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.

Rough way to begin the new season

The Florida great Escape was a rough day at the office for me to say the least.

I got lost the day before while trying to do some recoinassance out on the run course, and ended up on a 7 mile jog through orange groves ( and a few people's private property - I am sorry to whoever you are!).

I never felt quite right from the start, and my body never really went to 5th gear ( or 4th gear, for that matter.) I was not tired, but couldn't bring my body to race mode. I tried a few times, and got shut down a few times. But I decided to continue and have a nice training day on some fancy equipment. On the run, had to stop and run bak to a bathroom in the park's entrance. I will now cross off Starbucks Vanilla Frappucinos fro my race morning menu.

Next weekend I will toe the line at the Ft. DeSoto Olympic Triathlon. Hopefully things will be better then.

Until then, I will be a my home in Gainesville pouding in some more miles.

Ciao,

Felipe Bastos

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