Best race, best feelings at Tall Texas Triathlon half-ironman!!

Came to the US in business trip by end of March 2012 and since was going to spend the weekend (one week after Singapore 70.3) decided to race local half-ironman close to San Antonio, Texas

I give it a 9 out of 10, my best race so far were I felt the strongest in the finish line. Had a good swim with wet suit, took it easy on the bike (lesson learned from Singapore) and then had very good run with negative split, great feeling after disappointing Singapore. Finish 6th overall and 1st in my age group (35-39 year old)

Disappointing Singapore 70.3!!

Huge expectations (March 2012), trying to qualify for the world champions after Sri Lanka, went too hard on the bike and blow up on the run, what else to say? 5.15 disappointing result and few few photos to remind the event...

Best performance so far at Sri Lanka 70.3!

Came with the family to Sri Lanka (Feb. 2012), to race 70.3, first time organized, not too competitive field so had good chance to qualify for world championships in Las Vegas

We had a good holiday, Sri Lanka is very nice, peaceful, good people and good service, we all enjoyed, even during the long drive from Colombo to Sirigya, Diniz did not give much trouble

I did my best performance at 70.3 so far, not so good swim but the sea was very choppy, then tremendous bike with little of drafting though, run was so, so, was very hot and I paid a little the effort from the bike. Nevertheless did 4hour 56min and  the end and 4th at my age group, which gave me a slot for the world champions that I did not claim because did not know that would end up that high in my age group so me and family did Colombo tour instead of joining the results session and world champion slot claim, very disappointed but will keep on the fight for next opportunity

Excellent weekend with the family in Phuket!

Great weekend in Phuket with the family in the first weekend of December 2011, we stayed at Laguna Resort, excellent facilities, very friendly for Diniz, nice swimming pool and beautiful lagoon linking other resorts nearby, we had good time together

I had a good race, ok swim (34:59), careful on the bike due to the rain and steep downhills (2:47:38), then went very, very hard on the run killing myself in the first half and paying in the second half with some cramps (1:43:29). Happy with the result regardless, huge improvement since my last half-ironman in Madrid 2010 but lot of room for improvements, finish with 5.11:10

 

My first Ironman triathlon distance. Challenge Copenhagen!!

Decided to embrace tough training for full Ironman distance triathlon by February 2011 and asked the help from Vinnie Santana (ex-pro triathlete living in Bangkok) to coach me in this adventure, after first meeting with him it was clear that my training plan would be focused intensively on my bike, since I was coming from running background

Spent long hours on the bike, Saturdays and Sundays in the heat on Bangkok, sometimes alone but most of the times with Stephen and Michael (very strong bikers) on Saturdays and with the the GOPT group on Sundays, it was tough but payed back since had good performance at the 300km bike race by mid o June in  Sweden and also ok feelings in Copenhagen

There would be a lot to say about the pain and and toughness from the marathon, specially from 20km on wards but  at this distance I'm just happy to have done it and overall have positive feeling to have accomplished one of the toughest one day sport events on hearth

Finished with 11hour 15 minutes, which was pretty good given the very long and painful marathon performance

Vätternrundan 2011

Vätternrundan (pronounced vet-turn-rund-an) is the largest recreational bicycle ride in the world. The 300 km course follows the shoreline of the beautiful Lake Vättern and early starters can see the sun set and rise over the lake during the ride. Vätternrundan starts and finishes in Motala, Sweden, which swells to three times its size during the cycling events. Many cyclists return year after year to be a part of this large and welcoming cycling community.


I've participated in this great event together with my dear friend Henrik and his mates from Sandvik, we have planned  to join the race well in advance since the registrations only take few days to fill up the 25.000 openings. The race was in mid of June 2011, weather was a threat, can still be very chilly by this time of the year in Sweden. Remembered the week before the race me and Henrik been training together in Sandvik, beautiful landscape, so enjoyable weather and company, great weekend, also recall to tell Henrik and Karin that me and Sandra would start "working" on our first baby as soon as I would arrive in Bangkok, that surely happened, not only for me and Sandra but also for them, both Karin and Sandra delivered in March 2012, Diniz and Ludvig are both mid summer boys.

Back to the race report, me, Henrik and his mates started the race around 2 am, in the middle of the night, was still dark but soon the sun rising and we could ride without lights on. We were about 15 riders group who worked together during 9 long hours in this amazing experience. There were several stops to piss, eat and drink, about 5 or 6 times if I recall right, but I add to stop even more than the rest of the group, earlier in the race I've stopped alone and had to make huge effort to catch up with the group again.

There was time for almost everything, chatting, laughing, suffering and bit of racing towards the end where at 40 km from the finish line I decided to take off from the group and race as fast as I could, great feeling of accomplishment in the end, finish with 9:17 (the best time among all the colleagues of Atlas Copco that participated that year and maybe best time ever)