Headed to Wisconsin

Tomorrow morning Leland and I, alongside with our dog Joey, will be making the 12 hr. drive to Wisconsin where USD$25,000 will be on the line at the Spirit of Racine Half IronMan.

The race is put on by the HFP Racing guys, one of the best in the business. I have been meaning to do this event for years now, and am glad to finally have a chance to toe the line at this great mid season event.

I recently made some changes to the front end of my Velovie Veloce which raised my position a bit. I was as low as possible ( no spacers, short head tube, adjustable stem all the way down), which was perfect for the flat, straight roads of Florida, but here in the rolling to hilly Central Alabama setting, that low position meant a lot of power lost.

I am still discovering the running trails around our new home, and am quite happy with them. though not long, there are tons of dirt paths around to choose from, something I really enjoy when doing my run training.

Also, I have secured a new sponsor for the remainder of the 2007 season. will post details when the contract is inked, but I can say now I am very excited to be working with a company that will undoubtedly make me faster as an athlete and healthier as a person.

I will write more after this weekend's race.

Ciao,

Felipe
coached by Marc Becker at IronGuides.ne

Settling in Alabama

I am finally getting settled in our new home near Birmingham, AL. Luckily, the home we bought is near some good riding roads, but training on the roads here is much riskier than what I was accustomed to in Florida. the climbs sure are nice, but there are no bike lanes, and some drivers in the suburbs sure seem to always be in a hurry.

In just over a week I will be heading over to Wisconsin for the Spirit of Racine triathlon. I have been meaning to do this event for over 3 years now, and this season it finally fit into my calendar, so I am excited about the chance to do it and use it as a gauge of my fitness coming into IM Louisville.

I have been doing a lot of chores around the house, so I have had barely enough energy to update, hence the lack of news from my end lately. This should change as things settle down.

Ciao,

Felipe
coached by Marc Becker at IronGuides.net

Rock&Roll Half Ironman

I just got back from the Long Course Championships. It was an incredibly tough race, and I am proud I ended up 4th at the end. I came into this event with less fitness than usual so I really had to rely on my strategy for the race, and it paid off.

Surprisingly, I also got called to the award area for my swim split. Bass Pro Shops was giving an award for the best swim split and I got it. I have a nifty trophy to show for it now :-)

This race qualified me for the American Long Course Championships in Missouri in September, which I will race if I do not qualify for the Ironman World Championships.

Also, I am very proud to say I will be working with Marc Becker from IronGuides (www.IronGuides.net) once again. He is one of the, if not the most, knowledgeable coaches in the world, and when I worked with him in the past, I accomplished great things and learned a ton. I am very excited to be working with him again.

If you find yourself looking for more in the endurance department, I highly suggest you get ahold of this guy. You can't go wrong.

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

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

Updates

Living in the USA it is easy to forget the social freedoms we have. One of them happens to be the constitutional right to bear arms. Unfortunately, sometimes these freedoms come back to bite us in the ass.

I would like to express my condolescences to the families affected by the incidents that took place at Virginia Tech's campus this past Monday April 16th.

Today, we are all Hokies.

TriGator Sprint Triathlon Win

Today I celebrated the 26th overall win of my career, and my 2nd in this local, yet tough local race. I have finished 2nd in most occasions, and fortunately today I was able to cross the line first.

I had a very bad swim, an average bike ride, but my run saved the day. I felt fast and was able to open the gas on the first half of the run, which helped me reach the finish first.

The race is super short: 250m in the pool, less than 6k around campus, and a 3k run to fnish, and it takes anywhere between 24-25 minutes to finish.

Next weekend I will toe the line at the Inaugural North orida Olympic trathlon at Cherry Lake, almost on the border with Georgia. Should be a nice venue, from what I hear, and I am excited. The course is almost an out and back, which really suits my strengths.

I will post details once the race is over.

I also had a small PowerBar photo shoot yesterday out on Hwy. 346. Here are some of the best shots.