40 degrees a l'ombre

It's that time of the year when iced Coke becames part of my daily needs.

Playing cultural

Not one I would go again. Not one that fits the Portuguese reality back in 1958.

It's still a LOT more expensive going to the theather than to the movies. 

Challenge Barcelona (Half-Ironman)

7th place in 4'07'56 (race winner was Clemente Alonso in 4'01'49)

I finally got out of an half-ironman - in 2009 - with a comfortable feeling of having left all I had on race day. Despite never really being nearby the leader, this time I actually raced till the finish line. I'll try to keep this short. 

Race day woke up warm but windy. The water was choppy with some huge waves to face on the beach. The bike course was a out and back course along the sea most of the way with nice roads just a bit too narrow on some points. Temperatures would eventualy go thru the roof with a hot run in perspective. 

Swim was wild. They decided to divide the 2000 athletes field (a new record for spanish triathlons btw) in only 4 waves which would later reveal a bad call. We were packed in around 500 athletes' waves. Pro's, Policeman and Fireman and a lot of age groups were on the first wave. The remaining waves would follow in 5-min gaps. I had a great start on the left side and was cleary on the front pack when we got to the first buoy (200 meters). I can't remenber having such a great start. I spotted Paul Ambrose (he has a unique face color) and Timo Bracht behind so I was right where I wanted. I managed to keep the pace and was really comfortable until the third of four buoys where I got smacked and totally lost breath and pace control. I still managed to get on Bracht and Dragstra feet and surf my way out in 28' minutes. I don't believe the swim was that way off the distance.. just too choppy and tough to navigate correctly between buoys. I must have swam a few more meters cause there were athletes all over the place trying to not get lost. 

The bike ruined the show.  The fact that the Pro's had hundreds of age-groupers starting at the same time ruined the game for us. Don't take me wrong but most of the pro athletes are really committed to fight drafting and we all do our best to stay most of the time off the drafting. Some age groups also do that. But there are others that dont. So although I had a solid swim I was still surrounded by a few age groups who simply ignore the rules. For most of the ride I was on a pack with Dragstra but by half point we got caught by a group of athletes that contained a handful of Pros (Jeuland, Mauch, Goerke) and Age Groups that made it almost impossible to not be on the drafting box. I saw most of the Pro's TRYING to leave some room for the front guy but when we backed up a bit, some one would just pass you and get REALLY close to the front guy. I can name bib number 253 and 525 that were really anoying. With 10km to go we got caught by another BIG group of athletes with a few more Pro's and age groups. On the way back to town I saw groups of HUNDREDS of athletes not giving a sh*t about draft. The show was ruined and with just 5km to go I went with the flow not willing to give up the fight just yet. I entered T2 with a group of around 25 athletes, 5 minutes down on the leaders. Oh yeah.. during the bike, Timo Bracht just went on with his life and Mikel Elgezabal and Damien Favre-Felix stormed by me as rockets. So did Esben Hovgaard. But they are just on another level of cycling not one that I can match. 

The run was hot HOT as expected. I had a hard time finding the right pace to get thru the half-marathon. The course was totally flat along the scenic beaches. I went out of transition way too fast pumped by most of the guys who also went way too fast (at least it seemed like it). I had a nice first km's running along Nils Goerke but then cracked and got passed by a handful of guys, some amateurs (who didn't look like it at the moment). I took a few km's "off" at a really easy pace and caught up with my nutrition and that saved my race. I re started to feel better and speed up. From then on I decided to go as fast as I could at every moment without thinking of the remaining km's. With 15km done I was in 12th place with some guys fading in front. I kept accelerating but was not until the last 2km that I caught up again with Rasmus Hansen and Alvaro Velasquez who were also running fast. They had passed me sooner and I never thought I would caught up with them again. The last Km's was a killer. I was going as fast as I could up a tremendous hill to the finish like with a HUGE crowd on the roads giving all they had so I could also give it all to the finish line. It was a somekind of sprint to the line and I was just glad I made it. 

At the awards ceremony I heard I got disqualified for not carrying my bib number on the run (I lost it during it). I talked to the race director to see if we can resolve the situation but as today I still don't what they will decided cause there were numberous DQ's due to mostly drafting and littering. 

For the record, here's the top 10 for the race:

1. Clemente Alonso (ESP) 4:01:49
2. Timo Bracht (DEU) 4:03:56
3. Paul Ambrose (AUS) 4:04:55
4. Francisco Pontano (ARG) 4:05:34
5. Nils Goerke (DEU) 4:05:48
6. José Jeuland (FRA) 4:07:07
7. Pedro Gomes (POR) 4:07:56
8. Alvaro Velazquez (ESP) 4:08:07
9. Rasmus Hansen (DEN) 4:08:13
10. Jens Petersen-Bach (DEN) 4:08:22

Full results here: http://www.halfchallenge-barcelona.com/resultados/intro.php

The end result was not that important. I get out of Barcelona with a renewed fitness and more motivation for what is yet to come in 2009. Despite all the drafting, Clemente proved to be on his way to the top of long distance triathlon and the Challenge Barcelona was one heck of a road trip with the Portuguese mafia putting their own party and having a great time in spanish solo.  

 

Pre-race week!

Last week was a bit uneventful except for a minor injury I got on the back of my leg, nothing to worry about though:

Monday: 1hr run, 4km swim

Tuesday: 4km swim, 3hr + 1hr brick

Wednesday: 1h15 fartlek run with 6 x 4 plus 2', 2km swim

Thursday: 4km swim, 2hr ride

Friday: 1h30 ride, 50-min run (I should have done a VO2max this day but we decided to skip that due to the injury)

Sathurday: 3hr ride, 3km swim

Sunday: 1h30 ride, 10km road run (a bit of pain but ok most of the way).

Total: 17km / 325 km / 58 km - 21hrs

It's now race week and I will take my foot of the gaz. 

Wow

http://www.rev3tri.com/

"Our" silver medal

It's amazing how triathlon has grown in Portugal over the last year. Vanessa's olympic medal in Beijing and the fact that we only won two (one gold, one silver) has really brought the attention of the media and the people. Nowadays you cant go with Vanessa anywhere without people looking and claiming for photos and autographs. Considering she's only 23 yo and the last eight years were spent in a "box" getting ready for that medal, that's a lot of pressure on her shoulders. 

It's true there are some very famous kiddos in Portugal as young as her (mostly actors and singers) but you don't really expect them to win the next Eurovision Song Contest or an Oscar. And that's the pressure I'm referring to. I guess everyone expects Vanessa to win the next olympic or be as dominating as she's been over the last few years in the sport. Portugal has found an hero that they can rely on and there's little room for failure.  I'm sure she will come back as strong as she's capable of but it's 2009 and we all need our time off or at least some room for rest. 

In further news, the U23 squad is leaving for Pontevendra next Friday for the ETU race and they have began their taper. I'm also easing off a bit so I can get to Challenge Barcelona well rested. The last two weeks of training have gone by smoothly and it's just a matter of things falling in place on race day.  

We will go on with our normal lifes now

Today, we will dress in white.

Double chocolate cookies are making wonders..

There's this one guy on our squad that's like.. wow.

The main task on the swim yesterday was 5x(200m with transition to 5' on the bike all at race pace). Once a lost triathlete who would barely manage to get out of the water in front of me and now he's kicking them all in 2'11 with a 50 meter split of 61'. I know this sounds slow for all the fishes out there but.. man has this guy evolved. And I didn't see it coming. Actually I did but never really realised it until I got hit by his wave yesterday. And today he was rocking 2x(6x500) on the run track at a 2'45 pace.

Must be of those double chocolate cookies he's always snacking.. gotta get on them as well!


PS - we are talking 200 METERS on a long course pool. He's called João Amorim and I'm looking forward for his results at the Junior European and Worlds!

PPSSS - the track workout was cool. I had 3x2K and then 6x1K and felt solid. I'm getting there!

Still on to it, Challenge Barcelona in three weeks

Thursday: 3,5km swim, 1h30 run
Friday: 3,5km swim, 3hr ride, 50' transition run, 1hr late run
Sathurday: 75km ride, 1h30 run
Sunday: 4hr ride

Monday: 4km swim, 55km ride, 1hr run
Tuesday: 5km swim, 3hr ride, 40' transition run
Wednesday: 4hr ride, 2km easy swim
Thursday (today): 5km swim and a track workout later afternoon

I've been sleeping about 8hr per day (6hr at night plus 2hr during the day) and working hard on my business. I'm skipping the late nights and dinning outs and am starting to feel stronger (actually, more sore) by the day. I'm trying to fit a full week on training into 6 days since sathurday we will party hard at White Sensation!

Meanwhile I got confirmation of my entry in Barcelona (Challenge Barcelona) and Triatlon Zarauzko (Half-Ironman) both in Spain so am looking forward to get my ass kicked by the spaniards.

Also, my new race suit and equipments from Champion System have just arrived and they look really nice. Anxiously await to give them a try!

All smiles for now. Lets see how am I after the track workout later today..!