My 2010 in pills

January -> Adjusting to a new life back in SF.... loneliness, goal finding, seems so far

February -> turned 29, brother Tizio in town, Google TV gets a shape

March -> Triathlon training full steam, big bike crash, Scott Addict SL is gone

April -> Toronto..... Dario gets married.... Taipei..

May -> Escaped from Alcatraz, roadie gets fixed and Daniele arrives

June -> Dan, Anjan, Tizio and myself ... what a gang, Venezuela Half Ironman with big J.

July -> Xterra in Tahoe, Diego and Dario best friends ever, more friends coming

August -> House is a mess, 8 people + brother Saverio and Betta, awesome life

September -> Tizio and friends departure, some very terrible choices made...

October -> Recovery month... in any possible sense, Google TV is out

November -> Triathlon life this time for real.... Nicole my new roomie!

December -> New friends, promising encounters, a bright future ahead, new coach, Xmas in Italy!

Spelling is good, grammar ok ... accent not yet

Guess it is becoming addictive, but it feels like this is the best way I have got to remember things.

Life is changing so much in these weeks, so many new friends, activities, swimming pools :-), projects... it seems like everything is fitting in my 24hrs without problems.

If one day I will have to define this period of my life.. one adjective could be SMOOTH.

This new swimming venue ( GGTSC ) seems quite an alternative to the USF Koret center. It is outdoor, crowd and masters are fun, hot tub is the cherry on the cake and the location ( Embarcadero/Downtown ) is unique.

I am trying to get wet as much as I can, distance or intervals are not that important right now but need to change my body a little... need to teach him how to move thru such an heavy material.. I was so spoiled by the lightness of the air and now this fat whale needs to streamline a bit.

Last week end, the Xmas Relay in Lake Merced was loaded of fun and laughter


The whole GGTC club got divided in different teams ( 4 each ) and the race was an 18 mile relay ( 4.5 miles per leg ).... I biked to Lake Merced, had fun for 2 hours... ran @5.45/mi pace, biked back to my house... and never stopped smiling ( see bottom left of the group pic! ).

Below the winning team for the GGTC this year :-)



A lot more happened, just so much to write about, BDay parties, Crazy 40vs2 holiday dinners, geeky board games nights, Turducken feast, super chill bike rides, new projects at work, new software update released on the field...

Last experiment...

My roomie and I tried this juicing diet for 2 days to "clean" our body and I have to say, It does work and big smoothies are awesome... just avoid making random soups with Broccoli and Avocado.. those could end up as disasters.

In January, we will give it a GO again... once a month could be a good alternative to medicines and doctors.


Enough info, one more pic I will press "Publish Post"... promise.


I will see my family in 10 days!!! YAY
Congrats Save' (middle)..... I will try to be the best Uncle ever!

Peace

V.

Structured and random at the same time

Yep, this subject might win the geeky price of the year but it is quite exactly what I have experienced in the last week.

After coming back from LA and after that little 490 miles ride in 4 days, where my only interlocutor was my bike, I finally managed to get back to a normal life.

Last Monday my new coach put me on this plan and 8 days have past since then with the most structured training of my life so far. Swim in the morning, run in the eve, bike in the morning, gym in the eve and so on.



I was looking forward for an easy WE and a Monday full of rest... but thanks to a new group of friends, apparently randomly materialized from the Tri-Club.... I found myself racing the NorthFace HalfMarathon on Sunday and organizing a random, yet awesomely dinner/movie night at my place (thx Nicole for the cooking art, Christophe for the chopping, Dario and Katie for your patience with Jeff :-), and finally Han for the electric beater! ) .

Today ( Tuesday ), I am still sore like crazy but way happier than usual. Nice.

Sunday race needs a little recap posting... will do in the next hours.

V.

SF2LA Final day report

I made it.

Trust me people If I tell you that today was THE challenge .... day after day you think the major problems are biking and recovering...well not completely. Not getting lost... or getting lost and desperately find your way through the bloody jungle.... that is the real challenge.

Small recap of this final day.

I wake up with an unusual ache all over... legs, butt, head, back, triceps... the only thing that does not hurt are my family jewels :-). The spirit and knowing that I am only 90 miles from destination are good enough to get me out of the door for this last day.

The day started with a big climb right after 5 miles

See little video

on top of that my map told me to turn right in this little ugly and hidden dirt path.... I trusted it and went for it. I was in the middle of the mountains, with a tight schedule, a sore throat and feverish symptoms and that was the only way home.

Well, after about a mile the dirt path was so uphill ( 30% prob ) that my bike could not take it... my legs either... I had to walk and push the bike....THAT was the beginning of the horrors!

After so much climbing and dirt... I am stuck!

See the video!!!!

I literally threw my bike to the other side, take my shoes off and avoid the fence protections.

On the other side the path is flat but that is not the real problem... I need to deal with the pressure of being where I am not supposed to and find my way out before anyone sees me.

The next miles are dirty and muddy, something that my bike and myself were not prepared AT ALL. Few times I had to clean up the mud from the wheels when the bike was not moving at all!

Still beautiful:

Look at this pics after some clean up.... an experience road biker would puke looking at this... I almost did:

A couple of miles and after 2-3 more small fences.... I can see the official road... but... look at this monster final fence ( sounds like a videogame ):

It took me 10 minutes to figure out a strategy to cross this. Finally on the top right you can see an area where I could go thru.... try to imagine the hustle to carry the bike up there without destroying it (HER :-))!

After this, I was still 60 miles from LA..... I was tired, moody, dirty, smelly, 430miles on my legs and just a huge will to get an hot shower.... I went back on my lady and pushed as hard as I could for this last loooong stretch...

see video of last climb

Got to the hotel around 4pm, the DIRT detour costed me 2 more hours but I am so glad I made it... no matter what happened I made it :-).

490 miles, 4 days.... few stupid detours, no flats, average pace 17mph... next time I hope I will have some other crazy dude or dudette with me and hopefully EARPLUGS.... cannot believe I did this without music..... no wonder why I started speaking by myself!

Thanks everybody for the support on FB, Twitter, emails, SMSs, phone calls, Skype, Msn, YIM, damn....

Love ya!

Virgilio

SF2LA 3rd day report

I cannot write much... simply because I am totally exhausted. One day I will find more time to describe everything in details.... in few words. Left on time, biked 40-50 miles with very painful legs...started to feel super hungry around the 60th... and when I thought that lunch break was close... I found out I took the ONE going north... climbed and crashed myself for 15 miles... to discover it was the wrong direction... this super detour costed me to ride 1 and a half hours in the dark and totaling 148 miles. No comments.

Here they come few videos in order:

after 50 miles or so
after 100....

after 112... talking crazy
in the dark after 145

This was after 50 miles... showing a murales that explains it all

My face after 148 miles and a shower :-)

My desk ready for tomorrow :-)))

Overall I am almost there.

One more ride to go.... 90 more miles ... If I do not wake up with the fever tomorrow... I will sprint my last ride and make sure I will get a good sleep before going to the engagement party I was invited to!

Good night world.

V.

SF2LA 2nd day report ( HAPPY TG )

Second day was love and hate. Probably the best route ever with the best views and worst hills coming from no where.. right when you think you are over the "climbing area"

Almost 10000feet... 120 miles

Here is a bunch of videos I made while riding.... if anybody in the world wanted to feel what I felt (pain, music and stress included ) go ahead and click to see the videos on Youtube.

On the ride 1

On the ride 2

On the ride 3

Close to the end 4

For the lazy or fellas without poor bandwidth ( like my parents in Italy ) here is the a decent list of pics for the day, starting from the early climbs, then awesome views... then the arrival and a final thanksgiving dinner by myself by the water.

What can I say... today was a great day after all... just a lot of pain to go through. I went past sea lions lying on the sandy beaches when I was riding at sea level.... 20 miles after I was in decently high mountains with cows looking at me weirdly ( maybe my gatorade burps where a little too noisy :) ).... 20 miles and you are back to sea level.... and well.. you can imagine my face after about 80 miles and you still see a huge hill in front of you....

Thank god the last 30 miles where flat and a good wind helped my heavy legs to keep rollin.

What did I learn today:

- Never trust a bike mapping website, elevation graphs.... are not everything u need to know.

- It is much better to not stop for lunch but keep going and have small breaks here and there but no heavy food before the end of the monster ride

- Wind can be a b*tch

- If butt hurts after 10 miles..... the whole day will be a b*tch :-)

Good night now... ( 8.30pm lol )

Happy thanksgiving!

V.

SF2LA 1st day report

Wow, 132 miles.... never done so much in my life and tomorrow I will have to repeat...and again ... and again.... umh.... I really hope tonight my legs will restore all the good stuff there where full of this past morning :-P.

Quick recap in pics/video:

Woke up at 6.00 am to get as much daylight as possible... and like my brother would say... I got to wear the "parcheggiatore" style clothes.

After 40 miles I had to stop for a bathroom in the wild break, drink and eat some disgusting GU candies. But the view was phenomenal

No comment on this one.

After 30 miles... I started pushing a little, needed lunch and Santa Cruz was close:

Too bad I felt a little anxious about not making in time ( before the sunset ) I ate this big fella in few seconds and jumped back on the bike.... realized after that I needed some digestion time and took me the next coffee break to help my body metabolize all that.

Now this pic has it all.... from left... my lady, my leg, my small hyper compressed backpack ( heavy as hell ), my helmet and all the other gay accessories with it, a massive slice of banana bread, vitamin water and my immensely hot yet enjoyable coffee. ( This was after 108 miles... and from there I thought I was CLOSE.

this was one of the non very nice sight of my last 30 miles.... understanding that I am still 330 from LA it is a hit at the end of a day like this

Made at 4.30pm after 8 hours on the bike ( 7h20 effective ). 132 miles, enough joy to keep myself alive and willing to walk around Carmen.... too bad I had to walk 3 miles to get to see the best sunset ever on the Carmel sand beach... and I would say ... to bad my only partner is a carbon evil machine ... this could have been a romantic one!

thank god I found a good sushi place and indulged into what I hope it is going to be my fuel for tomorrow!

Before leaving... 3 things I learned today:

- Never play with the iphone when riding.... I almost hit a car that was parked on the side of the road....

- Never walk on mudd with biking shoes..... you might end up wasting 10 minutes to free the cleats from all that and be able to clip them back... ( I was going uphill... i hated myself for few minutes )

- Going 100+ hurts.... no matter how fast you go

Good night

V.

p.s. checkout my MO and donate for the Movember initative... cancer research seems alwasy to be a good cause!

San Francisco to Los Angeles in 3.5 days

Well, a long time without posting something. Quick update before going into the description of this crazy project that.... will start tomorrow at 6.30am.

Training weeks are proceeding well, roomie is very supportive and helps keeping my training schedule full, I keep losing 1 pound per week, GGTri-club people are awesome, just met a potential Tri-coach, got partially waxed...lol, spent few nights without sleeping for the most random reasons, got invited to an Armenian engagement in LA.



.... so what happened.... I thought, yes I should go to LA... It is chilly out here and I got 4 days of unplanned vacations...... FINE... I am biking down to LA.

Bad part on all this is that I did not spend too much time on the numbers and set my mind before looking at the details... now I am less than 13 hours from my departure and realized I will have to go for 120-130 miles a day with just 7.5 hours of daylight... SOLO mode... no drafting.

My mind was already set when I looked at the numbers... so no going back. I am doing this.

1st day: SF to CARMEL
2nd day: CARMEL to MORRO BAY
3rd day: MORRO BAY to CARPINTERIA
4th day sprint to LA


I am going home from work ( 7pm right now ), I will pack everything in the smallest backpack ever, prep my bike... have a huge dinner...and try to sleep at least 9 hours.
Let see if this time I made a step longer than my leg ( :-P Italian say ).

I will try to use FB, Twitter, Blog, SMSs to stay in touch .... SOLO mode can be really SOLO and need to know that some virtual partner is drafting from my virtual wheel!

Big hug

V.

November - Movember

November... this is a month that saw me traveling the most.

November 2006 I had just left Rome for the first time for my first internship in California.
November 2007, after spending the summer in Italy to write the fastest master thesis in the history of computer science I was moving back to San Francisco this time for a year at least.
November 2008, I had to relocate to Switzerland headquarters... damn ... still remember trying to fit everything I accumulated in almost 2 years of US life into 3 big bags+Bike heavy duty box, plus X amount of full backpacks...
November 2009, I was finally ready to move back to California, this time for good.

November 2010 ... one year far from Italy..... 4 years far from my italian life.

Christmas in Italy, this year, IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN... and I would try to make my stay long enough to be able to meet up but also enjoy my family, friends and my country. More quality time I hope.

I will be flying on Dec 23rd and stay at least till the 3rd of January.

3-10Jan will be in Switzerland for work/fun/bureaucracy stuff.

Training week:

My first PREP week went great. 3 running session, 3 swimming, 3 biking. Timing was good considering the low intensity level and the "less than 160bpm" rule

Awesome surprise is to discover a roommate that swims fast... ( potentially faster than me if she gets to business ); I will try to return the favor by on the biking/running side.

Second week of PREP is on track so far.

A long way before I will get to PEAK for Ironman 70.3 Italy in June!

To mention my brother... NICEEE .... I LIKE...

Baci... ( ce ne ho una cifra che me ne avanzano ultimamente )

p.s. MOVEMBER stands for http://us.movember.com/mospace/1189586/ I will post my pics at the end of this month! Please donate if you care about helping Prostate cancer research!

Let's go Giants....

I like this new trend of mind.... the title of the blog is totally not related to what I write on the post and I force people to go thru the whole reading before realizing that there is nothing about advertised on the title/link :-).

Anyway, yes SF Giants won the World Series ... huge deal apparently over here, considering the amount of people partying... I d say rioting on the street. I would say the importance of an event in SF can be measured by the amount of broken bottles and sneaky bastard piece of glasses left on the road for me to dribble with my bike the morning after.

Yes there were A LOT.

Now back to news... finally found a flat-mate. Her name is Nicole and she seems pretty cool, relaxed, easy going and not weird at all. She got the apartment the moment she walked in running clothes after posting her workout stats on FB :-).

She works at Nasa ( based in Mountain View ) and might be able to convince to commute with me one day.

Training updates.... well after spending the worst Halloween week end ever.... including a terrible fever+stomachache super combo, I was able to watch a bunch of netflix documentaries, read a book and mostly create my Training plan for 2010-2011.

First time in my life I will be meticulous about Triathlon and make sure the randomness will not prevail.

Almost all my A and B races are set. My main goal will be to go to Italy in June and be as competitive as possible for the first official IRONMAN event in Pescara. I will probably fly to Rome a week earlier to acclimatize and get the last training tapering in my city!

Few more updates, raw food/unprocessed food diet... is kinda working for now. Goal is simply to have 60% of food coming from this category... for now awesome feeling ... probably just too many pitstops at the bathroom :-).

Baci ai pupi ( come un certo Fabio diceva una volta! )

p.s. Missing Italy.... Missing brothers.... Missing old friends ( including the ones that hate me for being .."absent"... in their lives )

p.s.s. working at Google's office is kinda cool

Dinner at Starbucks

Well a run with Dario along the Marina with beautiful GG bridge and the sunset.... nice.

Dinner at Starbucks with Green Tea, 2 Bananas and a Superfood green smoothie... not too nice, but somehow healthy.... ( see my documentary ref below ).

Few days in, this week seems pretty slow but intense. Let's do a quick check of my past Sunday commitment:
- MacBook Air ...got it and love it( http://www.apple.com/macbookair/)

- Roommate emails received, processing... will start meeting people from tomorrow

- Clean the house.....mmmh not yet

- Stay put with my training...yes kinda

My life seems to be back on a track I forgot to be so rational and deterministic, totally forgot I love this. Sometimes little changes here and there make you discover things.

Like a documentary I added on Netflix few weeks ago "Food Matters". So cool, interesting... information that I always knew somehow from the inside but that now found some real answers and real facts.

So bottom line, RAW food... yes, tons of vegetables, fruits, seeds, super-foods and mostly avoid too much processed food! I will give it a shot without exaggerating.

Enough content for a mid-week blog post.

Peace

V.

My first blog post using GoogleTV

I had to choose a random title for this post...why just simply say a random truth.
( ... and yes Logitech Revue powered by Google TV ... rocks ).

3 weeks are gone since my last post. Many things have changed, many things are changing, many bloody things will always stay the same. Including "feeling wave patterns".

I want to talk about my training to keep my virtual non-existing coach up-to-date.

Since last rest week I went thru 3 base weeks:
- 150 biking miles a week (yes SF2G rocks)
- 35 running miles a week ( 1 long, 1 tempo, 1 intervals )
- 3 swim sessions a week ( open water, speed, endurance)

Finally from the whale I was (189pounds, I am back to 176 and can start training for real ) I got to a decent shape again.

This coming week I will actively recover for the next base period and make sure my at the moment psycologically stressed body will adapt ...at least physiologically.
Active recovery means Yoga, less biking, less running, more swimming and cook food at home. I miss cooking so much.

Regarding my hunt for the perfect flat-mate,still in progress... damn I should be writing the craigslist ad instead of playing with this Blog.
Hope to find someone decent for the next 2 weeks.

Today I spoke with my parents, Tizio and Chiara. It was good to hear from my people.

House got re-organized, laundries done, kitchen is almost clean... all good.... ah nope... well ... Sunday sucks when it rains outside and all your friends have girlfriends/wives... or they simply leave too far just to come by.

Little plan for the coming week

- Be supportive...no matter what
- Get a MacBook Air
- Look for potential flatmates
- stick to my training plan and stay put for ... the rest

One big hug to the few readers,if you read this... you are somehow my friends and you deserve an hug!

'Til Kingdom come

Still my heart and hold my tongue

I feel my time

My time has come

Let me in

Unlock the door

I never felt this way before

And the wheel just keeps on turning

The drummer begins to drum

I don’t know which way I’m going

I don’t know which way I’ve come

Hold my head inside your hands

I need someone who understands

I need someone, someone who hears

For you I’ve waited all these years

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come

Until my day, my day is done

And say you'll come and set me free

Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

In your tears and in your blood

In your fire and in your flood

I hear you laugh, I heard you sing

I wouldn’t change a single thing

And the wheels just keep on turning

The drummers begin to drum

I don’t know which way I’m going

I don’t know what I’ve become

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come

Until my days, my days are done

And say you'll come and set me free

Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

7 days of oRESTe!

This is hard to admit but these past 7 days have been probably the hardest ( Triathlon wise ).

What have I done? NOTHING! Every year an athlete is supposed to rest for a week. I am deciding to be an athlete for real and what's the best way to start with the REST part of it!

Bon... I am done! My butt is almost healed ( good enough to swim, bike, run ). The motivation is back like never before ( this is probably the best benefit of the originally Tiziano's invention oRESTe ).

Seems like my "emotional" life is ... going somewhere. Found a group of crazy bikers that commute almost everyday from SF to the south bay (SF2G). About to get a training wetsuit to hit the Acquatic park more often. Met very cool people in my new tri club ( GGTC ). I am READY to kick off this new Tri-Year.

Tonight dinner at Brandon's with ladies and tomorrow is a new day...

Ciaoooo

V.

Santa Cruz Olympic Distance 2010 ( The Outcome )

Sometimes you have got to publish a positive and extremely enthusiastic blog post otherwise people will stop reading you...

Ok I Will Do It Now.

Week end in Santa Cruz started on Saturday with J and I wondering around the beach thinking thru all the possible catastrophic triathlon scenarios ( funny I did not think enough about it :( ) and finally ended up in an hotel by the transition area to rest our bodies before race day.

Never felt so overweight in the past 2 years of Tri-training... 190 pounds... and Johnny noticed too ( he called me "you chubby fat bastard" ). Do not really care about it, life seems smiling to me no matter what but this is not the best way to approach a race.

CRONACA:

6.15am, the alarm goes off, for the first time since a long time I slept well and feel decently rested. J does not want to wake up and I take care of preparing the homemade race breakfast... jam, bread, banana, orange juice.

7am we are both ready to go to the transition area to prepare all our equipment. J is excited and scared at the same time ( at least he looks like it ). Two dudes, 2 bikes, 2 big backpacks full of goodies... and we leave the hotel ready to conquer Santa Cruz.

7.30am, transition area is packed... we have just realized that there is no number assignment for the bike rack. Not many spots left and J and I have to settle for a spot close to the swimming entrance. Fair enough. Usual frantic setup, body glide all over, wetsuit half on/half off..... one more look at the accessories ( bike shoes check, running shoes check, sunglasses check, bib number check, .... all in place... let's go J ... time to warm up and race!

8am... the beach is FULL of triathletes, the water is freezing but there is not enough visibility to start the race. We can't see the buoy for the turn around and it is not safe. The atmosphere is surreal, so many athletes all packed in the beach with different colored swim caps .. everybody trying to warm up and keep the mind concentrated ... everybody in its own way :-).

8.25am the visibility is finally decent, the Sun is rising up and the race organizer gives the final speech and kicks off the national anthem sang by this little blonde lady.

8.30am we are ready to go, the first wave with women up to 29yrs old started and now the second wave ( where I am ) is ready to set off. J is in fibrillation, I am cool :-).. for the first time I am on the side of the expert instead the newbie one.

8.31am swim start... big hug to J and we are running towards the water. Always like this, I had in mind this nice, calm, relaxing last year race in mind and as soon as I hear the start signal.... everything changes and I become another person. Instead of starting the swim with ease... I am pushing like crazy between other swimmers to stay with the first pack... water is cold... but not too much... I can do this... the fat will keep me on top of the water ;-P

8.31-8.56am the SWIM (1.5Km):

I am swimming ok, the route seems easy, the orange buoy in front of me to signal the half of the swimming portion. I have one guy approaching me on my right and the rest of the pack leading on my left, somehow I do not feel like my speed is so SLOW... I am out of breath and need to relax and this guy on the right is giving me to much pressure... OOOPS i get a kick on my face, what the heck... I was so focused breathing on my right that I forgot to look in front of me... need to stop put my goggles back on and keep pushing..... finally the buoy, now heading towards the second one... wow I have few girls ( white caps ) close by, it means I am either going fast or I am passing the super slow ones.... second buoy gone... now as fast as I can towards the beach. I am half the way and my arms and shoulders are a little too stiff.... I keep repeating myself, form ... form ... form... do not lose form.... this last 500mts seem quite long as my style starts falling off and I keep trying different stroke techniques to avoid muscle fatigue.. wow... the beach is close now... few more people to pass on my right... done... I can see the sand ... I am done with the Swim.

8.56-8.59 T1 (SWIM -> BIKE):

running uphill after such a strong swim with the wetsuit on is challenging, but i hear comments of people watching and I understand I am only few minutes from the first guy... NICE.

I get to my bike, but the wetsuit seems to love me .. she does not want to let me go... the lower part is stuck on my ankles and I need to seat ( damn... ) wetsuit went off I can finally jump on my bike. I cant see Johnny, his bike is here ... hope he is not dying in the water :-). Time to push on the bike!

9am-10.05am the BIKE (40Km):

I am biking, happy to do so, love my bike, love the sensation of being out of breath not knowing why and still being able to push like crazy on my legs. I am focused on my aero bars and do not care about some small backache due to the aero position... it is going to be 1 hour... let s give everything............. the first kilometers are very hard, I need to identify what is my goal pace.. so far I am struggling to keep high cadence on the uphills but my body is reacting well and does not feel much the race effort. I am enjoying the view on my left, the "highway 1" ain't too bad after all.. the ocean, the sun, the green hills.... ......

I have 15km done on my watch, I do feel a little weird... a little "light" on my left leg... HOLY CRAP... I do not have the chip!!! Where is my racing chip.... my mind is somehow focused and the answer is quick... I might have left it at the transition area when I got rid of the wetsuit...damn... there is nothing I can do at this point than keep biking, I hope I will find it back there where my wetsuit is and hopefully will not get disqualified.

Turning point at 18th Km... I am going fast... only a couple of fast bikers passed me ( with those bloody aero wheels ... ) but I passed quite a lot of guys.... I am so busy trying to keep my leg pushing that I forget I could see J coming from the other direction.... let me check these guys out on the other side of the road.... oh here it is... just in time... I can see this big tall guy pushing on MY road bike.... CMon Johnny PUSSH!!!.... He saw me.... and I feel inspired to keep doing the same. We have few KMs of differences I will see him during the run.

33Km are done... I am almost there, I am reentering the city of Santa Cruz, all of a sudden I see a guy that tells me to slow down... I raise my face and look around nothing special.... oops need to turn right.... ok done... OOOOOPS need to turn left right after.... seems easy.... HOLYYYYYYY noooo... I feel my rear wheel losing track... I pressed the brake too hard.. I am falling... noooo agaiinn..... BBBBBOOOOM...

I am on the ground, the bike seems fine... cmon back on your feet... quick. I am in the middle of a turn but nobody seems coming behind me... need to bike again... I do not feel pain just too much adrenaline.

Damn the bike does not move. The read wheel is stuck, it went off the frame.

Let me see... I can fix this, quick quick... the hub seems ok the wheel too... I am back on the bike... I might have lost 1-2 minutes... do not care... I want to finish this.

This last 7Km... is a common pattern in my mind: ....: PUSH, FCK IT HURTS, PUSH, FCK IT HURTS, PUSH.... I feel burning on different spots ( arms, hands, knee ) but mostly I feel like I do not have my shorts anymore....I touch my butt and on the left side .... there is nothing than skin... I would say quite fresh skin :-P...... pushhhh.... I hear the people screaming I am close to the transition area the bike is over...

10.05-10.07 T2 ( BIKE->RUN )

First goal, find my race chip. Found it. It was stuck in the wetsuit. Fast now.. switch to running mode. Change the shoes... stop do not look at the blood coming from the butt... bib number is on... quick sip to the water bottle.. funny hat on.... ready to run.

10.07-10.46 (THE RUN 10Km)

Time to be myself... the runner... finally. Legs are quite tired, the running though seems doable. After all it is only a 10Km. I can handle this... one guy in front of me from UC Berkeley team.... passed :-P.... one more in front of me... from Stanford.... ( wow all this university students... ).. passed. 2km are done... running at 6.30 pace... trying to keep form..... 3km..... 4km.... one guy with the Elite letter on his leg.... yuuu I am about to pass an elite guy.... NICE...5km passed... but i feel the burn... turning point... cmon baby... time to push... my mind starts spacing out, i keep thinking this is a good performance... I am doing great even ... and the Olympic distance seems doing it for me.

8Km done... I am close... the speed has increased I am cruising at 6.10 pace... 9Km... I am flying 5.55pace.....9.9km!.... I can see the end.... so many people cheering... awesome feeling... I am done again... this time with a BLOODY finish.... I look at the time... 2h15.... wow... I am finishing strong and improving my record by 13 minutes... DAMN!.... one more kick and I am done! YES

2h.15..... 2h is considered professional....!!!

What a race, J arrived after 15 minutes... which is an impressive performance for a first timer.. after spending sometime at the AID station the day was just about to start :-) ( BBQ, driving back to SF, driving to Vacaville... etc.. etc. :-) ).

Now I can only say one thing.... I am done for Tri-racing for this year. This performance teaches me 4 things:

1) I have potentials... ( 20pounds heavier, falling from the bike and slow transitions make me think I can do MUCH better.)

2) Need to learn how to ride a bike :-)

3) I have the right mindset

4) Need to focus on one race format at a time

Stay tuned... I will be racing the Tiburon Mile in 2 weeks if my wounds will heal!

Mammoth Lake 25Km race ( outcome )

Let's try to introduce the reader with a set of adjectives that could resume at best my last adventure:

- Extreme

- Dirty... very dirty

- Unhealthy

- Unhygienic

- Freezing

- Amazing

- Exhausting

- Messed up

4am.... I am preparing my bag, ( did not sleep the whole night damn huge burrito ), lady K does not want to wake up and I cant find my race bib number... the day starts well.

5am ... breakfast at the restaurant in front of the race start. I look around me and we are (J and I) the only first timers... all the people around seem to be experienced trail runners... at least looking from their outfits and the amount of small details they have thought about.

6.30am .... 8200feet of altitude, race starts with a shy Sun on the horizon and a temperature in the low 50s. I look at Johnny and with my usual attitude I force him to come in the front and start close to the super fast guys.

First 1.5 mile... I am running so fast, the trail is narrow and fun, i am following the first 2 guys, the pace is insane but I am just happy to be part of this... J is way back already...

2rnd mile... I am HELLA tired, cant breath anymore, few uphills are showing up, Johnny is catching me and my running style loses any resemblance of my old times.

3rd mile...All of a sudden I do not see the 2 guys in front of me, I do not see the right trail to take, there are choices in front of me and no colored flags to show the way, J and other 2 guys are behind me and they stop with me to figure it out. We all take one of the trails and we start climbing...

3.1th mile, the climb is terrible.. can't breath, I am struggling behind J ( we are holding 3rd and 4th position in the race )... BOOM.. I feel like I cant run anymore... I say " J... I AM WALKING... SEE YOU AT THE END". I feel sick all of a sudden, the 2 guys behind me pass me and I am walking uphill like I have been running for 100miles... stomach is sick... and yes I am puking on the side of the trail.

3.2th to 6th mile... the climbing is insane, I walk/run/walk/run the 2 guys in front of me in sight, J still runs like a dear... damn it.

6.1th mile I look at my watch and I am at 11000 feet. I am on the top of the climb. One guy in front of me leaves the race ( I will understand only at the end why! ).

The trail starts going down... it feels a little weird though... I was supposed to be on top of this hill after 11 miles... BOH! I am so happy I am going downhill... breathing wise I am suffering like there is no tomorrow. Going down I can see Johnny the goat running fast like the wind... but I am fresh now... I realize that even though I climbed so much... I walked for most of the uphill and I am not so dead after all.

Down like hurricane... I want to reach J.

8th mile... I feel my intestine cramping... uff... I can't take this anymore... need to stop to a bathroom.. OOPS there are no bathrooms here... just dust, rocks and snow......... few switchbacks downhill and the pain is unbearable need to lose the package....... YES I am doing it in the middle of the mountain :-P.

Lost about 1 minute but feel so much lighter and luckily some small dead leaves came very handy :-PPPP

Going down, the race is becoming super fun... oh noooooo now what the heck... I am lost again... I was so concentrated to go crazy down hill.... now I have few choices again.. and sign of a colored flag.... fine taking the bike trail in front of me...

9th mile... now I am getting depressed... I feel lost... nobody around me... I am running at exhaustion pace but I do not see anymore flags... I am out of the official track... damn it...

9.5mile... intestine complaining again... you know what... whatever ... lost for lost I will take another pit stop. This time no dead leaves around...damn... I am in the craziest/dirtiest/toughest position anyone can imagine and the Pine tree around are not the best for "what I need". Ok.... need to sacrifice my gray t-shirt ( Venezuela Half Ironman memory... uff ).

Clean... not really, but definetely lighter and painless I am running downhill and decide to take a different path that seems more for runners than bikers.

NICE, I see an orange flag, I am back on track.

10th mile... HOLY CR*P.... I see the end.... this is impossible... the race should be 15 miles long.... damnnn this can only mean one thing... I messed up the whole race by cutting some trails turns .... uff.

I am running toward the end and I see a small group of people setting up the festivities for the arrival ... and I see Johnny waiting.... GOOD LORD... he got lost as well ... at least I am not the only one.

Final result: J ran 9 miles, I ran 10.5 miles instead of 15... Both of us Disqualified, pissed, not as tired as we expected to be....

Fine.... good experience... a lot to learn... a lot to forget ;-)...

Thanks Kimmy to be supportive

V.

Tizio departure

The past few days ( Wed till Monday ) have been emotionally VERY intense.

Hard to explain with simple words, probably too shy to come out and say it out loud on internet but so many events have happened.

My brother spent 7 months with me, he brought enthusiasm in my life, seeing him changing and evolving was great... we went thru so many friends, parties, guests, races, games, dances, stupid routines, fancy cooking, not very fancy ones, terrible cookings, movies, training, basketball matches, trips, coffees, wine tastings, carpools ( with Fondue Anjan ), shopping, clothes sharing, room sharing :-), adventures, river rafting, dates...

Not a fight, not a problem.... AWESOME

My brother spent 6 months working for my same company, managing my time ( every 60/90 minutes there was a coffee break..). I got used to walk around the cubicles and randomly meet him... damn....

We even managed to share similar pieces of source code and successfully deploy cool platform code running on REVUE! (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/1005/7099)

I will miss the big fella! Good luck with your last year of UNI bro! Just remember ..PUSH PUSHHHHHH.

Now I will focus on my job for a couple of hours... and try to wrap up a new blog post about my last race... so that sad feelings will go away :-)

V.