Monday, November 28, 2011

Day One!!

Marie loaned me the car and I spent the morning getting used to driving on the left hand side of the road!!
I drove to Auckland to pick up my Slovakian friend, and we went towards Piha!!
Beeeeautiful place, like almost all of NZ!!
The Lion Rock!!
Richard was inspired by the stunning view!! lol
The beaches are composed of volcanic rock . . .
Awesome views!!! (click on it to enlarge the pic!!)
Teletransportation Door!! waaahhhh!! lol
We returned home; it was time to pack the bike and luggage, and say goodbye... 
Nooo way!! I couldn't go away like that!! There were so many places to visit and so many moments to laugh with my new best friends!! I called the airline and changed my ticket!! 

This was the beginning of 3 intense days!! 
The same afternoon I joined Marie into a 90 min Body Combat class. It almost killed me; my arms normally used only to swim were really sore with the unfamiliar movements!!  
After the grueling body combat class, Sergey and Renata were ready for the transition to squash with rackets in hand! Can you imagine how my shoulders felt afterwards??! lol
We recharged our batteries at a Korean BBQ!!
We finished the day climbing a mountain, which provided this awesome panoramic view of Auckland!!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Day Zero

Auckland, November 20th

1500m swim, 25km bike, and one more flat tire . . .

I had never before used tubular tires because of the difficult and expensive maintenance. But I thought it was time to try; so I bought a new pair of wheels . . .

Summing up, tubular tires come with integrated tubes, which support more pressure.  This reduces  friction, making rolling smoother and faster.  I realized during the race that I needed that friction on the turns.  This course was a very technical one; I was having trouble handling the bike on the corners. Although I lost some time on the turns, my legs felt strong.  I was ready for a nice race. 

But, I didn't have the chance.  On my second race with tubular wheels I had my second DNF with a flat. :-(
Instead of beating myself up about what happened, I accepted mechanical failures as part of the game.  I thought if I learn something this year, it would be to lose and learn from the loss.  I realized that this is an important yet difficult lesson.   

During the race, we cannot accept being behind anyone, so we need to do the impossible to win.  After crossing the finish line (or not), the race has ended and it is not worth torturing yourself.

Life continues! It  is important to analyze the weak points, but  not to seek solace in self punishment. 
I did not only have bad luck on this trip though!
A good friend introduced me to Renata, who is Brazilian, and lives in New Zealand with Sergey, Marie, and Amili.  They were all really good people so we became instant best friends!!

They came to watch the race.  Just after my flat, they rushed to my side.  I could see the worry turn to relief on their faces because they had seen the other athletes pass them and assumed I had crashed.  
Afterwards, we returned home and went out for dinner.  We celebrated our new friendships and the great moments we had together in New Zealand. Sergey brought the champagne!!
Also, the next day I was supposed to return home . . . "supposed to!!"

Ohhh ...I almost forgot... On that day we also went bowling!!
Lots of fun!!!

Friday, November 18, 2011

2nd place at Malibu Half Marathon!!

Woke up at 5am on that day, and while still dark I got a ride with my good friends Renata and Chris to the start of Malibu's Half Marathon.

Was a beautiful day and the beach, which follows the whole course, was wonderful!
I already did some half marathons in a couple half ironmans, but this was my first just running race!!

My goal was doing an intense workout, but I could not destroy myself, once I would be racing on the next weekend a Triathlon World Cup, so I started holding a conservative pace...
This race was quite hilly, and about to reach half way I was catching the 2nd athlete. We ran side by side for some minutes, so I pushed it hard and at one of the climbs he couldn't keep up with the faster pace.

My coach, Siri, was driving and cheering the whole course, so I ran always faster and faster!!

Crossed the finish line for the 2nd place, with 1h15min to complete the 13miles...
(Renata and Me with our finish medals!!)

On the same day I was boarding to New Zeland, 13h flight and 21h time zone change!!!

As soon as I arrived on my friends house, another Brazilian called Renata and Muria, were getting ready for a 5k run... So guess what! I was heading for another race!! 

Tuesday at 6:20pm around 500 people were lining in the start, at this time I took really easy! And just for fun I finished the 5k in 22 minutes, maybe in a top 50!!

The next one should be the Auckland World Cup, on November 20th!!

The race will be broadcast live on the channel "one" (from NZD).
We are suppose to start at 2:45pm local time (17:45 of Saturday at Los Angeles).
The girls race starts at 12:05pm.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

No air at the Colombian World Cup!!

More or less, this represents the air missing from my rear tire (photo taken swimming in México)!
Less than 5 miles in and I experienced the same scene from 5 months ago.  My tire was flat, again . . . How, my father wondered, could lighting strike the same place twice?!
The only two flats I had racing in 2011 were at Guatapé...
(Guatapé in June...)

I wish I could say "this was my best", but I could not say that... I raced my best at the 13 ITU races, but no performance could match my regular workouts.
I peaked at the LA Triathlon, which was not an ITU race.  During that race, I used Siri's 'loving it' psychology to release all my abilities for racing.  Because of that experience, I was ready at Guatapé until the flat . . .

Unfortunately, mechanical failure is a part of sport.  Fortunately, in the sporting world, future events offer the opportunity to overcome it.

So my last chance for points in 2011 awaits in Auckland, NZD
Let' s go for it!!!