50th place at Yokohama Dextro World Champs...

The race was hot, really hot!!! Before the start I was already dripping over my stuff on the transition area... But this was not close the reason for my poor performance, still need to work on some details...

I lost the first huge pack for about 10 secs, and pay the price of high self-confidence, when I rode almost the 40km without an aerobar and race wheels, I was pretty confident of leaving the water on a group pack..

I started to run completely exhausted, and since the beginning I was fighting through pain, I tried many reactions but my body was not reacting... So I ran to the finish line just fighting against my self, but not chasing points or positions...

I was really disappointed because, just finishing a race was not something I was looking for in Japan, but as I read the other day on someone twitter: "In life we should not expect the storm to pass, but we need to learn how to dance in the rain!"

So lets hang out in Japan!!

Sharks for anyone!?? At least if one day you got a bite, you both are even!!! lol

Crazy people in Japan... Here the weird hat, and Fabio naked!! lol

Delights in Chinatown!!!

This guy makes pictures with only a scissor!! Incredible!!

Avatar!

Curious!

"Sorry, if you can't speak Japanese, You don't stay at our hotel by disaster" :-o

Metro Station of Motomachi!

Walking around Yokohama!

Just arriving from the Airport, Yokohama on Tokyo Bay is the second city on population from Japan.

The Japanese people is very witty, so on each block I was awarded with a different wonder like that!!

Any sightseeing in Japan is like a dream! I could spend hours in any tent, temple, restaurant and even on a grocery store!! Soooo diferent!!

On this temple I could find some similarity with Brazil!! Maybe that guardian is dancing some Brazilian stuff!!

 http://youtu.be/CvbOhDr6a6A

Some exotic food, can't wait after the race!!

The God of the sea, bring me some good luck!! Ryujim Dragon...

Watashi wa Vanha desu!! Haiii

Amazing all the details...

The goal for this race is to be better than the guy I was yesterday!!

The start would be at 11:00 am on Monday, so 7:00 pm on Sunday for CA...

The race will be broadcast live on www.triathlon.org

The Boomerang Effect

In Brazil sometimes we say that everything that goes, one day will comes back ...
This is not an exact rule, and I like the example of the boomerang because first comes the "BOOM" I mean, we must break the inertia and make a great effort more or less calculated to throw it... and then if get it back in your hands "Merang", otherwise it always still lots of fun!!

After nearly six months away from home, I returned to Curitiba!
How good is to change, get out of routine, spend a few days at home, train in the cold (not that fun), seeing family and friends!
Energy recharged!

Sometimes I feel so tired of traveling... This nomadic life is not that cool!
But if you want to achieve something big, you need to pay the price and BOOM!
Here I go and in the next five Tuesdays I will be embarking on a plane "going and returning": a week in LA, one week in Japan, one more week in LA, another in Brazil, time for a Mexican one, and again I stop in the U.S. !
I say one week, but it will be actually five days because the other 48 hours I'll be sitting trying to sleep between the skies and airports of many different countries!
OMG... it accurately portrays the pursuit of an Olympic place!
Living the dream! :-)

Well, I was not only boomeranging at Caiobá - Brazil, but also participated in an open water challenge!

The crazy one without a wetsuit in the picture is me!
I was swimming well, but got stuck in some currents, what made me lose a lot of time! I swam about 15 minutes worse than last time and finished in 5th place, finishing the aprox. 3 km in 55 minutes.
Congratulations to all who completed the challenge, was not an easy one!

This week I'm in Los Angeles and the next stop will be in Yokohama - Japan, the race was postponed after the terrible tsunami that shocked the world.
The race is a stage of the 2012 World Championships and also distribute points for Olympic ranking.

Here we goooooooooo!!!!!

Top 5 on Panamerican Sprint Triathlon Champ!!

I always love racing in Espírito Santo, Brazil!
I like the beach, the warm weather and as I lived in Barra do Jucu (a small town there) for 2 years, I have a bunch of good friends!

My race was pretty good, I raced always on the first pack since the swim portion (What did not happen on the last ones). When cycling I tried a few attacks but unsuccessfully we went out to run on a big pack with maybe 20 athletes ...
I started really strong and was exhausted at the end, the 4th place was so close but couldn't reach it!
I placed 5th scoring some extra points on the World ITU Ranking and feeling much more confident for the next stage of the World Championships in Yokohama, Japan on September 19th.

19th Vanhaaa! yeah, Monday! OMG! I was sure that the race would be on Sunday and ended up having to spend an extra money to postpone a day on my way back... :-S

A day after the race I went to a ride at Rodosol, the route I was used to train every day for 2 years!! I went until Buenos Aires! Donde no se habla castellano, but I almost danced a Tango ...

When I just turned, I had a flat for the second time... 60km from Vitória, with no more tubes, pump or a phone! Still having some carbohydrates and the equivalent of 3 USD! "F$%&"!
I pushed the bike for about 5 minutes when luckily I found Mr.Ari, who called Mr.Eriundo while passing on his bicycle. This one said he had some patches at home, and in a very good mood he went to pick up them...
Perfect! The patches were great and he also brought some glue!

The problem was after fix it with no pump. My friend Richard, lent one of those little CO2, which worked beautifully in the first time, and in 3 seconds the wheel was with about 100 psi!
The problem was that this was my first experience with the CO2 cylinders, and I learned that you cant pump up twice with the same cylinder! :-(

Well, Eriundo seeing my situation went back home cycling to get a pump, that he said could also inflate a car tire! And with no choice but hope, I waited for the newest friend while trying to think how I could get home! Buenos Aires is a humble place among Guarapari mountains in the middle of nothing, nothing at all!

While I was already thinking to knock each of those wood houses doors asking for a phone, I heard the horn of Eriundo's bike coming down on that road...
The pump would not work for my tube type, but in a few minutes of thoughts I took a piece of tape from my handlebars involving the tube nozzle, and it works!

I came the way back already waiting for another flat,  because the tire was not well calibrated and I still having 60km of road...

Whew! The tire resisted! and I'm here to tell the whole story!

(photos by Pauta Livre and Pamela, thanks!)

Blog Updating!!!

Almost 100% recovered from the accident things are going well here in LA!

The workouts have being SUPER and the more I travel and training, the more I realize I know nothing about the world, and neither about myself! Training with Siri Lindley was indeed is a revolution in my professional life, I am learning a lot about how to face the training and races, learning about my own mind ...

You know when sometimes we get strenght from somewhere we don't know and have no idea how we did it!? Here I learned where to find this extra energy and that becames a habit to overcome myself every day in each single workout ... Sometimes I'm pissed! Because after several days training "balls to the wall", I think: Ok, today I am going easy because my legs, arms, abs, back, I mean everything is sore! Once the training starts I just kill myself and I go for one of best sessions ever!! Hence I think again: "All right, tomorrow I'll calm down!" and guess what!! Lol

On this pic I was climbing one of the Malibu mountains... Thanks for the best helmet ever Jay!!

Almost five months away from home still have some misunderstandings when speaking English witch can be very funny!
These days I was saying that the training was so strong that I was crapping in the pool! (instead of cramping)...
And the other day I said we need hookers to put the bike in!! (instead of hooks)... OMG!!

Besides training, these days I was chilling out on Venice Beach!
I did not tattoo, piercing or found an alternative treatment with marijuana! lol
But I bought a blue foot! So now I can move quickly anywhere using my own foot!!
The problem are the stumbles on my thumbs!!
Ouuchhh!!

Crash on the bike ride...

Unfortunately yesterday I attended a trial of Giro Helium helmet!

I was returning from a 3 hours ride with my "team mates" Chris Foster and Colin O'Brady, when a car crossed ahead and I was the first to hit it...

Not many time to think and I was flying over the hood of that Mercedes and I can exactly remember smacking the ground with my head, when it seemed that my neck was being flattened, just like the enemies in Super Mario Bros when they were crushed at the somersault!

My first thought was ... "F # $% I will not be able to train for a long time ..."
The second was... "Damn.. if I get into the ambulance I will going to spend $ 5,000..."
(That is something new for me, cause in Brasil no one pay for this service)

After a few minutes with the adrenaline coming down, I realized that was no apparent serious damage, and I thought about the things that really matter... later I went to the hospital to make sure that the cervical spine would be fine!

Thank goodness that I only suffered some scratches on my leg and elbow beyond the punch in the head ...
I'm still feeling a lot of pain at the top of the column, and can barely turn my neck, but I'm very optimistic that more few days I will be ready to get back to work!

My team mate, Chris Foster, had the most ugly injure, and had 22 stitches in the arm ... The photos of the accident seems a medicine book because you can see the layer of fat over the muscle tissue ... In the picture above you can have an idea, I'll save you from the study of tissues!

I can only be appreciated for all the friends who gave me a big support, and were always ready for my screams! What to say about my American family, Crista who would not let me go home without going to the hospital and check everything, they are all super!!

Well... helmet approved! Tomorrow I will see if the bike still working, and continue the battle in the World Cup Triathlon!

DNF at Edmonton World Cup...

Another race, and I was super excited (like the shot above :-S), I believed that I would at least make the second pack of swimmers... But I had no chance, I swam so badly and ended up with the last guys, I was exhausted  and could barely run in the sand on the way to get my bike...

Not much to say about the race result... It was so painful to give up. I feel I have a social responsibility, because I am not only investing my life, but the time of many people to reach my Olympic goal. I know I did my best, but something was lacking, so I decided to not participate in the upcoming World Cups. As for the next couple of days I will invest time in training.

I'm not at my happiest, but I'm not close to quitting! I told myself that I would continue racing until 2012 with or without sponsorship and like I said this will be!

I cannot complain, this year is been pretty good. Here in America things are going really well! I am very lucky to have found a great team with Siri Lindley, great friends and training partners. And what about my American family! Crista and Mark accompanied me in Edmonton and gave me huge support, we had so much fun, despite the bad result...

So let's goooo... time to train!!!