Day three!!

The third day in New Zealand was the busiest!!! 

Renata, Sergey and Marie took the day off from work and we went for a tourist, adventure marathon!!

We started at Muriwai beach on the Tasmanian Sea.

We watched Gannets, the birds that can fly up to 60mph and dive down over 40 yards to catch fish!

Hundreds of gannets!

Great views!!!

The Tasmanian Sea is characterized by the rough and cold water, and the black sand.

We hopped into the freezing water to body surf...
Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then began our jungle adventure!

We navigated through many obstacles over 25 yards up attached onto the trees...

Equipment checked!

The tyrolean was the best!!! Woohooo

There were 12 courses with different levels of difficulty.

Sergey takes a break!!

We spent almost 90 minutes climbing on hopes and hitting our shins on wood!! ouch!! lol

After leaving the jungle, we relaxed at a Spas... 

We Challenged each other swimming and raced, my arms never felt so heavy!!

Sergey insisted I not leave NZ without trying Bikram Yoga, so that was our next stop...

Luckily I had a swimming suit on under my clothes. After the first asana, I took everything off except my swimming trunks... In a 105°F room we exercised for 90 min. OMG, I was almost dying!! 

Never before had I seen so much sweat draining from my body. During some stances I could not count the drops falling onto my towel. I took some breaks but showed my stamina by completing the full session!! Afterwards, my towel was at least 5kg heavier!

After drinking several liters of water, we finished the day chilling out and singing karaoke!! 

This long day left me without arms, legs or a voice to use to cry for help!! lol

Day II, Part II: Mount Maunganui

As I wrote in last post, right after the bungy, I drove to Mount Maunganui...

Without thinking, I ran up it!!

There was such beauty that I stopped every minute to take a picture!!

I ran at a steady pace and reached the summit in 12 minutes!!

Actually to get to the highest point it took 12min 23sec!! lol

Lots of colors and life in NZD!!

Going downhill is always easier!!

Here is another shot!!

The ocean beckoned me to race an aquathlon, so I hopped into the water!!

Without a wetsuit, 6 min was too long in that freezing water!!!

I could not fit the whole view in a single panorama!

Taking a break before driving home...

Day II, part I: Bungyyy!

With beautiful views such as this, the 200 mile drive passed quickly!!

My friends were not on vacation yet, so I left early for a solo trip to the famous Taupo's Bungy!! 

Once I got there, I did not have time to be afraid! 

With no line, in 5 minutes, I was already getting ready to jump... 

Everything was amazing!! Here I am on the platform...

I hesitated for a couple seconds, but jumped... Myyy Gossh!!
I could feel Death so close; that was really nerve-racking!!
I couldn't even scream.  I felt like I was suffocating, seeing the lake approach so quickly...
It is only three seconds but felt like an eternity, at almost 60 mph!!

Getting into the water was a relief.  The entry was so soft and when I opened my eyes again, I was already close to 25 yards up... Wheww! Another shock!! lol

A bit more calm, I could yell a "Wohooo!!"  It felt like my heart exploded in my chest!! Today my heart is certainly at least an inch bigger!! hahaha

When the boat picked me up, the feeling was beyond description; it felt like being born again.  I was alive, even light-headed, and not able to control my breath! hehehe

I ran to the platform laughing at nothing, thinking only about doing it again... The second one was half price and after a 200 miles drive, I thought it would be worth it. I also thought the second one would be easier... (I was completely wrong!)

I bought the nonrefundable ticket, and on the platform's first step I realized how bad my idea was...

I was still traumatized by the death sensation... It took me longer to jump, but I would not give up!! 

Take a look and listen to the frightened scream I made once there was no ground beneath me...

All is well that ends well, I guess.  After bungy, I drove towards Mount Maunganui, another awesome beach, where I climbed a hill with stunning views!! I will post the pictures soon!! 

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!!

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!!!

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.

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!!!