My very own training (b)log

This one is worth a post!

2012-01-22T18:16:00.001+01:00

News & First race!

2012-01-16T14:33:00.005+01:00

2012 is in full throttle. The weather continues to help training and routine is just easy when you are 5 minutes away from the pool and you can ride and run from the house. Coach Jesse has been prescribing weeks of no more than 25 hours so it's not like the volume has been crazy high.

The big news from last week is that I won't be able to travel all the way to Clermont in Febuary for the three months of training I had scheduled. Some personal and professional issues emerged and I'm spending most of my winter at home. On this new scenario, Ironman Texas will be my first race in the US.

Futher on training, yesterday I traveled to Benavente for the National Road Running Championship. Coach Jesse wrote me a race plan that I executed perfectly finishing in 52:50 (15 Km) which was exactly what Jesse had predicted based only on my training log from the past weeks. This' the kind of stuff that really makes you thrust your coach.

Yesterday I also welcomed Chris Coble to Lisbon. Chris Coble was one of the guys I first met in the US last year. We were roomates in Las Cruces and Tucson and so it was kinda of a surprise to have him come to Lisbon. We had a snack at the very famous Portuguese "Pasteis de Belem" (named after very special custard tart pastry) followed by a tradicional fresh-fish and portuguese sausage dinner with live Fado acting at Bairro Alto. A nice evening to catch up with Chris and his lovely lady friend which topped another week of training in the books.

I will try to get a update on my racing schedule as soon as I figure all things out.

2012

2012-01-03T21:42:00.005+01:00

A new year is born. People always look forward to the *next* 12 months. They feel like it's a new chance to try and make things right. Most of the times we can even look back at the *last* 12 months and feel no regrets of decisions made but what lies ahead is always brighter. Always new, always better. Or at least we make it seem.

The optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. I'm not a pessimist but I was looking forward to get over 2011. The new year is like a book with blank pages. We are going to put words on them ourselves and it's first chapter is always "opportunity". Hope is the most common word.

The big news is that I'm joinning a new project for 2012. It's called Charity Multisport and it's a tri-team based out of Portugal who resolves to make at least one person happy every day. We want to see ourselves in ten years, already with three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy or brightened a small group by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment. We will have a website up and running really soon so please stay tunned.

I have other news to bring up to public but I thought this one deserved a post of its own. It's about bringing hope. And hope, as I said, is the most common word of the New Year book. I hope (<- there you go) and wish you all a great 2012!

Full Speed Ahead / Vision Tech

2011-12-10T13:52:00.006+01:00

It's a great honour to announce that I've signned a two-year agreement with Full Speed Ahead and will be pimping my bike with their World reknown components. FSA is the main company that makes road and Mtn components. It also has 3 other brands under the FSA umbrella: Gravity - for huckers and chuckers, crazy kids jumping off things whilst doing tricks; Metropolis - the cool crowd riding city bikes; Vision - for the screamingly fast triathletes and TTers.

Since its birth in Kona in the ‘90’s, Vision has been synonymous with a no-expense spared assault on wind resistance. Recent years saw the innovative application of carbon fiber and the creation of dream-like shapes to enhance performance. Perhaps no aerobar line has been so imitated, but usually with little success. Following yet another triumphant season in triathlon and TT, Vision is again the brand to beat.

In Ironman competition, Vision has led the way by innovating slippery-fast aero products that actually function properly in race conditions. Aerodynamics combined with adjustability and fit take years to combine correctly.

2012 continues the quest for speed WITH the new Metron TFA aerobar. The TFA is UCI legal, exceptionally light, and rigorously tested with Computational Fluid Dynamics and wind tunnel testing. Along with the TFA, Vision continues to lead the industry with adjustment friendly semi-integrated, clip-on, and UCI legal bar options, as well as the revolutionary Metron groupset.

Introducing TRX!

2011-12-08T01:57:00.003+01:00

It is my pleasure to announce on board TRX. I made a commitment to myself to work on my core this winter and TRX will get the job done! TRX designs and sells original physical training products of innovative design and premium quality construction, including Suspension Training and Rip Training equipment, education and exercise programs that are changing the way athletes train for sport, soldiers train for combat, physical therapists rehabilitate patients and exercise instructors train their clients.

Recap of 2011

2011-11-29T14:50:00.010+01:00

The past 12 month were definitely a learning experience and here's the recap of what happened.

November 2011 - after my breakthrouh performance at Ironman Florida and almost three years spent at the High Performance Training Center (HTC) I decided it was time to move on. I had the best and hardest training of my life there but Portugal is not the country to live as a professional long distance triathlete.

January 2011 - I was invited by my first coach - Paulo Sousa - to join his US squad. The squad included both ITU and long distance athletes which meant I would be joining the same concept of group training I've experienced at the HTC, just not in the same place year around. On January 16th, I hoped on a plane with nothing but the basics on the bag.

Febuary 2011 - Training camp in Las Cruces and Tucson with Paulo's squad was great. Met great individuals and never had I worked out so much in Febuary under such great weather conditions. First race of the season would be Desert Duathlon Classic up on Phoenix. I placed 6th, 1h28m44 (results)

March 2011 - Abu Dhabi International Triathlon has one of the largest pro purses and pro field outside of Kona (if not the largest) and going to Abu Dhabi was definitely a once in a life experience. I had an OK swim but was unable to back it up on the bike portion and would get dropped by everyone. Alone and against the high winds and heat, I eventually DNF'ed. I went almost straight to Golden Island Half-Ironman, stage #1 of the National Championship, a race I won in a time of 3h56m50 (results and video) but had a hard time with recovery.

April 2011 - To jump-start the month, I raced I CAN Marbella Half Ironman and felt like dying finishing 8th, 4h19m08 (results) but far behind the leaders. Something wasn't right with me and already home I decided to take some blood tests. I was diagnosed with anemia and was told to stop the sports for a while. Against Paulo's will and Doctor's suggestion, I decided not to stop and fight my medical condition by continue to race and just take some iron supplements. Really bright idea Pedro. I then raced Lisboa International Triathlon, Half-Ironman, stage #2 of the National Championship, biggest triathlon in Portugal and had - what I think it was - my best performance of 2011. I won in 1st, 3h57m04 (results) but most important was that I felt totally in control of the race from the first stroke. I broke part with Paulo's squad and decided I had what I takes to self-coach and overcome adversity. After all, I had just come off a good day at Lisboa's race and was overwhelmed. I had lost my humbleness and was blinded by all the "good job" wishes and travel back to

the US for another round.

May 2011 - self coached and with a need to show off work in the US, I had 3 races scheduled for May. Rev 3 Konxville (olympic) was the first and I finished 13th, 1h57m22 (results). Eluted, I said to myself "you got a penalty, you are a long distance triathlete, it was a good result". Then jumped off to miserable training in Houston and torned pedal in Ironman Texas - DNF (report). Again, I said to myself "you could have gone fast, it was just bad luck", although I was having a really bad race when it happened. This' when the saying "you make your own luck" comes into play. Just a week after that, I went to Austin and raced CapTexTri, olympic race, placing 13th, 2h01m52 (results). Again, I had had a penalty on the bike and the swim course was the BS we all know, so I used that as an excuse for placing outside the Top 10 and continue my blind pursuit.

June 2011 - by now I was already into a 8 week period of self-coaching and lazy training. I kept the illusion that I was in great shape and didn't need much training. Just good races. I went up to Rev Quassy, Half-Ironman and DNF'ed with a flat tyre. Great, one more excuse I could use to not perform. I went home and decided that maybe I needed a coach. To my bloody blessing, I crashed on my bike and broke my collarbone.

July 2011 - it was not until the very last week of July that I started to get back into training. Swimming was impossible at the start and although I was still feeling some awkward pain, I toughen up and came back everyday just trying to get my stroke back. Looking at it now, it is possible that I came back too soon but my stubborness is known. I had some more blood tests to see where I was at and although my iron levels were still low it was getting better.

August 2011 - after a few chats, I decided to work with Jesse Kropelnicki from QT2 Systems. Although he works mostly remotely off of Boston and without a squad/group method - something totally different for me - I thought it would be a good fit as I had a great feedback from other athletes and coaches from him. By now, I had made my way back to the US and jumped to the Lifetime race in Chicago. I finished somewhere outside of the Top 20 but with just a few weeks of training, I couldn't ask for more.

September 2011 - with exactly 5 weeks of training, I raced Rev 3 Cedar Point, full Ironman. Again had to toughen up after a off course adventure on the bike and place 4th, 8h46m14 (results). It was by far my slowest Ironman to that date but somehow I thought that with the amount of training I had on my belt, it was a solid effort.

October 2011 - training in September was OK. It was consistent and on the last two weekends of the month I setup myself to race Austin 70.3 - 6th, 4h01m53 (results) - and then Miami 70.3- 15th, 4h02m51 (results). I think both my races were really influenced by my poor swim and that brings us back to June/July when I broke my collarbone and came back too soon. During October and September I was also swimming by myself which didn't help and still feeling some aching on my collarbone. I did felt like my running off the bike strengh was fairly in good shape and was up to an Ironman run. Due to my temporary VISA expiration date, I went straigh back home afterwards.

November 2011 - training in Lisbon in November is hard. It kept rainning and along with Jesse we decided to shorthen my season and get it done asap. So I raced Ironman Arizona - 23th, 8h46m19 (results) - instead of Cozumel. My race in Arizona was the sum of all that went on during 2011. A mixture of lost-focus with blinded pacing on the marathon and bags of IV at the end.

It was a really long season and one that went totally off course. After my glorious 2010 season, I was expecting one even better but so many changes, travels and wrong approach to training and racing, led to high levels of stress and a ton of pressure to save my season by performing at Ironman Arizona. It didn't happen. I made my own luck.

Massive thank you to my supporters: Sports Akileine (anti-friction cream), Wilier-Triestina, Quarq Powermeters, Zoot Sports, FFWD wheels, Green Pepper, Met Helmets, Oakley Iberia, Selle Italia saddles, QT2 Systems and Red Bull.

May the force be with me in 2012.

Wilier-Triestina

2011-11-26T03:57:00.007+01:00

After my messy 2011 season, I wrote a note to some of my sponsors in order to expose my true disappointment for the bunch of setbacks and results BUT showing that this was just a bump in my way and that I'm still commited to the sport. Some replied back with true support and I feel really lucky that I had them on board in 2011. This one was by far the most simple but inspiring I got. From Angelo at Wilier-Triestina:

Hello Pedro,

Thank you very much for your hearth felt email. You have quite a story to tell going from a couch potato to a world class Triathlete. We all have been on the same path as you have; early success gave way to disappointment. This the point where life divides men form boys. People like you that have the courage and humbleness to look at themselves and admit that something went wrong are on the path of putting out the best they can. Professional sports are tough; most athletes are great and it is very difficult to excel. You have to dig in deep and sometimes the laurels of success will never come; what it is important is that you do the very best you can and that you are satisfied with that. Going into 2012, we are confident that you will be able to find yourself and we are therefore looking forward to work with you on that path.Wishing you the very best for 2012 and beyond, best wishes for the upcoming Holidays to you and your family.

Looking forward to talk soon,

Angelo

Thank you Wilier-Triestina for 2011.

Report from IM AZ

2011-11-23T02:24:00.003+01:00

A handful of years ago, I rised off the sofa just as I was on the path to be morbidly obese – but a world-class Nintendo player - to became the fastest Portuguese male ever to complete the most grueling endurance sports event in the world: the Ironman. I went through the process of learning how to swim, was selected for the Olympic project but by the end of 2010 moved towards a career at long distance events, scoring a 8h25m debut Ironman and – just a few weeks later – crossing the line in 2^nd place at Ironman Florida in a time of 8h19 to set the Portuguese National Record over the distance.

2011 would be the year where I would step up, leave my confort zone in Portugal and travel overseas to train and race pursuiting a career with only one goal: to became a better athlete.After reaching such a summit on my first Ironman races, I thought I could go further in 2011. That proved to be wrong. With a bunch of setbacks, I came to Ironman Arizona this past weekend, for my last race of the season in a hope I could save my season with a stellar performance. While my fellow competitiores didn’t disappoint the crowds and put down a memorable show, I again failed to overcome my own stream of above pair performances. I finished 23th OA with a time of 8h46m on an absolute crawl to the line. I never walked on a race, I never got so depleted as I did this past sunday in Tempe, AZ.

I’m home now, humbled by my consecutive failures and with no reason to celebrate. It takes courage to face the process in this sport. Failure is part of it and it takes a lot of guts to look at yourself and understand where things went wrong but you need to. Fix it, came back and try again. That's what I will do.

I don't really feel like writing about the race. I made a bunch of mistakes during the race but losing track of my nutrition on the marathon was the most rookie of them all. You can't loose control of what you eat, this' a 8+ hour event not a short run around the block. It's an Ironman.

My bike file from the race (I missed the first mile and this doesn't include the 4 minute penalty I got on the last lap):

Ironman Arizona, last preps

2011-11-19T01:12:00.008+01:00

Ironman Arizona is this sunday, November 20th. It will be my last race of the season and one I surely hope I can came out on top. I've had a season of up and downs but I think I really nailed good training since Rev 3 Cedar Point in September and feel more than ready to tackle this race. I know I have a 2h4ish marathon in me and although my swim has been sluggish on the past races, I know it got a little better from the time I spent in Portugal. IM AZ has also gathered the largest field ever of professional athletes - 100 - and age groupers - 3010! Despite few minor changes, the course is the same as last years so a fast day of racing is expected.

I flew into Tempe, AZ, on wednesday and although it was a really long day of travelling (23hr!) I got to the hotel without any major setback. I adjusted to the time zone on the very first night and the last tune up has been done. I took today for the normal browse around the expo, check the Zoot Sports tent and attend the pro meeting. Sathurday will be a day of check-in and legs up as Sunday we will kick off at 6:50 from the cold water (60ºF!) of Tempe Lake. I've bumped into many of the pro's and everyone looks super ready for a big day. I'm looking forward to toe the line.

For this years' race, they will have the normal coverage on www.ironman.com but it will also be the first test event for the GPS units from MyAthleteLive.com.

You can follow me on http://www.myathletelive.com/storage/races/IMAZ/index.html

Thank you for following as I will try to report ASAP after the race!

One in a million. Glimpse at Professional Triathlon in Portugal.

2011-11-09T20:38:00.017+01:00

All that is written bellow is based on my personal experience after living three years at the High Performance center in Portugal and one year travelling around the US while bumping into some of the World's greatest.

To start off, you can't be a professional triathlete in Portugal so when it comes to High Performance, you always have to consider that these athletes don't see a real future in it. Most are students and when they graduate from studies, they just quit the sport and move on with their lifes as your everyday Joe. The reality in Europe is that triathlon is not yet a "professional" sport. If you are really good and live in a country such as France, Germany or GBR, you can make a living out of it. But again you really, REALLY, need to be good. There aren't many sponsors which turns triathlon in Europe into a really competitive sport. It's no surprise ITU has most of it's WCS races here and is in fact dominated by europeans. 14 out of the current top 15 male athletes according to the WCS ranking.

The industry of the sport is in the US. You travel to any major Ironman event and you'll see all the big brands present at the expo and/or sponsoring the event. All major triathlon related brands are based off the US and most have great sponsorship programs available. Second and third line pros (where I would include myself) get paid. Top age-groupers get sponsors. There are true multisport teams, there's a ton of races every weekend which means the professional field is well spread out in the country and most of the times they avoid some races so they won't be challenged. Brands support not only who wins the most - regional or national wise - but also who makes a name for himself by showing up every time and being social active.

With this in mind I try to compare Europe with the US. Athletes in Europe work more as a group, a squad. They know they need someone to push themselves every single day out there so they can become better. They set their minds in being the best there is. You know in advanced that if you want to make a living out of it in Europe, you need to be really good. No wonder Great-Britain, France and Germany have produced some of the World's best. There's more pressure and a lot more hard work. They swim, bike, run everyday as their job knowing that if they fail it may be the end of a career in the sport. They want to win more than anything. They want to show themselves in races and win the biggest races, the ones with the deepest field cause that's the only way brands in the US will notice them. They don't care if you are the most well-known athlete in your town or 'hood, they toe the line with everything they have to crush you. Brands in the US will care if you make the cover of a magazine but for that, most of the times, you need to be impressive.

Triathlon in the US is seen as a true professional occupation and you can write that under the "current job" field. You get sponsored fairly more easy from the start of your career and you start to get comfortable. Being the best in triathlete isn't in your mind and producing results "just good enough" that will garantee you a bonus from your sponsor starts to be enough. Becoming a coach in the US is also a reality and so whenever you quit your life as a professional triathlete, you can always become a coach. Not saying it is always like this but things look easy. The AG races in the US are won by amateurs. AG races in Europe are won by world class triathletes.

Looking at Portugal, I see that most of the kids at the Olympic Training Center don't have enough motivation to become the best they can be. They are hugely talented but they don't see triathlon as a future mostly because of all the reasons I stated above. You ask them where they see themselves in five-years and they will reply having a job (not sports related) and settled. When a kid like those at the OTC in Portugal has put his mind in the sport, sticking with a long term plan, committed himself to triathlon for a handful of years and was consistent in training even if all the odds were against him, he has become great. That was when this little country produced Vanessa Fernandes, Bruno Pais and João Silva. Once kids who even if things went wrong, even if triathlon was not seen as a professional sport, they took the chance, sticked with it for another try and emerged.

Miami 70.3

2011-10-31T17:31:00.002+01:00

One week after Austin, I was at the start of another 70.3 in Miami. This fall 70.3 races always gather a strong european field, mostly because the season in Europe is over and they want to take some advantage of this venues for some relaxing days after the race. Miami also welcomed a lot of hispanic triathlete from South America for what would be one of the hardest (if not the hardest) days I have race this year. We dodged a big hurricane but the rain and wind would make things really hard.

To keep this short, the course is pancake flat on the bike with an out and back on a highway. Exiting the city was harder than everyone expected due to some sharp turns, rail tracks and really wet roads but once we were on the highway was a straight forward course. With the likes of Benjamin Sanson, Dylan McNeice and John Kenny, just to name a few, on the starting list, I knew they would make a surge right from the start and it would be key to hang with them cause the bike wouldn't make much of a selection. The run wasn't just pancake flat as well because there was this huge brigde over the bay that with the hardest head wind ever, it felt like climbing Mt. Everest.

The story of the race was pretty much what I was expecting. I couln't hang on to the first pack nor the chasers. I was out of the water 4' down on the leader on the non-wetsuit swim. I knew it would be hard, as I said on my last posts, my swim is just not there. Without being my strenght before the collarbone, now it's my true weakness that I have to work really hard. I'm conscious of that and will take it serious this winter. Once out of the wet, Sebastien Kienle flew by me still in transition. He would post one of the best performances I ever witnessed from a triathlete winning the race ahead of two-time world 70.3 champion, M. Raelert.

From T1 on became a lonely day under the rain for me. I rode as I could and ran what I could produce. I struggled a bit on first half run due to some stomach issues but once I got over it, I ended up finishing strong. It was good enough for 15th in time of 4h02.

With this two races on my back, I get right back to training. Ironman is coming soon!

Garmin file from Miami 70.3. For the record, I raced at 139 lbs with FFWD F6R (probably not the best set for this course but it were the only ones I had available in the US) so thats why my wattage was right on spot but the split seems slow. Not sure why the AVG power of the file is 142 watts, but if you go to the splits its more like 292w on the way out, 288w on the way back.

Austin Ironman 70.3

2011-10-24T04:57:00.005+01:00

I have this love-hate relationship with Austin. Ever since I arrived here - 10 days ago - I've been staying in South Austin, training by myself, riding thru traffic on the roughest roads on the planet and having to ride an hour just to get a 30' swim in because all the pools are so freaking far. I'm hating every moment of training here. But I keep saying to myself.. deal with it, deal with it, deal with it. Same happened in Austin's race, formerly known as Longhorn 70.3.

The swim seemed to have the perfect setup. No sun on your face, nice temperature in the water, good buoys. The pro field that actual showed up kinda surprised me (and most) considering this was such a low-points, super-low prize money 70.3. Still, it's Austin and it's easy to get here. The gun went off at 7:30 AM for pro men and soon I got dropped from the front pack. With the quality of swimmers present, I wasn't surprised at all I couldn't hang with them. I've been lacking motivation to swim as it's hard to push yourself alone. I'm used to swim with some fellas and I've been totally missing that for the last 7 weeks. I lost 2'30secs to the leader. Actually, I thought it would be worse. I was just kinda dissapointed I was out of the water behind Ronnie.

Once on the bike and considering at how fast Cigana rode by me at mile 5, I come to realise being ahead of Ronnie wouldn't have done much difference anyways. I settled in on the second pack of athletes. Other than feeling like I was riding on the worst roads in the state of Texas (not to say the WORLD), I also felt like that it's pointless to announce at the pro meeting to watch out for drafting boxes, distances, cause there were simply no marshals out there on the course. I saw some real and cruel disrespect to all the rules of fair play I usually play and cheerish in this sport. It happened with no concern whatsoever, totally aware that it was not legal. The only concern was constantly looking behind to see if some would show up and call drafting penalties. I won't go any futher here. I haven't race many oficial 70.3 events so I guess this' "normal". Deal with it, deal with it, deal with it. I couldn't believe what it was going on but I just settled back, waiting for someone to show up and see. Not a single marshal motobiker passed on the bike during 56 miles. I got to T2 in 9th.

I took off T2 as fast as I could. Deal with it, deal with it, deal with it. Every second lost on the bike, I had to make up for it anywhere I could. They changed the run course from last year since the drought that Texas went thru made a real mess on the old one. So it was three-loop course which I thought it was pretty challenging. I got no one in sight but felt good and just focused on a high cadence, good hydration as it was getting HOT out there and not going over the roof on the first miles. I remember going thru mile 1 in 5:15 which was about right for the effort I was putting to get away from the "pack" of athletes that rode with me into T2. As the run was an almost out and back on the same road, we could see who was running a few miles ahead of us at a certain point. I saw everyone was pretty far ahead. I did my best to run at a pace that was fast enough were I was going almost out of breath but could hold it for an half-marathon. On a three lap course, I like to give it all on the second one and just hold to my life on loop three. I eventually made a ton of time to the guys just ahead of me and caught back up with Cartmell. I was consistently hitting 5'40 miles but was short on Richie who would finish 5th. With two miles to go I said to myself it was game over, which now I feel like it was just a bad thought. Not that I could have make all the way to 5th but I struggled on the last miles to keep the pace high. My body was reacting to that thought and it started to settle back on the comfort zone when it should have gone to the limit. Ended up 6th overall, with a 1h15 split on a run I paced perfectly. I wish it was 26.2 miles, I'd like to see how would I deal with another half-marathon at that pace. It makes me happy and confident that I'm pretty sure I would have master it.

The guys that finished ahead of me were all just impressive. The swim felt like it's my true weakness, mostly after the colarbone crack in June. The bike was rough and the run was tough and the guys on the Top 5 just made it look like a fast day. It was not. Again, they were impressive.

I feel like 6th is short for what I'm currently capable of and I have all this bad memory from the race. The darkness early in the morning while setting up my bike, the mud on T1, what happened during the bike but not all was bad. I must give a big thumbs up to the quality of the aid-stations and volunteers, the great finish chute inside the arena, the good recovery services and food and the weather (I praise every race it doesn't rain). Still, my "love" for Austin comes from the people I end up hooking up after the races. As in Cap Tex Tri early this year, I got to Maudies on South Lamar for an awesome evening with great people over great mexican food. Thank you Zoot crew for the awesome dinner, Derrick and Kelly Williamson, Caroline Gregory who joined us for dinner and my awesome "hosts" for the weekend in N Austin, Lesley Smith and Gary Metcalf.

ALSO big congrats to Lesley Smith who totally kicked some serious pro ass with her 4th place and Molly Kline who SMASHED the golden boy Jake Jensen on their own Zoot-staff challenge!

Miami Ironman 70.3 to follow. 7 days to get ready & recovered.

One bike box, one backpack and one goal

2011-09-28T02:27:00.014+01:00

(I warn in advanced that this' going to be long)

On august 14th, I came to the US with that. One bike box, one backpack and one goal. The goal was to win the Rev 3 full Ironman in Cedar Point and get back to Portugal. I was not excited to come to the US but I knew it would suit the preparation well to be already on this side of the planet a few weeks before Cedar Point.

Prior to Cedar Point, I had to change training locations due to my good friend Jacqui Gordon's bike crash. She broke her collarbone and there was no point in staying with her anymore (BTW, she's back in training! Hooray!). I got in touch with my lifesaver friend AJ Baucco who was very welcoming in having me in Cleveland to train. In the process, I flew to Chicago to race the Life Time Fitness series just so I could bridge the gap in between weeks of training. On to Cleveland, training became far from great. Not easy to stay in a place and swim, bike, run there. 3 days before Cedar Point, I moved again (always with all my belongings) to Sandusky, closer to the race site. You can't really swim in Sandusky other than OWS but since it was so close to the race, it didn't make much of a difference. As for the race, I've written my report, no need to go in deep.

I didn't win the race in Cedar Point but couldn't ask for much more with so little training leading to it after my crash. I got 5000 USD out of that day with 4th place, the same as the 4th male pro in Las Vegas Ironman 70.3 World Championship (actually, I got 3500 USD cause the I'm a foreign athlete who has to pay higher taxes). With that pay check in hand, I decided not to go back to Portugal and stay in the US training. Training in the US can be really good and legit, way better than in my home country and that's what made me come up with that decision. Training first.

So after Cedar Point, I spent too nights with the Cleveland-star Jim LaMastra and talked to Doug MacLean who was also pretty welcoming in having me in Boulder a few days after. "Boulder, great!", I thought. So the plan was to go to Boulder and stay for 11 days. In the meantime, a trip North to visit and meet my new coach - Jesse Kropelniki. Three day trip and in Boulder I was. Training in Boulder was absolutely amazing. Great roads, great people, easy acess pool and all in a 2 mile radius. Awesome weather. Too good to be real. A few days into my training in Boulder, Doug's crazy landlord decided to kick us both out because she found someone who would pay more rent for the house. In 24 hours, we both had to change all our life plans, pack all our belogings and move away. Doug decided to leave town and I got lucky since Mark Van Akkeren was leaving town for a few days and I could take his room for a few nights.

From Boulder I went straight to Kailua-Kona. The plan was to spend 10 days there, cheer for some friends, but most important was to actually swim, ride and run the courses in a future perspective of racing it. Training in Kona was pretty awesome, I was able to log a few long rides on the course, got a better notion of how hot and windy it can be and had some great workouts. Got to see my portuguese friends and somehow feel "home" again. It was also very profitable as I made important contacts for the upcoming season and had the chance to catch back with some good friends in the sport. The days flew by and once I realised I had to pack all over again. I wish I had raced. I wished I could have gone to the volcanno and just chill for a few days after the race in Kona but unfortunately I crashed and I didn't qualify. I saw my friends chillin' while I had to go for a long ride the day after. I wished I could have gone to all the parties but training came first.

When I had to decide where to go after Kona, I looked at my next two races: Austin and Miami 70.3, so the wise decision would be to go back to Texas. I don't like training in Texas. Tons of traffic, I'm here training for an IM alone while most are in their off-season, not easy to get to a pool, etc, etc. Again, I can't complain about how welcoming other triathletes have been saving my ass from sleeping under the bridge or spending 80$/night on a hotel. Brian Shelden has open his house for me while he's out of town. How can I complain. So here I am. In Austin, Texas, alone in a big house. I'm 6,6 miles from the pool and 18 miles from the race site. 10 days to go.

Right now I'm not looking forward to the next two weeks. I'm way south of Austin to know anyone here, I'm tired from training, tired from all the packing. My bike box has lost it's wheels so it's hard to carry it around airports, my backpack has multiplied into two, one of which is BIG and my only ride around town is a bike.

It's been fun, I'm amazed of how training I have been actually logging but I had enough of it. I've been a vagabund chasing the sun for the past weeks, carrying one heavy bike box with no wheels everywhere, living out of people who have open their houses in a way I can't ever pay them back and I have 10 days of solo training ahead down in south Austin. Thankfully, training will ease off a bit for the Austin-Miami races but then I will still have three more weeks to go. Don't wanna sound as I'm complaining. It was my choice and its been a thrill, a once in a lifetime experience, but not having a place to REALLY settle or be based of in the US, not having someone to train with, it's just spending me out. So let me rephrase that thought up there. I'm exhausted and right now I'm just counting the days to get.. home.

Back to work

2011-09-18T22:50:00.003+01:00

After Cedar Point and taking advantage of a easy/recovery week, I headed to Boston where I would meet Jesse Kropelnicki. Jesse is the founder of QT2 Systems (www.qt2systems.com), the Core Diet (www.thecorediet.com) and Your 26.2 (www.your262.com). Jesse was the man behind the preparation for Rev 3 Cedar Point (if you can call it a preparation) and I must say I was really impressed by his commitment to triathlon. He takes everything to detail and individualization which gives me a lot of confidence in his work.

Excited to get back to work, I took a plane to the mountains in Colorado. In Cedar Point I had met Doug MacLean with who I'm staying in North of Boulder. My body has really worked well in the past with the effect of high-altitude training. I know two weeks is not enough to get the best out of it but at least it is something. In Boulder, we are at 1600 meters but it's fairly easy to bike/run at higher altitudes and from what I can tell from the first day, the logistics of training is pretty simple. The pools is down the road and bike and run can be done from the house. Can't ask for much more. I guess that's why I bumped into world class athletes, coaches and ironman champions on my very first workout here. Also, seems like everyone in Colorado rides a bike given the number of people riding today. Hopefully the weather will be nice as it was today: 68 F & dry.

In the meantime, I signed in for Austin 70.3 and Miami 70.3 so that is what follows on my 2011 schedule.

Rev 3 Cedar Point Race Report

2011-09-13T02:50:00.017+01:00

This past weekend I placed 4th at Rev 3 Cedar Point, full Ironman distance, in a time of 8h46. This' one of the best paid triathlons in our sport with a 100,000 USD prize purse and Rev 3 surely knows how to put a show for triathletes.

I came to this race knowing by preparation for it wasn't long or perfect. I had exactly 5 weeks of training on my shoulders. Still, I had high expectations and I wanted to finish it with a strong marathon.

Close to perfect weather welcomed almost 1500 athletes at Cedar Point's beach and at 6:50 pro men took off for the 3800m swim in Lake Erie. After a few dolphin dives thru the shallow area, I had time and perception to be right on Andrew's Starykowzic feet. But it didn't take long for him to drop me. I couldn't stay with him or any other guy than went by me at the start. Awful swim and adding to the one I had in Chicago I end up getting hit by the reality that my swim is yet to come back after the collarbone fracture. Not only I wasn't able to stay on the front pack as I came to T1 almost 6 minutes behind the leader.

The bike was meant to be flat and fast. I wanted to stay focused on my wattage target (240) but I still have to learn to control my excitement. I ended up riding 268 watts for the first hour. I started to gain some time on the guys just ahead of me and was with Jim LaMastra and Brandon Marsh in sight when it happen.. long story short, we all went off course. I realised it and went back the exact same way and entered the course exactly in the same place I left it and kept going. I'm proud of that decision when at the moment I just wanted to drop out. I thought that even with a chunk amount of time lost on the bike, a solid marathon would put me back on the game and close to the money places. By mile 100 I realised my fury was burning out and I couldn't keep pushing 260-ish watts for much longer. I faded a lot on the last miles of the bike and came to T2 with 257w average, 143 bpm avg. Higher than I had targeted but I had a big question mark on how fast I would be able to run.

Once on the run someone said I was 25 minutes back on the leader, 6 minutes behind the guys right in front of me and running in 8th. I then realised my chances for a podium finish where really low but I could still finish a bit higher on the overall ranking. I started to run at a speed I thought I could hold for a while. 6:30 miles for the first 5 miles. The course, pancake flat, allowed us to see who was a few minutes ahead but not much futher. I realised I was gaining a lot of time on the guys right in front and just after the half-marathon mark, I had ran myself into 5th place. I passed a walking Graham O'Grady at mile 18 and thanks to a few spoters on the course, I was told I was 10 minutes behind David Thompson (3rd). With 6 miles to go I had nothing in the tank to dig that gap. The last miles were hard. After all it's a marathon, not an easy event just by itself, let alone running it after a (mostly) mentally tough bike. I came across the line in 8 hours, 46 minutes. 23 minutes slower than my debut time at the distance (Barcelona, October 2010).

Althought the result itselt doesn't demostrate any improvement from last years Ironman, it fuels my fire to have finished another Ironman with just 5 weeks of preparation. My swim is not there but my bike and run are coming together. I do have a "ironman-walk" this morning but it's just the proof that my body hasn't had the proper training for this event. This result for sure jump starts my preparation for a late Ironman in 2011 and I'm really motivated to get back to training.

Thanks to Tap and her kids who hosted me in Sandusky and made all the logistics so easy. I do have to leave a special note to all of those from Cleveland state who came down to Sandusky and cheered me up all day. I came to Cleveland by myself and by now I feel like half the persons here know me! Thanks!

Next for me is a short trip to Boston for some tests at the QT2 Systems HQ, followed by 15 days of solid training in Boulder! Really looking fwd to that!

Rev 3 Cedar Point just around the corner

2011-09-05T03:30:00.012+01:00

After Chicago, I travelled all the way to Ohio to meet up with AJ Baucco for a final week of solid training leading up to the race in Cedar Point, Rev 3 Ironman. A year ago, September 2010, I was yet to debut over the Ironman distance and now this will be my third.

The week in Cleveland rolled down really smooth. Swimming would be the main issue as the 50-m pool at CSU is closed and we hadn't thought of a plan B. AJ is from Cleveland and so thanks to his knowlage and buddies, we didn't miss a swim workout. In the proccess I got to meet James LaMastra, former swimmer and the local legend in Triathlon who has just turned pro and will be also racing in Cedar Point. Super nice guy. I also had the chance to stop by the notorious Spin Bike Shop who not only gave my Wilier a nice tune-up as it hosted a great BBQ for any rider that showed up. Of course this' a weekly event that most of the locals know about but came to me as something new. They push off for a ride at 610PM and have the BBQ right after. Rad. Running in Cleveland is the discipline of triathlon you can master the better as there are a ton of trails to explore. I guess I couldn't ask for more than what I found here. You can leave the rain out of the equation as after 4 days of extreme humidity and warm weather, today it looks like Lake Erie is pouring down on Cleveland with no regret.

The upcoming week is a typical taper one. Very few workouts, nothing long. I've had a disappointing year so far with lots of set backs and sharp turns but I hope I have found my path now and can get back to top of my game. Overall, I don't think I've climbed back to my very-best but I'm sure I'll trackle this race on my best shape possible considering my crash back in June. I think the race in Cedar Point will be a challenge with myself above the competition itself (isn't it always?). 12 months ago I never thought I could break 8h30 in a Ironman. At least, not before a few more years of work. I saw 8h30 as my goal time, I saw that as being fast. But somehow I accomplished that right on my first try. Today, I see it as a challenge again, break that 8h30 mark. The course is suitable for a fast time and I want that.. to go fast next sunday. If it means to get beaten my one, two, three, etc athletes, doesn't really matter. I just want to go fast and again feel like this' the distance I perform the best. I'm a strong believer that to break 8h10 on a Ironman, you need to be special. From then on, it's at a reach of any JoeDoe who is commited and works hard.

Chicago LTF report

2011-08-28T22:53:00.010+01:00

That was tough!

The swim was really choppy. Non-wetsuit, I knew my swim wouldn't be top but I never thought it would feel so bad. Really rough swim and I simply wasn't able to perform at all. Felt like I was going backwards with each wave. Got out of the water way behind and it seem like a never ending run to T1. I was being smashed.

The bike in Chicago is totally flat with strong winds putting racers to a hard test mostly on the way out of T1. I had the first gel almost after T1 and felt some energy coming back to me. Tried to focus on the 290 watts but it would reveal "too" easy and I would eventually charge it to a final 305w avg. Of course, my hammering down here would still reveal above pair on such a deep field racing in Chicago. Felt hungry so I had the second gel at 40 minutes into the bike. Rolled to T2 in 20th spot or so.

The run seemed again a never ending story. I didn't take my garmin so I'm not sure how fast I went out of the T2 but gave it my best shot to sustain a decent pace at least 'til the turn around with the tail wind advantage. After that and with the wind turning around, I just wasn't able to keep that pace and slowly faded. Home stretch, 21th spot.

Overall I was pleased to get back to racing. I'm kinda dissapointed about how bad my swim actually is. Still, I knew I would struggle getting into this rythm of racing. Most of the guys ahead of me have their season well undergoing and I'm just getting back to it. I do feel like it was a good effort and nevertheless a good (and intense) 2 hour brick plus the after training that I had scheduled. The city of Chicago is absolutely amazing, the guys here organized a great event for all this people and the athletes put down a tremendous show for all the audience. Sure my expectations were low for this race. But even if I had won it by 20 minutes, I would always have expected more from myself. I'm highly motivated to erase the final 21th place out of my mind. Two more weeks for Cedar Point and still at least 10 more days of quality training. Tuesday I leave to Cleveland!

Bike file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110150208

Chicago Triathlon

2011-08-27T20:45:00.006+01:00

Time flies. After 10 days in Point Pleasant, NJ, of really solid/base training and with the unfortunate crash of my host and training partner Jacqui - which resulted in a fractured collarbone - I decided to race Chicago Triathlon. This race is part of the Toyota Cup and will host probably one of the largest fields of triathletes in the World (if not the largest). 7000 participants registered for the olympic and sprint triathlon happening this sunday.

The race will make up for a good tune-up and to see my current level of fitness in preparation for Cedar Point and after my forced stop back in July. Although I do not feel like the past three weeks of training are enough to be already back to my game, I'm really excited to be back on the start list of a race and will give it my best shot. I do think muscles have memory and this week's training felt pretty good! Thanks in advanced to Jeremy Brizzi who opened his awesome house just a mile off downtown. He's racing IM Lousiville and just left us the keys to his apartment. Man.. gotta love this sport. Talking to Radka, a czech pro triathlete also staying here and racing, we came to the same conclusion: in Europe this would never happen. Props to Jeremy. Anyways, after Chicago Triathlon (and some sightseing) I will fly to Cleveland to meet back with rocktar AJ and get some good and somehow final work done before Rev 3 Cedar Point. Should be fun!

The City of Chicago.. wow, simply amazing. I just wish I had brought my K2 skates!

Norseman 2011

2011-08-27T20:19:00.001+01:00

This race is not (yet) on my priority list but the clip is awesome!

Reporting back, part II

2011-08-19T02:51:00.002+01:00

Revised 101 of life in the US: no schedule for meals, doesn't matter what you are wearing cause noone cares, peanut butter, sports are the key for your future, cinnamon (funny how 3 of 5 include food).

Reporting back

2011-08-18T22:46:00.010+01:00

Swim, bike, run, eat, sleep, repeat. Yes, I've been back to the routine of decent training for three weeks now and everything is coming back. I guess it is true that muscles have a memory.

I'm currently in Point Pleasant, NJ, preparing for Rev 3 Cedar Point, full Ironman happening on September 11th and being hosted by the lovely family of Jacqui Gordon. I've been here for three days now after having postponed a bit my trip back to the US. Training in Portugal was good but I'm glad I made the trip here already and got over the normal bumps of getting over the atlantic ocean (time schedule, routine, daily habbits and food). Training in NJ is quite good and of course living in a house of a fellow triathlete makes things really easy to juggle. Although the weather hasn't been always sunny and nice, training is being logged.

I haven't done much intensity work, not as much as I'm use to at least but I do feel like my cycling is at its best of 2011. Correction on that, my cycling was at my best when I left Portugal as since in the US I'm yet to feel some magic. I highline the cycling here as I do think it is the discipline it is yet to be leveled with the other two. I don't feel like I have one strong discipline (other than the after-party) but on the bike is always where I feel the most fragile on deep international fields. There you go, my true and honest less-strenght.

Anyways, I'm well in route for Cedar Point. I'd like to do a tune-up race before so I can get all those tiny mistakes out of the way but time is running out. After all, it has been more than two months since my last competition. Two months.. damn.

Alcochete - Abrantes

2011-07-20T21:25:00.005+01:00

Ver mapa maior

Sunday, 24 July 2011.
130 KM.

Time schedule:

6h00 - Departure
7h10 - N-118, Benavente
8h10 - N-118, Almeirim
8h50 - N-118, Chamusca
9h45 - N-118, Tramagal
10h00 - Arrival,Abrantes

Seems simple, looks easy.

So.. how bad is it?

2011-07-18T22:04:00.008+01:00

30 days after my crash, today I was back in-water ready for some swimming. I was stoked to get back to the pool and was hoping for a few hundreds. Soon I realised how stiff and awkward my shoulder felt. Coming back from a broken bone is really different from a muscular injury. I accomplished a total of 100 meters and a few exercises of stroke simulation. Even so, it was a baby step for mankind but a giant one for me. Tomorrow I will work with some elastics and do it all over again. I will definetely suffer now, live the rest of my life as a champion after overcoming this (until my next crash, of course).

I also did a bike test today with Coach Hugo to see how my cycling shape was affected with all this time out of business and just a couple of rides on the trainer.

I couldn't get over 173 bpm and the 310 watts stage but hey.. I'm not totally off-shape. Just a bit. :-)

Get back in the game

2011-07-17T23:29:00.006+01:00

Monday, 18 July 2011. Precisely 30 days after my crash, I will hit the water again. The last two xrays have shown great progress on the healing process and I should slowly get back to swimming now. I'm already running and doing some trainer workouts for 10 days so it will be just a matter of time 'til I get my shape back. Hopefully, I will came stronger out of this and I will definitely work for some better luck.

In the meantime, I've been quite busy. Although I'm missing those 30 hour training weeks, I've taken the most out of my "extra" time and been active on side activities (read, enjoying summer how I can, while I can). People find it quite odd that even though I'm not training as hard as I use to, I still complain about the lack of time. Thruth is, if you DO have free time and you're a triathlete, you usually fill that empty space with something else. Also, the more free time you have the less organized you are and days seem to get (even) shorter. Triathletes only have free time when they are tapering and that one is spent on a couch with our legs up high. I'm sure most of you identify yourselfs with this "strange" behavior. You need to think what kind of person are you. The one who lets 24 hours in a day control you or do you control the 24 hours in a day.

So how about plans for the upcoming weeks?

Well it really all depends on how soon will I be able to really do some hard training. I should get on a plane to the US by late this month and spend all of August just training. I changed my plans, skipped IM Zurich and Frankfurt but will still focus on the Rev 3 race in Cedar Point on September 11th. I will jump right back into training after Cedar Point and look at either Arizona or Cozumel as the final season goal. It's now fairly obvious that I'm skipping IM Hawaii, since I don't have enough points to even dream of going so I will postponed that goal.

At the end we all navigate to the finish line differently. Even with a 30 day delay on the year, I won't follow my dreams; I will continue to chase them.

Update, 12 days in.

2011-06-30T09:56:00.002+01:00

Its been 12 days since my crash. From day one, I have no pain so its hard to say if this' getting healed or not. What I can say is that I've been almost two weeks without any exercise. I want to make sure the bone heals properly so I'm not rushing to get back to training.

My days have been quite busy though. I've been working most of the time on the computer and helping out my day with movings to the new place. Life with one less arm is hard, I cant lift any big weights and even folding clothes is hard. 4 weeks to go.

The Long Road to Recovery

2011-06-19T12:35:00.007+01:00

I wish I was writing about my last race. Its going to be a while until I do that again: race. Or at least it seems like I have a long road ahead.

Yesterday as every sathurday I joined the local group ride with triathletes and a few roadies. A sunny and warm morning welcomed a very large group of bikes this time around and we left with more than 30 riders. Different this time was that the ride started FAST. I was in the middle drafting 8 other guys and still pushing 250 watts. 15 minutes in, someone ahead hits his brakes (or just stops pedalling for a few seconds) and bam! - crash.

I stood up right away and realised something was wrong with my collarbone. I moved my arm around, felt it cracking a bit but despite not having much pain and just a few road rash, I decided to call it a day and head to the hospital. Almost pain free I felt like nothing was broken. Until I got the result of the RX and was told that I would be out for at least 6 weeks. My World fell apart.

Following the stream of bad luck and results, maybe this' the break from the sport I was in need for. I will take a few days completely off any exercise to clear my head and then figure out my future. Injuries, crashes and failure are never nice. They suck but its all part of this sport. Overcome and live with it.

Rev 3 Quassy - Half-Ironman

2011-06-08T03:22:00.005+01:00

If you are one of the two persons who follow my twitter and facebook account, you by now know what happened in Quassy, so I will be brief.

Middlebury is an astonishing and very traditional little town in Connecticut. Myself, Jacqui Gordon and Damian Hill were very welcomed at the house of David and Jill Carbone. David is a 50yo stud who just raced his first IM in Lake Placid last year and will do it again this year. Only faster. And Jill is a very charming music teacher who was very welcoming from the first minute. Bryant, the son, is a multi-talented kid who would volunteer at the race. The Carbone family hosted us, fed us and pretty much made all the days leading to the race very confortable and relaxing. We can't thank them enough.

Race night was bad. I was anxious and very pumped for this race. I felt like I could really do well after seing how tough and hilly the run would be. So after a very short and irregular sleep, I was out the door by 5:30 to ride my bike to transition. We were really lucky to be so close to Quassy Ammusement Park.

The gun went off at 6:50am. The field was stacked and we had really good swimmers in the mix. The water was at 69F which meant it was a (again!!!) non-wetsuit swim. I saw some guys using the old (and now illegal)skinsuits but it's not up to me to check that stuff. So on the very short run to water I positioned myself right behind Matt Reed and Terenzo. I figured they would take off and I hoped I could hold on for a few meters, avoiding the "battle" with the other guys and settle into a good rhythm. It kinda worked well and I had a clear start and a reasonable swim. I came out of the wet with Gambles and was up for a spin.

Into the bike, Gambles immediately took off and I got "packed" with a small group with Tim Reed and Damian Hill. I felt like everyone was going too damn fast so early on the ride and looking at the splits afterwards, I come to think that a lot of guys just blew up on the hilly and very challenging bike course. It didn't take too long for James Cunnama to catch up with us and that was a good "pack" for me to stay with. Really focused NOT to get a penalty for stagger or drafting, my World fell apart when I felt my rear tubular failing. Didn't panic right away as I had a quick-fix. Stopped, used the quick-fix and it seem to solve it.. for 100 meters. With no spare tubular, I was out.

So I can go over the subject of carrying a spare tubular on such an important race or my bad luck but.. it's not worth it. The fact is that I've again DNF'ed a A-race in 2011. Three in three. Abu Dhabi, IM Texas and Quassy. I can't express how frustating it is and how sad I was on that day. I drove with Jacqui right after the race to her town on the Jersey Shore. It was good to leave the crime scene ASAP, it was a faster way to get over the race.

I won't even try to explain how the past 5 weeks went as for racing. You make your own luck. I don't expect to win by chance. Triathlon is something I find worth fighting for and I'm still a great believer that the harder I work the more luck I will get in the near future.

Capital of Texas Triathlon

2011-05-30T19:47:00.007+01:00

Capital of Texas Triathlon (or CapTexTri) is by far the biggest triathlon I ever competed on. Over 3500 athletes over two distances - sprint and olympic - with the course going thru down town of Austin, capital city of Texas. The olympic distance was non-draft, part of the Lifetime Fitness series and Toyota Cup. A stacked field of professional triathletes were in town including all american olympic stars - Potts, Kemper, Reed - along studs such as Cameron Dye, Ben Collins, David Thompson and so on. Not being a priority race and after a very solid week of training, I still wanted to go as hard as I could and get a good power file from on my powermeter for future reference. It was a great and final change for a good effort on the week leading to Rev 3 Quassy.

The pro wave started at 6:45am with about 30 male jumping from a moving dock. Dustin McLarty and Potts soon took charge. I had a good start off the pontoon was with the not-so-fast swimmers. Things got messy when most of the pro field went off course. The leading kayak took a wrong left and everything went off the roof. For a moment there everyone just stopped trying to figure out were to go. Eventually the lead kayak went back on course and everyone followed. From then on it was a pretty uneventufull swim, I guess most of the guys that were ahead of me out of the wet would still be if we had did the right route. What kinda pissed most of us was that the leading women that went off 4 minutes later were with us out of the water. I have nothing on them but it's kinda anoying to be riding on the bike course, seeing someone on the horizont and realising you are chasing women and having no idea where the men ahead were.

I came into T1 with David Thompson. Exaclty as it happened in Knoxville I was again stopped on the first lap for that f&# stagger rule. I need to get the rule straight cause either I don't get it right or I just place myself in the position to be doubt. And how about the referee that called the penalty and then instead of watching me clipping of both feet just drove ahead to stop whenever. So much for the 60 seconds. Anyways, back on the move and the rest of the ride felt slow. It was still pretty awesome to be riding thru huge buildings right on downtown. The wind was picking up on us and with sharp turns and tiny hills I couldn't quite get my target 300 watts average for the ride. 289 watts was the avg for the ride. After the BS swim and penalty, I was only able to catch-up with Sara Haskins on the final lap. She was having a great race and it felt awesome to be the leading female.. okay, maybe not. Everyone was screaming "GO SARAHH!!". Cool.

Anyways, 10K run and done. I got the chance to catch-up with Brandon Barret (on the run) that I hadn't seen since Font Romeu in 2010 and sprint to the line with Ryan.

All in all I can't conplain much. The fact that this was more of a fun race, kept me going. I would be really pissed if this was a race in which I wanted to do well. It was a messy race for pro athletes, with referees on a very off-day, chaos on the timming chips with results and times all off, not to mention the swim.. but whatever!

A big, big shout out to all the crew from T3 Austin, homestay and fellow pro athletes Matt Russell & Peter Mallet, female studs Leslie and Natasha, all the crew from Luke's Locker, Jack from Jack & Adams Bikeshop and of course AJ for driving me here. I had a great time in Austin, TX thanks to y'all!

Ironman Texas 2011

2011-05-23T22:27:00.005+01:00

It was a sad ending to my day in Texas this past weekend. The week leading to the race was pretty uneventful. Training in Houston is not good. I'm in Tomball, about 15 miles from center Houston but still the roads aren't bike friendly and you can't really run from the house (unless you are willing to give 20 laps around the 'hood for a 40 min run. Driving to pools is also annoying: too many lights, too much traffic.

Tapering and with great company in the house, time just flew by and race morning came pretty fast. Transition was situated about a mile from the swim start, so athletes were requested to leave transition by 6am. The swim was on Lake Woodlands on a one loop course. Having not the opportunity to swim in the lake before the race, I found the course quite hard to navigate right. Although I always knew where to go, doing it thru the perfect route was not easy. Race started at 6:50 for pros and 7:00 for age groups. I had a good start, felt strong from the first stroke but although I was putting by best effort possible, it wasn't enough to keep me in the first pack of athletes that formed with about 300 meters in. I was left with Lieto and Lovato and the first girls.

Out of the water, I would eventually go solo and more to shore, loosing a bit more time with my not-so-perfect route on the way back. I really felt like I was going hard but coming out of the wet with a 4' gap to the front pack just made me realise yet again that I struggle a lot on a non-wetsuit swim.

I take my bike out of T1 without any trouble and just kept in mind it would be a very lonely 180 km ride. Its not over until I get to the marathon. Without stressing out too much I focused on nutrition and soon got caught by a flying Pedraza with who I could not go. A couple of miles later it was Major who passed me and it was when my right pedal felt like it was getting loose. I felt like it was spining wrong but kept going. I shout to the first marshall I see and ask for mechanical support. The pedal continue to feel more and more loose but I had no way of fixing it by myself. Eventually the pedal just got ripped of the crank. Finally the tech support got to me but there was nothing they could do to help me. I tried to continue with just one leg (I would try to make it heroic) but it was no way. I got stucked at mile 54 with a pedal in my hand waiting for the ride back to transition.

This was how it was after the race:

It was a very sad and very frustating sathurday for me. I spent the rest of the day supporting my friends racing and was really happy that most of them had amazing performances. I even had the chance to volunteer at transition! Seeing Eneko go down that chute with a tremendous crowd cheering for him (even though he was about to win it ahead of the home favorite Tim O'Donnel) was inspiring and really symbolizes the great fair play we have in triathlon. But how can I not refer the amazing finish by the sweetest girls Kelly Williamson in 2nd, Jacqui in 8th and Lauren in 10th (all pro), the fight of Sergio to make it home in 12th on a very solo Ironman, my host DJ Snyder posting a 30 min age group win in 9h31, the 48 young old (that day) Penny and the couple of studs Beth and James Walsh with kickass performances on the amateur.

I'm left in Houston for one more week. This was not the week I had predicted and I will have to adjust training on a city that is far from a triathlete's dream. I can't regret coming to race IM Texas. I met some kickass persons, hardcore athletes and will be very excited if the opportunity to race again in The Woodlands comes in 2012.

Rev 3 Knoxville - Olympic Distance

2011-05-15T19:08:00.011+01:00

The race in Knoxville was pretty awesome. I really love how Rev 3 cherish every single athlete and their events are true family events. Kids race, aqua & bike, olympic distance, half-ironman, live monitors on the finish line to follow the action, results coming in seconds, free-to-use computers for you to check any racer and how is he doing in any section of the race and trully friendly organizers. For the pro field we also add a few extra bonus features as a well-packed vip tent with great & fresh food, free massages and some cool posters of yourself on transition area.

The pro male went out at 7am. The swim was very easy to navigate although the current was really making you work for it. I came out on the main chase pack with the "yellow marked" swim cap (that was Richie Cunningham). The group also contained Romain Guillaume and Joe Gambles that are always men to watch out. I was surprised to see David Thompson there and how it didn't take long for him to take charge. Ahead of us there was a trio with Brian, Matt Reed and Cameron Dye with Andrew Yoder in between groups.

Leaving the city of Knoxville it was kinda tricky. Mostly because of the roughness of the roads and some sharp turns over bridges. As soon as we hit "good" surface, the group started to roll pretty fast. With just 10 minutes in, I got the penalty that pretty much crushed my chances of staying with those boys. As I stood up, the head refeere told me I was stopped by that rule that I can't even pronouce (or write) well. Staker or stager or whatever. I'm still yet to get it but I won't argue. If I was stopped for it, I was probably doing something wrong. Faults are part of any game so you just need to suck it up. Whenever you get a penalty you should never get in a game-fight with the refeere who calls it. Most of the cases, he's right and you just can't allow yourself to be on a position where there can be doubt. I stood there waiting for a "go" from the refeere. Not only I lost eye contact with my group as it was just before the first big hill. Nothing much I could do and so I just took it as hard as I could to T2. Although I still rode 59' on that course, I had no one to pace me and that makes all the difference. Unless you are Bjorn Andersson or so.

At T2 I realised I had lost a huge amount of time to both the leaders and the chase group. Got out of T2 with Andrew Starykowicz - who cleary was on a bad day - in 13th and finished 13th. Nothing much I could do there (again, unless you can run 32' on that course as Matty Reed did).

Overall I can't complain much about the race itself. I felt good for most of the day and had great fun. The bike course is brutal, it's by far the toughest olympic distance course I ever ridden on and although the run can be considered flat, it was a good tune-up and last intensity effort before Texas. I felt good running at that sub 6 mile speed. If only I could hold it for the whole 26 miles next weekend.

I'm off to Houston tomorow for a week of recovery. Ironman Texas is upon us and should be another great day of racing! Enjoying the lifestyle!

Back in the US

2011-05-12T02:22:00.000+01:00

After leaving the Triathlon Squad, I had to change a bit my racing plans. I will continue my pursuit for a US career but definitely had to re-schedule some travels in a way I could take the most of the time spent in the US. The weather in Portugal is now becoming nicer so I can embrance some good blocks of training there with my old training partners. Actually in Portugal we are starting to gather a good solid group of long distance athletes. I remember when there was just Sergio and myself on a competitive side of things but now we have more commitment and partners. After the tremedous success of the Lisboa International Triathlon, this' another sign of the growth of the sport.

I will be based in Texas for the next 5 weeks, although I will be travelling to races every weekend. I'm currently on the state of country music, Tennessee. Also the home of Johnny Knoxville (the guy from Jackass) where everything looks green and beautiful. The city of Knox has a lot of hills around it and the Rev 3 series is stopping by next weekend. Although most of the Rev 3 races are based on Ammusemnt parks, this one doesn't have one very close by. Instead, the bike course is challenging and should do a lot of damage on the field. Rolling hills all the way, you almost feel like actually riding a roller coaster.

So upcoming..

May 15th - Rev 3 Knox (olympic distance, final tune-up for IM Texas)
May 22nd - IM Texas
May 30th - Tentative start at CapTexTri (depending on how recovery from Texas goes)
June 6th - Rev 3 Quassy

I must say that the beauty of Knox is all the bridges and the swimming pool.. indoor, long course pool plus diving pool. Brand new on campus (built 3 years ago) and with a crystal clear blue water. It even makes you want to go swimming (!). My homestay James lives on the south side of town, where you have big mansions and a lot of space to ride & run. All around here is green and wild and if I wasn't training, I would be spending some time doing nothing other than fishing and golfing.

I'm just too lazy to get my camera plugged in to show photos. After two days of non-existent training, I had to smash myself today so I'm pretty sore and wasted. The hot weather of today (over 90ºF) should be replaced by some rain and thunderstorm on the next days. Keeping my fingers crossed for it all to go away before the race. Need food & bed, over and out.

Training log

2011-05-03T20:18:00.008+01:00

Since I'm self-coached now I can pretty much put it all down on papper! No secret training here! The last two weeks were load & rest. Here's how they went:

Week 1 - 29h44, loading!
Monday: 4200m swim, 1h45 ride, 1h15 run, 50' second run
Tuesday: 4400m swim, 2h30 trainer
Wednesday: 4000m swim, 2h45 trainer, 1hr run
Thursday: 3600m swim, brick 90'+30', 1hr run
Friday: 4000m swim, 1h30 ride, 1h20 run
Sathurday: 2h20 ride, 50' run
Sunday: brick of 3h30 ride + 40' run

Week 2 - 14h47, recovery
Monday: 11 Km road run, 3300m swim
Tuesday: 3200m swim, 2h30 ride
Wednesday: 3000m swim, 50' run
Thursday: 1h30 ride, 30' first run, LunaRun (3Km night run)
Friday: 1500m swim
Sathurday: Lisbon Triathlon, 1900m swim, 2h15 ride, 1h16 run
Sunday: 30' run, 1700m swim

Week 3 - so far & back to work
Monday: 1h10 first run, 2h40 ride, 1hr second run
Tuesday: 2 hr ride, 50' run, 1 hr ride
Wednesday: 100x100m swim, 1hr track workout.

Recap

2011-05-02T10:42:00.013+01:00

The past week was quite busy in terms of work and events. Not only I've been working on some new athlete's websites as HMS Sports (where I do my magic as a webdesigner) is launching quite a few new events. HMS also puts together the night run known as "LunaRun" which is super fun. I usually go for the fun of it but always try to win at least one, just to get that pride.. you know. It's not a competitive race but once the horn sounds and everyone starts to run you get me ON. You are given a map of the city and you have to get to four check-points. First one back wins a pair of shoes! The shortest way to the four points should be around 3Km. If you are ever in town on a thursday night, don't forget to check if it's a LunaRun night! Oh yeah.. and I ended up winning this one with swedish stud Katarina!

Anyway, after the fun and work during the week, a weekend of racing was upon us.

In Portugal we don't have many big triathlon races but Lisbon International Triathlon is certainly on top of that list. For years the race has gathered world class athletes from all over the World and it's 6th edition in 2011 didn't surprise anyone by having over 600 athletes from 21 different countries at the starting line. 80% of the participants list is foreign. From the US to NZL, Marrocos to Israel, we had a lot of visitors. Although the pro start list for this year's race was not the strongest, this' still the race every portuguese triathlete wants to win and never until this sathurday one had accomplished. After my missed flight to the US for the race in Wildflower, I decided to take part of this race and prove that although I haven't been on my best early this season, I'm still here to fight another day. For the first time ever, the organization finally corrected the distances of the race and finally we had a fair and true half-ironman distance to face

"I came to this race for the weather and look at this". This was what came from the heart of a nice british triathlete just before the start and indeed I had to agree. Luck was not on our side and the rain made things tough and slippery.

The gun went off at 8am. A few showers blessed triathletes from the start and we were doomed to get wet anyway. I had a solid swim and was out with a leading trio. Transition was loonnng. I mean, it almost deserves a third split on the results sheet. I surged out of T1 in front although I did nothing on the swim to have that lead. Just drafted the other two. The next group in was 2' down on us so I had a solid start.

I hate rain. I mean, I can deal with wind, hot and cold but hate being wet and have developed this fear for cornering on a bike with rain. With 160 psi on my FFWD disc, I had to take my foot off in every corner. I remain focused and was able to be conservative on the first two out of four laps and take it all down on the second two. A wet but mostly flat and fast course made me glad and with a 10 minute lead on T2. Time trialing with Osymmetrics is awesome.

When you have a 10 min lead out of T2 it turns into a race for you to loose other than for anyone else to win. I had to work bloody hard to have that lead and althought I put it all down on the bike course, I still made it seem easy on the run. Its never easy, it's just the effort on the bike paying it's dues. Lino Barruncho took charge on the run and with the fastest run split of the day made him finish strong in second. On the other hand, I ended up winning the race in 3h57m. I was happy to accomplish that win and SUPER happy for all the support I had in my hometown. MORE, considering I felt awesome during the race, putting my health issues behind and feeling really good legs after a strong effort on the two wheels. I feel like I'm getting back to top of my game. Also, triathlon is becaming a known sport in Portugal and people are starting to really give credit to those who race such gruelling events. The after party and awards was at the Casino de Lisboa and everyone had a lot of fun on the slot machines and over some drinks.

On sunday I still had some gas to go out for the open race at the King of the Sea event. The King of the Sea is a open water swim of 5km on the same venue as the triathlon and gathers some of the best of Europe for it. The winner goes to Brasil to represent Europe at the Grand Finale. I did the "little-girls" events - just one lap of 1650 meters. It also has a wetsuit legal race so quite a few triathletes were at the starting line. Hugo Ribeiro and Daniela Pinto, both from Portugal, won the 5 Km (main event) so they will go to Brasil will all expenses paid for the grand finale! Well done dudes!

With a full weekend of racing, I'm now on swim TAPER for the 100x100 on wednesday. I really need to rest my shoulders for this one! And get some quality SLEEP in. It has been wild!

Ciao!

If it wasn't for the traffic.. and the 100x100.

2011-04-27T23:02:00.006+01:00

Oeiras, this county just outside of Lisbon, would be a really awesome place to live as a triathlete. I'd say Oeiras gathers the largest triathlon community in Portugal. The most dominating portuguese athletes have live around here and it's where the first national training center for triathlon exists. The thing is.. we don't have cycling solutions. Real ones I mean and end up riding on the same road every single day with lots of lights and thru a lot of traffic. Anyway, it's always nice to enjoy the good weather and a nice "recovery" shake on a bar by the beach at the end of the day. We also have a great LCM indoor pool and some options for a run. All in all, time back in Lisbon has been fun.

So I have Rev 3 Knoxville, IM Texas and Rev 3 Quassy coming fast. I really wanna do well there and my hope is that winter training still pays off and I can get to the line healthy. The race in Texas is going to be wild and I'm excited to get there for the first IM of the year. I'm far from being experienced but I feel confident and anxious to take on the distance again. I'm also excited to see Tara Costa at the starting line. Tara won Biggest Loser Season 7 and somehow I feel like she's on MY league. :-))

In the process, I have gathered some friends for the 100 x 100 workout next wednesday! We will break it as:

10x100 w/ 10'' - warm up
10x100 w/ 10'' - 75 free, 25 back
10x100 w/ 10'' - 50 catch-up, 50 free
15x100 w/ 10'' - pull, paddles
15x100 w/ 10'' - fins, freestyle
10x100 w/ 10'' - pull
10x100 w/ 15'' - 25 sprint, 75 cruise
10x100 w/ 10'' - fins, kick
10x100 w/ 10'' - relax

Although most of us are racing this weekend, the 100x100 is all that we talk about at breakfast so I guess everyone is pretty excited for it! So the plan is to race an half-ironman on sathurday, race a 1500 open swim on sunday, take two days off pool and then hit the 10000 meters fresh. I think my destiny is to take the EPIC5 (google it!) someday in my career. FUN week coming up!

EPIC workout in sight!

2011-04-24T19:36:00.006+01:00

The good thing about being self-coached is that on rainy weeks you never HAVE to ride or run in the rain and can pretty much listen to the body (and the weather) and just go for whatever.

The really bad thing is that when you get really tired you wake up and feel like doing absolutely nothing.

In my case, I always feel like I could easily get over trainned if I ever get into this self-coach thing for more than a month or two. I was lucky enough to have PLENTY of rain this week so didn't workout enough to get crushed. Since I have a half-ironman race coming next weekend, I'm safe now. I master easy weeks.

In order not to get too comfy.. I already scheduled an EPIC 100x100meter workout in the pool for next wednesday! Really excited to get it done as like the WORLD of triathlon has already accomplished it and it's something to brag over breakfast with friends! I will earn a few McFlurry's on this one.

One Step Back

2011-04-18T15:23:00.003+01:00

The word has been around but I haven't done an official announcement yet. I decided to leave The Triathlon Squad and Coach Paulo Sousa guidance. It was a very hard decision but Paulo was clear on showing me the path I should choose after a few events happening in my life and it got to a point in which I would take that path or leave the Squad. There's no right or wrong path. I see judgments about different viewpoints and from were I'm standing and the way I roll, I'm taking a different path.

When I left my comfort zone in Portugal and went to the US to embrace the Squad project, I knew I was takng an huge risk. I always had some issues with Paulo and I was leaving the National Training Center for the unknown. I don't regret that decision and I now I will only regret the opportunities I don't take. I commited to be a professional triathlete in the US and will still pursuit that dream but will just have to adjust and change a bit my travel and spent time in the US.

Being in the Squad was amazing. Mostly because I met not only amazing athletes as tremendous persons. Everyone still in the Squad (and around it) made me feel at home and made all the time in training and off it, super fun. Brothers in this sport for life.

Adjusting to a new schedule means I'm skipping Wildflower but will still focus on the upcoming Rev 3 series events and have my first A race posted to IM Texas in just over a month. I'm also adding Ironman UK 70.3 and Tri Grand Prix in Zarautz since I will be around in June. In the meantime, I decided I will not embrance another coach guidance right away and will try to keep focus in training with what I've learn over the past years and think about a new coach when the time comes.

Although this' definitely a step back, the show must go on and my personal tournée continues.

Everybody loves photos (from this past weeks and totally random)

2011-04-11T17:21:00.010+01:00

Abu Dhabi crew

Alpiarça Sprint Tri

Alpiarça Sprint Tri recovery

Bike ready for I CAN Marbella

Breakfast I CAN Marbella

Recovery Golden Island Half

Golden Island (Porto Santo, Madeira)

Cinema On Board!

Cocktails

Crew in Funchal, Madeira

Photos with Zoot

More recovery meals

At work

ITU Quarteira Continental Cup

Crew camping

Crew chilling out

Hope

2011-04-10T20:20:00.015+01:00

A lot of hope comes from this past week(end). Mostly hope in portuguese triathlon and that it is slowly growing as a world class sport in Portugal.

First off I must refer that João Silva finished 8th at Sydney WCS. Despite dealing with a few injuries and not living on a country where triathlon is a professional sport, João finished 8th on the first Grand Slam of the season on a field of the World's very best short course triathletes. Imagine a field of 50 guys like Federer and Nadal or Tiger Woods. First real race of the season and he was able to come out on top of very high expectations.

At the ITU Continental Cup in Quarteira this saturday things also workout quite well. Of course the best athletes were in Sydney but not many years ago it was like a dream to imagine so many portuguese athletes amongst the top places on such an event. Guys like João Pereira, Miguel Arraiolos, Pedro Palma and even Hugo Ventura have shown that there's a lot of horse power coming from the portuguese school of talents. And I'm not refering Duarte Marques (who was the best in 4th) just because he was at the Olympics in Beijing and has proven himself several times in past ITU Continental Cups.

But not just at international level you can see what's coming. On sunday there was a sprint race. Pedro Palma won in style just a day after the olympic distance race but most impressive was the display of form by the rising young gun João Curado. At the age of 18 he is the living proof that hard work and a little patience pays off. If he continues on the same path, I'm sure he will rise to the top soon enough.

Also this weekend but racing loooonger we also saw Vanessa Pereira who although races on the 18-24 age group, crushed the other girls by more than 2 hours and took top spot and slot for Hawaii. The achievement was at Ironman South Africa in a time of 10h53. A step towards the goal of becaming pro and a dream of racing at the triathlon Meca coming true. Again, hard work and patience pays off.

Finally and the MOST important thing for me, I had some blood exams done this past week which brought some clarifying notes and possible an explaination for my lack of form at the start of this season. Something that can be fixed and gives me extra motivaton and hope for the upcoming year and races. I'm just warming up for whats coming you know. :-)

At the sprint race I finished 15th. Of course I can say I race long distance and don't have the speed it takes to do a sprint race but heck this was probably my second worst result in this sport over the last couple of years of racng LONG (the sprint race three weeks ago being the worst). Not much to add, I'll continue to work and just be patient. This races feel very fast, very short but I really love to do this 1-hour-things and there's more to come next weekend!

PS - I had the chance to try out the new Zoot Sports' Ultra Ovwa and they are NICE! I mean REALLY NICE. I'm leaving my Ultra Speed at home next time.

More!

2011-04-08T19:09:00.002+01:00

XTERRA in Vegas - Kelsey is back to Xterra and ready to crush dreams!

Nautica South Beach Triathlon - with Andrew facing the short course experts! After his win last week no man will let him get away on the bike. But can anyone go with him?

Elche Half-Ironman - top spanish triathletes gather for the oficial long distance season opener. I would have considered this race if Mallorca did go as expected. I've considered this race in Elche a couple of times but never made it.

Seems like every single triathlete in the World is racing this weekend..

I'm writing it down so I don't forget..

2011-04-06T18:45:00.005+01:00

..to check results!

ITU WCS Sydney - the current two best triathletes in Portugal are racing. João is #5 and Bruno #25. João has proven himself last year by finishing 4th in Budapest (and 5th at the overall ranking) so no need to recap his season. Bruno just keeps coming stronger by the year and has already proven in home event that he still has a lot to give.

IM South Africa - Sérgio and Vanessa are both racing for glory. A strong field has assembled for this race but nowadays and as the sport gets bigger world wide, the pro fields will only get deeper, crowded and faster. It will never get any easier.

ITU Quarteira Premium Cup - some tough competition is coming to my country to try and crush the local studs. Odds tell us that Pedro Palma, Miguel Arraiolos and João Pereira are the home favorites for a podium on what should turn into a 10K race.

Texas 70.3 - Another LONG list of pro are in. After Abu Dhabi Triathlon, looks like Fred Van Lierde will be the man with the biggest target on his back and the one every pro wants to crush. Jacqui girl is racing as well and she will surely kick ass.

Paris-Roubaix - I don't really have favorites or care who wins. I just want to see how many can crush Fabian after his warning!

Report from Marbella and what's next

2011-04-02T19:26:00.025+01:00

I'm good at racing. I mean, I love to race more than I like to train and usually the time between races is just waiting. Coming from a half-ironman last weekend I felt recovery and well to this one in Marbella (as I said on my last post).

Race morning was okay. We had a rough night of sleep, somehow I never get a good night of sleep before a race when in spain since spanish really like to party hard and late so they arrive to the hotels completely wasted and NOISY. Alarm clock at 5am and an AM coffee to speed up wakening. Coming down the hotel we bumped into Nicholas Ward on the elevator. Never really had the chance to chat with him (although I've raced him a couple of times) so it was nice. We all got to transition with the bus from the organization and everything was set.

Let me tell you about I CAN organization. I have no idea what's the background of the race directors but I will never get enough of saying how much I love their races. I've been in many places, many different races. I CAN are the best hands down. You should run across the world and then you can realise how small and over-rated the races you thought were good, really are.

Cutting to the chase. The race started at 8am. Cloudy sky and some light rain welcomed hundreds of athletes for the first edition of I CAN Marbella. No pro wave start, just a massive start with Pro's having a 2 meter advantage on the line which was almost nothing once the gun went off. Something went wrong on lap one of the swim and one of the buoys was moving so we had a kayak showing us the way instead of a buoy. Problem solved on lap two. Out of the wet in 5th in 24' which meant I was towing the chase pack.

Once on the bike I had absolutely nothing to give. Not that I'm on the same level but right then I remembered one of Simon Whitfield's famous quotes that goes like: "endurance sport as most walks in life can be very humbling at times leaving you with nothing other than a feeling of what the f- just happened". That was so true at the moment. I saw Nick Saunders storm by me as Alex Markovic (sp?) as Nicholas Ward, Nils Goerke and so many others. I eventually settled with a small pack with like two age groupers. I was being crushed and humbled but decided that I would take it as a lesson and just continued to do what I could to hang on. The bike course was bloody hard. Sure it was fast, sure it was on a highway (AP-7 for the record). But my legs being so damn FLAT everything inclined looked bloody harder, windier and the bike seemed to get heavier. The fact is that Eneko Llanos stormed to a 2h16 split putting him in first on T2 with a lead the size of the World. I did 2h28.

I got out of T2 in 6th but quickly got passed by Jon Unanue & Jens Petersen-Bach to be left out of the money and fighting for life to get to the finish line. I nailed my nutrition so it was not a matter of dehydration or fuel, just couldn't go faster. Everyone ahead of me was running faster and behind was slower so I had my 8th place well secured (lucky me hein..). The aid-stations were awesome with the volunteers doing an amazing job but the flat 21,1km took forever to get thru. Even though it was ran along the beach on a beautiful scenario I was not enjoying it much and just kept rewinding my week to figure out what went wrong. Nothing really stud out and I continued my "journey" to the line and kept the rythm feeling solid for a 1h24 split. Eneko ran a 1h18 without any real contention and won in 4hours flat over a very impressive Nick Saunders (is he back?) and Nicholas Ward.

Full results should be found here: http://www.gescon-chip.com/Resultados/278/ICANMarbella030411.htm

This was not the result I wanted in Marbella but it was still the best I had in me on the given day. I will suck it up and take it as a lesson (and good training day never the less). Loved Marbella, hated the good beating and defeat but can't take more than failure home. Everybody wants happiness and nobody wants pain but you can't really have a rainbow, without a little rain. NEXT RACE: Quarteira's Triathlon (short course, draft legal) next Sunday!

I CAN Triathlon, Marbella

2011-04-02T08:16:00.004+01:00

Marbella welcomes my first show up in Spain this year. I CAN Triathlon (www.icantriathlon.com), Half-Ironman. Tomorrow at 8am (local time).

Comparing to other cities I raced before such an event - Calella del Mar, Maiorca, Sanabria, Guadalajara, Zahara de la Sierra - I'd rank Marbella near the top. This tiny little city just 40km from Malaga is crowed with foreign people and has lots of bars/restaurants and "noise" just by the beach but I like this type of mess. Hotel El Fuerte is really nice, the wi-fi works great and they even have rice pudin at the big breakfast buffet.

The race itself should be one to remember. I CAN organizers sure know how this triathlon thing should work and know all the athlete's needs. Swim is wetsuit legal for sure as the salty water felt way below 21ºC this morning, the bike will be mostly on the AP-7 highway with a lot of rolling hills. The run along side the beach and thru the crow is pancake flat and looks suitable for a fast split. Although its kinda cloudy today it should clear up for the race so a hot day is expected.

Most media point out Eneko Llanos as the #1 contender with local spaniards Nicolas Ward and Peru Alfaro fighting out for second. As for me, I feel recovered from last week's half so no excuses. Locked and loaded for tomorow.

Video HD

2011-03-31T12:51:00.003+01:00

Really nice video from the race this past weekend.

REALLY good stuff

2011-03-29T15:11:00.007+01:00

First half-ironman race of 2011 completed this weekend. National Championship race in Porto Santo. Won in 3h56m50s. A lot of room for improvement. STOP.

Two things I really must cheerish. Sports Akileine's Nok cream is bloody amazing. I applied two layers of cream before the race as I was going to try a sockless run this time around. The result: zero blisters, zero chaffing and one less pair of socks to wash & carry.

The second note goes to The Prophet, Zoot Sports' new wetsuit. My race tactics was to go all out on the swim and I mean really all out from the first dive. Even though I'm one of the top swimmers on the LD scene in Portugal, I usually adopt a more conservative role on the first half of the swim but not this time. I sprinted to the first buoy as I was doing a 200 meter and then just then just tried to hold on. The Prophet did an amazing job and after getting into THAT unconfortable pace, I just settled and the state-of-the-art floatation kept me going effortless. I was out of the blue almost two minutes cleared from my nearest pursuiter.

The race itself unfold pretty smoothly after a good lead out of the water. Even though the bike course had a total of 24 (!!) turn around points, the disc wheel from FFWD revealed pretty useful on the rolling zones. With all the gear changes I had this season I also introduced a few changes on my nutrition program trying to use energy drink and not plain water on my bottles. This would reveal not such a good idea and I got so thirsty that I adapted the plan and picked only water on the run (skipping coke and energy drinks). I will go back to my plain water with electrolytes on the bike.

So next sunday I will race the I CAN Triathlon in Marbella. The race in Mallorca last year was amazing and the organization did a great job so I'm looking forward to this one. I'm sure they have the knowlage it takes for a long distance event.

Racing half-ironman events in back-to-back weekends is nothing new to me so that normal soreness in training on the first days after each race isn't either. Training this week should look like the following:

Monday:
Recovery, easy workouts

Tuesday:
4000 swim, 2h30 bike (which had to be done on the trainer due to the shitty weather in the am)

Wednesday:
3500 swim, 1h30 ride with some efforts, 45' run with some race pace

Thursday:
3000 swim, 1hr easy spin

Friday:
Drive to Marbella, 35' run with some race pace efforts

Sathruday:
A bit of everything, all easy

Sunday:
I CAN Marbella, Half-Ironman

So annoying

2011-03-24T21:52:00.008+01:00

Probably half the World that surrounds me already knows but I'll post it on the record: those little bastards that get into your hard drive and f- all your OS just annoy me so much. My life like STOPS whenever I have a problem with my laptop. I can't work, I can't stop thinking about how to solve this when I'm out there training. The irony of it all is that I got the virus or spybot or whatever on Astalavista.com.

ANYWAYS, after three days of World War III I think I got it solved and I can get back to my boring life. In the mean time, Portuguese goverment has colapsed and I got dismissed from the next training camp held by the national federation after getting confirmation from them (twice!) that I would be called. Crisis. Go figure. There comes a point in your life when you realize what really matters, what never did, and what always will. ADDING to all this, yesterday I lost my speedo goggles that I loved SO much and can't get them in Europe. DAMN IT. Moving on.

After the first races of the season I really felt like racing is my life. Either I do well or not, anything before or after is just waiting and I would do it 52 weeks a year if I could. Last year I ended the year crushing a race per week and loving it. Sometimes I was too tired to even get out of bed on race morning but - and quoting Ben Hoffman - when in doubt, I always went full gas! So I'm flying to Madeira tomorrow for one more!

Oh my gosh

2011-03-21T16:31:00.008+01:00

After the race in Abu Dhabi I spent two days more in town to check the surroundings. I tried to do some training but even though I didn’t finish the race, I felt sooo tired. Call it heat exhaustion, I don’t know. I just felt exhausted.
Coming back to Portugal made things better. I finally got into a reasonable sleep pattern and had an awesome week (what was left of it) of training and on that Sunday I had planned to race a sprint race in Santarem, about 80 Km North of Lisbon. This was the first triathlon race of the Portuguese season and I was anxious for it.

I arrived to Santarem feeling a bit sore from the past week but it’s not like me to settle on a race even if I feel tired. All the young guns from my country showed up along a few Russians and Brazilians. I knew it was going to be a FAST race and soon I realized I wasn’t able to match them. The race started as a 100 meter sprint. I was way back the first pack right from the start and couldn’t do much to change it in 750 meters. Into T1 I was trailing the top guys by 30 seconds. Once on the bike I didn’t have what it takes to close the gap and despite a few mechanical issues, there was no way I was going to make that front pack. In and out T2 for the last 5 Km of the race. I ran 17’30 for those. How many kids ran faster? A LOT. It was just impressive to see how fast everyone went. João Silva ran a 15’ and won ahead of Bruno Pais. Despite my poor race, I was really happy to see most of the kids do so well. Most of my old roomies at the training center all raced really hard and it was awesome to catch up with most of them and their families before and after the race. It made me really miss the old days at the center where they pushed me so hard in training and made up for some great laughs at off-time. But hey.. life goes on and you only regret the chances you don't take.

So looking back to the week, the training was very good but the race was shit. I’m the type of guy who usually goes the way around: train just solid but race above expectations. This was my third race of the year and I can only hope it is just another slow start of year. I'm sure I'm also going thru a process of adaptation to the new coach theories and workouts. Usually I always have slow starts on my seasons but training so much in January and Febuary this year kinda made me hope for a better fitness level by this March. Well, I’m here to fight another day and just hold on.

What happen in Abu Dhabi

2011-03-12T12:48:00.005+01:00

The race officials decided to have a non-wetsuit swim for pros, wetsuit legal for age-groups. I found myself drafting Gambles and wondering how fast we were going, soon realising by lap one we were a minute down. The swim was freaking fast and I couldn't help Gambles enough to close the gap to the front packs.

Out of the wet we were into T1 relativaly close to the pack containing Llanos & Bracht. Jordan Rapp's bike was still in the rack which kinda surprised me as he was one of the men I was looking for. A slow T1 for me sent me directly to the back of the pack and these are the little mistakes you really pay for.

Once on the road, the cross wind was extreme right from the start and being small and light and having a disc wheel meant I was all over the place. I stayed strong following Ben Hoffman who set the pace with a flying Gambles ahead. We caugh the group containing Timo Bracht by Km 20 but doing that meant I was WAY over my threshold zone for a lot of time and althought the pace settled a bit, the damage was done. Soon I dropped from the pack and was out of the game. Felt there was no point in going futher on the race and being patient under these extreme conditions was not possible.

The heat and wind today in Abu Dhabi were brutal and I must cheer all finishers for their toughness that I didn't have. The pro field was broken and melted on the course and too many dropped early from what would still be one of the most competitive races I have ever been too.

Life goes on.

The Triathlon Squad - The Video

2011-03-08T10:59:00.000+01:00

Back to Portugal

2011-03-06T15:24:00.007+01:00

So I must say that there’s one thing I hate more than rain. That’s leaving. When you live in the US, moving shouldn’t be a problem, no one stays for long on a place unless you are over 65 and already in Florida. Europeans are not used to moving and Portuguese aren’t any different. Its more likely to find a Portuguese that hasn’t moved home since he first bought a house than one that did. I’m like that. I’ve lived all my life in Lisbon and although I travel quite often on the last couple of years of my life, I always "have" a place to come back to although I never really want to go back.

I’m not very attached to my family. I speak quite often with my parents but the internet makes the distance shorter so doesn’t really make a difference if I’m in a room next door or on the otherside of the Planet. I’m also not attached to my culture or my city. I adapt to places as I adapt to people and believe me that it is hard someone in this World that I’ve met and became incompatible. Same goes to cities and places.

They say that people you know make you feel at home no matter what and I’d say that’s about right. The last 8 weeks in the US have been fantastic. I’ve met amazing athletes but most important I’ve met amazing persons. Friends that although I'm sure they won't stay forever in my life - nothing does - I will cheer for every time in their races and forever remember.

Anyways enough with the depressive talking and back to life in Portugal. Somehow I failed to manage my sleep during the flights here and coming from 7 time zones away is really making it hard to get into the routine. Won't be for long though as in 48 hours I'm leaving to Abu Dhabi already. BUT the last three days of training have been a struggle. If you have a totally f-d sleep patern and mix it up with a ton of tiny little things to do in record time AND the first days of taper, you will probably get the feeling I'm currently on. Heavy eyebrows, living out of coffee and red bull, little patience, slow moving legs/arms/brain and twice as hard to accomplish the required intensity on training.

The show must go on. Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone. 6 days to go before the race in Abu Dhabi.

Why the US has so many gold medals?

2011-03-01T06:32:00.005+01:00

First off because this country is freaking huge.

Second because there's a swimming pool, a big field to play american football, tennis courts, a track, cycle paths, etc, litterely in every corner. Tucson alone has over 10 pools! where you can lap swim without having to pay three different fees or have to request the president to let you in.

Third and most important because you have competition. You have tons of kids that are competitive. They don't do it "just" for fun. They do it for the competition. They do it to crush their best friends, they do it to be the best. And because sports can get you in the best schools, can get you free education and not only will you be healthy as you will have a future.

This' sport culture.

What a BUSY Sathurday

2011-02-27T04:41:00.010+01:00

What a busy sathurday! We met at 7h45 to ride up Mt. Lemmon. The goal was to do 2x30' Zn3 up the hill with 10' rest. Mt. Lemmon is an awesome climb with steady grade of 6-7% and a total of 25 miles which takes you up to 9500ft (+- 2800 meters)! The pavement is really good, the shoulders are larger and on a sathurday you see lots of group rides trying to reach the top. Unfortunaly, few make it as it starts to get REALLY cold and windy once you get past mile 13 and that's probably the "check-point" for most. Today we went a little futher until mile 17 (7000 ft), took pics, missed the bears, dressed up and went back to the cars. It's not a hard climb, just long and one I highly recomend whenever you are in Tucson during the summer.

After the ride, we headed to the U of A pool for some swimming. 5K with a handful of 400 and 200 repeats. Solid work done and off to the HOT TUB. Today there was a Criterium race happening in town so we went for some cheering to our Kelsey girl who was racing. Cool stuff to watch, 45 minutes for the gals, 60 minutes for the boys, both on a very short and technical course around the U. With the criterium race happening, we still had to fit a 50' run with strides.

With all the workouts done, time for some FOOD. Triathletes have a thing for mexican food. I'm okay with it and love Chipotle but this time we went to this "family" mexican. Two BIG burritos after we all needed a Blizzard. I was a big fan of McFlurry until I got introduced to Blizzards. Best "fast-food" ice cream in the World, for sure.

Hanging out with the Squad at the end of a long day was the cherrie on top of the cake. Somehow we have gotten really attached and it's been so much fun. All very special on their own way.

To see how hillarious our days have been, I will post the last tweet from this class-act couple :

TeamWurtele: Great day with The Triathlon Squad, but so freaking happy to be in bed right now. Hope the cat will Shut The Fuck Up until at least 5:30am.

The ride up Lemmon:

Desert Classic Duathlon

2011-02-22T03:04:00.010+01:00

I must say that for such a low key race, a solid field of pros made their appearance yesterday in Scottsdale for the Desert Classic Duathlon. Although I'm sure none did actually had it as a important race, all wanted to do well. As myself. A slight change of course this year would welcome athletes for two hard trail runs. Due to the rain, the trails were really muddy and an extra effort was needed.

So the race started and I felt it quite slow at the beginning. Asphalt road for the first half-mile made up for a good effort and I just went to the front and took my charge against the wind. Let me tell you that if I'm ever at the front on a duathlon race its because its going slow. Soon Lewis Elliot overtook me and charged into the trails and once we hit "unsolid" ground I found myself in deep trouble and incapable of keeping with the pace. NOT soon, I got to T1 about 30 seconds behind the leaders. I made sure to storm thru transition and so once out I was hot on the back of Jordan Rapp and amongst the lead group with just Nathan White a bit up the road. Not bad I thought. Not so good though when Jordan made his charge and only Lewis Elliot was able to follow his surge. Although we were not moving slow, Jordan and Elliot caugh up with Ben Hoffman and started to slowly gain a gap on us. The rest of the bike was pretty uneventfull and the scenario was a lot of time behind the lead group once I hit transition again. Looking at the results, I was again out-ran by about the same guys and so that's the short story.

Bottom line, I thought I could at least run with the leaders which didn't really happen. Just adding that running on trails is a lot harder than I ever imagined and the second run on this race was a tough cookie to diggest after a non-drafting hilly course. I got my ass kicked by a lot of people and hopefully won't happen that often. I'm just satisfied that I raced it and will not take Abu Dhabi as my first race of the season. And looking back at the race, I must say it's a really fun race! At least, if you like the feeling of riding roller coasters!

Big thanks to the Jones'! Denise and Dave Jones hosted a great homestay and even showed us how to bow-hunt rabbits at night! Insane!

Results
Pro Results

My Meltdown

2011-02-16T02:41:00.008+01:00

First off I must say I truly respect people who stay strong even when they have every right to break down. Take Kate Ross for example. Kate is one of the Squad members and with 20yo lives away from her family in pursuit of her goal in triathlon. Kate is dealing with an injury that is keeping her from running and racing for money next Sunday. She’s so pissed for not being able to train properly for two weeks now, she wants to scream every time the ache comes. But despite all she's staying strong when packing and going home would just be so easy. The funny thing is that I came to realize I admire people like Kate just yesterday over dinner.

Today I had my meltdown. I guess for most it would be comprehensive and I had enough reasons to break down. I’ve been in the US for 31 days. Never missed a workout even when I struggled with sickness, didn’t take any day off, my very few recovery days still had over 3 hr of workouts, am well over 130 hours of training, had a crappy night of sleep, have a race I really want to do well next Sunday and felt so damn tired today. The day started with a 1h30 spin. Tucson is hilly and even on an easy spin you have to put some effort to get thru the hills. I knew I was grumpy, I was complaining about the cold mornings even when back at my home it’s raining cats and dogs. Got it done but how can a 1h30 spin feel so hard. Coffee and food. As my buddy Danny said the other day, the time between coffee and heading out for the workout always seems to fly. Today that felt so true

Paulo seeks excellence. Paulo wants us to be professional every day, making every day count. Doesn’t matter what you did yesterday and you will not use it as an excuse. You get up in the morning and you be the best you can be that day, you make today count.

Once on the pool we had a hard swim ahead with the main set being 6x400 Z4. I was struggling on the dry. Sitting on the deck I was THIS close not entering the pool. It was when I remembered one of Trevor’s quotes: Success is a large matter of holding on when others let it go. AJ splashed me while I was still contemplating the water. It was not the temperature that was bothering me this time but after a few minutes I finally dove.

I split the lane with Kelsey. She’s an admirable swimmer and I’m always inspired by how she bounces back each day in every swim workout. She wasn’t on her best days either but on the 800+800 warm up she lapped me and puts 150 on me. The first step had been accomplished (getting into water) but I was still struggling. During the warm-up I rewinded my life back to the day I flipped a coin to decide either to have a shot at a professional Triathlete in the US or not. I remembered that whenever you flip a coin you suddenly know what you hope for. I always knew what I was hoping for. With that in mind I decided to literally harden up and play like Paulo was on the deck shouting.

Before the main set, there was still a progressive warm-up of 8x50. Its so awkward how your body replies to your mind. I was mindsetted. The last time I did the 6x400 I was easily taking off on 5’, crushing 4'20ish and having over 30 seconds rest. Hardening up meant I would do the same this time, no matter what. Also the fact that Kelsey was there kept me from going comfortable. It would be fairly easy to jump into the next lane, taking off on 5’15 or 5’30 and just cruise. These are the moments that always remind me of why you join a squad. So I did the 6x400. I didn’t go as fast as last time but did it in my best zone 4 today and can’t describe how good it felt.

You can’t wait for life to hand you things. It doesn’t work like that and anything worth having or living for is worth fighting for. This sport is hard work every single day but so bloody worth it.

I still had to run this afternoon but after getting back to the game, it was so easy to put my running shoes and head out.

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Shootout (full version w/ Madera Canyon)

2011-02-12T20:50:00.001+01:00

Wazzup Tucson!

2011-02-08T04:06:00.015+01:00

Soo.. I've been in Tucson for a week now and all is good. Making triathlon my job here has been super easy with Ian Mikelson always doing a wonderful job (pratically babysitting me!) in planning our training and rides with Maik Twelsiek, Chris & Marylin MacDonald (and eventually Hillary Biscay when she gets better from her flu). Although triathlon is always a hot topic, different cultures and life stories bring some great talking and laughs. My roomies are also quite fun to hang around although we don't train together. Thomas has some late schedules (lets just say he doesn't like to get up early) which doesn't bother me at all but we never really see each other before like 4pm or so. MacKenzie is a doll, loves to ride her bike and has some of the funniest sayings. And Rachelle left us today. Rachelle though was the oldest, looks like a teenager speaking of her triathlon goals. They all give some movement and company to the end of my days.

Training wise, the hard work continues. I'm sure I have never had such a great and solid winter and I'm excited with the upcoming season. The swimming pools aren't great (25 yards..) and the roads are rough and too bumpy for perfect riding but we have a lot of route choices, 5 pools, good weather, low traffic options and many trails to run. So all in all training conditions are well above my home country.

Tucson is huge compared to Las Cruces. Doesn't have huge buildings but it's well spread out so to get from West to East of the city limits takes us at least 45 minutes on a straight line. Has a bunch of good restaurants but I've been making my meals mostly at home. Buying food at Trader Joe's and Whole Food's is part of the american triathlete's lifestyle so I'm getting into it. It has great food. Expensive but healthy. It's not easy to keep away from DQ's Blizzards (the best ice cream!) or burgers but I'm really trying.

Futher into the american lifestyle, I'm back at my peak level of coffee junkieness and putting cinnamon on my oatmeal. And MORE! Now I attend to Super Bowl parties! Hillary & Maik hosted a great evening of food, funny stories and football. After two weeks of Sports Center 24/7 with Chris Coble in Las Cruces, I think I finally get all the rules of the game. Habbits that I'm sure I will loose if not in America.

In other headlines, I'm really happy to announce that I've agreed terms with Zoot Sports and that I welcome Quarq's POWER into my riding! I'm sure both companies will make me faster!

From Las Cruces to Tucson.

2011-01-31T20:11:00.006+01:00

Last week of Las Cruces' training camp was also amazing in terms of training. We aren't doing insane volume but most of the workouts had some intensity in them so the quality training was always there. The totals for the second week (including a free day already in Tucson):

Swim: 31,4K
Bike: 415K, 12h37
Run: 86K, 6h45

Total: 28h20

After this first camp, I had planned to stay in Las Cruces with buddy Danny for another two weeks. But the truth is I would be training mostly by myself as not even the Wurteles were staying in town. So I took a lift from Ian Mikelson to Tucson to settle earlier. Once here, I got to meet the iron couple Hillary Biscay and Maik Twelsiek. I'm staying at their old house in Tucson West Park III along Thomas Gerlach, MacKenzie Madison and her girl friend Rachelle. Thomas is a full committed amateur trying to go Pro in 2011, MacKenzie is an up-and-rising american prodigee that placed 3rd at IM Canada in 2010 and Rachelle is MacKenzie's athlete racing half-ironman. I think we got along pretty fine and so all is good in Tucson.

On the first day here, Maik took us for a spin around the mountains for my welcome ride. This seems a very good place to ride with lots of roads amongst cactus, hills and sunny skies. I'm sure I will be throwing a few extra miles on the bike here. The run has also various solutions and the swim seems to be the hardest task in hand. There are quite a few pools but we can't just swim any time. I'm trusting Ian and Maik to be on top of situation and since AJ - also in Town as is Kelsey and Kate from the squad - will probably help us out when we need to swim at the U of Arizona we should be fine.

With all this in hand, I think it was a good choice to get to Tucson earlier and now stay until March. The Triathlon Squad's next camp starts on Febuary 19th but seems like Cliff English's squad will be here next week so lots of good training should be coming soon!

The Triathlon Squad - The Core

2011-01-27T04:20:00.024+01:00

Since Heather already made clear what we are doing here, here's my feedback from the awesome group we have in Las Cruces, NM, on the first camp.

First the squad and then by order of apperance:

AJ Baucco - the guy with the badass tattoos is from Cleveland. As me he prioritizes a good tan over a good health so runs shirtless even if its under 10ºC outdoors. After a year injured, he is focused in getting his run right and make it his strengh. So outgoing the boy can drink red bull like I do water!

Amanda Felder - living nearby San Diego with her husband and a PhD, Amanda is very calm and easy-going. Cleary a very smart person, she loves the mexican desserts. Can keep a very low-profile but it's super nice. Probably the most even female athlete of the group with a swim that can trash me on my not-so-good days. Ohh.. and she eats cheese like one eats an apple!

Andrew Yoder - the talented biker had to leave camp with a vision problem. After sugery he will join the squad for the Tucson camp.

Chris Coble - my roomie for the camp. The guy is a kickass swimmer, having swam back in college with a impressive resume. Awesome room mate and always very helpful, he made the camp a lot easier for me. Not in training though as he would overlap me in every 400 yds and didn't settle for a easy pace on the bike or the run. 2011 is his rookie year on the pro rankings. My boy can eat. He was once ranked 26th in the World for his eating performances! What a great roomie.

Greg Billington - couldn't make it to Las Cruces for the camp.

Heather Wurtele and Trevor Wurtele - World class athletes, funny and always smilling, they make a crowd. Heather seems like a more outgoing canadian lady but both are so damn awesome and nice persons. Trevor never complains - even on the swim - and they are definitely very professional and hard workers. Trevor pretty much destroyed the field on this camp.

Ian Mikelson - the lawyer who made good money while working full time but decided to go for the life as a professional triathlete. Its easy to see he really loves this sport. Extraordinary funny and always in the mood for some food, I cant get enough of his jokes. He's probably the most even guy on the three disciplines.

Janelle Morrison - couldn't make it to Las Cruces after having a ugly accident with a car. I wish her the best and the shortest recovery.

Jennifer Spieldenner - for a 5'04 girl, she can SWIM. And I mean SWIM. The girl would chick me in all workouts. And I mean ALL. You will never hear her complain even on the hardest task and just gets the work done. Struggles with packs on the bike but I'm sure she will get over it. So nice and smiley she is definitely the sweetest girl.

Kate Ross - had a hard time with bugs and sickness and I didn't have the chance to chat much with Kate.

Pedro Gomes - super hero. I was world-class on food until I met Chris. I was world-class on the run until I met Trevor. I was world-class laying in bed until I met AJ. I was world-class on jokes until I met Ian. I was world-class good looking until I met Jonnyo. I still need a cape to be a super hero although I'm not world-class in anything right now.

Kelsey Withrow - another kickass swimmer. As for Jen, Kelsey never really faded on swim workouts and chrushed the boys (only Chris survived) in each set. So funny and very outgoing, she's always up for some fun. Badass biker, her legs left her down on quite a few runs. Has a child. Sorry, a dog. I loved to have her around.

Danny Montoya - Class-act. Class-act guy. He hold me and my stuff on the first nights and without his help, this camp wouldn't be possible. So friendly and helpful, I (and we) can't thank him enough for his hospitality. He made life easier and although he couldn't really train with us due to his full-time job, he would always backup every need. He runs the town.

Misha Montoya - didn't talk much with her but made the welcome to Las Cruces warm. Works as a cop and couldn't also train much with us. So lovely with her dogs, she's married to the best guy in town.

Jonathan Caron - what a dumbass. So funny and so canadian, the polar bear made all the workouts fun. I never really had the chance to spend much time with him before this camp but his reputation is well deserved. Struggled with a injury but never missed out all the fun at dinners. One bastard swimmer and biker made us push hard when he had the chance.

Jacqui Gordon - she's also class-act. Hard worker and very smiley all the time she arrived during the hardest days of the camp but never backed up from a task. I have met her in Florida last year and she was one of the very first persons to get me wanting The Triathlon Squad. I'm trully thankful for that!

Artur - the guy flew from Singapure to this camp! Man what a crazy dude! Is a Coach Paulo's athlete and was always very plesant on the approach.

Lauren Harrison - This girl can RIDE! I have never met her before this camp but she's definitely the nicest person. 9h33 in Arizona and a freaking impressive wattage on hill repeats, I was trully surprised by her fitness. As Jacqui and Tracy, she's awesome.

Tracy Robertson - for a 5'01 girl, she has some speed! Always funny and talking, she's one heck of a fighter. Came to the camp for three days as she still works as a kindergarden teacher. It was so fun to have her around, jumping and smiling. Sadly she left in a glimpse.

COACH PAULO - one that doesn't get to know him, will never get it.

Three more days to go. After this I'm going with Ian to Tucson for another month of fun. I'm sure there is a great group in Tucson but I think the Triathlon Squad has really bounded. I'll feel sorry for leaving them as we are having a blast and yet training so hard.

How come most of the persons I get to know in this sport are so freakin' awesome?

Week one resume

2011-01-23T23:24:00.002+01:00

Las Cruces, NM.

30K of swimming
461K/14h30 on the bike
96K/8h30 running

Good week overall. Nice to be outdoors with sun although it's windy as hell around here.

Ironman Florida - Race Coverage

2011-01-21T02:54:00.004+01:00

45 minutes TV Show from Universal Sports:

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=72f8c5a9-86c5-4259-83da-373c63d99f07.html#2010+ironman+florida

USA

2011-01-18T01:55:00.006+01:00

I've arrived safely to Las Cruces, NM. I've met the Squad and I was trully surprised. Coming from a training center, I didn't expect such a level of commitment to the sport from the Squad. Everyone here seems to know exactly what they want. And that's to be the best they can be on this sport.

We are five guys, five gals here right now. The Wurteles (Trev and Heather), myself, Chris, Ian, AJ, Kesley, Amanda, Kate and Jen. Plus Danny, Johnyo and Coach Paulo. Most gals except for Heather, race ITU. And all the boys do long distance so it's a pretty nice group of training. The girls are all awesome swimmers and can easily keep up with us on the bike and run so we are pretty much just that.. a Squad right now.

I'm loving Las Cruces. The awesome weather, all the space and low traffic roads, a outdoor swimming pool and some cool running trails, makes training look so easy.

The routine has also been great and fun to adapt. Go to bed at 10pm, get up at 7am. Swim, eat, bike, eat, run, eat, sleep. Repeat. The fact that we are getting good sleep and that americans eat whenever and noone will really care if you are cooking steaks for breakfast, makes the living so much easy.

Only three days in. A few more to go!

This guys are also World Class athletes

2011-01-11T14:19:00.000+01:00

New partners in crime

2011-01-09T18:32:00.007+01:00

I'm happy to announce that I got to terms with Wilier for two years. I will be riding the awesome Tri Chrono frame with Cobb's design signature. I will upload a few pictures soon of those little details that make a difference.

Please take a few minutes to look at these beauties: Wilier USA

In futher news I'm also very excited to be on FFWD wheels for 2011 as well as back on board of Oakley Sunglasses. I'm sure that I will take the most out of them.

On a final note want to let a good vibe to Token and CMC Bikes for a great support on the last 12 months. I can't ever forget how good Token was to me and thank Sergio and Attie for a awesome year. Time to move forward.

2011

2011-01-02T18:12:00.000+01:00

Race plan

March 12, 2011 – Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (3km + 200km + 20km)
May 01, 2011 – Wildflower Triathlon Festival (Half-Ironman)
May 15, 2011 – Rev3 Triathlon Knoxville (Half-Ironman)
May 21, 2011 – IRONMAN Texas
June 03, 2011 – Rev3 Quassy (Half-Ironman)
June 26, 2011 – Buffalo Springs 70.3 (Half-Ironman)
July 10, 2011 – IRONMAN Zurich
August 20, 2011 – ETU European Long Course Championship
September 10, 2011 – Rev3 Triathlon Cedar Point (IRONMAN)
Octobre 08, 2011 – IRONMAN Hawaii
November 05, 2011 – ITU World Long Course Championship

2010

2011-01-01T17:28:00.004+01:00

SWIM - 303:21 hours, 358.8 Km
BIKE - 502:01 hours, 15390.6 Km
RUN - 269:01 hours, 3287.8 Km
GYM - 40:55 hours
TOTAL - 1115:18 hours

7 x Half-Ironman
7 x Sprint
2 x 4/120/30
2 x Ironman
2 x Olympic
9 x Open road runs
1 x Single-day stage ride

Longest week: 32:12 hours
Shortest week: 07:10 hours (not counting three off season weeks of ZERO hours)

Longest single swim workout: 5700 meters
Longest single bike workout: 5h46, 191 Km
Longest single run workout: 2h01, 28 km

Xmas training camp

2010-12-24T16:04:00.003+01:00

After two weeks of training, it was time to head south for the xmas training camp held by my federation. 40 athletes gathered in Vilamoura, Algarve, for 5 days of hardcore training. Most are young and competitive and race short course ITU and in fact only I and Lino Barruncho were the "outsiders" who race Long Course. Youth, Juniors, U23 and Elite. The best of my nation in one place. It was also the return of Vanessa Fernandes and Anais Moniz and the first training camp held by the new high-performance coaches.

As the first training camp in winter time, most of the present are still undergoing the process of returning to training. The season 2011 has just began. A lot of the guys were also sick the week before the training camp and so was I. So despite all set backs and sickness, the camp went awesome and I will surely miss them in 2011.

We usually have this xmas camp in Rio Maior - 80km North of Lisbon - so coming down south this time was different and exciting. We had a 50 meter pool to swim in Quarteira and some new roads to explore on the bike and run. There's a track but we only used it for technique and the training trials.

A short resume of what happened:

Sunday, December 19th
1500 meter trial - 19'31 for me
5 Km trial - 17'17 for me

Monday
4600 m swim (main task: 3x800 paddles)
3 hr bike
50' run

Tueday
4800m swim (10x200 Z4 on 2'50)
20' warm up + 7x1000 progressive 5'/km, 4'40/km, 4'20/km, 4'/km, 3'40/Km, 3'20/Km, 3'00/Km with 1'30 rest + 20' relax
3000 swim (10x100 Z4 aos 1'25)
Hearts tornament. Second overall. :-)

Wednesday
5400 m swim (4x400 progressive Z1-Z4, 50m trial)
2h20 bike including 4x8' Z4 with 3' of rest
50' tempo run + technique
Gyn

Thursday
5100m swim (5x200 progressive Z1-Z4, 30x50m Z4 on 50', 2x25m relay)
Transitions: 1hr bike Z1 + 30' run Z1 + 45' bike Z3-Z4 + 15' run Z3

All in all it was really fun. I felt out of shape and crushed in most workouts BUT I needed this camp to ignite and really get 2011 started. From now on should be all uphill.

Now.. getting over Xmas diet..

Back to training

2010-12-13T11:43:00.001+01:00

After week one: a marathon
After week two: a 200 km bike ride.

I need to stop this non-sense training.

The US. It's official.

2010-11-28T14:38:00.007+01:00

Now that I've told everyone that matters lets turn it offical: on January 14th I will take off from Lisbon for my US adventure.

First on the schedule it's a training camp with Paulo Sousa's squad. Mostly to get away from the winter time in Portugal and get to know a few more people in the sport (and living in the US). I'm not sure how things will roll from that point on but I will pursuit the lifestyle.

My schedule is hard to define as I have a lot of things in mind. I will kick off with Abu Dhabi Triathlon on March 12th and will definitely do IM Zurich and IM Texas. From then on it will be quite a guessing game.

Back to life

2010-11-25T18:10:00.003+01:00

With 6 kg more under the belt, I started training this past tuesday. First week really go get the body moving, nothing really planned and just to see if I can cautch my breath.

Tuesday: 2600 meters swim
Wednesday: 2700 meters swm, 50' run + gym
Thursday: 2700 meters swim, 1h40 ride, 50' run

As things are right now, I will probably take a day totally off already this sunday to recover. :-)

November 23, 2010. Lisbon.

2010-11-22T18:46:00.002+01:00

The first day of 2011.

Checkin-in already from Home. Getting my head in place, move to the training center later on and get back to life. First week really, really easy. Just to get the blood flowing. So exciting :-)

Anyone needs a webdesigner in the US?

2010-11-15T02:18:00.001+01:00

I'm thinking of moving :-)

Ironman Florida - This is the Race Report

2010-11-13T16:24:00.013+01:00

Looking back at the last 14 days, I couldn't be more proud of the people who support me and I can consider true friends. It was an amazing journey in Florida, with a lot of setbacks but also so much fun and memorable moments.

Also, the race and how it unfold was beyond my best expectations. Not because I wasn't confident but because I wasn't sure how I would feel doing two Ironman in one month being the first my debut over the distance. It happens though that all my season had IM Florida as "the" race marked. On November 6th and along 8 other portugueses athletes, we were sharped and ready for the big day.

THE SWIM - 50:48
I had a regular swim, kinda hard to navigate and so just drafted the group that swam along. I came out of the the wet with the first big pack of triathletes which included race favorites Markus Fauchbach and Chris McDonald.

THE BIKE - 4h34
Doing my debut at an Ironman a month earlier, this was the scary part of the race. With a flat course, it was obviously to form a pack where the main favourites would be for most of the ride. We caught Dirk Bockel, Bryan Rhodes and Jeremy Jurkiewicz and pack with maybe 12 riders where we could also find Swen Sundberg and James Cunnama. Most of the ride I felt confident and focused on my hydration still with my crawling at the Marathon in Challenge Barcelona in mind. By mile 80, Cunnama had a flat which quickly repaired but since we also speed up, he couldn't get back in touch. Only Romain remaind at the time in front but with the headwind he was a bit punished for his effort and we would come into T2 just a couple of minutes behind. I had a stop and go (a minor penalty) for blocking Esben Hovgaard and served it on the final box with no rush.

THE RUN - 2h49m
The run has always been my strenght. I can run on tired legs. I didn't rush out of T2 and took my time to put socks, gels, M&M's pretzels and Jelly Beans on pockets and head out confortable. But as soon as I stood up I felt absolutely awesome and just let it go. I was in maybe 11th place out of T2 but immediately took charge on the guys in front. By mile 2 I was in 5th. Ahead was Markus Fachbach - who also had a very fast first few miles, Sundberg and Bockel running together behind, Romain fading and I gaining ground fast. It was never my intention to be conservative and just passed the guys without looking back. I was running fast, maybe too fast but had one thing in my mind - don't let the opportunity go, lead the race for at least one second. I passed Fachbach in between mile 5 and 6. So there I was, with 20 miles to run, feeling great and leading 2800+ athletes. Uau. Markus held me in sight for one or two miles before I really digged in. I had nothing to loose, didn't felt the fatigue but was feeling hunted. At the half-marathon mark on that out-and-back section on Thomas Dr. I saw James Cunnama really blowing thru the field and I knew he was coming. I didn't wanted to look behind but around mile 18 I started to feel like using the bathroom.. I remembered the race briefing where they said not do it on anybody's yard and yelled to the leading bike for a pot-a-hole. But I was still leading.. what to do? Well.. I guess I must have blown my chances of holding on when I looked behind. James was right there and I was done. I told him I was done and he encouraged me to keep going. At first I thought I could let him go for a few meters and then sprint it out to the line but after holding him in sight for one or two more miles I really had to get the job at the pot-a-hole. I did make it worth it and took my last sport beans while doing the thing. Rushed out to the course again but it was no way I was regaining on Cunnama again. I had about 4 miles to go then and had settled for second. I was so overwhelmed by the fact that I was still on a podium position that the last miles felt so awesome.. even though I once had the lead. The final mile or so was amazing.. it was then that I felt the support of the community, the girls zone and the warm feeling of job done at the line.

When I crossed the line in 8h19m I was absolutely amazed. All was worth it. All the 53 weeks of training for that day, all the hard workouts under heavy rain, all the pain on the track, all those numb and grumpy days, all of it.

Now I feel done for 2010. I couldn't wish for a better way to finish off and looking back at the season, I had a absolutely amazing year. I cant thank enought all the support I had throughout the year from friends and sponsors and can only wish for a better 2011.

I'm now enjoying two weeks totally OFF training and will slowly get back to training routine after it! Can't wait! :-)

2nd @ IRONMAN FLORIDA

2010-11-07T05:12:00.004+01:00

8h19m27s.
I will post a race report as soon as I hit home. Now it's party time :-)

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Cunnama_Jacobs_take_Florida_1788.html

Top 10 men

1. James Cunnama (RSA) 8:15:29
2. Pedro Gomes (POR) at 8:19:26
3. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 8:21:23
4. Markus Fachbach (GER) 8:25:25
5. Jeremy Jurkiewicz (FRA) 8:26:49
6. Christophe Bastie (FRA) 8:27:01
7. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:29:59
8. Esben Hovgaard (DEN) 8:31:29
9. Chris McDonald (AUS) 8:32:37
10. Swen Sundberg (GER) 8:33:44

Top 10 women

1. Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:07:49
2. Erica Csomor (HUN) 9:14:40
3. Kim Loeffler (USA) 9:21:26
4. Karina Ottosen (DEN) 9:24:34
5. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 9:28:43
6. Jeanne Collonge (FRA) 9:35:19
7. Anne Basso (FRA) 9:37:37
8. Danielle Sullivan (USA) 9:46:42
9. Susan Langley (AUS) 9:55:19 * AG W40-44
10. Linnea Humphrey (CAN) 9:58:09 * AG W40-44

Update before flying to Orlando

2010-10-30T06:03:00.007+01:00

Since my last post, I've had a lot of work with two events coming up and lots of planning for 2011. With Lance Armonstrong racing Ironman Hawaii in 2011, I'm guessing the race will have a LOT of coverage and the sport will grow even bigger world wide. Not only these are some great news as everyone who's racing Hawaii in 2011 will get twice as media. The new qualifying system - for pros - will make most race quite a few races to get up on the first places and get the slot to Hawaii. With ITU World Long Distance Championship to be held in Las Vegas on November 5th, it would take a crazy decision to try and go for IM Hawaii. At least for me.. but lets see.

So I'm racing Ironman Florida in 7 days time. As the date comes closer, I'm getting more excited to be racing. Although I had my doubts and thoughts about starting, I couldn't be more pleased that I finally took registration and am in. Recovery from my first Ironman wasn't exactly how I predicted and the real tireness installed after a couple of weeks. Even so, I've managed quite a few solid workouts and hopefully I'm up for the challenge in Panama City Beach. My swim is feeling great and even though my bike and running are now far from where they were a month ago, I can't complain that much and will be fun to see how will it react to such a long race again. Finally and after IM Florida, I will be on full vacations mode, riding all attractions in Orlando and having completed 18 races this year with 9 middle/long distance events, 2 Ironmans (or so I hope to make it 2), 7 sprints and 2 olympic distance triathlons on a total of 52 weeks of training/racing. Yes.. it has been fun but my body is asking for some time off.

So last week before IM Florida consisted on this:

Monday: 3800 meter swim (20x50 on 50''), 1h20 ride
Tuesday: 3700 meter swim (800 fartlek), 3h20 ride, 50' run
Wednesday: 3700 meter swim, 1h45 run
Thursday: 3500 meter swim (9x100 on 1'30), 2h ride, 50' run plus a 3K night race
Friday: 3800 meter swim (400 fartlek, 20x50 paddles on 45''), 1hr run

Off to Orlando and then a night drive to Panama City Beach.

Ranking 2010

2010-10-23T08:16:00.008+01:00

For the third year in a row I've won the National Ranking for the year 2010. I never really do it on purpose but as I race quite often and get some solid results, I've done it again.

National Ranking 2010

Mariana Costa won the girly one.

More training:

Thursday: 3800 swim (6x100 on 1'25 + 3x200 on 2'50, 6x300 paddles), 2h40 ride, 45' morning run, 3K night fun run
Friday: 3500 swim (10x100 on 1'25 + 5x300 paddles), 1hr easy spin, 1hr easy run
Sathurday: just heading out for 140 Km ride and the rest of the day OFF.
Sunday: 10 K Nike Running open race, rest of the day OFF

This week I will easily top about 26 hrs of total training. That's like a personal record for October.. I feel like I really need the next two afternoons off as I haven't been on my best legs. In fact I'm getting fried over here. :-)

New training methods

2010-10-20T23:09:00.003+01:00

Are starting to kick in. The new coaches are introducing some new tasks to our swimming sessions and has been fun.

Monday: 2h30 ride, 3500 meters (boring stuff)
Tuesday: brick 2hr + 50' , 3700 meters (10x100 on 1'25, 6x200 paddles), 45' second run
Wednesday: 1h30 ride with 20' race pace + 1hr transition run, 3900 meters (4x(200+100) race pace with 20'')

Florida minus 10 days!

From Titan!

2010-10-20T01:04:00.001+01:00

Olympic National Championship Finale

2010-10-17T19:46:00.003+01:00

Montemor-o-Velho, 200 Km North of Lisbon, 11h30am. Olympic National Championship finale.

Too much speed on the kids for me. Olympic race in the morning, fitted a 40' run in the afternoon. Not a bad training day! Trip to Florida in 13 days!

Results

Just training

2010-10-16T21:13:00.004+01:00

Wednesday: 3500 meters swim, 2hr ride, 1hr track workout with 6x300 repeats
Thursday: 3500 meters swim (3x200 on 3' all out), 3h20 ride
Friday: 50' run, second 1hr run
Sathurday: 2h30 ride, 1500 swim
SUNDAY: OLYMPIC NATIONALS in the morning, will try to run again on the afternoon

Update on IM Florida

2010-10-12T16:20:00.006+01:00

Since Challenge Barcelona I've been feeling quite tired. Not surprisingly tough as I've been neglecting sleep and basicly proper rest which is turning the recovery from the Ironman much harder. Also the bad weather that has installed in Lisbon isn't helping my motivation.

Ever since I started training for the 2010 season I have been pointing guns to Ironman Florida in November 6th. But with a bunch of setbacks during mid season - which includes a somewhat unexpected separation with my four-year coach and this struggle to recover from my first Ironman - has made me think a couple of times this past days of not starting the race in Panama City Beach.

However, the races in September and most importantly the one in Calella didn't bring me any feeling of closure. Despite all the tireness and deep need of vacations I don't feel like I'm done.

This may be a true case of post-Ironman depression :-)

So after a week of caos as training is concern, I'm commited to get to the next race (Olympic Nationals that were postpone one week due to bad weather) in my best shape possible. And then the next (10 K run). And then it's Ironman Florida. (and then it's Universal Studios, Walt Disney Resort, SeaWorld.. etc)

I won't do much training as I just don't feel like it. I probably won't get to PCB on the best shape of my life but I will try to learn a bit more about this Ironman thing is and of course try and get under 8h25m53.

TRAINING DONE:
Monday (after IM): OFF
Tuesday: 40' run
Wednesday: 1000 meter swim
Thursday: 3600 meter swim, 50' trainer, 50' run
Friday: 3600 meter swim, 1h trainer
Sathurday: 3500 meter swim, 1h30 trainer, 50' run
Sunday: 9 K open run (30'18)
Monday: 55' run, 4000 meter swim (18x100 on 1'25)
Tuesday: 3600 meter swim (3x300 all out), 2h40 bike, 50' run

Challenge Barcelona - The Race Report

2010-10-06T18:37:00.018+01:00

I will try to keep it short.

Pre-race
I drove to Barcelona on Wednesday prior to the race. I got to that date with 4 straight half-ironmans in 4 consecutive weeks but felt no fatigue. Training in Calella was soft and I made sure not to get over-confident with the way I was feeling. I was excited for the race and anxious to get it started. I got the chance to catch up with some spanish friends, chat with the danish studs (one actually won the race!), shake hands with the one and only Marcel Zamora and have a quick chat with the other portuguese staying at the hotel. I played mini-golf, bowling, shopped (the usual routine). Also made sure to get a lot of carbs during breakfast and lunch and have light dinners. On the dawn before, the bike was checked-in, Pasta Party (a bit dissappointing) and was under the sheets at 10pm trying to sleep.

Race morning
Up at 4.30am. Race would start at 7.30 so I had a small handfull of cereals, coffee and off to transition. It was chilly but ok and I could stand on shorts and t-shirt before the race start. Sailfish on, mulebar + red bull in, warm up on dry land and line up. At 7.30 and while the sun was still trying to get his butt off bed, the race started. "Oh boy.. here I go"

3.8 KM SWIM - 49m33s
I had Hektor Llanos on my right at the start but sprinted to catch someone else's feet. The course was kinda hard to navigate as it was a one loop swim and the water was quite choopy. Lucky enough, the guy who I drafted for the entire swim was well in route all the way (or so it seemed) and I could swim with my head down and focused on keeping with the pace. I could cleary see Hektor behind as well as Herve Faure and Benjamin Pernet on my group and so I felt "safe". It was a perfect sail to T1.

T1
Who said transitions on Ironman were slow? The group came together to T1 and it was like a traffic jam on the pro bags area. At first I gently removed my things from the bag but then I started to see everyone around rushing out and I said to myself "GAME ON!" and raced out :-)

180 KM BIKE - 4h31m02
Herve Faure immediatly took charge on the bike. With him formed a group with Jarmo Harst, Horst, Georg, Pernet and myself. In front there was only Gregory and Petraus who had left the wet a few meters ahead. Having never competed on such a long event, I decided to stay on the back for most of the ride and focus on nutrition. I was on a Gel + Gel + Bar basis every hour with electrolytes and water only. We passed the 90 Km clocking 2h14 which was way faster than I ever expected. The course in Calella is very, very fast. It has just a few and tiny hills but all rolling stuff. Somewhere during the ride, we caught the leading duo and got caught by Wolfgang Teuchner. Until that day I just heard that Wolfgang had the second best bike split at Roth but didn't know if he could run. During all the ride I felt well in control of the pace and could even close the gap to Jarmo and Georg who were trying to get away a few times. On lap three the wind rised a bit and Wolfgang got the breakaway. No one seemed to care other than Jarmo who was doing most of the pacing for the pack. I was surprised that Hektor Llanos and Jimmy Johnsen were loosing time and was not until the final 20km that I took my hand in front.

T2
I had thought of that moment every single night of the week before. How I would feel after that swim and bike. To be honest I can't exactly recall how I felt and all I had in my mind was.. will I make the 42,2km? What was once a "not-happening" race plan soon turnned into a "just 42,2? I will finish this easily!". Out of T2 I was second with clear road ahead but Horst, Georg and Gregory hot on my heels.

THE MARATHON - 3h05m18s
Jarmo and Georg took off as rockets (lets consider only Ironman racing as speed is concerned). The course was four laps, all flat on a out and back road. The first turn around point was at the 5,5 Km point. Wolfgang was walking the aid station so he was cleary not feeling good. Jarmo was leading with Georg trailing by a few meters. I was another couple of meters behind with Horst right beside (or behind can't recall). We stayed like this for all lap one. By then I was still feeling in control, head still in place and trying to find a confortable pace to run the remaining 30km. I thought of many things, some of the coming-from-behind runs I did this year and some of the motivational quotes I always remind. But then I started to feel that three aid stations (which is OK) in each lap were not enough. I was lacking water and with the temperature rising up thru the day I started to get dehydrated. I was thinking I would never walk (and didn't) a aid-station but maybe I should have had. From then on it was a struggle to finish. I couldn't eat gel as it was sweet and it made me feel thirstier. I needed water but didn't want to drink so much that it would stay "floating" on my stomach. On one aid station I felt so thirsty that I drank the water from the sponges.. MENTAL NOTE AND ADVISE: never do that. I was running out of energy and out solutions. In my head I started to crack. So Horst had caught me and passed on the second lap (maybe around the 12 km mark) and I did the next 15 km pretty much alone. I could see everyone on the turning points and could still see the leading bike on the horizont but couldn't go faster. With one lap to go I was still in 4th. I thought that I got to that point and I would never DNF even if I had to walk. I was afraid my body would shut down on the last km's and I would colapsed. That never happened. What happened was a crazy danish bastard passing me on the final 10 Km, doing a "flying pass" on a group of people who had music just ahead, close the 6' minutes deficit he had on T2 and win the race in 8h19 with a 2h53 marathon, best of the day. On that final 5 Km I was also got passed by Jens Petersen-Bach who came from nowhere and flew by me to kick me off the Top5. The "next" two in line to try and pass me were a bit behind and so since i was safe and with 4 km to run I thought I would experience it all (from an Ironman that is) and went to a bathroom on course. People look at you on a funny way when you get out and (re)start to run.

THE FINISH LINE - 8 HRS 25 MIN 53 SEC
The finish chute was crowded. I tried to enjoy it as I could, high fiving everyone, thanking Arrate (who did a pretty good job as my personal cheer leader all day long!), walking the line and looking at the time. It felt superb. During all day I felt I really had a chance of winning the race. I didn't but Jimmy and everybody else that beat me to that line in Calella on October 3rd, were tremendous competitors and I can't claim anything other than they were just stronger and faster. Of course my race wasn't perfect, there's no such thing as perfect races. I had a bunch of setbacks during the day but so did others and they still finish. I'm proud that I also did and now have something to really work with!

WHAT'S NEXT
Olympic Distance, National Championship finale in Estoril next October 10th. And then it's really Ironman Florida. Having just done my first IM in Barcelona I was thinking of skipping another IM in just one month and since I have been competing so much. I thought that after the first, I wouldn't feel motivated to training until November. I won't still find much motivation for hard or much training until the race in Panama City Beach since the winter time as arrived to Lisbon but I really want to race it. This Ironman thing is so much FUN!

PORT-AVENTURA & VITORIA-GASTEIZ
I feel the need to mention this two places. After the race I went to Salou for a full day of relaxation in PortAventura. PortAventura is a theme park in Spain and is absolutely amazing. It's 44 Euros per person but you can ride every attraction and show for free all day long. I was happily surprise by this and October may be the best time of the year to go as the park isn't over crowded, there are no queues to the rides and it's still sunny! Dragon Kan is probably the best roller coaster in Europe. From Salou, I went to drop Arrate at her home town: Vitoria-Gasteiz. Why I keep talking about Vitoria? Because every time I'm there I just feel like staying. It has everything I need.. Eroski, swimming pools and endless roads. Ok.. it also snows during winter time but hey.. ski is good sports as well!

DONE WITH WRITTING! (if you find any miss spelling above, it's probably a typo.. or I didn't review this text..)

Tour of Spain: The End

2010-10-05T22:58:00.003+01:00

Five weeks, four half-ironman races and one full ironman.

I think I deserve a few days off. Just came from Port Ventura (NICE!) and now in Vitoria-Gasteiz for a few more hours of relaxation before getting back to training.

Results from this weekends race: Challenge Barcelona

Bike course: Activity Garmin

Tour of Spain: Challenge Barcelona

2010-10-02T13:50:00.003+01:00

Here I am. In Calella, Costa de Maresma in Barcelona, a day before the biggest event of my yet short career. Tomorow there is a full Ironman to complete.

One month ago, while I was still in Font Romeu training hard for a full month then, I thought my september would be hard to survive - 4 half-ironmans in 4 weeks. Soon I found myself in between races and enjoying this "Vabrousek" lifestyle very much. Guadalajara went well, recovery too. Sanabria was better and recovery ok. Mallorca was awesome but recovery was really hard. I arrived to Titan feeling very good but the start of that weeks was hard and the race itself became even harder when I had a super Ivan Tejero to battle with. Recovery from Titan was very good though.

I arrived to Calella on Thursday. Bike and run for a bit. The next day I swam and run. Amaziling I felt very good in each training. Taper in between weeks has been easy to handle and on a "listen to my body" basis I managed to get over the tireness.

Less than 24 hours to go. I can't ever claim tireness from all the early racing cause I'm not feeling it at all. But tomorow will be another fight.. and not just another half-ironman.. just need to keep my head in place and my feet on the ground. Looks easy. :-)

Predictions?
I see Hektor Llanos, Pontano and two danish emerging first from the water. The swim with be very rough on a very choppy and salty water. I will probably come on the second pack with Jimmy Johnsen, Herve Faure and a few others. Once on the bike, the danish will set the pace for the 180 km, mostly flat but very windy, bike course. Three loops. I look at Hektor as the only man to stand in front with them. I'm not sure how Pontano is feeling but he has raced recently in Spain and I heard he's dealing with some injury. I will try to go to Jimmy for as long as I can and try to help him. Not likely to happen as he has been always stronger than me over the two wheels. Once on T2, if I don't loose too much ground to Jimmy I will be somewhere around the 10th place with 3 hours to break 8h30 on the finish line. From that point on is like playing lotto. I have no idea how I will be feeling but I'm sure I will come flying of T2 like it's a 10 Km race. That can either play in my favor or blow me apart. I'm guessing both the danish in front will be running hard for the first half-marathon but then will fade a lot (or so I hope). I see Hektor Llanos having a great day and running down the leading bike and cross the line in first. If he doesn't, its hard to guess where will Herve Faure and Jimmy be by then. All of the ones I mentioned are my top picks for tomorow. The run will be very fast but very hot as well. Who ever gets adapt to the conditions better, will certainly be under 2h50 on the marathon and easily cruise to the line.

Well.. best of luck to all. Myself included! hehe

Tour of Spain: Madrid, Barcelona tomorow

2010-09-29T21:07:00.007+01:00

It's amazing how good I've been feeling on the pool. Three days have passed since Titan and I can say I'm recovered. Never fully recovered but I don't feel any ache. After Titan I rushed into Compressport socks and quads and they did a pretty good job. Prior to the race I had been feeling my knees hurting a bit in training but I do believe it was still from the run in Mallorca (course mostly on sidewalks).

In fact, from all the racing in September, Mallorca was the one I had a harder time to recover.. not only the race was hot and the run in a hard surface, as the "post-race" afternoon wasn't exactly soft with the sightseeing and a late night in Town.

So I'm now in Madrid and tomorow I will head to Barcelona for the race. There was a huge strike in Spain today and so the traffic was in quite a mess. Even so, driving thru Gran Via, Madrid's city center, I imagined myself living here. It kinda reminds me of the big avenues of US cities and i find it quite awesome. Someday, who knows..

Training log:

Tuesday: 1h30 (not feeling like biking with the winds in Lisbon), 50 run
Wednesday: 3500 swim (2x750 race mode, 4x200 pull), drive and 45' run

TITAN: Did I say 2000?

2010-09-28T12:41:00.005+01:00

Sorry. Triatlon Titan has 2468 meters of ascent over 92 km.

Bike course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50872163

Full results: http://www.gescon-chip.com/Resultados/222/Titan260910/Pdf/General.pdf

Tour of Spain: Stage #5

2010-09-27T21:54:00.007+01:00

One month ago this was just totally off the schedule. But it's october, I've been training for more than 10 months now this season and there was still one month to go before Ironman Florida (<- this one was scheduled). At the training center the olympic team shouldn't be on vacations but everyone is just cruising to the season finale and I have no mental strenght for another month of hard training.

So.. I've introduced a Stage #5 on this Tour of Spain in Triathlon of mine. On the fifth consecutive week of racing, I will bump into Challenge Barcelona. Full Ironman. That's 3,8km of swimming, 180km of bike and a full marathon to finish it off. I'm anxious to the starting line and then get over the swim and 130 km on the bike. From then on it's all new to me. Never gone that far. Everything that comes is a blessing. And since I've never believed in Gods or any type of religion.. I will just be a dreamer. (<- LAME!)

In the meantime, I must thank all the support I've receive in Spain even when I'm racing the "home" dudes. It makes me wanna live in Spain and feel like racing at home. Maybe.. someday. And also the massage crew that was over the finish line in Zahara yesterday that did a awesome job recovering my legs. Today I felt great and this' how the week will unfold:

Monday: 1h30 ride, 3000 swim
Tuesday: 4000 swim, 2hr bike, 50' run (<- built day LOL)
Wednesday: 3000 swim, drive to Madrid, 40' run with strides
Thursday: drive to Barcelona, 40' run
Friday: 2000 swim, 1h30 bike on the course
Sathurday: 30' run
Sunday: CHALLENGE BARCELONA
Monday: OOOOFFFFFFFFFFFF DAY. TOTALLY OOOFFFFFFFFFFFF

Tour of Spain: Triatlon Titan Sierra de Cádiz

2010-09-27T07:58:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I've conquered Triatlon Titan! On a epic day, a grueling event over the most demanding middle distance triathlon in spain, I had a personal duel with Ivan Tejero thru most of the day.

We swam the 2km together, biked 75 km together until I cracked and had to leave Ivan go. By then we were on the second ascent of Puerto de Las Palomas. I lost 2' until T2 but flew thru transition and closed the gap to Ivan in 4km. It was then we got back together (<- sounds funny) and ran side by side to the 15km. I felt Ivan losing touch, looked behind and had to make a move. I eventually got away with the win after 4 hours and 52 minutes. What a great day of racing. Suffered much but enjoyed every minute of this.

I drove right back to Lisbon on Compressport socks and quads in full recovery mode. Following next week is the big one. Challenge Barcelona, full Ironman. Lets see how will I manage to survive this one.. hehe

Tour of Spain: taper week three

2010-09-23T12:26:00.002+01:00

Sathurday: I CAN Triathlon
Sunday: 40' am run along the beach in Palma
Monday: 4400 meters swim (300+200+300 all out, 10x150 at 1'18/20 pace), 60' run, 1h easy spin
Tuesday: 4000 meters swim (8x200), 1h50 ride, 50' run with strides
Wednesday: 3200 meters swim (10x50, 3x600 pull), 1h run with strides, 50' second run
Thrusday: 2100 meters swim (8x50, 4x200), 1h20 ride
Friday: 1500 meters swim, drive to Cádiz, 30' run.
Sathurday: 45' ride
Sunday: Triatlon TITAN

Tour of Spain: Stage #4

2010-09-22T23:34:00.006+01:00

Triathlon Titan. Probably the hardest double-olympic race in Spain with lets call it "hilly" bike course (graphic above). It's one of the most mythical long distance races in spain and one to brag for the rest of your life. I completed the race last year in second after almost 5 hours of pain and behind a very impressive performance by Ruben Ruzafa. He's also on the starting list this year and so is Ivan Tejero. I look forward for this rematch.

David is also coming so we are both going for the double finisher prize!

TRIATLON TITAN SIERRA DE CADIZ - Video oficial 2010 from TRIATLON TITAN SIERRA DE CADIZ on Vimeo.

Kill Bill

2010-09-21T08:56:00.007+01:00

After three weeks on the road with races, traveling, pack/unpack bags and training, nothing kills me more than 6am swims back at the training center.. uff. (for those who are not familiar with portuguese hour routines, 6am is QUITE early.. still dark outside.. cold.. werewolves.. and so on)

Tour of Spain: I CAN Triathlon

2010-09-19T18:56:00.010+01:00

Just home from an awesome weekend in Palma. Leading to race day everything went as planned. Flight with Air Berlin (an unexpectable plesant air line, 25Eur per flight for the bike) with a small portuguese crew, an okay hotel on the "drunk/german" side of Palma/El Arenal and a nice warm-up day on the beach along the german lifestyle (beach, beer and baths)

Race time. Non wetsuit or skinsuit swim with the water at 26ºC and choppy. One lap, red and yellow buoys who were kinda hard to navigate due to the sun rise. We must have swam at least 2100 meters. The swim prime guys went straight for it and the rest of us ended up on a small group that included Eneko and Swen Sundberg. Out of the wet and into a very windy bike course that would colminate with a few showers and would eventually slip me down to floor. Yet, due to the wetness around and two tubes with 180 psi on it, it was kinda expectable and so I was going really slow when it happened. Down and right back up the horse to get in touch with Jimmy Johnsen until T2. During the ride, Mikel Elgezabal and Clemen Coenens flew by me on rockets and there was really nothing I could do. Animal riding by them. Out of T2, focused on nutrition and with Jimmy along, I soon caught by breath and rhytm to run myself into third position at the end of the day, 3' behind first place Eneko Llanos and 2' behind second place finisher Clemen Coenens. Couldn't be more happy with the result and the way things rolled. Enjoyed every minute of the race expected for the two times we went down the hill with some scary cross winds trying to blow us off the bike at 70 km/h. The plug & play guy (Sergio Dias) was 9th overall, the old guy with two kids (Hugo) was 25th and felt pilot (Miguel) was 57th so all in all a very good day for the portuguese racing.

I CAN TRIATHLON Results

We spent the rest of the day on burgers at Hard Rock and McDonalds, Mojitos and Vodka's at nighttime. Great time in Mallorca, one to remember.

So this was my third long distance race in a row. I will continue along the plan as my body shows no sign of slowing down and I'm still on "I'm lovin' it" mode.

7 days until Triatlon Titan in Cádiz!

Tour of Spain: Stage #3

2010-09-16T12:56:00.004+01:00

So taper didn't go as expected. Since I arrive home I have been sleeping poorly and it has direct influence on training. After a easy Monday, I had to change plans a bit and listen to the body who was asking for rest. I've been really missing hours in bed. Mostly because life in Lisbon has too many distractions during this time of year. :-))

Here's how the week rolled down:

Monday: 2600 swim (pure technique), 30' run
Tuesday: 3000 swim (with 6x300), 2h20 bike with no hills but 2x15' on low gear, 50' run with strides
Wednesday: 3300 swim (with 8x50 on 45' and 1000 negative), 50' run with 5x(1' max, 2' rest)
Thursday: 2400 swim (with 4x200 VO2max on 3'30), 1h20 easy spin, pack bike, flight later today.

Tomorow I will jog a bit for maybe 20-30' and then just do a quick check on the bike. Will do my best to get at least 9 hours of sleep today. I will be fresh by tomorow!

Tour of Spain: jet lag and taper week two

2010-09-13T14:50:00.008+01:00

This out and back trips I'm doing to Spain are causing me some kind of a jet lag. I'm either getting to bed too early or out of it too soon. And it's just ONE hour of a difference..

Results from yesterday are here: Elite M

The results sheet may lead to a wrong impression of what really happened, so I feel the need to make a point. I honestly had a good swim, felt really strong but most of the course I drafted the other two guys with me. I tried to emerged from the water first (and did it) to get the "out of sight, out of mind" in play. Once on the bike, David was right there and with me for most of the first kms but I knew I had to make a move and get away.. I went to the front and when I looked back he was gone. So it seems his chain was off on a hill and he lost "touch" with me. It was then that the out of sight, out of mind played a big part. I got lucky and took advantage of it on a very hilly course. Once on the run, I had the legs from the first step and when you lead, you almost earn the right to go faster. So that was it.. I'm happy with the win but never felt easy. Or at least how it may seem at first on the resultts sheet.

So today I woke up totally jet lag from yesterday. After the race I drove right back home on a longer than expected trip and was not until 23h30 that I touched my very own doorstep. Over excited with the race and with too much caffein still running in my blood, I couldn't get to sleep. I went to bed dreaming of a totally off day today.. yeah right. I'm yet to deserve a totally of day. I emerged from bed at 6:40am and went for a swim. Will run 20 min later today to get the blood flowing.

So here's how this will look:

Monday: 2600m swim, 20' run
Tuesday: 3500m swim, 3h00 bike
Wednesday: 3600m swim, 1h15 tempo run
Thursday: 2000 swim, 30' run, flight to Mallorca
Friday: 45' bike
Sathurday: RACE
Sunday: 40' run along Palma beach with tourist stops, flight back home

Two down, two (maybe three) to go. I'm loving it :-)

Tour of Spain: two down, two to go

2010-09-13T00:22:00.006+01:00

Just back home from the race in Sanabria. Double Oly distance, a very windy day in which my personal battle would be against David Castro, the spanish star who won one of the very first ITU races I did back in 2007.

I had a good swim, felt very good on the wetsuit and worked hard on the bike to have some kind of advantage on the run over David. I believe my biggest strenght is indeed the run but with tired legs I didn't know if I had enough of a lead to get it done. It would reveal just enough. I do believe David had me in sight on the run and so I was lucky to get away with it. I tried never to look back and just go forward and it must have worked.. if I had seen him trailing behind i would crack. Two things I always keep in mind: out of sight, out of mind and NEVER LOOK BACK.

I felt strong during the day so the taper must have worked. With one less day to work during this week, I will have to adjust things to be in tip-top form for next race in 7-days. Also I continue to improve on my nutrition plan during the race and I can now live with 5 gels plus one bar on the bike, four gels on the run and not finish with an empty tank. I will try some salty stuff next time and see how it works.

My very own Tour of Spain continues in 7 days with I Can Triathlon in Mallorca. I will post results and the bike file from today's race right after I get some decent SLEEP. :-)

Tour of Spain: Video Guadalajara

2010-09-09T13:14:00.001+01:00

Tour of Spain: taper week one

2010-09-08T15:33:00.003+01:00

Taper week one, as it looks:

Sathurday: RACE
Sunday: 30' morning run
Monday: 3K swim (8x50 max, 3x400 paddles), 1h15 tempo run
Tuesday: 3,5K swim (1000 meters fartlek), 2h45 bike with hills, 50' easy run
Wednesday: 3,4K swim (8x50 on 45' + 4x100 on 1'25 + 800 negative split), 1h30 bike with 2x15' race pace, 40' run off the bike
Thursday: 2K swim (8x50 max, 800 paddles), 1h00 tempo run
Friday: trip, 30' easy run once on location.
Sathurday: 45' bike
Sunday: RACE

Lets see how it works.

Tour of Spain: one down, three to go.

2010-09-05T18:46:00.005+01:00

Four races, four weeks.

Results from this weekend's race, 25th edition of Triatlon Ciudad de Guadalajara: Class General.

The new and hard bike course from Guadalajara: Bike (forgot to turn it off on T2)

One down, three to go :-)

Out of track

2010-08-27T14:33:00.002+01:00

Have been in Font Romeu for 21 days now. Wow.. time flies and life here doesn't get any easier for at least two more days. 84 hours of training done, just a few more to go.

Reporting from Font Romeu

2010-08-14T20:02:00.004+01:00

So I was 12th at the World Championship. "The hardest race I have ever completed" pretty much sums it up. It was a really hard day on the bike with a demolishing course. I felt done by the end of the 130 km ride and was way back on the field. Exiting T2 I felt my back cramping and some heavy legs but after hearing Lino shooting a "find your rythm" I ended doing just that and by the time I noticed I was catching up with a lot of the guys in front who were just crawling to the line. Finishing the race felt great after all and I'm proud that I did. It was a 6h44 effort that is just a slight demo of what I'm facing in November at Ironman Florida.

After this race I took 5 days completely off training. Have been training since November and it felt right. With four half-ironman races scheduled for September I decided to come along the U23/Elite team to Font Romeu and restart training. I arrived on August 6th. The crew here now includes Pedro Palma, João Pereira, João Silva (this last two went to Austria but will be back shortly), Lino Barruncho, Ruben Costa, Vasco Pessoa, Miguel Arraiolos, Sérgio Silva and Bárbara Clemente.

I didn't expect that restart training in altitude would be easy. But the truth is that after such a hard day in Immenstadt, 5 days off triathlon and into beach parties, lack of sleep and a few pounds up, jumping right into a 30 hours has been harder than I ever expected. More when you have young talents pushing you to the limit every time you go out for a ride or a run. Not to mention the swim that is always a big handicap.

Well.. 7 days in and things are better. The struggle to match their swim, bike and run is getting easier and I'm not at the back of the peloton anymore. The first race in September is in Guadalajara on the 4th so I'm well into the schedule with an again focused mind and uprising body fitness. The center is full of triathletes so it's great to be back on the mountains.

7 days down, 19 to go. With crepes avec nutella and hard card games at night, time is flying.

Here and now

2010-07-31T15:40:00.003+01:00

I've arrived safely to Immenstadt. The surroundings are tremendous and really something I've only seen in Heidi's movies. This' exactly how I imagined Les Alpes.

Today I had the chance to swim a bit and check the places where all the action is happening and it's all so beautiful and green that it's hard to describe in words. The bike course should make for one of the hardest world championship courses in history, with the terrain serving up 18-percent grade climbs and a total elevation change of over 2,000 metres. This last words are a quote from ITU press release which I just need to sign below. The bike course is really brutal and I'm looking at a bike ride that will last for at least 3h30 for me. The swim should be fast with all the frenchies and danish pushing hard from the gun but won't really make a difference. And how about running 30km after such a smashing bike course. With this in mind I have to face this race as a good test for Ironman Florida later in the year.. it will be a long, long day on the saddle.

Despite the course, I arrive to this race with no major setbacks and with just a untrue wheel from the flight buuuut.. everything should be good on race day. :-)

Off to Immenstadt Worlds

2010-07-29T22:47:00.002+01:00

Tomorow I'm off to Immenstadt, Germany for the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships. 4km of swimming, 130km of bike and 30km of running.

Since Vitoria-Gasteiz, I've been focusing on this race for a greater result. The field is way stronger and will be really hard to even break the top 10. But I'm up for the challenge and one tough bike course (130km with over than 1200 meters of altitude gain). I'm riding my regular TT bike since it's still a time trial ride.

The past month didn't feel the best. When I was back home I had too many distractions (summer time..) and I really felt the need to move away from Lisbon to focus a bit more on training. The Olympic team has also been on the road and I've miss the company. However, I'm anxious to get to that starting line and deserve my 5 days of vacations aftewards. I'm sure I just need some rest until Sunday's race and then a few days off to be back at top of my game.

Today I also had my last ride in home soil. Hugo Ventura's Special. When Hugo is coming along for a ride, you just need to focus on his back wheel and sprint thru traffic and red lights. Today, with 38' in the clock I had to have my break at 25km/h to breath normally again. How HOT can it get in Lisbon.. third day in a row with temperatures rocking the 40's C. I'm so glad I'm going to race on Les Alpes!