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.

September and October means racing

Here we are. End of my first Triathlete year is getting close, time to collect few final races here and there before wrapping up the results, recover end of October and reset everything for the new year.

The past weeks, were absolutely stimulating, under every point of view.

Johnny is here till the 27th, my brother will leave me on the 20th with Fondue Anjan...uff.

Races coming up:

- Saturday 18th Sept. ( Mammoth Lake 25Km trail run ... 3500feet climbing... starting at 8000..... )

- Sunday 26th Sept. Olympic triathlon ( first time for J ! )

- Sunday 18th Oct. Tiburon 1 nautical mile open water swim.

I will keep this blog way more uptodate now that I have goals coming up and so much going on around me.

Life can be busy... but amazing busy....

Tizio dont leave meeeee