Monday, July 16, 2018

Triatlon Vitoria (ironman)


Quick note for nobody to read about the last Ironman distance race in Vitoria.

To start, this is an awesome race, organizers where able through the years to steadily increase the reputation and size of this race. I like to compare it to how Challenge Roth developed after ditching Ironman brand. The atmosphere as everyone would expect from a Basque coutry Race is very enthusiastic especially of course for the locals and then countrymen.

This was the race that I wanted to perform well physically that would correspond to a great overall classification.
I will skip the preparations and the where uneventful except the regular stress to leave work and all things related to work done so I can have some peace of mind, all this pretty to say but never happens ;)
Anyway, straight to the swim, I almost had a decent swim. the 2 lap course was full of athletes and at the end of the first lap we caught the slow guys from the Half ironman that started 15min earlier, through the confusion I lost my beloved feet from the 54-55 min group. in the dry land loop I was like 15s back of the group and alone, I tried to catch then until 3/4 of the swim but was unable to do so and then I just blew up, probably for not having enough miles at the pool. the last quarter of the swim was somewhat never-ending story and was caught at the end by the 57group that had most of the favorites which was ok.



Onto the ride, the course is a lovely 2,5 laps through the countryside with flat parts and rolling hills. This started pretty well, until 30km the course had very short hills and downhill, villages etc. The group got bigger immediately as the pace was quite high. Some dropped some pulled away but mainly everyone was very nervous to control everyone. I won’t go long (very) on this but the dynamics of a legal pace line weren’t being followed like when someone passes a group of athletes that are riding a legal paceline he needs to move to the front of the group and cant slot in in the middle of the group. The thing is, nobody wanted to move to the lead slotting in whenever they feel like, this happened to me in 20km for like 5 times, the rest is simple physics, if you’re riding legal distance and a short steep hill comes by, everyone will bunch up, especially with the nervous behavior. Bang Penalty for me with just like 20km (5 min). Lets be clear on this I was definitely inside the draft zone for several singular occasions like I have explained, and if I didn’t want to risk I should just have gone solo BUT if a penalty was served it should have been to EVERYONE in that group in the first 30-40 min of the ride except for the leader of the group that although wasn’t the one leading when I was penalized but as long as I was there Diego Paredes was the man that was 80 90% of the time in front. I served my penalty and then had to decide what to do, I decided to try cut losses and see what happens, the rest of the ride besides passing some isolated athletes it was a lonely effort but was able to shave some time off from all the groups at the course. I was actually quite happy with my ride and felt quite strong although I raced by feeling through the entire course but the group dynamics ahead of me clearly showed that unless you are Kiele its hard to stay close without burning all the matches available.


The run was ok, I felt tired from the bike but I was rolling, passed a few guys but honestly I didn’t have a clue where I was, I did know that there where several athletes ahead from the out and back parts of the bike. I ran 2:58 but honestly I felt kind of numb the entire run maybe because of how everything unfolded, I think I could squeeze a lot more from that run but overall it was fine, it sure would be different if everyone in the same circumstances where penalized... 8th place, 8:33 at the end... actually its been 2 years since I last did sub9 and actually was sub 8 ;) so I really can’t complain other than it could have been a LOT better.



Not sure what’s next but after a short break I will resume the everyday buzz to try staying “Fast” in October…



Sunday, May 27, 2018

Lanzarote, just done

It's done, my main goal was getting a slot but honestly I'm a bit disappointed on how everything unfolded.
Swim was a bit caothic with me having to navigate the AWA athletes and my lack of sprint capabilities got things even worst, going through the results it's clear that the 1st lap time was terrible in comparison to the 2nd and the effort was incredibly higher on the 1st. But like I said to many I wasn't to psiched about the swim time anyway.
The bike started slow by choice, first climb was easy, I made the choice to not dispute any position like I did (when I could) with the pros, the fact is that glimpsing my watch I was feeling the effort / watts a bit to high with particular emphasis on anything that was flat, I just didn't have the ability to sustain decent watts on the flat parts but still managed to stay in a decent spot till 100km right before the climb to mirador del Riu where I hit a pothole going downhill that immediately destroyed my tire, glad I had de ability to stop the bike without crashing, I think I lost roughly 8 min with the tubular change (Watch says 5:30 of stop time) and get going again with several cuts in my hand due to poor handling of the razor, made sure the tubular was well in place given that a mistake would ruin the race and there where a ton of downhill yet to go. 
The climb to Mirador del Riu was somewhat terrible with my legs having a hard time to get going again. I did the rest of ride in no man's land, trying to limit losses, the overall feeling of the ride is an average power number a lot bellow my goal, 10 to15 w, and the goal was really conservative for the race.
Run was essencialy an extend of the bike, just bellow a decent and conservative pace soon I realised that I didn't had running legs, and was forced to squeeze as much I could from a not so good day, 3:03 isn't like really bad but I can do better ;)
Happy to go through and accomplish the main goal, already looking forward to the next!

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

The rides

Lanzarote is quite close and ill write something about that when o have time to think, for now ill stick with bikes ;)






Thursday, April 5, 2018

Knowing who is behind the brand...

...this post is brilliant especially the last paragraphs:

https://blog.3t.bike/2018/01/677/1x-work-pros/


Tuesday, February 27, 2018

More on sponsorship



We live in a “like, share, tag” era. For some reasons, it is great; for others, not so great. In sports, this is quite evident and in particular with “sponsorship". I’ve been around for some time, and honestly I enjoyed knowing about The “who” and the “why” of some products and sponsorships. Back then, there was less information, and I believe most people were interested on what the fast guys were using and why, what was new, and why it was better. Companies were also more interested in this association, IMO.
Today, an Average Joe (not wanting to offend anyone) builds his ego by stating that he (or she) is sponsored by this or that company. There are some quite influential people that aren't competitive that indeed have a real sponsorship but most just like to appear superior to their peers by "being sponsored" when they probably only have a 5% discount. Truthfully, I would pay to not be sponsored; I have seen and received some ridiculous offers where I really though that, for the amount of work involved, I would pay to not be sponsored. Apparently others will do anything have the sponsored status — good for them.
Companies take advantage of this free marketing tool — tag, like, share, and you're good to go. What do you get? We will give you a 10% discount that can save you 50€ in a year (but don't go to a online store where they actually offer a 15% discount to anyone...) (You get the point.)
It's funny that this started with me stating that I enjoyed knowing why and what some guys used, but for most "sponsored" folks, you just don't know why or what are the benefits or technical advantages for using a product. They just post a photo, tag a comment, or like a photo and, that's it. I have several interactions with sponsored people that just couldn't state a valid argument for the “like, share, tag”. I find it lame for the ego-motivated sponsored and for the company using this cheap way of marketing. (I won't go right now into how some companies just don't have valid arguments of marketing — maybe later.)

Monday, February 5, 2018

Seems like new year was last week but it's already February!

This was january!
Not bad, especially the run where i feel big improvements in both injury and Fitness. I can now run 2h without pain so i Will now introduce some speed work and see what happens. Still not happy with the swim so ill switch focus in february reducing swimming by a lot.
Another focus for February is loosing  some weight, I'm not far off where I should so it will be an easy task ;)

Monday, January 8, 2018

Charity BS

With all the controversy around "rarissimas" a charity institution in portugal that has been serving personal interests IN BIG FASHION, im led to believe that there isnt a single instituition where, anyone who digs a litle deeper something will pop up from the dirt, we call it "cada escavadela cada minhoca". But lets moove on... i guess its just normal to steal public money aroud here, its curious to see all the indignation in our soccer league referees when everyone gets away with stealing.....uuuh moving on.

We are now experiencing the abuse of charity, we call charity to everything even for pure personal enjoyment. I find it ridiculous that someone will race 5 IM in five diferent continents for charity reasons... How much did it raised? wouldnt it be better to just give away the money spent in travel to charity or was this just a "charity" BS masked as a sporting vacations?
What about fund raising to .... fund a hobby? WTF???!!! are you kidding? where will this end? hey i want a Ferrari, its my dream (not really but you get the point) can you all give me money to buy it?
Im not that negative, im sure that there are great causes out there but sometimes i get troubled to see someone that is just trying to not spend money to do something that is no more no less than a hobby. Points added to see that the costs involved are magnified by the addition of Special Travel Arrangment for Friends and Family, STAFF (yeah i made that up). I wonder how Many pros have the opportunity to have 4 staff members to race an ironman.


Charity is giving a hungry man a meal, thats charity (at least the basic its there), charity is giving a homeless person a roof... stay in the basics.

Stay safe