5.29.2007

Crystal River Memorial Weekend Triathlon


I raced the event as a hit out on my form for the early summer. I must say, although I was 2nd, that I am far from happy with my current fitness. I spent far too much time working on my research paper for graduation and it led me to lose a lot of fitness. I certainly have a lot of catching up to do, but it's not really big news.

The race itself was ok, and I must admit my lack of fitness also led to some tactical mistakes. I have a lot of notes from the event and have already started working on my calendar of races for the next few months. My A race is certainly Ironman Louisville, and event I think about daily these days. There are 5 spots for the pro race to qualify for Hawaii, and i am hoping to be in shape to grab one of them.

This weekend I am off to the Rock&Roll half ironman , which doubles as the Southeast Long Course Championships. Then the week after that, the Public / Coca-Cola Series in the Bahamas.

I will write after these 2 events.

Ciao,
Felipe

5.15.2007

Gulf Coast Half Ironman

I can't express enough how upset I am about the race at Gulf Coast. Although my preparation this year has been far from ideal, I was having a good day. I was the 2nd guy out of the water, and early in the bike found myself only half a minute down from the leader, Jamie Cleveland.

The entire pro field was very close together in the bike, and I decided to play it safe on the bike, and not get caught in the excitement or work at the fron all by myself. Sadly, cars were able to enter the opened to traffic course, and I saw myself stuck behind one of them. Because of that I was unable to see the competitors ahead of me, and with the stagger rule, I was penalized for being immediately behind a fello competitor ahead of me, even though there was a car in between us.

I took a 2 minute stand down penalty, and upon reentering the race, I could not find my rhythm again. I chose to pull out, and save my game day fitness for the Rock&Roll Half Ironman in 3 weeks.

Hopefully things will go according to plan at that race.

Ciao,

Felipe