Ironman Berlin 70.3

So here we are! Ironman Berlin 70.3 Done! 
The long awaited second race with the Ichiban Triathlon Team (click and Like it on Facebook)
We all trained hard for this race that´s a sure thing, but it was time to see who worked harder. Unfortunately I was a little under the weather so I knew before the start that it was going to be a tough day, and not starting was just not an option, not only for the Team, but because I got a surprise interview from Herbert Krabel from Slowtwitch ¨On the Road with Jano Soto¨ and after that not starting just didn´t looked good :)
(Click here to read the Interview)

Ichiban Triathlon Team / 2013 Ironman Berlin 70.3

The swim course was in the River Spree with an spectacular view of the Elsenbrucke Bridge and The Molecule man.. the gun went off! The swim went quite normal and I was trying to save some energy cause I knew I was in for a long day, the view of the bridge was plain beautiful and I had the time to think more than once how lucky I was to be doing this thing that I love so much in a place like this, I almost forgot I was racing. I came out of the water in 15th place of my Age Group and went on to the Bike.

Tempelhof Airfield Bike Course

I was feeling surprisingly good! My watts were exactly where I wanted them to be. The bike course leads through the city quarter of Neukölln to Columbiadamm at the former Tempelhof Airport. From there to Mehringdamm where the course turns and goes back to Tempelhof airfield. There are three laps to drive over on the airfield it was back and forth on the 2 super wide landing strips with three turns on each strip. This means there are 24 turns per lap or 72 sharp turnarounds! It sounded crazy and fun. And it was! I got to see all of my Team Mates! That part was pretty cool! What was kinda crazy was the strong wind that was getting stronger and stronger as the time went by, luckily I made friends with the wind in Kona. So at least mentally that part was covered. My 1st lap average speed was 37.44km/hr. In the second I saw my watts drop a little, I tried to get some food in, but there was something that was not right, I remembered I had a cold, and instead of forcing it I decided to go with liquid only. Second lap average 35.90km/hr, and then in the 3rd Lap I started to feel like crap! The pace didn´t dropped to much 35.38km/hr for a Bike Split of 2:25 that placed me in 11th place.

When I got to Transition 2 without even thinking about it I left my Sunglasses with my Helmet, that meant running without them... I never do that, cause Obviously I should wear them during the whole race, I owe that to my Sponsor Rudy Project, but I guess that the reason for that impulsive decision came clear after the first kilometer........ Or in this case came blurry........... I couldn´t see anything on my sides, I had tunnel vision, my head was about to explode, felt like I had a fire inside my brain. I tried to separate the pains and analyze what was really going on with my body, the conclusion was that even with the headache, my legs were OK, but when I pushed the pace and my breathing went deep I couldn´t help the coffin, so I tried to breath more times and don´t go too deep, my speed was not that bad, in the 1st 3kms I averaged 4:19min/km, and those 3 kms were the worst, I was almost sure I was going to faint at some point, but then the headache and the cloudy vision disappeared, my speed also vanished and started to drop, but at least I was able to keep a high cadence and never stop, even if my body wanted to just quit! I ended up running a 1:37 Half Marathon very far from what I had planned but at that point I was just happy to be able to cross the finish line.
Mentally this race was without a doubt the hardest in my life! I think that something very positive came out of this, it feels like I went over a border in my mind, or that I cross over a pain threshold , my 4:39 Total Time gave me the 10th place and 64th Overall.
The Perfect Race is something that is very very rare, some races can come close to it, and when that happens it´s an amazing feeling, but this year..... my races have been far from that. It´s specially tough when the training goes right and you have great expectations for the race, but in race day you just don´t have it.
So let´s go back to the drawing board and start all over again.
The Performance of the Team was Brilliant, Tommy Vonach won his age group with another superhuman performance in 4:18, Jenson Button smashed his PB by shaving 11 minutes and finishing with a speedy 4:19 that gave him a 4th place, Paul Ryman even with a flat tire did a 4:42, Andrew Gardiner broke the 5hr barrier with a 4:59, Dea Bess got a 6th place with her 5:07, James Thurston did an incredible 5:10 in his first half Ironman, Big Guy Fraser Thomson did a respectable 5:22 he keeps shaving kilos and now looks like a killer machine. Unfortunately Tom Dudden one of the fastest on the Team didn´t finished, he was also going through a Man Flu and used his head unlike others (me) and took the option to recover and get ready sooner for the next one.
Crossing the finish line is always very emotional, for various reasons, in this ocassion (after almost ending in the Medical tent) it was the Team Energy & Frienship that almost brought me down to tears. I don´t want to sound to cheesy or corny or whatever, but everyone in Team is very special individual! Specially The Girls! Jessica, Paola and Samantha didn´t race but they played a huge roll in helping us all to go through a tough race. Chris Buncombe was also there on the sidelines cheering on us!
ICHIBAN!!!

Ichiban Triathlon Team / 2013 Ironman Berlin 70.3

Ironman 70.3 Hawaii Race Report. Plus Lavaman and Ironman 70.3 Oceanside :)

I know, I know..... 
I owe you a few Race Reports... So here we go, 3 Race Reports in one Blog Post:

The Excuse:
After the Monster Half Ironman everything went so damn fast that I didn´t really had time to even write a small race report.. The training became serious after seeing how much I needed to work in my run, it was all about training and we also had guests in our home. Anyway.... I trained like a madman and everything went well, no serious injuries luckly, just a little tightness in the legs but nothing my Normatec Boots couldn´t fix.

Lavaman Waikoloa 1st Place (10th Overall) March 24
The first serious race was Lavaman Waikoloa. Considering that most of my training was aimed at Long Distance I think the race went pretty well... Actually I think it went Awesome! I came 10th place Overall with a very strong field, plus ahead of me there were Only Pros! I think only one Age Grouper came ahead of my in 9th. A field this string is usual for this beautiful race.
The race was won by Chris Lieto, Benjamin Williams came in 2nd and Tim Marr took 3rd place. I won my Age Group and obviously I was very happy to crack a Top Ten.

Ironman 70.3 Oceanside 11th Place (124th Overall) March 30
The next day I was already flying to California for Ironman 70.3 Oceanside. This race was a more important for me since I was racing with and against all my Team Mates from ICHIBAN TRIATHLON TEAM (click and ¨Like¨ on Facebook) They all came from all over the world, Japan, USA, UK, Monaco etc... And since we all keep track of each others training is like a very friendly competition in parallel with the Race itself.
I was a little worried about the water temperature because I was using a Sleeveless wetsuit, I´ve never felt good with full sleeves and everyone was saying that it was very very cold, and when you hear this from the Brits that are used to gruelsome weather you can´t help it, you worry about it..
The swim went quite well, a lot of traffic due to all the wave starts but nothing to worry about, no Hypothermia at all, actually I was feeling hot towards the end of the swim. I came out of the water in 27:40 and went on to the Bike leg. I loved this course, it´s hard and true, so not too many drafting cheaters around, I was feeling pretty good and fast, but when the big hill came I realized I forgot to change my rear cassette, I didn´t had the gears I wanted to have so I could keep a high cadence the whole time. I didn´t suffer the hill but I had to grind slowly and I knew this was going to hurt my run... And it did...... I came in 9th position with a 2:34 wich is not bad for Oceanside. I started running 4:20min kilometers (7min miles) and felt quite good, I was hoping to hold that pace for the entire run and maybe even speed it up the last few km´s but after 16kms (10miles) I started to pay forgeting to bring the correct gear for that hill. I couldn´t hold the pace and I had to slow down a little bit.. the last 5k my average came down to 4:49min/km (7:45min/mile) I finished strong with a 1:34 Half Marathon and I cramped inmediatly after crossing the line which left me a good feeling of giving it all and doing my best.
The rest of the Team did incredibly good, we had the chance to show the following:
¨WE ARE NOT HERE JUST FOR THE COOKIES AND COFFEE¨
Ichiban Triathlon Team Results:
Tommy Vonach:   Total Time 4:22:01 Div Rank 4th Overall Rank 56th
Jenson Button:      Total Time 4:29:00 Div Rank 5th Overall Rank 78th
Tom Dudden:       Total Time 4:32:59 Div Rank 7th Overall Rank 90th
Yu Yumoto:          Total Time 4:39:31 Div Rank 18th Overall Rank  117th
Jano Soto:            Total Time 4:41:07 Div Rank 11th Overall Rank  124th
Andrew Gardiner: Total Time 5:12:15 Div Rank 65th Overall Rank 382th
Fraser Thomson:   Total Time 5:36:20 Div Rank 112th Overall Rank 746th

Too much caffeine?

Jessy, Fraser, Paola, Jano

Ichiban Triathlon Team

The 2nd Excuse:
After Oceanside we spent a couple of days in Los Angeles and then we went to Mexico for 8 days, I didn´t trained much so when we came back to Kona I felt I needed to catch up for the what was coming next: The plan was to start preparing Challenge Roth and in the way race Ironman Honu 70.3 and Berlin 70.3. Easier said than done.

Ironman Hawaii 70.3 June 1st Kona Hawaii.  7th place 39th Overall
This is my 5th time doing 70.3 Honu, the way we call it in Kona.
I´m proud to say that I always choose hard races, competitive and hard, but Honu is on its own league, I think I can say this is a damn tough race, maybe one the toughest races in the WTC circuit.
Well.. after saying all this, this year it was by far the toughest conditions in 5 years, and from what I hear it was the worst ever!
The swim start is always super violent, and this time there was no exception, the Pro Wave started at 6:50 and 3 minutes later all Male Division....In total we were 1800+ participans, so lets say 1500 Ultra Competitive guys!
I´ve been swimming a lot and I felt confident to be able to start very fast and then hold a good pace, and I think I would have been able to do this if there was water to swim in.... for the first 400 meters there was no water at all... Only a sea of arms, legs, elbows and backs! TOTAL CHAOS! Awful! just after the first turn buoy it started to get better, but in overall the swim was hard for everyone, the times were slow. I came out of the water in 30:48 but since I passed a few Pro Girls towards the end I knew that it was not a bad time.
I jumped into my Bike and as soon as I started riding on the Queen K I knew the wind was going to be Terrible and Cruel on our way up to Hawi, I also saw I was in a pretty good position! after the first turnaround I saw that after the Pros there were not many Age Groupers. Startting the climb up to Hawi I saw I was Spot On! The Wind was Howling! I passed more guys and in the turnaround in Hawi I was up there in the Mix, Craig Alexander was crushing everyone in the field and maybe 5 minutes ahead of the next one, but after that we were all spread apart by 30 seconds more or less...
The wind was not only stronger than usual, this time it decided to change and give us a demostration of how mean Madame Pele con be, headwind all the way! My 2:33 Bike Split was good enough to get me to the start of the Run in 35th place Overall. I know perfectly this course, and it doesn´t get any easier, I started to run conservative because I knew what I had ahead of me, grass, steam, hills, heat, more heat, and at mile 10 the Horrible Hells Kitchen! a 2 mile stretch of Mini Energy lab out & back to Hell... So I was trying to keep control to be able to unleash it towards the end... I was running 4:20min kms and feeling incredibly good, but this time my mistake was taking it too easy, when I passed the 7 mile marker I saw I was going to easy! WAKE UP JANO!  I screamed to myself! what are you doing? Crap! I won´t be ale to get back those minutes lost. In the intent to save it a think I lost focus for a while. So I got my initial pace back of 4:20´s and I passed Hells Kitchen unscratched! It´s incredible and even funny to see the faces of the guys at that turnaround I think that at that point of the race no one expects to get any harder!
My Run split for the Half Marathon was 1:39, maybe not what I wanted but considering the conditions of the whole race I was happy with my race... 7th place in my Age Group and Better than this was being 39th Overall with 20 Pros starting the race!
50 hrs later I was on a plane to Europe, next is Ironman Berlin 70.3 June 16, another race with my mates from Ichiban Triathlon Team.
Stay connected on Twitter for race Updates and Stuff @janosoto1 (Twitter handle) 

 

Signing up with Rudy Project

I'm so happy to announce that I signed up a Sponsorship deal with Rudy Project! Plus as a member of Ichiban Triathlon Team I can't be happier, I'm excited for this 2013 that promises to be a tough one but also a very interesting year, I'm still finishing up the details of my Racing Season, but I can tell you that the 1st two races are already in the corner, Lavaman & Oceanside 70.3, there's going to be a few interesting new 70.3's the Always Tough Honu 70.3 plus a solid 3 Months of European Racing! Including Berlin 70.3 and what might be the Best Ironman Distance Triathlon in the World.... Challenge ROTH! For all this there are no better company Logos that I would like to Represent:
Rudy Project ----- Kiwami ----- Zone Diet ----- Normatec ----- Hawk Racing & Polar (click to Link)
Is not only the super cool stuff, it's more the passion that you can feel from the company towards the sport and his athletes!Here's a little History of this Italian Brand:

In 1985 Rudy Barbazza created Rudy Project with the firm conviction to improve the performance of athletes all over the world. A love of progress, a passion for style and a keen eye for quality all contributed to give life to his Vision: the world’s most technologically advanced sports eyewear. Rudy Project works in cooperation with athletes from all fields, listening to what they want and need. Rudy Project never stops researching to find the latest and best materials available to realize cutting-edge products. Technically Cool: the two words that can best sum up this Vision; the two words that best express the DNA of each and every design carrying the brand Rudy Project. 

You can start shopping here RUDY PROYECT

The Catalog is Huge!  :)

Mini Monster Half Ironman

Sporting my New & Awesome Rudy Proyect Sunglasses & Helmet
(More info about my signing with this great Company to come Soon)

I won't lie.... I was nervous the days before this race, if you read my latest blog post, I had some rough patches in 2012, it ended up turning into 5 Months of dealing with injuries and stuff, I can't believe that 5 months went by without Racing! And that's why I was nervous... Coming back from injury and time off you loose a lot of confidence.
So I started the race with this in my mind:
 "It's your 1st race, you do your best and then you will know where you are, and you this will give you the Focus to Get Back onto it"
The Swim was Ok, I managed to came out of the water in the lead pack with a Fast Girl, a Canadian Guy named Randall Walker and also with Thomas J. Vonach.
NOTE: I said lead pack but we were not the first guys out of the water, Lance A. was doing a relay, and he was only swimming, so he did the swim as a possessed man or fish, he put Bree Wee (his Biker) 4 minutes ahead of us.......
With a terrible transition I lost my slim swim lead of a few seconds to the Walker and to Thomas. I knew that my bike wasn't that bad, so I thought of making the best out of it, without worrying to much about the Run, that by all means was the leg that suffered the most after 5 months of intermittent and erratic training...

X-Terra Speedsuit
helping me to get out of the water in the lead pack

Already on the Queen K, I passed the Canadian Walker, then a few minutes after I passed Thomas... Umhh passing Thomas before 10k on the Bike? Maybe that wasn't a very good idea and more like a suicidal mission..... But I know Tommy and I knew that he was going to fight this one to the end, like he always does :) So after a couple of changes in the lead I let him go, and tried to keep him in sight for as long as possible, the wind started to pick up and gain strength, with each mile it was stronger, and when we passed Scenic Point it was just Horrible! Perfect! I knew this would smoke the huge group of Canada that was on our heels, and it did... When we got to Mauna Lani and turnaround I could see the faces of "What the Hell is this!" We flew back to town, I was always between 1 & 2 Minutes behind Thomas, and we were both gaining in Bree Wee who was the Overall Leader, He passed her right before T2 after a 2:21 Bike Split, and I passed her Runner after a 2:22 Bike Split, right after T2 and at the beginning of the Run.

As soon as I started running I knew I was going to have a long long day... My legs were done! That kind of pain was not a strange to me, because that's how you feel your legs in the last couple of miles of  the 13miles of the Run, But when you feel like that in the first hundred yards, you know you are in for a Smashfest of Pain...
It was blazing Hot! So it was not fun, I had to fight with my head every single stride, that part that telling me "Ok that swim was Ok, that Bike was Awesome and your Run Sucks, just DNF and tomorrow you start training with that in mind"

Already known as the Kiwami Guy :)

I've been racing since 1995 and I've done more that 100 Triathlons, and I've only DNF Once in Abu Dhabi when I burn my feet so bad that my skin peeled off so it was impossible to run. So DNF was not an option.
I was in 2nd and I wanted to keep that way, so I tried not to think about the other Canadian, Christopher Caswell who was closing in, and closing in fast!
After 13k I had to walk for a couple of minutes, then in the last turnaround I had to do it again, I knew I was doomed to loose my 2nd and I did, Caswell passsed a few kms from the Finish line.
 I was a bittersweet feeling that then became more sweet than bitter. I am BACK!
IT'S TIME TO FOCUS! TIME TO TRAIN AND TIME TO RACE!

Is this a Really Bad Year or a Really Good Year?

I started the Year by breaking a Rib while Snowboarding in Vail, I recovered fast and well and went on to the 1st round of the year, I did a few good races like Lavaman and my 1st Ironman in Texas in 10:08 It was not spectacular but also not that bad considering the wheels fell of in the last 20kms of the Run.

Then the 2nd Round didn't go as well as I wanted as I explain in my last Blog Entry, But basically I had this lower back injury while training in Boulder, I was spitting fire and ready to crush my 2nd Ironman! and ended not even making it to the start, then went to Vegas all stressed out and did more or less ok!

Came back to Kona and I was all fired up for Round 3! Had Lots of expectations to get all the cylinders running like a Formula 1 and then release all that stored energy in a race that I had in mind.
One week goes by in Kona and I have a nasty crash! my first in more than 6 years! My front tire exploded while in a corner and going downhill in a place called Hookena, there's not much you can do in this situation. Nothing brake that day besides my Ego, but the road rashes, my wrist and again my back were all messed up. I tried to be positive and carry on....
Ironman week was getting closer and I was feeling all kinds of pains, so many friends to swim bike and run and I was not even feeling like it.

Paola's B-day came and that party was definitely a Highlight! Then a few days later we end up in Japan watching The Suzuka Gp, obviously in that trip all my pains went away, I even picked up new pains from all that SAKE we drink after the Race. Watching the race from the inside view of McLaren Team was one of the Best experiences of my life, I almost came back to sell my bike and go back to Karting (Just Kidding)

Justin Granger, Luke McKenzie, Jano

Kaisa, Cameron Brown, Josh Rix, Renata & Eddie Sturla

Belinda, Crowie, Armando, Paola, Jo Lawn, Jules Webster

Sensei, Paola, Jo Lawn, Jano, Ruth Brito, Eneko Llanos

Back in Kona it was all about watching The 2012 Ironman World Championship from our Scooter, cheering on all of our friends and having a lot of fun. Another few drinks at the K-Swiss party and I was ready to get the ball rolling again...
I was ready for it, I had all that new experience and knowledge to attack my last goal of the Year: Laguna Phuket Triathlon in November 25th and then Ironman 70.3 Thailand the very next week, and close the season with The Honolulu Marathon on the way back to Hawaii.

Watching the Ironman World Championship 2012 up Close

So I started the week slowly and smooth, just getting back onto it and then in a very easy jog on an easy day I start to feel this weird pain in my left calf, it was similar to a cramp but it was not a cramp, I couldn't really tell, because I've never had this pain before. 25 minutes in, and my calf just locked up! COuldn't even walk, and the pain was like the calf was going to Explode! I had to call Paola to pick me up! 4 hrs and the calf was still like that, the leg went numb and then all went away leaving a sore calf behind. My Type A mind went to work in this minute, and for the next 48hrs I has 5 Theories, One of them was pretty darn Scary, a Blood Clot from a mix of Dehydration and Plane Traveling with no Compression Socks. NOTE & FACT 80% of Airplane Blood Clot cases are with Athletes!

In my worst moments I wanted to be a Buddhist Monk!

Food & Sake Time with the boys and the Girls 

Went to the Dr, did the tests, no blood clot, no muscle tear, no pinched nerve, but then the next possible option was something called Compartment Syndrome, that in short a muscle that is surrounded by this membrane or fascia grows to much and compresses the nerves and veins that go through it, this seemed to fit, the problem is that the solution is Surgery!

South Loop Ride:  Kealakekua Bay in Captain Cook

So I've been dealing with this for the last few weeks! It's hard to keep a positive frame of mind, I'm lucky to have my wife Paola always by my side, poor little one, I almost made her loose her mind too.
I gathered as much info I could in this thing too, and opted for and Non Invasive Therapy that seemed to work for some people. REST REST (this was the hardest part) and then start swimming, Chiropractor, Deep Tissue Massage and something called GRASTON! Oh my dear it HurTs! It HuRt like HELL! Bike a few days, and finally a little run on the treadmill, now I'm running 8kms no pain!

I remember being here a lot, but my mind was just too loud!

I've been trying to decide if this is a great year or a crap year..... Why not a normal year? Why not say a year with ups and downs, a year that gave me experience and knowledge and the chance to grow as a Person! But come'on! That sounds to Dalai Lama! Don't get me wrong I love that dude! But I'm not Dalai Lama! It's very easy to be a positive person on Facebook or Twitter! But in real life sometimes  not always you can pull it off like that! I've been really sad when I can't train, I've been in a bad mood and making the effort to think about all the positive things that surround me, sometimes it works sometimes not so much, I realize how much a like to TRAIN, not for the sake of being super fast, just because I like to ride my bike, I like to Run and I like to swim. Before this events, I thought I was more on the competitive side of it, I love to compete too, but now I know that when I get old (Older) I will be happy with just Swim Bike & Run as long as my body enjoys it!

Jenson Button, Jano Soto, Jessica Michibata, Paola Soto at Suzuka Gp 2012

Oh My God! This would be a Pretty nice way to end this Blog!

But I can't :) I decided to go to Thailand anyway, I know I won't be on the shape I would like to, but I can't let go a trip to that Magical Place, the Afterparty with friends, the Sticky Mango Rice and Specially a trip with the Love of my Life!




So I guess it's like every training session, life situations good and bad, "Recover and Get back onto It"

See you in Thailand!

New Website and News Coming Soon

The Boulder files Las Vegas Worlds and The Ironman that never was..

In mid July we landed in Boulder Colorado, the Summer Mecca of Triathlon in the United States. The idea of this 2 month trip was simple:

Early coffee fix At Amante Uptown

1-Go to Boulder

2-Train with our good friends "Team Jomando" And that's Armando Galarraga, the master wicked mind behind his lovely wife Joanna Lawn 7xIronman New Zealand Champion, Challenge Roth Champion and 6xTop10 finisher in Kona, just to name a few.....

3-Do three races, Ironman 70.3 Boulder, Ironman Louisville and finish up with Las Vegas 70.3 Worlds, in the process hopefully come back with my Ticket to Kona.
It was a Bulletproof plan, cause even if I didn't get the Slot for Kona, with all that training/learning at least one of those races should be my best performance of the year! I mean... 3 races! What could possibly go wrong?

Team: Sensei, James Bowstead, me & Joanna Lawn

Well.... a few things went wrong. I didn't do Boulder 70.3, I didn't do Ironman Louisville and I didn't have a good race in Las Vegas 70.3 World Championships.

So What the Hell Happened?

The First day was a 3hr Big Gear Bike Ride, a 4k swim and a 50min Run, that was an "Easy day"
That week we logged 24kms of swimming almost 400k on the Bike and 65k of running. Then we started to step it up, the truth is that I was feeling really good, never felt the altitude and I was hungry for more every week....
The 1st race to "Go' was Boulder 70.3 My "Sensei" Armando who took me under his wing told me:  "Brother, if you really want me to train you properly and do good in Louisville you will have to drop Boulder 70.3" I agreed instantly, is not often that you run into the opportunity to be coached by someone that know so much about Ironman and more than anything train with him every single day for 2 months. And obviously it also made a lot of sense, when the point is to get to your "A" Ironman race in tip top shape you just can't do a Half Ironman race 5 weeks before, not in this case at least.
So after forgetting about Boulder 70.3 (which was not easy) I had 5 weeks to get ready for Louisville.

Peak to Peak Hwy at 9,000ft

Every single ride was simply awesome, going up to the Peak to Peak Hwy at 9,000ft was quite a experience every single day, and we were going up almost 3 times a week, sometimes we went up by  the beautiful and mythic Left Hand Canyon, sometimes by St Vrain Dr, or sometimes by the Epic Estes Park, a loop that just to be able to complete it you can call yourself a fit rider. Not everything was mountain though, easy days we rode around Boulder, The Fruit Loops, The 5 Fingers Loop and Carter Lake. After my Boulder experience I can say this last roads were Semi-Flat but I'm damn sure that in the past I would have said that they were whatever you like to call them "BUT NOT FLAT"
Now I know from experience why I saw so many world class Cyclists on these roads, and why so many call this place home,  it is Cyclist Heaven on Earth!

Pre-Ride Meeting point, Top of Broadway and 36

The Running was actually pretty bad! I say this because I'm totally Spoiled now! I'm damaged goods, a picky runner. Now I just want to run in places like Boulder, I mean on endless trails where you can get totally lost on the scenery. Boulder trails are just the Best! There are hundred of miles to choose, you can find rivers, trees, prairie dogs, deers, etc etc, you can even have the luck of finding a Bear, a Leopard or a Wildcat! I didn't but I saw a Huge Rattlesnake! :)

Switzerland Trail, My Favorite!

The swimming was also pretty cool, we usually went to Scott Carpenter 50 meter Pool, but with pools you also have a lot of options around town, and every single one is pretty cool.

Everything was working out according to plan, some days were pretty damn hard I won't lie, some of them being 8hr training days and 30 to 35 hr weeks, my body was assimilating surprisingly well all that training.

So I was there, feeling extremely good and ready to go, and that's what lead to the 1st of a few mistakes that I made on the way..... Coach Sensei told me: "go easy and always behind, leave always something for the next session or the next day" But on one ride that I was supposed to go easy for 3hrs I rode 5hrs extremely hard, the next day that was a day that was the 1st of a 4 hard days I had a nagging pain on the lower back, I kind of ignored it and tried to just go trough the 4 day block, I thought that in the easy days I could take care of it if it was still there..... How naive I was, now I know that the problem was my hip muscles, they started to get too tight and pull the Vertebral Column, this led to Lower Back Sprain in the middle of a 2hr run, Paola had to pick me up in the car and I ended up in a Chiropractor, L2 and L5 Vertebrae were out of place, the Hips were rotated and the Sacrum was misaligned too.
This was exactly 2 weeks before Louisville, the most important week and I was lying there in a Chiropractor's table like a sac of potatoes.

2nd Mistake: I was told to rest for a "Few" days and then start slowly getting back onto it, but at that point and with Ironman Louisville approaching a "Few" became 1 day, and slowly became a moderately 2 hard days, then I had to take another day off, went to the Chiro another time and started all over it felt like a nightmare or the groundhog day, the week went by with moderated training and I just got 2 Solid long days, Saturday and Sunday...... When I got to the pool after a 20k Run Armando & Joanna tried to put it nicely to me, but the words of reality hit me like a truck, I was devastated when they told me I should pull off the pin on Louisville, I knew I had the engine and the training for a good or not excellent result, I wanted to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk! But I didn't had the Chassis or frame... I pulled the Pin off.

Usually I ended up like this

3rd Mistake: With Louisville out of the picture it was now time to focus on Las Vegas, Monday came and after a 5k swim and a 4hr Hilly Hard ride I was feeling still angry with the world, and when everyone split I just kept riding even harder to the closest mountain and rode like a madman in my Big Gear, came back home and went for a Run, next day it was pretty much the same, an easy 90min run became a 2hr race pace run and I was just in the middle of a 4 day block, my lower back pain started again and before I knew it, I was on the same position as 1 week before, this time for Las Vegas Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Crap!

Last week I tried to get it right, but when I got to Vegas I was pretty much "Done" I knew it since I got out of the plane, I tried to cover it, and I hoped to have a Good Race day, but race day came and It was pretty much the same, I felt flat from the beginning, my swim was terrible, my bike could have been better and my run..... Oh my Run! I was expecting so much for my run!
I remember thinking after the swim "oh that was a bad swim, but 2 minutes is not that much I still have the Bike and my Run" The after the Bike I thought: "Ok i wasn't a stellar bike but let's kill it on the Run" I didn't kill anything, finished 15th in a tough Age Group but my expectations were higher.
Is this a Negative post, No! Don't get me wrong...... I'm just telling the facts of how it went.
I truly had a great time in Boulder and I learned a lot, our time in Boulder also opened new doors for Paola and I, I know I had a few more races in me and I know I want to keep doing this for a long time, I just couldn't do it my way this time.

Here are some pictures of Boulder and Las Vegas

Jano Soto

Important Note:
I know I was capable to train at this level because I kept following my usual nutrition of 40/30/30 That's 40% Carbs, 30% Protein & 30% Fat, I've been working with this diet since I read Dr Barry Sears Book in 2008, it's not a coincidence that from 2009 my Performance took a leap forward compared with what I've done in the past. I usually don't play the "Age" card but I'm 42 years old, in 2008 I lost 10 kilos (22lb) and I've been improving and getting faster since then. Zone Diet and Dr Sears has been Sponsoring and supporting me for almost 4 years now, not only with their products like Omega Oils, Polyphenols, Bars, Shakes and Supplements. But with his knowledge and consulting, I really wish you guys take a minute to check out what Cellular Inflammation is, and what it can mean to you and your overall health, not only athletic performance.
This year I'm super excited to be on the Triathlon Test Team where we will be trying new products and being blood tested for Cellular Inflammation "Find Out More about this by clicking HERE" 

Boulder Trails are The Best!

Recovery with Normatec MVP

Stage 6 of the USA Pro Challenge Cycling Tour

Refueling at Nederland with Craig Alexander

Checking out Boulder from the Sky, thank you Jorge for taking us in your plane!

Las Vegas Swim Start