Going Up!! From CA to CO...

Los Angeles became one of my favorite cities, not only because of the eternal sunny days and the awesome bike rides at Malibu and Santa Monica Mountains, but also because of the great and numerous friends!!

In this pic, Valerie and Anvar, my "American family" whom I lived with for the last 4 months.
Valerie was really kind, always helping me by correcting my English and would create "muy sabrosos" turkey dishes, when was not my favorite Mexican ones!! Anvar, from Kazakhstan, is a soccer fanatic and even made me play a fun soccer match at Playa Vista! He also introduced me to the Russian language and the funny Cyrillic alphabet!  "очень хорошая" (very good!)

This last week I have packed my bags, bike and boxes, threw it all on my new/old car and headed to Boulder, CO, following Siri's team!!
Known, at least by athletes, as the new "Mecca" of triathlon, this city has awesome bike paths and trails, along with the added benefits of the altitude training.

Hitting the road!! Crossing the desert was the hardest part of the drive, the heat was so intense that to avoid the engine overheating, signs were posted alerting drivers to turn off the air conditioning... So basically you or the car that would get fried!! lol

(crossing Mojave Desert)

I drove 1050 miles from California to Colorado in two days. I seems like a lot, but the time really flew by! While I tried to take pictures of every new amazing view, the colorful mountains and canyons!
Leaving behind the beaches of the Pacific, I passed through deserts and saw the beautiful colors of the Jurassic and Cretaceous exposed terrains of Arizona and Utah. Arriving in Colorado I saw the vistas change to a greenish tone covered by some white spots of snow! #Fantastic!

(San Rafael Swell)

(Castle Valley)

Here in Boulder I am trying to get used to the altitude (5430ft). Sometimes my lungs can't find Oxygen enough and I still having a constant head ache. Hoping to get used to it in about 3 weeks, soon I will be posting more about wkouts and races!! 

My next competition will be the Boulder Peak Triathlon, Olympic distance, happening on July 14th! 

#GoVanya!! 

Spinning the Pedals!

I missed sharing the news on my blog!

I have been doing a lot of micro-blogging throught twitter, instagram and facebook, but nothing like my own space in the blogosphere!! 

Maybe my lack of motivation to write was due to a bad injury that has persisted for more than 6 months now, alternating between right knee and hip. I missed a couple races and still not a 100% yet.

Actually I was surprised when I first noticed that it was already 6 months. I am being pretty good on keeping myself optimistic and motivated in training (maybe more than I should), always adding new goals and plans for the season. And while some days I could barely walk, on others I feel like ready to race a full Ironman!

I like this quote: "Life is like riding a bike, to be in balance you need to keep moving!"

Recently I signed a new partnership deal with Xterra Wetsuits, so I will be training and racing powered by all the awesome Xterra gear!!

Im very excited and this week I had the opportunity to meet and work with the Xterra crew while doing a photo shoot in San Diego.

While in San Diego I could see some family members and had a great time exploring the area. My favorite spot was the La Jolla Cove, where I enjoyed a rad ocean swim with a pod of seals passing just a few centimeters from me!!

Siri's team is moving to Boulder and I will soon be heading to the Colorado Rockies...

Feeling better each day, I hope to be at full speed, and train like never before for the races of the second semester. Hopefully this blog will be on fire soon!! :)

(La Jolla Cove)

#13 at 70.3 Ironman Panama

One of those plan b that makes you glad your plan a hadn't work at all!

A beautiful country, where I met nice people and really enjoyed the whole trip... Cafés, bbq, the city, Panamá Channel, Gamboa, Casco Viejo, the old American military base, the infinite pool and the Amador Causeway (an artificial terrain which links two islands to the shore, the Americans have built it with the left over stuff from digging process of the Panamá Channel).

The race wasn't the best one in performance, but was a great test to point out what I should be focus in for the season...

On that warm weather I was not expecting the cold water, and once I jumped in it was like a fright!

Instantaneously I thought would not be a good idea trying to warm up in that icy water, so I did some quick arm strokes and went out to wait for the start. And we really waited for the start, as it has delayed 50 minutes. 

Out of the water wasn’t cold, but on the soaked suits many athletes were already shivering. Luckily I found this elegant yellow jacket to keep myself warmer! 

I was cold on the whole swimming course, by the last meters I couldn’t feel my hands. It was not a good swim for me and I got in T1 close to a minute from the leaders. 

The bike was my best discipline, in a hilly and windy route. I was pretty competitive which made me happy as my bike leg was always the weakest on all the 12 races of last season! 

I suffered on the run… After recovering from a knee tendinitis, I haven’t had enough time to build up a proper training volume, so I paid the price on the last 10k. I have suffered all that pain I wanted to have had on Ironman Cozumel! 

At that moment I was placing 12th, and I could do some important points on the rank just by holding that position, so I gave all I had to hold that pace. I finished 13th with two athletes arriving right behind me. I was so exhausted that I could barely walk to the rest area, where I stayed for more than one hour lied down! 

A blessed soul offered me an advil, later a beer and soon I could move around with steps bigger than 10 centimeters!

Runner-up at South American Champioship 2013

Like a triathlete would say: "We do it 3 times!". 
And this was my third 2nd place at the South American Championship!
(2008,2012,2013)

Even though I was so close to be the winner on 3 opportunities, I can't complain! 
Each race unfolded in a particular way, where at none of them the 1st or 3rd places could get a top 5 again!

The La Paz Triathlon is one of my favorites! 

I had already done it for 5 times and my best placing was 4th.

On the previous one, I was devastated by not making the podium, they do an awesome awards party that on that day I watched as an expectator.
I have told to myself that on the next one I would be up there, celebrating it from the up high view of the podium. To not forget this will, I collected some small pieces of paper that were flying during the winners celebration, and I save them in my wallet. I carried it with me for 3 years (as the Brazilian National Federation postpone my participation, read about it here).

Well, it was 3 long years with those small pieces of party that I did not enjoyed, at sight on every purchase I made. I wanted to make sure to find daily motivation and not be afraid to suffer while training, as the loser feeling would be worse.

The day has arrived!! January 13th of 2013, my revange!!

For the happiness of those who don't like the heat, the 3k swim start delayed for almost 2 hours. We took off at 6pm and going down the river, we finished that portion in a bit more than 20 minutes, matching the 1.5k swim time for the Olympic distance.

The river was quite choppy and I didn't swim well, I finished leading the second pack close to a minute behind the leaders. Followed by a strong bike ride, where I felt great, but the guy to watch was Oscar Galindez, who is recognized as one of the best cyclists in the world, and end up to put together all the favorites in one big bike pack.

The race verdict was on the run! I left the transition as fast as I could, and by the mark of two kilometers I was already in the position I would cross the finish line. But was not easy to hold that second place, right on my back was running the hero and Argentinian idol Galindez!! I could measure how far he was just by the loud noise people were cheering!! A lot of them were cheering on me, but the cheers to Galindez was causing goosebumps even 20 secs ahead, where was me!

On the last stretch there was fellows almost closing the street with straight hands to greet the competitors, I've never seen so passionate triathlon fans before, the T-Rex could easily reach to clap all the hands on both sides!! There is no other triathlon like this! I was imagining how impossible would be a finish sprint with that many people wanting to celebrate with the top finishers!
Well, afraid of losing my position I finished strong, even running sideways for a while trying to pass through those many folks!

I assured my placing! The 3rd athlete came 16 secs behind! I assured my place! Where I wanted to be.

Right up there!! On the VIP area of that party, did not bother me at all, those many pieces of paper sticking on my champagne sticky body!! Goal reached!!

I couldn't forget to mention that I met some really nice friends!
We have made some workouts together, and also had a good time enjoying the city!
They all raced on Saturday, the age-group race. As we had agreeded, the barbecue post race had some of the awards champagne, and ferne with choripan (traditional drink and food in Argentina)!
Besides a great race, I also had a great stay!!

Hasta el próximo año!!

Know Pain, Know Gain!!

Posting some images of 2012 season!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!!

Ironman Cozumel

Yeahhh!! I did it!! 11h01min46sec to cross the finish line here at Cozumel!!

List of goals:

Swim in the first pack:  (felt good, but bad positioning) 

Go all out on the bike (fearless):  (died on the last 14miles!) pretty happy with bike split though!
Marathon under 3h:  no
Finish in top 8: no
Finish sub 9h:  no
Have Fun:  oww yeahh!! (more than planned - 11h!)

Finish:  Yea!! I did it!! 

Except for the last 14 miles on the bike, I felt good on the whole course.

The swim had a huge current against us for the first 0.6 mile, and I was on the further possible point from the shore, I mean the worst spot someone could be! :( I managed to get some positions back after the first buoy, but I have lost the 1st pack, which was my goal...

I had a terrible start on the bike. I got scared starting 112 miles like that, my legs were in pain since the first effort!! Luckily my quads warmed up in time to ride with the group that just caught me on the second mile...
In a three lap circuit, we started passing many age-groupers, and with a big rhythm variation I was a couple times very close to the next athlete, so ended up getting a draft penalty...

(Two days before on the race start!!)

2 minutes at the tent and I came back flying on the course, I was angry and felt strong!! On the next 30 miles I thought I could catch those guys again... Then I broke!! I was crawling with my bike for the last 14 miles!! And thats when everything annoys you: my feet were hurting, the bike seat was uncomfortable, I was getting hungry, the wind was against me, the heat was coming up and even the legs were getting tired!! :)
Soon another group passed by me, but I couldn't push it anymore, I was looking forward to get my special needs bike bag and get some treats!! Weew, so glad I filled that bag!!

That happened before on training days and I was prepared to fight it! So after agonizing for those 14 miles, I couldn't wait to put my feet on the ground, I knew I would feel better on the run, and I was right! I got really easy at the beginning, first 5km was sub 21min, I was going to finish easily sub 9hours!!

But then my knee yelled louder...  I have been injured since a month ago. It messed up quite a bit my training schedule, but it was over control on last days and I thought it would be gone on the race day. No, still there! And I alternated run with walking until half marathon, on 13 miles to go I had to decide if I would quit or finish the whole thing walking, because hurting my knee was not on the plan...

(With coach Siri!)

I had time to finish that! I had 8 hours to walk a half marathon!
Would be worth just to finish it!??

Ironman is an Ironman!! So many people walk, cry, craw and do whatever they can to make those 140.6 miles!! I had to complete that journey!! Plus quitting on the first Ironman would not be a good karma...

I thought for a while: When I was on the army, I did a 32k march, carrying 20kg of equipment, with no food, stopping every 3 hours just for a 15min nap, and cheering for the soldier in front of me doesn't fall, otherwise I would have to carry his equipment if not him till the end!
Yeahhh this walk was becoming really easy! Water, coke and gatorade at will, with music every 2 miles, people cheering me up everywhere, and the only thing I had to carry was as much chocolate bars I could hold in my hands!! :)

With no doubts I finished the mission!!
That was super cool!! When I crossed the line was already dark, and the finish line had so many lights that seemed I was entering in another dimension... "You are an Ironman" I heard from the speakers!! hahaha

It was great! Very happy with my performance until the sore knee...
Not satisfied... Im looking forward to the next one!!

Updating 172.7 miles!!

As I am used to do in triathlon, here goes 3 (race reports) at once!!

Sep 30th, LA Herbalife Triathlon: Feeling practically at home, I raced the traditional olympic distance race. Starting from Venice beach and racing up to downtown! I had a good swim but getting out of the water I got two big waves on my back, I couldn't ride them, so I just took a big breath and let them "pull" me (kinda submerse ride, ok I almost drowned!! haha). On the bike and run I went as fast as I could, it was really hurting! I finished in 13th place with 1h56min02sec.

Oct 14th, The Magic Mountain Man: The toughest 70.3 triathlon in the US, the bike course has 6.800 feet gain on elevation over 56miles! While competing I thought something was wrong as my watch was marking 1h30min into the race and my bike computer showed me at only mile 10 on the bike!! :-O The course was great and besides the toughness, powered by strong winds, I really had fun racing at Castaic Lake! I was the first one to cross the finish line at 5h11min31sec!! So couldn't be better!! :-)

Oct 28th, Austin 70.3: This was my last and best 70.3 of this season!! So its fair to spend a few more lines describing the affair!

Everything was going great even before getting the flight from LAX, where Jennifer Tetrick and I were with 2 bikes packed in one box trying to save a hundred bucks but instead we saved 200 hundred!!
On the trip I was telling Jen that we should try to watch the bats. I've been to Austin several times, but never had the chance to watch them! There are thousands of bats under a bridge, and every day when the sun goes down they leave in a huge pack flying away from under the bridge!!

Out of the airport we went freezing to the hotel, dropped everything there and went to Jack and Adams bike shop to get some warm racing gear (gloves and toe covers were the urgent items!). As the sun was setting down we decided to jog 20 minutes at the Town Lake, which is a couple yards from the bike shop, and guess what!? Passing under a bridge we could hear a bunch of high pitched noises, and when I saw all those people on the other side, I got it immediately! "Stop!" I said, "lets watch the bats!" And 1 or 2 minutes later there was a huge cloud of bats flying out from under the bridge!! Darn cool!!

On Saturday was the race briefing, we also went for a short ride on the course and a some swim strokes at Barton Springs, definitively my favorite swim pool!!

"PENDING LARRY QUOTE"

The race...

My swim was astonishing!! I started with a good rhythm and suddenly I was leading with two other guys. It felt easy to hold that pace. So I thought "Something is not right, Andy Potts is here, so there is no way the swim could feel that easy!" I looked forward 3 or 4 times trying to find someone ahead of us, but that was it, no other competitor on the sight. Awesome!! I left the water in 3rd position and ready to smash the pedals!!

I felt great on the bike, but had a big negative point: lack of confidence... I was going all out, but when others passed me I did not try to ride on their pace while maintaining legal distance. Finally, I rode near two athletes who caught me on mile 15.
On the run, it took a while for me to warm up. I got some quad cramps but could manage after the first 4 miles. I finished strong and happy in 6th place at 4h03min47sec.

Curiously Jennifer and I had raced the Long Horn 70.3 three years before!! I stole the idea from her's race report at Jennifer's blog to compare the times on both editions and I was surprised, only two seconds faster!! While in 2009 my t2 was longer due to a draft penalty, this year I spent more time at t1 as I wore a jacket and gloves!!

2009 - 15th place

00:23:23  t1-1'56"

02:21:51  t2-2'48"

01:13:51

tot- 04:03:49

2012 - 6th place

00:23:10  t1-2'08"

02:20:20  t2-1'20"

01:16:49

tot- 04:03:47