EPIC MONTH

It really was an epic month. lets see.... Trans portugal 9 stage MTB race, Ironman Texas and this weekend, one week after Texas, an Half ironman here in Portugal.

The race was fine, to be honest i had a terrific recovery from the ironman. and actually felt better leading to this race than to Ironman Texas.

I was second in a very close finish with Hugo ventura that is a tremendous athlete and one to watch if he gets into this long distance stuff.

Ventura has an amazing swim/bike strenght, i already had 4 min after the swim to recover as he was the first out of the water and i was somewhere around 10th. i felt better in the water too when compared to last week. I paced well in the ride, an out and back course of 4 laps with wind picking up really hard during the ride. hugo Ventura still managed to gain time on me, especially at the first 2 laps while i shaved a bit in the last lap. Still there was a big gap to the lead but i made my way out of the bike course in second already with a 1:14 ride while hugo posted 1:12.  I was already happy just for not dragging my body through the course and was even more happy that i was feeling well, of course considering that ive done an ironman right ;)

I was hoping that hugo would have problems on the run as it is his weak spot right now or at least it could be in this race. I started in a pace that i felt confortably fast as i had Rafael and Estrangeiro on my heels especially in that first lap (of 5) where they got closer like 30 sec after arriving 1 min later to t2. i wasnt properly counting og getting to ventura on the run, just ran hard as i was enjoying the race. second lap i got away from the duo chasing me and got closer but not much to the lead. 3rd lap i finally got a chance to see ventura on the 2 out and back sections of the lap and 4th lap i took a ton of time, at some point i tought i could do it and catch him i ran as i hard as i could an at the last turn around of the final lap, around 1km to the end i was VERY close to him and he was in all sorts of trouble. I didnt quite made it to the lead for a mere 25s aaaarg the run should be a few meters longer ;)

finished with 4h:01m with the joy of having a fun day of racing and the fastest run. Ill have to congrat Hugo Ventura for his win especially while digging so deep to keep me of his heels on the run.

With this crazy month over, ill have time to prepare for another great month of racing....starting with ironman France at the end of june.