44th week of the 2011 season

153

I finally raced. Last Sunday I finished Ironman Wales; by finishing I also finished my first triathlon. Now if I want to I will be able to take part in shorter races. I know I can go long now. This week has been awkward for me because I did not know how to really handle it. I had a lot of different inputs from the same source or from different sources so I just played the most conservative one.

I started on Monday with a swim, 55minutes of easy swimming with 500m at race pace after two thirds of the session. I was very happy because I actually made it under the expected time. I tried to keep all my sessions in the morning so I had time to finish everything in the afternoon.

On Tuesday I ran. It was an easy run of 45minutes where I had some strides after the warm up and afterwards I had some slightly above race pace pickups for 90 seconds with 3minutes rest. To be true I did not feel too good. I was getting tired but I did not pay much attention to it. Then in the evening I had a very special farewell.

On Wednesday I woke up very early after a short night. I had to squeeze in one last session before the journey it was only 35minutes on the trainer, I did not have time for some extra 10 minutes but it was ok, I had some race pace pickups and that was it, just to keep the muscles moving. Then I packed the bike and I when to the airport heading IM Wales in Tenby. I got there after one flight, one bus ride, 3 different trains and a final bus ride to make it to the hotel. On my way from Swansea to Tenby I shared the ride with a pro athlete; it was nice to share some impressions. Then we walked to the hotel, mine was nearer than his. After getting in to the room I went to seek for some dinner.

On Thursday I started to think more about the race since the first minute. I started to know what my breakfast would be like on race day. There I met another triathlete. After breakfast we shared a small talk and we decided to train together as long as our schedule would let us. I had scheduled a 1h bike ride with 15minutes run. Since his bike ride was longer he came with me for my hour and then we moved on, I ran and he finished his bike. And then I went to register and take it easy.

On Friday I had my day off. Complete rest. All I did is to go with my new friend and his dad to drive around the bike course. The bike course was hard. It was raining a little bit and it seemed dangerous. The wind was crazy hard and some roads where very narrow. With the given information it was hard to know if we were in the right place. After it we went to the race briefing and the pasta party.

On Saturday my friend and I went to swim a little bit at the new swim venue. Due to the weather the swim venue was moved from the South beach to the North beach. We did not swim for very long, 15 minutes and it was not even a good swim, I now know that we got there in a low tide and the water was very shallow, we were shocked. Then we went back to the hotel and we got ready for one last brick. We did about 35minutes on the bike with three one minute pickups and then we ran for 12minutes with two times one minute pickups. Then everyone started their own ritual to get to boxes. Before the bike check in I decided to take a look at my arm rests. They were giving me problems below my neck. Since in the expo they did not sell new ones I decided to make a small change to try to avoid that pain. To do so I had to drop my arm rests by about 1cm and I did not readjust my seat after doing that. I checked in my bike and I went to have my last dinner. I had chicken curry because of the rice; the curry was very mild so I knew it would be ok for my stomach. Then I went to sleep even though it took me a little while.

Finally it is Sunday, race day. I get up at 4am. I take a shower and I go to eat breakfast. I had corn flakes with skim milk and white toasts with strawberry jam. After breakfast my friend and I headed to the bike, we unwrapped our bikes, we pumped out tires, I clipped my shoes and I went to drop off my dry clothes bag. Then we went to get our wetsuit on and we headed to the start of the IM Wales. It was 6.40am when we got there, and that is when I had the first surprise of the day, the zip of my wetsuit seemed to be broken, luckily they were able to zip it for me. Then we warmed up a little bit and we split apart. The race was about to start. I started the swim pretty well at the front, I was feeling good and I was able to bridge between groups, which help me a lot to keep slower swimmers holding me back. The water was a little rough but I was confident. I got out of the water knowing I put on a good swim, I started to go up the ramp to get my shoes and I was feeling good. I ran quite fast that km till boxes. There I stripped my wetsuit I got ready for the bike and off I went. I jumped on the bike very nice and I was able to leave transition with a good feeling. After a few km on the bike I started to not feel too good. It was hard for me to keep up with the people around me and a lot of cyclists were passing me, it was very windy and we were facing it. After about 30km I started to feel a lot of discomfort on my lower back, I could not get in to aero position and the wind was stronger. I knew my bike goal was gone as well as the race goal was gone but I tried to hang in there. At the 90^th km my back was killing me, all I wanted to do was to stop and cry but at the same time this feeling of willing to cry was making me stronger to finish, the more I wanted to cry the more I wanted to finish. My feeding tactic was gone, I did not know what to do anymore, I had started drinking too much and it was not hot enough so I was getting even more anxious because I had to stop 4 times to evacuate. Around the 100^th km the hills were extremely steep and I was struggling with my pain. This pain was caused because the arm rest height change the day before. Some guy overtook me and said to me “I’ve heard that these climbs are brutal” from that moment I knew I was not doing an IM anymore I was doing a BrutalMan. The werst was yet to come. I started the second lap and it felt like it was never going to end. 30km before transition I could not move my back and I started to worry if it would affect my run because all I wanted to do was to start running. I knew I am a good runner and that I would nail it. Finally I made it to T2, I put my shoes on and I feel light and fast my back was not hurting me anymore and I just knew it was my chance to take advantage of my strength. I started to eat a lot of gels and to drink a lot of water and Gatorade. The first lap was fast, but then a few more problems occurred, first I started to feel a blister in my left foot before the end of the first lap, and then I started to feel some stomach discomfort, I knew I would have to stop for awhile but I was trying to stall the stop as much as I could I finished the second lap, under 90miuntes, insane! and it was after one third in the third lap that I had to stop to the bathroom for about 5 minutes. Since that moment I decided to stop eating gels and eat more crackers. I got off the toilette and it was raining. Nothing was going to stop me from having a good marathon. Luckily the rain stopped 10 minutes later so I did not have too much water in my shoes. It was hard to pass again the people that I had passed before my stop, but it did not matter. I finished the third lap feeling strong, slower, but strong and confident. When I was going uphill I thought that maybe at some point I would start walking a bit on the hills but when I got there I decided that I wanted to run, no walking for me except feed stations to get fluids. And I could see myself finishing but I still had some 5km to go. Going downhill was like a nightmare, the pounding was very hard on my quads but it did not matter, all I wanted to do was to finish strong. But the last surprise was waiting for me. At about 500 meters from the finish line there is this guy overtaking me and I said to myself “no fucking way this guys beats me!!!” 150meters later I was just in front of him again. I got my last band so it meant I was awarded the right to make it to the final chute, I look behind me and he is there, he is close to me and he is trying to pass me, I pick up the speed and I look behind, he can’t keep up with me, I ran faster, I look behind he is struggling, so I go one extra notch, I didn’t know where this power was coming from, and see the finish line, I look behind me, he is far I put my sunglasses on top of my visor I cross the finish line and I stopped the watch. I was tired but not exhausted, my legs hurt and I had forgotten about my lower back. I made it, I am an official finisher of an IronMan. I was walked to the athlete’s tent, it was cold but we could just get our dry clothes and a massage. Plenty of dirty food was waiting for us, we had fish n’ chips, chips, chocolate bars, sports drinks, … I got my massage, focused on my lower back. I put myself together and I went to pick up my bike and bags. I made it to the hotel, took a shower, answered to all my followers and I took a nap. After that I woke up and made it to the finish line to see the last athlete to finish, it was very cold and windy and it was impressive the way he made it. At the final line I met my friend and he told me he made it in 3^rd place in our age group, at that moment I was in 10^th place but then after the times were final I was 11^th and 102^nd overall. He will be going to Hawaii and I will be going home. After taking some pictures at the finish line I went to bed, but it took me a long way, not to mention my stomach decomposition that kept me going to the bathroom once per hour for 7h or so, it is normal with me in this kind of events. Most of the race I had been focused enough but there were some times that I had her with me.

So from what I heard many people feel proud of me to accomplish such feat. Well I am not too proud of myself. True it is it was my first triathlon and it was iron distance. True it is that people who have done many IM believe that this one was much harder than any other IM they have been and some of them have even raced Lanzarote, known for the hard bike course. But I am still disappointed to my bike performance, I should have done better.

Not having any onsite support does not mean that I did not feel your support. I have even felt it from those of you who are new in to my life. I would like to thank you all. From the ones who had to live with all my paranoia, to the ones who have assisted, to my training partners and those of you who I made our conversations impossible because I only talked about this, to even the people who did not let me rest to spend the last hours before the trip with them. Thank you all.

So the big question, what is next?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ZUXQuFcnw

43rd week of the 2011 season

153

This week has been an easy week in which I have finally been able to test my new material and where I have learnt to mount and dismount while moving.

So I started on Tuesday with a double session but because I had many things to do in the morning I was late to the swimming pool and I was able to only put 45 minutes of the 1h scheduled session. Then I went to work and after work I tried my new aero helmet for the first time. It was a brick session where I biked at nearly 33km/h feeling pretty good and then I did the run with two friends, 30minutes easy running.

On Wednesday I started the day with a swim. This week I have only put in endurance sessions or techniques sessions, no extra effort. Also my left shoulder is not feeling at its best but I can handle the discomfort. In the afternoon I had another easy brick of 45minutes on the bike and 15minutes run. Because it was such an easy day I decided that I would learn how to mount and dismount like a pro. So I went to an empty parking lot with the bike and I practiced it. At first I did not know how I was going to do it, and after trying it the hard way, start moving and jumping on, I had to break it down into parts and start from the basics. So I started to learn how to mount from stop and then I added some speed into it. Dismounting had been easier since the first day. To make it more realistic I had rubber bands so the shoe would stay in place.

On Thursday I gave myself a bit of resting from the pool and I actively recovered on the bike in the morning. Then in the afternoon I went for a run with a friend, we almost ran for one hour in which I decided to go very fast the last km, even though I could’ve gone a little faster or at least that’s what I thought, I ran 1km in 3mins6 seconds, not bad, but it could’ve been much better but when I tried it, it was after more than 45minutes hitting the road.

On Friday I did not start working out until the afternoon. I needed to try to get my ID ready to leave so I did not have time in the morning to train. My ID was not issued on Friday. After work I went to the swimming pool for an easy workout. After it I went home because it was late and I biked for another hour.

On Saturday it was a pretty crazy day rushing everywhere. I started my last brick of the week a little late because I decided to go to have breakfast with a friend and then I had to get ready for the session. I rode nearly 110km in 3h and 30minutes, nothing fancy but it worked and then I switched to run in 90seconds and ran the normal 30minutes run. I did not feel fast but I was definitely not slow. Since I reached “Can Gurí”. Then in the afternoon I got my haircut that I will be wearing on race day and I took a nap. At night I had a dinner. I had to skip work because of the lack of time.

On Sunday I tried how it would feel to swim with my newly repaired wetsuit and my race day clothes underneath. So I went to the beach dressed up and ready to swim. I did a pretty good workout of 30minutes in which I got 4 times off the water to run. I think I will be ready to run after the first lap on race day. Then I took the wetsuit off and I went back home. After it I went for a thirty minutes run. Once again I decided to go easy and just to run 4 strides of 90seconds, it turned out that I was faster than I thought.

This week was a little bit easier to stay focus even though I had many reasons to think in other things. I had great times with friends. I spent lots of time with them or at least more than I was used to it.

Sometimes it has been hard to start working out because the company was too good but I have put a lot of energy and time into training to just let it go.

Also on Saturday I got my bib number for the race. I will be racing with #1411. I hope the location in boxes is near the exit or it will suck. At least I have learnt to transition a lot faster.

The distance looks huge and even though sometimes I have some doubts I know I can perform well. I have trained pretty well in the past and that’s it. Next time I post it will be after the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU&feature=related

42nd week of the 2011 season

153

This week I did not feel right while training. I have hardly had good feelings once. I am not sure how much of the feelings were because I don’t see myself reaching my real goals or because my body was not in sound. But I did have some problems with shipments and equipment that are worrying me, but these happened at the end of the week and I hadn’t had good feelings since the first session. Right now I am fully booked ad I should not back up. I am too distracted also and I am not sure of what I want.

On Tuesday morning I had the first session of the week. I started off with a swim, the swim was nothing fancy, just some muscular endurance work but I was not able to reach my training paces as I was asked for. I was too slow all the time except for the first set, it was the easiest one. Then I went to work and in the afternoon I had my first brick of the week. 90minutes on the bike followed by a long transition, the transition was longer than 3 minutes which is unacceptable. Then I ran. During the bike I just wished it was over and during the run I had a hard time focusing it took me one lap to start running slightly focused. Also running with no references made it hard. I did not know if I was going fast or not, but the being so distracted made it look like no matter the pace was, the feeling was not good.

On Wednesday I hit off the pool in the morning for a short session mostly based on technique work, I wanted t have an active recovery session. In the afternoon I had scheduled a 75minutes run. Once again I was fast, this time I did have some reference points, but I did not enjoy it as I should’ve done. I felt slow and heavy even though I trained under 4minutes per Kilometer, which at the same time this is too fast and I should’ve not done it.

On Thursday I started with a brick session. Once again I needed more than 3 minutes for the transition, not acceptable, plus I had to shorten the run. I did not feel very good on the bike but the problems came during the run. I felt some discomfort on my right knee, the one that got hit the Saturday before while playing crash cars with friends. It was scheduled a 45minutes run of which I did 30. In the afternoon I went to the swimming pool. I felt slightly better on it but not good yet.

Finally on Friday I had a session with good feelings. I swam in the morning and I was able to complete all my swims within schedule and at the required speed which sometimes it was not easy. I was able to complete 500m faster than my T-pace, I had never done that. Later that day, I did one more brick. This time I struggled a little bit on the bike and during the run I did not feel comfortable during the first lap and I was actually happier that the second lap was faster.

On Saturday, I woke up early and I went to the beach. Once there I did my in and out of the water session. This time unlike the last time that I did something similar, the swim was very short, about 3 minutes long and then I had to run and back to the water. I did not have the same feelings as the last time but it was almost everything ok until I got home. The zip of my wetsuit is broken and I am not sure that I can have it repaired. I have been searching for solutions but none of them quite fit me yet. I just wish I can repair it. I tried to get some sleep and go for a recovery run. I did not feel even good on it. Was I maybe going too fast? It could be but the times showed me that I was going slower than normal but the feeling was not good.

I had saved Sunday for the hardest workout of the week. 4h on the bike plus 45minutes running. I was slow on the bike, maybe it was because of the win and the climbs but I did not feel fast, plus I had a hard time getting aero after the 1^st hour. I met with a guy that actually helped me to go faster on one of the climbs and showed me how I should go downhill, I was chasing him fairly well until I had a couple of misshapen and I backed up a little bit. But once we hit the flat I could’ve easily left him behind. I transitioned quite fast this time and I took off for a run. It was faster than before but not quite the pace that I wanted to.

This week has not been a very good one. I did not feel good anywhere. I felt like a stranger and sometimes I felt guilty. I don’t know why I felt like this but I hope it ends soon.

Every once in a while; especially when things don’t go my way I tend to tear everything apart. Now it is one of those moments. I want to drop everything, I want to brake with everything and I want to live outside of the corset that I feel like I am.

It is hard to have goals and that such goals will not be met and it is even harder to work tons of hour for it and not achieving them. I want to fight and meet my goals. I truly want to do it but I also have to be realistic.

What will it take me to be happy after the Mdot? What if I achieve my ultimate goal? What if even I don’t achieve it I achieve the ones that could just be even harder to meet? Even though I have been thinking a lot about new races, will I want to continue? Will my lifestyle let me train? Will I want to train that hard? How badly do I want to meet my goals? It is not that I have not finished one race that I am starting to think about a new one. I have some goals that I would like to accomplish and maybe I will need to race more to achieve them.

Right now I am tired of this bullshit. What we have might be more than we have ever expected but it is not enough for me. Is it time to take action? Do I foresee a fork in the road? Our routine is no longer enough. I might have agreed to that in the past but we were all different at that moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up8l4k1YA9g&feature=related

41st week of the 2011 season

153

This adaptation week has been full of bad feelings from the beginning to almost the end. My mind, my body and my training plan seemed to move in to different directions. My mind was not focused, my body wanted to go fast and my plan wanted me to take it easier.

I don’t usually talk about Mondays if I did not train but this time will be different because here is where the bad feelings started. I woke up with swollen legs, ankles and feet. And I also visited my physiotherapist for my shoulder injury which is not feeling good yet but better.

On Tuesday I resumed my normal training. Well I have been doing the swim at the end of the day. I started with a one hour bike ride followed by 30minutesrun. It was not supposed to be a transition but I had to do it like that as I was a bit late. I felt slow in the run and it could be because of the swollen legs. After work I went to swim, my shoulder was not feeling great but since it was a fairly easy day I made it through, also I was aware that my arm would be a little sore from the treatment.

On Wednesday, I did something similar as Tuesday but shorter. It was a 45minutes bike ride followed by a quick transition with 15miuntes running where I had felt slightly faster than the day before. After work I went to the swimming pool for a good swim but it does not mean that I was feeling any better. Also I had an incident that I did not understand what the argue was because it was all solved the next day. But I left work with a bitter taste in my mouth. Then I enjoyed talking to a friend and watching the game.

On Thursday there was no morning session and there was only an easy run in the afternoon. The run did not go well again. I started fast and I ended up fast as well. Sure I enjoy going that fast but I needed to stay within the training plan and running 10 to 15 seconds faster than expected race pace is not good.

On Friday, I had a 1h bike ride in the morning and then after work I only had one hour swim where I actually felt a little bit better for the first time in two weeks. But Friday after work had been very busy because I had to take my front wheel for a check because it was not spinning well since the accident.

Saturday was a busy day and slightly off the training plan but it was ok this time, it was planned that way. I started my bike ride in St Feliu, the feelings were awful, I was pushing an easy gear but I was going very slowly. I could not understand that. It turned out my newly recentered wheel was touching my brake pad it took me about 15 minutes to realize about that, from that point I was not able to focus, I kept checking the wheel and I did not enjoy the ride. For some reason those 3h felt long. Then I transitioned in 3minutes which it is not bad when you think everything I had to do to do the transition, I had to put the bike in the car and start running with a friend. Usually I would have only run for 15minutes but he got me into running a bit longer, good thing is that he slows me down so running 42 minutes was not very taxing for me and the pace was good enough. Then I went to the beach, I should’ve not done that. I know how bad it is for me at this moment and I did not have a proper nutrition after the workout. Also it did not pay off as much as I expected. After the beach I went out for dinner with some friends but I went to sleep fairly early because I had to train the next day.

Sunday was short and easy but very important. I had to complete my last swim test which it was fairly good and low in shoulder discomfort. The test was fairly good if I take into account that I had been injured from shoulder and knee. Yes I hit my knee yesterday and I have a bruise that does not let me push off the wall very well. The result of the test was 90seconds per 100m which are the same results as the last test. After the swim I went for a 30minutes run. I was feeling fairly good even though my knee condition. I was not trying to go fast but I actually did a few more meters than usual so I guess I was going faster than normal, but ta least the feelings were good.

This week I had too many distractions that kept me from sleeping much again. I had a friend visiting the same day of the soccer game, we did not sleep much, then I had to do some chores and I also had a dinner that ended up late. But these short hours of sleep were worth the company.

She finally open up to me and I don’t see as much of a problem as she sees, I guess I am not in her shoes. I enjoy spending these little moments with her and I enjoy when we lie to each other until we decide that we did not mean anything we said. I still need to understand a few things but so far so good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlXOAEvupFU&feature=related

40th week of the 2011 season

153

This has been my first crash week ever. It has been a bicycle one. Few reasons to it. Biking is my weakness, biking has low impact, my shoulder was injured and I could not swim.

I actually started the week on Monday with a run. It was only a one hour run just to get the feeling of it since last Sunday I could not do it. Afterwards I was supposed to go to my physiotherapist but we had to cancel it.

On Tuesday I resumed my training plan. I biked in the morning. Then in the afternoon I decided to go for a bike run again but this time was outdoors. This time I did not feel very safe on the bike since I had the accident last Saturday and this was my first solo ride since then. It felt like the bike and I were not in sync. After the bike ride I went to the physiotherapist to get my treatment, he used some dry needling technique and then I left for a 1h run.

On Wednesday, I biked for 90 minutes in the morning. And then after work I did my transition. It was a pretty hard day and I had to take a nap before I could do the second session. I had not had much sleep lately and I needed some. It was one of my first nights running in my home town and I managed fairly well to do in only two non identical laps my 45mins run.

On Thursday morning I had my recovery ride. 40minutes of easy spinning. Just to get some air in my body. Then After work I ran with a coworker. It was his first day running with me and it might be his last one. He told me he would be fast enough but he was not used to the heat. I was running very easy for me but he was almost racing. We did 10km together, then I left them and I started my second hour of training at a much higher pace, the second pace was over 1minutes faster per km.

On Friday I did 4 sessions of training. The first one was a 90minutes bike ride. The second one was my first swim of the week. I did not know how my shoulder was going to react and it reacted quite well. I felt some discomfort but I am not sure whether it was my injury or my scratch from the accident. After that I went for a 30minutes run and once I was back home I did 1h on the trainer, just to get some force work done.

Saturday was one of the toughest days I had this season. It was very hot, I was all on my own and I had 5h of riding and 45minutes of running ahead of me. The bike was not very fast, maybe faster than I could first think but nothing close to what I want to call fast. At the end of the ride it was very windy that blew all my effort after the turn around point. Then I went for the run, I did over 10.5km, which is ¼ of the marathon in 45minutes. The pace was a little slower than I wanted. For the first 7minutes my legs were not running properly but then they loosen up and I started to run much better. It was very hot and I struggled to finish. At almost the end of the run I had to stop at the fountain and get some extra water to be thrown over my head to cool off. It left me very tired but after a 90minutes nap I was recovered to do normal life again.

Sunday was an awesome day, I did not feel as tired as I expected to. I put up a show for all the people at the beach at that time. It was hot but I needed to train my wetsuit. The session was to swim for 14 minutes then get out of the water run a bit and back to the water and I did that for one hour. The feeling from swimming to running and back to swimming is fun, but the best part is after the run when you can hardly breathe and jump into the water and the next 4 strokes are just to recover from the run and then you are ready to start swimming fast again. The shoulder did not bother me much. Then I went back home, took a nap and run for one hour in the sun. It was very hot but I managed it pretty well this time.

The closer I get to race day the more I respect it. Fear would not be the appropriate word and I like the respect one. I think my goals will be hard to meet but I will fight for them.

Right now the work is done and there is very little room to improve if there is any. I have trained hard and all the work is in my legs and arms. The question is whether I have trained well or not. Did I give everything when I had to do it and did I hold it when I had to? Did I do my hard days hard enough and my easy days easy enough?

This week I also had a very strange talk with a friend. I have not had many talks like this in my life, it was probably the first time. It is nice because we both opened up but the circumstances of both of us don’t leave much room for anything. It is weird how strong we can be and how vulnerable we can be in two different moments not very far apart.

I need to let the reason to take over my heart or I will have problems. I have put a lot of effort into it and it is not now time to blow it off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LMgO4JyBp4