Ready to be back to the ITU Races!!

Already in LA acclimatizing for the time change, as in two weeks I will be heading to Australia and New Zealand to race the first Word Cups of the season.

I had a decent start on the Continental Cups, placing 4th in Chile and 2nd in Argentina. The training is going great too, rising up the expectations every other day! The long distance past season was perfect to build mental resistance and also to learn on managing injuries.

Today I did an excellent ride with my brand new bike, I did a PR on the three loops around the Riviera Country Club, the La Grange ride for Thursdays.

Talking about new bike, this is a fast one!! The good side of not having a bike sponsor is that you can try different brands, and this is the first time I am trying a Cannondale Super Six, it feels awesome on my first miles!

Here is a really cool 2014 ITU Season preview, by ITU.
Looking forward to get it started!!

Why did I not choose to be a Soccer Player!?

This is a post I originally made in 2010, in my Portuguese version blog. Recently it became very popular at facebook, so I got motivated to translate it and here is the English version of it!! Have fun!!

 

Ok... like 99% of Brazilians I wanted too to be a soccer player!!
I still remember when I was at the first grades of school and I went with my father to register myself at the soccer classes in the school. Lucky or not, it was already sold out!

My other options were Judo or Swimming.
I opted for Judo. I was always very hungry for training and wanted to reach the next belt color as soon as I could! 

I had fought for 3 years so I was invited to join the strongest Judo school team, which had classes at night. My father thought it was too late and said "no" for it.
I left Judo, I didn`t want to be in the "no competitive" classes. I had already the idea of becoming a professional athlete.

At that time Fernanda Keller was very successful, and by watching a TV commercial I met the Ironman!
Done, I was in trouble! Since that day I wanted to be an Ironman!!

Lucky I didn`t know all the hard work waiting for me!!
While training and even racing, many times I have asked myself why did I choose such an exigent sport which demands so much effort.

Triathletes have to train almost a third of a day!!
Soccer players don`t even need to wkout everyday...

The routine is tough and the recognition seems so far away...

Soccer Players can win the local championship to become billionaires...
A triathlete, to become millionaire needs to win the World Championship plus the lottery!!

In World Cup times it makes me wonder even more... They are the national heros, everyone follows their steps, since the team election until the triumphal way they leave the country...

A Soccer Player when traveling doesn't even need to make the check-in, they have a red carpet, people are cheering them on and they land on the pilot window!   
Triathletes need to check-in and then go to the airline store to pay the bike fee!

There are days where the workouts are not fun, and also those days where races doesn`t come as expected...

When a Soccer Player is tired, they can just go to the bench, and still winning...
A tired triathlete... is done!!

Keeping your body close to the limit, we sometimes get injured...

A Soccer Player injured will still having his salary...
An injured Triathlete means no more races, and the need to look for extra money to treat it.

Such dedication needs some time to cool off!

Soccer Players are well known to be in all kinds off parties... 
Triathletes after working out barely can step out of the house door...

But the time off cannot be so long, your adversaries are training...

Soccer is 11 vs 11...
Triathlon is 1 vs 100!! 

The bigger is the fight, the bigger is the glory!! Triathlon is a sport that teach us how to reach an advanced stage of mental or emotional development, mature as a person and learn better about your own body. Focus, discipline, determination and the will to overcome whatever comes in your way becomes a the real victory of each triathlete...

For some sports you need a ball...
For Triathlon you need two balls!!

Tri-Family!!

A photoshoot by a great friend and photographer Alexandre Carnieri!

In 1998, my father and I started to train together.

 Later on, Mom also wanted to have her own bike.

 It has created a lifestyle...

 Sometimes we combine the journey, sometimes the goals!

 Looking for the best from each day . . .

Mom says: "I wanna race an Ironman ..."

 Dad smiling says: "Just let her ..."

  Me: "Do as I say, not as I do."

Dad smiling says: Just let him...

Rare are the moments that we "train" along, but we appreciate to race together, each one in your goal (subjective) and in each age-group (objective)!

Thank you for the records Studio Gaea, @ Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba.