke. Every so often I mess up and get it wrong. “Good, Good, Good, S***!!, Good, Good”

I am not pleased with how I rode in Monterrey maybe affected by the virus but none the less I am not where I should be with a virus or not. So Since I have been home, I have been logging lots of shammy time and I don’t mean sitting at a coffee shop in my Lycra. Cycling is about time in the saddle and that is what I am doing.

I am still thinking about the weekend way too much but wow, nothing like taking action to bring a smile to your face.

I am off, in keeping with the situation.

Ciao for now,

Andrew

Tough Day in Monterrey

So here is what happened. Race morning I stuck to the plan; cliff bar and a coffee two hours before and head down to the course 90min before the start time. In spite of a slow leak on the back wheel I made it down to the course. (Thanks to Brook for lending me his race wheels) I set up transition and had a good 1km warm up on the course. Two gels 15min before the gun and I felt ready. The gun went off and with a mediocre start I was right in the thick. I have never been beat up so much in a swim. It was very frustrating. I was forced to slow up and find an alternate route. I re-focused and around the half way point I managed to get clear water and moved to the front. I then proceeded to push the pace at the front. I exited the water with a small but comfortable lead.

Onto the bike I quickly got up to speed and rode hard. I was joined by Collins and Fleishman until we were caught about 10km in by a pack of 7. Half way through the ride I was dropped and joined the peloton. I continued to struggle throughout the ride leading into the run. I did everything I could to find some energy including 2 gels and a bottle of Eload.

Off the bike I found the energy to run through some athletes in the first couple of Kms. However, leading into the weekend I had been struggling with an ‘Out-of-place Cuboid’ in my foot. The pain gradually increased until about 4km into the run when I made the extremely difficult decision to step off the course. As much as I wanted to finish, the thought of doing damage to my foot and missing training and further racing was enough encouragement to stop.

Not the way I had hoped to start the new season. I am making a list. It is a list of all the lessons I will take from this race because it is only a failure if I leave and take nothing from it. At the same time it is also important to make a mental note of what I did right.

Well I am en route home. A little quiet. Going over the race in my head and thinking about all that needs to be done when I get home.

That is all for now,
Hope all is well,
Andrew McCartney

Ps. Congrats to Paula on her Win and Aruss on his 11th place finish

Andrew Russell, Andres Feijo (Our New Friend) and I

Post Race Dinner.

I am I am

The Andrew's are pumped to race. Reminds me of a song that used to be my favourit pre-race song.

Mr. Loco (click)

Andrew Russell and I embarked on our adventure by catching the 5pm ferry from Swartz Bay through the Islands that dot the Georgia Straight on our way to Tsawwassen terminal. We found the best seat in the Buffett to view it all. At the other end we took a bus to the sky train, took the sky train to the airport and a shuttle to the Airport Inn. Early in the morning we caught our first of three flights that would eventually bring us to Monterrey.

In Monterrey we settled in nicely to some very stormy stormy monsoon like weather. So it has been ride, clean bike, ride to swim, clean bike. Each day we make our way to the course along the streets of Monterrey.

Friday we had dinner at a restaurant right above the course so we had the absolute pleasure of watching the Juniors race the Youth Olympic Games Qualifier. What an inspirational race. First off, a gutsy attempt by Hillary Willy 30sec lead out of the water then soloed the first lap. Then equally gutsy was Christine Ridenour's 15km solo to the finish of the ride and ran it in for 3rd. Well done. Allison Hooper was 4th and Dominika Jamnicky rounded up the top 5.

On the guys side Brook Powell was out of the water at the front and pushed the pace on the bike. As the top Canadian he finished 8th. Brooke, you look good on that new bike of yours.

So all in all it was very inspioring and made me excited to race myself.

I have had a few "tests" leading into the race but I am solving each as they come. They have been rather stressing but it has not given me the chance to get too nervous, I just know that I will get to the line and lay it all out. Triathlon is actually quite simple, I plan to swim hard, Bike harder and finish the run spent. The training that I have done over the past 6 months will influence the result. Process Process Process. I am very excited about the course. The swim is in a winding Channel. The bike is in a park composed of a F1 Racing Track. Very technical. And the run is through the park along coble paths.

Well for now, I should make the final preporations so I will call it a night.
Tomorrow, the season begins,

Ciao for now,

Andrew

And the tree begins to breathe....

After a ride in the Mobile Environmental Chamber we jumped on to the treadmills for a few efforts. It is often valuable to film the run and analyze your stride. So I set up a camera and here it is with music of course by Kate Bush called 'The Dreaming.'

Back to watching live feed of the Sydney WCS Race.

Ciao for now,

Andrew

Heat Training Round Two

Thanks Phil for the photo.

I am going to go drink a lot of water...

Ciao for now,

Andrew

"To business that we love, we rise betime and go to't with delight" - William Shakespeare

Before we head down to Mexico, we are doing some heat sessions in the Mobile Environmental Chamber. We crank the heat and ride for 75minutes. The following Video is a time lapsed version of our session.

Song:

Patrick Watson - The Storm

found himself out into the road

the dust up to his nose

put that anchor down

to find a place where he could go

'cause he was looking for the shelter

from the storm

you were looking for a place that you could call your own... you...

kept on, now walking past the signs you used to see

kept on getting used to dropping-anchor

in the sea

'cause you´re looking for a shelter of the storm

looks like news that storm is coming closer every day now...

uuu...

drove himself into a town

the roads were paved with gold

(all the roads were paved with gold)

eyes wide open, shutters closed

(eyes wide open, shutters closed)

just waiting for my time... no

(quarter to twelve is time to go)

the sorrow's hiding underground

the rain is falling upside down

and the clouds are turning red like flames

oh 'cause i'm looking for a shelter from the storm...

'cause she's getting closer every daaaaaaayyyyyyeyeyeyehey!

the storm is getting closer every day

the storm is getting closer every day

the storm is getting closer every day

every day

Goodnight,

Andrew

"To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe...act!" - Alfred Montapert

MUSIC
First off is an awesome song by yet another Australian Band. (Wow Australia is really putting out some good Alternative bands) Two especially good songs that I like are, "Science of Fear" and the track in the video below.

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Now I might lose the respect of the Alternative music purists but I enjoy listening to all genres from Indie to Country. The lead singer of Onerepublic has a great voice and some of their songs are just well orchestrated.

OneRepublic - Secrets (see also "All the right moves" and "Apologize")

TRAINING

Less then 2 weeks till race day! The Squad has been drilling it. We are all kind of at lands end here ready to taper. We have been sticking to the regular schedule of lots of bricks, kilometer repeats and Time Trial efforts on the bike. I feel my Time trial efforts have been going quite well with help from Wattage. I have a fairly general Idea of what I should hold for each Zone and whether I am haveing a good or bad day those are my goals. It also makes you concious of  spikes in wattage. I try to limit my soft pedaling and to reduce the number of bursts in effort. This will all allow me to be less fatigued off the bike or have extra energy for a sprint finish in a criterium. Efficiency Efficiency Efficiency. This has been the big lesson so far this year.

Near the end of the past week i had become a little hit and miss while trying to keep everything on even keel but I believe that is to be expected at the end of such a difficult training block. This next week should bring a watered down version of the past weeks and then a full on taper. I have been already overthinking the Monterrey World Cup so I will save my pre-race report till a little later.

For now I am off to bed.
Ciao for now,

Andrew