I think, therefore I persist!!

38th on the Tongyeong - Korea World Cup...

The race did not go as I anticipated.  I had learned not to worry about results, but we always have expectations (which must not be requirements).   Once more, I did not reach my potential in this race, but it left me a wiser triathlete.

I had a positive outlook about the competition.  I felt good that day and for the first time in a World Championship I was swimming with ease in the middle of the pack.  Having already completed three quarters of the water portion, I felt I could sprint at will, until in the last 300 m my stomach started to cramp and I could barely breathe.  @^&! I thought, "I cannot believe this is happening again."  Cramps had been conquered, or so I thought.  I slowed down almost to a stop, breathed deeply, believing I could catch the pack on the bike.

Because of slowing in the water, a few athletes caught me and we started biking as a group of five.  For the remainder of the race I did not feel as tired as I had previously, but the cramps remained.  I pushed, but with such a small group, overcoming the strong lead packs seemed impossible.  Once I realized that, I just tried my best.  

Sometimes the goal seems so close and yet so far at the same time...
What a test of patience! C'est la vie!
Maybe I will find the emerald on my next attempt!!

As described in this paragraph from Paulo Coelho's amazing book I just read "The Alchemist":

(...)
"The old (wizard) man related that, the week before, he had been forced to appear before a miner, and had taken the form of a stone. The miner had abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds. For five years he had been working a certain river, and had examined hundreds of thousands of stones looking for an emerald. The miner was about to give it all up, right at the point when, if he were to examine just one more stone—just one more— he would find his emerald. Since the miner had sacrificed everything to his destiny, the old man decided to become involved. He transformed himself into a stone that rolled up to the miner's foot. The miner, with all the anger and frustration of his five fruitless years, picked up the stone and threw it aside. But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell upon, and there, embedded in the broken stone, was the most beautiful emerald in the world.

'People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being,' said the old man, with a certain bitterness. 'Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too. But that's the way it is." (...)

37th at Huatulco World Cup, México

I thought it would be really hard, and maybe I would not be prepared. But I did it!!
I arrived at the Mexican World Cup without worryies about results!
The goal was accomplished, I did the best I could and had fun in the whole race!!

Of course, is a kind of masochist fun!! I suffered a lot, but who will say that it is not fun any arduous climb to the summit of a mountain!?
I believe the secret is not to pursue your dream... but live it!!

I did not make one of my best races, despite having swum much better then the others WCs, on the first lap of the cycling course I felt my legs weak, and could not stay with the pack, on the course there was a big hill plus the heat of the asphalt, I was climbing inside a sauna, was close to 3 minutes like in the hell!! Probably the thermal sensation was about 45°C... I was suffering so much, but as I saw the others suffering too, I was enjoying it, like lets see who takes that for longer!!

I started to feeling better on each lap, but the first pack was already on a big gap, so I enjoyed the group of about 5 (which were not always the same 5, some were catched, and others were dropped out).
I left to run amost creeping! But this was the game!! I knew that at the end of the race I would be glad to had been played the match till the end!!

Sometimes came into my mind that I had invested a lot of money and time to be there and I did not have a good performance, but soon I realized that I could enjoy every minute on the pursuit of my dream!
Another lesson learned!!

On the next day was my birthday, so I tried enjoy myself a bit more suffering on the Huatulco beaches, as on the pictures above!!

This are not wrinkles of the time, but from the wind speed!
Neither are white hairs, but water drops on 60kph!!
Ok, all right, I was getting older at that day!!! hahaha

7th at LA Tri, Free of Expectations!!!

Racing in the Los Angeles Triathlon was like discovering something new!!
I had fun like I haven't had a long time ago, and with my coach Siri Lindley we confirmed I was having some psychological weakness on facing the races...

(30secs to go!!)

Coming from awesome trains but any good races I started to think that I could be having some psychological deficiencies...
With the thought that would be perfect to have a mind of a soldier, who gives even his life for the nation, I thought that would be interesting to read a military psychologic book, so I did, and the reading was fine, but couldn't find any answer for my poor performance, is not courage that was missing on my mind...

(Having 40km of pure fun!!)

Since Edmonton WC, on july, my amazing coach Siri, opened my eyes for the problem called:

EXPECTATION!!
Gosh, waiting for a supposed future is something that really agonizes everybody...
We work hard the whole year, we sacrifice parties and weekends, investing time and money on a big target, and how can we do not expect reap the rewards!??

Looking back on this race, perhaps a tip is to not put so much focus on just one goal.
Always point on different targets and know that not all of them will succeed as wished... So we can avoid jitters of having all your chips on just one bet...

Expectation makes anxiousness, and I believe that this was consuming me on the World Cup races.
2011 is an important year for the Olympic trials, without a good sponsor, plus the Brazilian Confederation avoiding my participation, I could not imagine having bad results, an that unconscious pressure I think justifies my physical and mental exhaustion on the WC races...

Thanks to Siri, I realized how different is to be on a race without expetations. A non drafting race, where I bought a TT bike the day before the race, and without any specific training for it, I could just expect to have fun doing my best possible on that day.

(mens podium)

I arrived at the start line filled of energy, knowing that would be a great day! Pretty different on the feelings of the last races...

Just loving it!! (like Siri always say!)
I swam, rode and ran really good, exception for my second transition which was the worse one, because I had really bad cramps on my quads at the time to put the shoes on!! Luckily these cramps were getting better as I was running!
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon - Olympic results

I am still learning how to race without expectations, its not easy when the funnel for the Olympics is getting tight, and without a good sponsor I cannot travel without worries on if it wil be worth to race so far...

But following the mantra "just do it, just love it!"
Here we gooooo!!!
For the next World Cups:
Mexico - at 9th and Korea october 15th!!