XTerra Tahoe city ...let's do it

Umh, 2 weeks have almost passed since the Half Ironman.

Never felt so strong into my training sessions and why dont participate in my first off-road triathlon?

Tonight I will drive with my brother and Dan to Tahoe city ( Nevada border ) and hope to pass a great week end.... of course hope to race fast too.

I will swim and run as fast as possible, but the mountain biking for 22miles.... umh dont know about that... never jumped in a MB in the past 4-5 years, dont even know if it is possible to race with it... it will be super fun for sure!

Job is doing ok, ( still need to get used to the office environment again ) and my brand new car will do just great to take my butt over the mountains :-)

Finally a car! Finally a race I think I can finish without struggling.

Big kiss to whomever deserves it!

Half Ironman Venezuela 2010

One of the best day of my life:

Could not sleep all night, too much thinking as usual. Took the image Imodium pills twice to make sure to not have surprise and avoid dehydration ( this is why I am now constipated after 48 hrs ;( )

4.30am I am off the bed. I put the sunscreen on and head to the early breakfast setup for the Athletes at 5am.

5.30am I am back in the room and J volunteer to come and take pics while i will prepare he transition area.

6.30am I am on the beach warming up and understand how the heck should I start the swim.. Just got the news the we will all start together from the beach. Uff.

My wetsuit, great for the freezing water of SF Bay is way too thick and hot for this weather... And the starting is getting delayed... 8am ready to start... People shouting in spanish all around... I am nervois but somehow confident.

Boom... I am in the middle of the pack ... Shut I know what is going to happen... As soon as I am in the water I start swimming franticly ... It is a war, get kicked in my face googles off, I slow down, people from the back start swimming on me.. I try to swim on people and people try to swim on me... ( next time need to remember this... Need to start from the side!)... I cut on the right and get out of the pack... Finally free water... I ll swim a bit more but I ll be able to swimlike I want... As J taught me in these days "fast and smooth". First lap 950mts gone... Second lap ... Done too... I am off the water...I hear J screaming ... Running toward the tranisition area ... I am happy .. The swim was fast (23mins) ... J is running along the path... He wetsuit is hot need to get rid of it asap.

Time to change in biker mode. Wetsuit off, my right eye is swelling from the kick I got at the swim start, 2m41s and I am on my jewel ready to ride 90Km... 

J screams " push mate I ll see u when u are back!" .. That word push kept bouncing in my head for most of the ride.. Lol.

The bike makes a weird noise from the rear wheel..but disappears in few seconds... Good now push

3 laps of 30Km each... It is hot, a bit windy but feel strong. First lap and my friend Luis is 6minutes in front of me.. Almost where the elites Are. Push Push Push Drink Push Eat Push Push Drink.  2 lap Luis got 4 mins... I am going fast.. Push Push.. 3 lap and Luis is only 1 minute... Wow... Push push 10Km to go.. little hill, change gear in front .... Boom the chain goes off.. Fck... I stop put the chain back in.. Start pedaling... Weird noise is back and the rear wheel is scratching my frame... WTF... One guys passes me and says "frenado frenado.." ... Shut I stop again the bike barely moves .. I start pulling the wheel hard to detach it fro
 this bloody aereodynamic frame ... Let s try again .. The noise is terrible the wheel is no smooth.. WTF has changed from the past 80Km?? don't know I get back on my pedals desperate... Push standing up. 1-2-3 1-2-3... The noise is disappearing again... The wheel is not scratching anymore... Yes... Now fly ...... I feel exausted after all this... Keep drinking Gatorade and water... 90Km mark... I am back to the hotel... 2h36mins ... Holy c@ap.... I was fastttt.

Transition to the run... I have been racing for 3hrs now.. Feel the stress and heat but the time and the amount of people I passed are promising factors...

J is excited ... He is screaming how close Luis is ... And how fast I have been so far... I feel I can do it! 1 minute and I am ready to run.

Shoes are ok, legs are ok, I am just hot ...
3 laps of 7 Km each.. My rythm is ok... I keep thinking about the book... I repeat to myself ... "I am born to run"... Small steps ... Rythm.. Form... I pass one guy... Another ... I am passing one guy every 2-3 minutes... 1 lap and Luis is in front of me... People are cheering for me .. I am 35th at the end of the first lap... J runs with me fo fee hundred meters... Is enthusiast about the performance and gives me hope... I am hot... I poor water all over me... I grab 2 bottles at once ... I drink one and I pour th over on me...
Second lap, I pass Luis, I keep passing people... Locals on he road are cheering for me... I hear things like... " ale torido tremenda corrida"... I am running 5mins per km and still passing people... End of the second lap... I feel a bit feverish... My right leg is cramping, but J is there... He says " cmon man, u got this! " he is expressing emotions... It means a lot... J never does...

I feel motivated.... 7Km... I pass one more guy... It is an Elite... Holyyyy ... He guys says..."ale amigo se puede" .... Lol... Se puede se puede... I am running back to he hotel... 21km almost done... Here it comes the arrival... So Many people cheering... Time says 4h39mins.... I have the biggest smile on my face... "again".

Post race is yet another super positive experience but this post is alreay too long to des ribe everything.

Anyway... 5pm, results are out...  I am 10th overall!!!!!!!!!

2nd of my category.. I am on the podium!!! 
Pics, price, and that little glory that I have been missing in the past 4-5 years of ups and downs.

Soon pics and videos

Gosh!

7th day Venezuela -1to race

Saturday 12th

Too lazy in the morning to test the water, after breakfast I went straight with Luis to see the bike loop.
The gentle bike tour ended up being a strong 30Km ride and finished up with 20mins easy run.

Results of the morning discovery were
- I am not as fast as I thought on the bike ( now I know why they call these guys "Elite" )
- the run after 3hrs of bike racing will be hursh.. The heat around 12pm is unbearable ... I will have to drink like an elephant
- the intenstinal problems I had in the past day is not improving, guess magic imodium will make his journey into my mouth ;)

After the pre-race ride, a good launch and decent nap, I got my number ( 70 ) and grabbed a wheel reapiring kit for 130bsf ... Not bad.

People have realized I only have 1 bottle of water... They say 3 are needed.. I say ... I don't want go get ripped off by the local bike shops to purchase some crazy expensive carbon bottle cage... 

People are saying it is quite insane to do your first ironman 70.3 with this heat... I say I am here... Let s open the dance!

 

6th day Venezuela -2 to race

6th day

Friday, complete rest, just visiting beaches around with Luis and wondering around the hotel pools trying not to think to Sunday.

Task of course impossibles, something like 400 ironman athletes have just checked in with families, hot girlfriends and kids. Amazing bikes all over... The pool has never seen so many Spartans at once. The atmosphere is thrilling... Love it.

I walk on the beach and I see fast swimmers exercising, drive the rental car and see agile runners doing intervals, come back at the hotel and the cheapest bike +wheel combo I see costs 3 times mine..( poor my lady ... I will clean u and u ll shine )... In few words no way I can detach my mind.

Dinner tonight was the apocalypse... Imagine at least 400 Virgilios eating Virgilios style! The kitchen ran out of food! The buffet was a war zone!

Now coffee to digest and hopefully a long restoring sleep. Tomorrow will do all the pre-racing stuff including the minithriatlon to reharse... 

Good night few readers out there.. 

V.

P.s. To my parents: did u read my messages??

5th day Venezuela -3 to race

5th day

Luis, my real coach from San Feancisco is finally here. Luckily the day turned out more interesting having him around ( he is from Venezuela and having a local on your side make things better ;))

Little swim 1k in the water, 40 mins interval run and J is cooked for the day. 
Around 2pm we finally managed to book a 1 day tour for angels falls ( Canaima)... at least the triathlon it won't be the only deal of the vacation!!

The afternoon was the usual chatting, sun bathing, speculating about the race day deal.. So to change... I went for another 30min run.

Thanks to Luis and girlfriend, tonight dinner was different... We taxied to Juan Grieco and dined on the beach in some local restaurant... Food ok... Piña colada deliciiiiious

Athletes are coming big now... Bikes all over ... Need to go to bed now or I ll hear too much and get nervous

Nite nite!!

4th day Venezuela -4 to Race

4th day

This time we were supposed to visit Angel's falls... But we simply ended up spending 2hr in a taxi wondering around the highland... To realize the hotel is the best we got ... We need a travel agent to help us out( possibly an English speaker ... Very rare down here ).

Back to the beach... Managed to finish my book "Born to Run" ( which I suggest everybody to give it a try! ... It could change your life or simply make feel better ). 

3k open water while J reads his own stuff chasing the shade of the sun umbrella. 

Lunch was just a lot of veggies and fruit... But I was starving and at the end I indulged in a dessert tasting contest with Skinny J.

The afternoon this time was all about swimming technique, coach J was helpful this time... Finally athletes are starting to show up at the hotel.. The sunset went by speaking with this 40sh guy that attempted the race last year and is back! His words were not comfortable, he told me to take it VeRy easy I won't finish it!

Tomorrow more athletes will be here and I ll try to run/bike with them along the race course... I ll give a break to J.

Special to Logi-cdbu friends ;)

V. From V.

3rd day Venezuela -5 to race day

3rd day

Today started as the laziest day ever! Breakfast around 7am with 8.5 hours of sleep. Morning spent reading "the best book I have ever read so far" ... Finally managed to get the open water work out around 12pm.

Today the weather is a bit easier to handle, might be the wind or just the fact that I am getting use to this! J reads is book while I work my ass off in the water... What a coach!

Veggie lunch and 2hrs afternoon sleep.. Were priceless. The sun here goes down earlier ( around 6pm )... So before it gets dark I convince J to follow me for a evening 1hr tempo run! Poor J.. 

Sunset splashing the salty water of the beach and now time for yet another buffet dinner! 

Tomorrow will go hiking to Angels falls.. 

Big hug to the world and my parents that are always sleeping while I am online ...

2nd day Venezuela -6 to race

2nd day

Big breakfast at 7am. Somehow feels good to be the first in the restaurant... Fresh food and fruits before the heat builds up!

30 mins after I am off for a 45mins ride. The landscape outside the hotel is desertic, the heat is huge, wind blows hot and the few locals sitting in the little village I found look at me like someone from another planet( the rich dude the runs on our land... ).

Ride done and now 40mins running with J. 
The recovery swim after is just the best price ever. Today weather is perfect can't complain.

The afternoon is all about chatting, reading, relaxing ... And of course food.
I am starting to lean toward a vegeterian diet... It is helping somehow to make me recover.

Now I am having yet another coffee in the middle of this gigantic pool before 10pm comes and bed will call me!

Good night Margarita!

V.

1st day Venezuela -7 to race day

1st day

Good breakfast at 7am, the weather is extremely hot and humid. I set off for 30 min run.... I am burning.. Back to the hotel J joins me for another 40mins.

The heat is CRAZY... We jump in the super salty water right after and thank god all that heat vanishes.

How can u finish an half ironman under this sun??

Back at the hotel, second breakfast and chilling for few hours.

Early in the afternoon we switched room and we got a great upgrade in a suite with balcony on the beach!

It rained for 2 hours... And what do we do? Indoor ping pong ;).. 8-0 ... Poor J I ll have to improve hid PP skills. 

Before dinner a gentle swim with the wetsuit ... And it is BLOODY hot... There is no need of the towel even If the sun is down and the wind is blowing strong!

Ready to go to bed now tomorrow bike/run transitions and a lot if fooood!

( J is already sleeping)

Good night world!

V.

Trip to Venezuela -8 to Ironman 70.3

Trip to Venezuela... An adventure!

Leaving SF in a rush, paying extra fee for the bike, 6 hours flight to Houston, 4hrs waiting flight to Caracas. 6hrs flight to Venezuela... Then already tired, without any reservation yet... Find myself as the only first timer in South America! Got spotted by locals and the ripping off starts. Money exchange in the elevator ( black market rocks). One guy insists to help me out to carry my luggage .. Fine 50Bsf.

At the domedtic airport there is no flight for the next 7hrs! Nice ... 7hrs after I am in the plane .. Literally dying. I got to Isla Margarita less than hour after... And somehow all my stuff made it with me. Taxi now to the hotel.. 1hr after ...at the hotel they don't accept my credit card, stress builds up, manage to get a temporary room and after It 36hrs Without sleep and proper eating I am finally in my room!

Waiting for J to arrive in few hours! The hotel for now is what I was expecting... Very local... Very wild... So different!

Half Ironman - Venezuela 2010 ( -13 days )

6 days from the flight to Venezuela.

Still a long list of TODOs

- Yellow fever shot :-)...

- Waxing

- Bike tune up

- Packing

- Reserve trip details

- Leave work projects in healthy state.

Think I can do it.

This long week end just finished, I did train like a horse as the book suggested and today long ride was the final test. 65 miles pushing like crazy, bonking at the end.... first time in my life that I felt like I could not finish an uphill.

Lesson learned.... do not eat a full pack of trail mix ( nuts and dried fruits ) during a 4hrs bike sessions. WAIT TILL THE END.

FairFax -> Point Raise station and back. Lovely loop....

These 3 days were so full.... we managed to go to Santa Cruz beach, Sonoma county for wine tasting and bar hopping at night ( not really ... i was dead everynight before stepping into the bar ).

I am very close to my first Half Ironman. Just hope I won't get injured for the last 2 weeks of training.

Life... could be better with Love... but I can live another while like this.... ( x my parents... dont worry I will get married one day.... just not yet ).

:-P