Season Summary - Season Goals

It's been several months since my last post, but as for most of us, life gets in the way of updating my blog and I find myself postponing it week after week! I am, however, out on business and have found a few hours (late at night) to jot down some words in order to summarize all that's been happening.

Personal
The family is loving Cape Town, and I do not think we could have made a better decision or picked a better place to live.  The people are very friendly and welcoming, and now that we have been here for just over a year we almost feel like locals already.  The expat community is quite large and there are people from all over the world.  Cape Town has just been named the top spot to visit in 2014, so that ratifies our decision to move here.  My children are quite active with sports and dancing activities, and my wife has started competing in half marathons last year.  They are loving life in Cape Town.

Professional
I try not to mention much about my work on this blog as I want it to be purely athletic focused, but I must say that my move here has also benefited my company tremendously and that has taken some pressure off my shoulders, and diminished my need to constantly travel as on previous year while I was in London.

Athletic
Things could not be going better.  I can honestly say that, at age 37, I feel I am in the best shape of my life.  Taking into account the fact that I had to completely stop exercising for three months last year after IMSA due to my ankle sprain, things completely changed when I joined MyTrainingDay.  Kent Horner, SA professional Triathlete, has been the key component to me being in the shape I am.  Some of the key factors which have helped me stick to the plan and, therefore, have improved my fitness level are as follow:

-Team bike sessions: Every Tuesday and Thursday we ride from 4:45am to about 7am.  These session make me get my ass out of bed and actually go out there and train.  Mostly intervals and hill repeats in different variations and intensity.
-Team track/speed sessions: one of my favorite sessions since I am really a fast twitch athlete.
-Long rides with the team: I have been riding on my own since I started with triathlon, and I can definitely feel the difference when riding with this squad.  We are fortunate to have people of all levels so there really is no pressure to stay up at the top with the pro triathletes, but over the past few weeks I have been strong enough to hang with them at 29Km/h over 120Km ride, with 1300m total ascent!
-Strava: Now, this really doesn't have much to do with me joining the team, but I am pretty sure we all agree we love to get new segment records, KOM, and PR showing up on the screen when we log our workouts. You can click on the link above to find me and follow my training sessions! :)
-2014 Goals: Last but not least, I have set some tough goals for this season and I know that, unless I put in the hours, I will not be able to achieve them.  My goals for 2014 are:

• To finish IMSA 70.3 in the top 20 of my AG, and hopefully qualify for the World Championship in Mont Tremblanc.  I am aiming at anything between 5h-5h:15m.
• To finish IM South Africa under 11 hours.
• To finish IM Frankfurt under 10 hours.

I have done three races this season but have not been able to do a race report for either of them.  The first one was 11 Global, then Slanghoek and Jailbreak. They were all good Olympic distance warm up races, but where I felt best was at the last race where I ran the 11Km at a 4m:20s average, setting a strava segment run record.  Oh, and did I mention my new acquisition? Here she is, my 2014 Argon 18, E118:

Upcoming Races

I am writing this post from Mozambique and I am back in Cape Town tomorrow at lunch time.  When I get home I will leave with the family to the Western Province Championships which will take place on Sunday.  This should be a good gauge of my fitness level as I head out to East London the following week for IM 70.3.  

Thanks for stopping by, but before you leave please share some of your motivating factors with me and the blog readers.

1. What makes you get up in the morning and get those training sessions done? 
2. Do you train alone or with a triathlon club?
3. What are your goals for this season?
4. What is your A race for 2014?

Ironman South Africa 70.3 Race Report

The road to Ironman got a little bit shorter this past weekend in Buffalo City, South Africa, as I completed my first 70.3.  After my DNF at Jailbreak, I must admit I was a bit nervous about this race, specially the week following Jailbreak, but it all eased off as time got closer.

Weeks leading to the race

For those of you who do not follow me on Instagram, I was pulled out of the water on the first lap of the swim with massive cramps on both legs! My coach says it was a severe case of starting a race already dehydrated on a very hot day, but that just put more doubts on my swimming ability with little over a month till IMSA70.3.  So much so that on December 10th I withdrew from the full Ironman South Africa taking place in April in Port Elizabeth.

In order to improve my swimming technique and confidence I started swimming lessons with a private coach at 5:30am three times a week at my gym, and I noticed the changes immediately.  The cycling and running had been progressing nicely, and I was feeling very confident on all three disciplines with two weeks to go.

Race Week

On race week my wife and I left with the children on the Wednesday before the race. I sent my bike with Paul Kaye's company, Focus on the Finish Line, and I picked it up on Thursday at the official bike shop in East London.  Took it back to the hotel and assembled it carefully.

Thursday night I went for a gentle run and my right ankle was hurting me a little bit so I stopped right away and ended up only running 4Km. 

Friday morning was the official swim practice so I went out to Orient beach with the wetsuit and did what most people were doing, a short and quick lap around the first and last buoy just to get a feel for the water temperature, waves, and just to have a swim in the ocean really. It felt good and I was relaxed and, most importantly, I did not cramp, which was a relief given what had happened at Jailbreak! That afternoon I went to race briefing and noticed how big this event was going to be! A packed theatre with capacity for 1500 was completely full, and this was the first of three planned race briefings.

Saturday morning I went for a 1h ride and explored the run course on my bike. Boy this was going to be a killer! Nice and flat at the beginning, with a pike at Bunker's Hill, then flat again at the top and a descent back to the beach! "No problem" I thought... "I got this".

After the bike session I went out for a quick 20min run and called it a day. Went to the hotel, had lunch with the family and took the bike to traisition before I went back to the hotel for a nice, long nap in the afternoon.

Race Day

I woke up at 4:15am as I planned to be at transition at 5am.  Good thing I got there early as I needed to inflate my disk and I didnt have a disc adaptor for the pump.  I went to the official shop and they had one, which I bought.  I took my bike to the top of the transition area where they were inflating people's tyres, but my front 808 wasnt taking in any air, and although it was still hard, it surely wasnt at 140 which is what I like them to be at.  Oh well, I was gonna have to race it like that, but I did get the disk inflated.

I placed my bike shoes on the pedals with the velcro open and hung them with some rubber bands I borrowed from another athlete since I had forgotten mine.  At this point I thought I had everything ready so went on the mandatory trip to the loo before putting my wetsuit on and heading out to the beach.

I was feeling very calm, and at the beach I met my wife who had arrived at about 6:20am.  I gave her my swim bag and went on a quick swim to feel the water and waves.  We then waited for the pros to go and we kissed goodbye so I could go join my wave (3) which was leaving at 7:15am.

THE SWIM 

I placed myself towards the left (facing the ocean) as there were a lot of people bunched up on the right hand side of the starting box.  When they lifted the rope, we started running, but I took my time getting in the water, placing myself at about the middle of our group.

There weren't really many elbows or punches, at least I cant remember getting hit, and the swim to the first buoy was quick and smooth.  At this point is where I started following some guys but decided to not look up and just swim, which was not a wise decision.  I kept swimming, assuming I was still following that group of guys I was with, but the swells had taken me towards the third buoy, and when I realised I had to retrace back to the second buoy, but this time against the swells!  My mind started going at 1000 miles/h and all I could think of was "what a fuck up, what a fuck up"!!! Nevertheless, I kept going and thought to myself, just get out of the water!

I had told my wife I was going to be about 35 mins, but with this stupid mistake I ended up getting out of the water at 47mins. This was 11 minutes quicker than at Half Challenge Barcelona, but slower than what I had planned on doing.

T1

I jogged up from the beach to the tent, but then I did take my time at the tent putting my socks and compression on. T1 time was 5m:38s

BIKE

I jumped on the bike and purposefully did not push until we got on the highway.  As we got on the N2 and I saw those rolling hills I about shat myself on my lycra! I was not expecting those hills for 45Kms. I did know what the course was like, but I hadn't driven the course, I had only seen it on paper. Anyway, I knew I had to push hard on the bike as this is my strength, but when I looked down at my Garmin I noticed I was only going on BPMs as my Garmin 910XT was not picking up speed or my power! FUCK! This was the second race where this had happened! Not acceptable from a $400 watch! GARMIN, I hope you're reading this! NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Ok, so I could only go on BPM so I tried to keep it at about 165-175 depending on whether I was climbing the hills or not. I was able to keep a good pace, and got to the half point pretty fresh, but pretty pissed off as I couldn't see any of my readings or averages on the Garmin.  I was drinking my electrolytes and taking my staltsticks so my legs were fine and I was not cramping at all.

I passed 250 athletes on my age group, and I was only passed by 5 guys, all from the 4th wave, meaning they were all older than me and were racing on the 40-45 AG. I'm not sure what that says but, I sure hope Im that strong when Im on that AG.  Overal bike time 2h:50m:30s. 

T2

I handed my bike to the volunteers and headed out to the tent only to realize I had left my watch on the bike so I quickly went back to the bike, got the watch back and quickly got on the tent. Changed in 3m:14s and headed out to the run.

RUN

As I exited the changing tent and headed out to do my run, I started feeling my legs cramping a little bit, but it wasn't much so I kept going.  I wish I could tell you my pace throughout the first lap, but, again, my Garmin was only going on BPM, so I tried to keep it high but comfortable, pushing it when I could, but I had to walk a bit on my first time up Bunkers Hill. 

As I went by the hydration area on Bunker's Hill I walked up for about 20 meters just to catch my breath, and them I kept going at a slower than normal pace.  Once I got my first bracelet and headed back to the beach, I was passed by a speedy girl and for about 2Kms I kept up with her and that helped my average.  When I got to the bottom I followed another guy and was feeling quite well at this point. At the beach I was passed by another quick girl and I followed her all the way up to the turn around point then she was gone! 

I pulled myself all the way home and made it through.  As I went by Paul Kaye he announced me as the first Angolan to EVER finish an Ironman sanctioned race. Although this is a half Ironman, I am still very, very proud of my accomplishment.

It started in Triathlons back in January 2010, three years ago, when I took on triathlon as a means to lose some weight. Today, I am here writing this post on how I finished one of the toughest Ironman 70.3 in the world. My overal time was 5h:39m:41s, and I finished in 45th position within my Age Group.

Race Stats
Race Time: 5h:39m:41s
Gender Position: 241
Age Group Position: 45
Swim: 47m:24s
Swim Position in AG: 279 
Swim Position in Gender:1616
Bike: 2h:50:30
Bike Position in AG: 29
Bike Position in Gender: 132
Run: 1h:52m:53s
Run Position in AG: 41
Run Position in Gender: 239 
Official results can be seen here.

Now, I know I can tackle this course, and I have already registered for the 2014 race with a plan to qualify for the 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas.  I know I can improve 30mins on my time, putting me within the top 10 in my age group with a chance to qualify. All I have to do is train hard, put in the hours, and hope for the best job on race day.

As a consequence of having had a relatively good race, I decided to re-enter the full Ironman in PE as Im confident I can take it on. My swimming has improved dramatically, my bike is still my strength, and my running is solid. The aim this year is to just finish the races, time to think of qualifying will start in 2014.

IN MEMORY OF KEVIN STAESSEN and BERTON BOSSMAN

The tragic and negative aspect of this race was the death of two young men on the swim portion of the race.  This was kept from all the competitors during the race, but they both died of cardiac arrest during their swim, and one of them was on my wave.  Two young and apparently strong an healthy men died competing in the sport they love, in the sport we all love. It just goes to show we cannot take anything for granted as we are here today but gone tomorrow. My thoughts are with their families, and I ask everyone who reads this blog to please try and stay safe out there, whether on the road riding our bikes, running, or swimming, please be careful.  

Lessons learned form IMSA70.3

• I didnt have a drink bottle before the swim. Thankfully my wife was there with some money and we bought a drink. In the future I need to carry something with me.
• I didnt deflate my tyres when I racked the bike. Newby mistake. 
• I didnt carry a disk adaptor for the trip, NOR did I have one on my saddle bag in case of a flat.
• I only left one of the velcros opened on my bike shoes, I had to open the other one when I got on the bike. Obviously not ideal!
• Garmin 910XT malfunction. Cant do much about this one! 

QUESTIONS

1. What was your toughest race to date? What distance was it and what was so tough about it?
2. Have you raced IMSA70.3 before? What did you think about it? Will you do it again?
3. What race mistakes have you made in the past? In which of the three disciplines were they?
4. When is your next race? What distance is it?
5. Do you have any questions for me? Shoot!

Half Challenge Barcelona - Finisher

We started the day with the alarm clock going off at 5am.  My wife and I had our daughters sleep at my in-law's hotel room so we could leave early in the morning.  After a quick breakfast at the hotel,  my very pregnant wife and I walked the 400 meters to the bike area.  I had already left the bike on the bike park the previous evening, so all I had to do was put my bags in the transition tent, and tape my gels to the bike!

PRE-RACE

As you can imagine, I was very nervous leading up to the race, but I surprisingly got calmer as the start time approached.  I placed my bags in the tent and headed to my bike to put my gels on the bike, and I noticed I had two gels less than what I needed. I headed back to the hotel while my wife waited for me at a bench by the transition tent. I got the gels, ran back, and I still had time to hang for a while with Sonia as my wave was about the 6th to go out.

At about 7:50am I got in the water for a quick out and back swim to feel the water temperature and to loosen the muscles a little bit. The sea was flat as a pool, and the water was perfectly clear and I could see the bottom of the sea till about 60m out.  As I was swimming on my way out I banged head first with another guy on his way back in! "Damn this is a bad way to start the day" were my thoughts at that time. Anyway, I shook it off and got back to shore to stretch a bit more and be with Sonia.

Swim

As my start time approached I kissed Sonia goodbye, kissed her BIG tummy, and headed out to the start area with the rest of my age group.  As I mentioned before, I was surprisingly calm at this time! I really was expecting to be shitting my pants right before I got in the water (literally), but I suppose I had done all I could up to that point and now I only had to try and complete the distance.

At 8:20 the gun went off and we hit the water! I started on the right hand side, towards the middle of the pack, and got in the water with everyone around me. To my surprise there were no kicks, punches or elbows! 

I got to the first buoy easily enough and then made the right turn for the long stretch to the end. This is where things got a bit crazy! I was with a group of guys on the buoy, and as I made the first 200m swim away from the buoy I became isolated and noticed no one near me! I stopped for a second and looked around me to see I was heading towards the beach and was not following the swim line, like everyone else. 

I got back to the line and headed towards the turn buoy after the 500m stretch and made a left. and then another left for the 750m segment. The same thing happened here and I also started veering to the right away from the beach and as I made the correction to come back to the swim line, I (literally) got swum over by the wave after mine! It's a bit frustrating, I know, but my plan was to take my time on the swim and just do the distance as I am aware of the fact that I am a crap swimmer and it is the one point need to trow money at with some lessons when I get to Cape Town.

I make the last left turn towards the shore and this felt like and eternity as there was a current which took us sideways and I could see the sea floor and how quick I was moving to the left of where I needed to go.  I finally make it to shore and try to keep my composure and not stumble as I get of out the water!

 OFFICIAL SWIM TIME: 48m:14s (my goal was 55mins) 

Transition 1

I get out of the water as quick as I can and I head out up the tent to get my my wetsuit off, place it in the bag, and head out with my bike gear. 

OFFICIAL T1 TIME: 4m:36s (goal was 3mins)

Bike

As I head out of transition I followed about three guys on their bikes through the streets of Calella, but as we hit the N-II I got off the saddle and just took off.  The bike course was awesome as it was flat with some rolling hills. 

I was feeling well on the bike and I passed lots of people. The conditions were great as there was no wind and the roads were closed and wide enough for everyone to feel comfortable.  I felt great on the E118.  On the first 1/4 of the course I noticed my saddle was moving and I thought about stopping at the bike support tent to get them to tighten it a bit, but I was able to manage with it like that.  Im sure this happened because I stopped by my LBS to setup my XLab Turbo wing on friday before the race and the mechanic had issues installing it. He must have loosened the saddle to get the bolts on, and either forgot to tighten them back on, or didn't do it hard enough! 

I had my watch going off every 15 mins for my nutrition plan but, for some reason, it didn't go off (time to get the 910XT).  Since it was a two loop course, I timed my gels and saltstick pills with landmarks, so every time I hit a turnaround point I would have a gel, half way through I would have a salt stick, another gel at the turnaround at the other end, so on and so forth. I decided to have my energy drink randomly and not synchronize my every movement. I did, however, run out of my drink and on my way back from the second lap I had to grab a bottle of water from the aid stations.

I managed to keep a good pace of 32.4Km/h for it to be my first HIM.  I was able to avoid being passed  by anybody else, apart from Stanyslav Kyrilov who was the 2nd pro overall.

Saying there was massive drafting on the bike is an understatement!! Unbelievable the pelotons I saw and passed on the bike! I did, however, see and hear the refs on the bikes whistling at people and giving them warnings, but, if anything,  the only negative thing with this course was the sheer amount of riders on the course, which obviously caused the pelotons, otherwise it was perfect.

Towards the end of the bike I was feeling my quadriceps tightening up and I was afraid it would get worse with cramps.  Hopefully the 4 salt stick tablets I had tacken during the bike session would do their job and stop my cramping on the run!


I hadn't seen my wife or daughters all through the race but it was my fault as I told Sonia I would be passing in fron of our hotel at each of the two laps, and that was not the case. I only passed in fron of our hotel as I was going back to T2 and I saw Sonia, my girls and my in-laws from a distance.  As soon as they saw me they starting yelling "GO DADDY, GO DADDY" and that put a massive smile on my face as I waved and yelled back at them. 

OFFICIAL BIKE TIME: 2h:37m:21s (my goal as 2h:30m)

Transition 2

As I approached the dismount line I see my good friend Jordi Casas yelling "Come on Miguel, Come on!!".  I was so happy to see him and I definitely noticed the burst of adrenaline I got from seeing him.  As I pass Jordi and approach the dismount line, I started to undo my shoes and swung my right leg around the bike to get off the bike whilst it was still in movement. There were a few of us arriving at the same time so it was a bit of chaos, but no accidents getting off the bikes or entering the bike park.

I ran up to my position and racked the bike and ran inside to the transition tent to grab my bag and change to do my running. I tried putting my socks on as quick as possible but the quicker you try to put them on, the more your toes get stuck on the socks. Anyway, finally got the socks on, shoes on, cap and glasses to hit the road.

OFFICIAL T2 TIME: 1m:50s (my goal was 1 minute)

Run

I get out of the transition tent and as I headed out of the town of Calella I saw Jordi again yelling for me! I gave him a high five as I ran past him and I was feeling good for the run.  I looked at my watch a few times and I was running 4:30 and 4:35/Km, which was not sustainable for much longer.  My legs were surprisingly well after the bike, and I was not cramping which was great news at this point in the race.  

I eventually slowed down and maintained low 5min/Km pace for pretty much the rest of the run.  I was passed by a few guys but I was not too worried about that if I'm honest with you.  As I mentioned on my previous post, my main goal was to finish this race and set it up as a time to beat for my future HIM distance races.

A few kms after the run started I felt my arm sleeve was hurting me a bit so I removed them and placed them on my back pocket for the rest of the run.

My legs were fine, but I could feel the cramps wanting to come in slowly towards the second lap of the run.  I wanted to take some more salt tablets but I had left my saltstick on my bike, and even if I had brought it with me to the run I only had 2 more tablets as it only carries 6 in total, and I had 4 on the bike.  Well, 2 tablets would have been better than no tablets, but I had man up and put up with the pain!

I got my sports drink and my water at every station, but I made an effort to not stop or walk at any point during the run.  I did miss having my own sports drink on the run, but my drink bottle belt was too big to wear during the race, so I suppose a 4 bottle Fuel Belt is in order for the next race. 

As I got to the red carpet at the turnaround point to start my second lap, I see my wife, my daughters and my in-laws! They were all screaming and yelling for me "GO DADDY, GO DADDY" and that just made me push harder for the last 10.5Kms.  

The second lap was just dealing with the pain and trying not to walk, really.  It was as much mental as physical as my body wanted to stop but my mind kept pushing and saying "just a few more Kms, just a few more Kms".  I had a few guys on sight every few hundred meters, and I would try to catch them to motivate myself, and it worked.  I would pass the guy with the green suit, then go for the one with the black one, etc etc. Im sure I was also the target of a few people behind me, but I was not too worried about that this time around. 

As I got to Calella and I had the red carpet in sight I had a final burst of energy which pushed me all the way home.  As soon as I got to the grandstand area I saw my father in law holding Alexia up in his arms and I grabbed her as I ran past him to cross the line with her in my arms.  I did it, I finished a half Ironman race.

OFFICIAL RUN TIME: 1h:50m:11s (Goal was 2 hours)

OVERAL TIME: 5h:15m:46s
131/228 in Age Group
610/1360  Overall

Full AG Results

My forerunner has been acting up and does not let me see the overal time in between sports, so I could only see my swim time during swimming, bike time during my bike, and my run time during my run. I was only able to see my overal elapsed time when I crossed the line and I hit the stop button, and I was so happy to have beaten the 6h mark

I never would have imagined I would complete a half ironman distance race back in March 2010 when I decided to sign up for a local triathlon to lose some weight.  It is a great feeling of accomplishment after all the hard work and training endured mainly in the past year.  

Everyone who I speak to who is involved in triathlon agrees with me that this is an extremely addictive sport which leaves you hungry for more every time you finish a race.  It is all about new challenges, new goals to either beat your previous times, or to move up to longer distances.  So far, this has been the longest distance I have ever competed in, and I already have my goal set for the future, but that's for another post. For now, I want to enjoy the cramps I've been feeling for the past few days and pig out on some good old Spanish food.  Soon enough I'll be back to training for my next HIM in October, where, surely, a new personal best will be set in South Africa!

Lessons learned from my first half Ironman distance race

1. Must improve my swim time. No surprise here, but my time really is embarrassing
2. Always tighten ALL bolts before race, even if pros have looked at it before race
3. Get the Gorilla Cage for my XLab Turbo Wing as I needed more drink
4. Must start running without socks to see how I get along
5. Carry additional salt stick on number belt for run next time
6. Get 4 water bottles fuel belt to have own sports drink on run
7. Definitely set myself tougher and more realistic goals for the future

******** QUESTIONS ******** 

1. What was the toughest part you had to overcome when completing your longest distance race? Was it the mental or the physical side of the challenge?
2. Did you have any mishaps during your HIM/IM races? What happened?
3. What is your weakest discipline? Have you been able to improve it substantially since you started tri'ing?
4. Your one piece of advice to me would be______?