2010 Already?

With so many races around the world we could think that it's just a matter of choosing where to race, but it's much more complicated than that. You have to plan your training months ahead and then, there's the registration to the event.
I've been thinking in my 2010 season and if I don't decide and register almost right now, I might find the events "sold out" in a couple of months.
Next year I will do my first Full Ironman in Langkawi, this race doesn't fills out that fast, but there's also the flight prices, here it's the same, if you wait to buy the tickets and hotels you will be paying more as the date gets closer.
So... I guess that 2010 is already here, I already decided to race Langkawi, and Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, but it seems that I will have to keep going till the end of the year if I don't want to find myself left out of other races.
After 70.3 Hawaii in June, Paola and I want to rent a Motorhome or RV, and drive from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, and in the way race at Ironman 70.3 Muskoka and a week later Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, that's in September but again, If we don't decide (and pay) now, we might have problems either with the planes, the RV, or with the registration to the events.
I reckon that soon I will have to register to a 2011 Ironman Distance event.
(I want to do IM Western Australia, and IM Canada)
How crazy is that?

Back from Malaysia and USA. And now Clearwater is around the corner.

Finally a solid 10 days of training after Malaysia.

After the race in Putrajaya, we went to Kuala Lumpur, where we had a great time, KL is an amazing city and we left with the feeling that we needed a little more than the 4 days we spent there.

In the way back to the U.S.A. we had the longest (and strangest) day of our lives.

It started waking up in Kuala Lumpur with the amazing and surreal view of the Petronas Towers in our window, we spend the morning at KL, we had lunch there, and then we took a "teksi" to the airport, our plane left at 2pm to Taiwan, where we arrived at about 7pm, and the next flight to L.A. was at 11pm, so we had 4 hours to be at the Airport, the Taipei Airport is very interesting so it really gives you the feeling that you are in Taiwan.

So we left Taiwan at 11pm heading to L.A. and here's where everything starts to get a little strange, after a 13 hours flight, we arrived L.A. at 8pm of the same day, we waited 2 hours to get in our third plane of the day, heading to Las Vegas, where we arrived at 11pm, so there we were... at Las Vegas Strip, surrounded with all the nightlights and thinking "What a long day" we just couldn't believe that we were still on the same day, after all it was a 39 hour day! Strange, Strange, ha ha!

We had the weekend to relax in Vegas before heading back home, I was ready to resume training, and I was feeling rested and energized because a managed to swim almost everyday in KL, in a very cool Swimming Pool of 25 meters in the 33th floor, with an excellent view of the Petronas Towers, actually this pool becomes the "Sky Bar"at night. So it was very nice to swim there.

The problem started as soon as we walked into our house, in that moment I felt like I was about to get a cold, and in less than 3 hours I was feeling like crap, with a fever of 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) muscle pains like never before and a terrible headache, I went to see the Doctor and he said I had The Swine Flu or H1N1, I was like "WHAT?"

He told me that it wasn't that bad, and that I didn't need medications, so I went home with a prescription of a simple dose of Paracetamol and over the counter cold medicine.

Just as the Doctor told me, the lab results came positive for H1N1, and I felt much worse the next 2 days before I started to get better, in the 5th day I was riding my bike again, 3 days of easy training, and now it's been already 10 days of solid training.

I'm feeling great and ready to race.

Clearwater is just around the corner, so I have this weekend of hard training, and then just taper for the Big Race. Another good news is that my Website http://www.janosoto.com/ is ready, everything is going great and now I'm immune to the H1N1 virus ha ha!

Ironman Putrajaya 70.3 1st Place!!!!!!

It was simply the perfect day and the perfect race I could ever wish for.

Starting by the swim leg, after the gun shot I went to the front of the pack, at my sides i had a Korean guy and a Aussie, the lake was flat as a pancake so it was very easy to see the buoys but since I was at the front it was easier to follow the Kayak, the feeling of being at the front was excellent but in the 950mt turnaround I let the Aussie take the lead and get some rest at his feet, I knew I could get him later, and that happened at t1, so there I was in the bike 5 minutes behind the Elite Group, and at the front of the rest.

The bike course this time didn't look flat anymore it was more hilly than the previous days ha ha! But after checking some splits I knew I was going fast, after the first lap I started to pass the Elite women and I got to t2 in front of all of them and some local pros.

The run was simply beautiful as I said in the previous blog, and running in the main street of this exotic place was really incredible, and being at the front of the Age Group pack was just the best I could ask for, in front of me there was just Jan Rehula, Cameron Watt, Passuello, and .... ( I still have to see the results)

My plan was simple, try to hold my target 21kms pace (4:30 min per Km) as long as I could, and I did it til the 18km mark from that point I lost the pace, but nothing disastrous, I was passed again by 3 Elite girls, one Elite guy and by one guy from the 30-34 Age Group, so I finished 1st place for the First time in an Ironman 70.3 Event, and I just can't by more satisfied.

Later in the week I will post the great pictures that Paola Shoot, they are really great.

Malaysia 70.3 Preview

After a 25,000 kms trip, Here I'm in Putrajaya, Malaysia at the other side of the world literally..... It was a long long trip, but it also was not as terrible as I thought it would be, a Shuttle Bus from Puebla to Mexico City International Airport 2 hours, then the flights... Mexico/Las Vegas, Las Vegas/L.A. L.A/Taipei (14 hours straight) Taipei/Kuala Lumpur, and finally a cab to Putrjaya, funny but we enjoyed the whole time.

The City is simply Beautiful! This is a new Federal city created to move the Government powers from KL ( Kuala Lumpur) And looks like they didn't spare a dime. You get the feeling that things are not real, everything seems so perfect, and the streets so clean, even the sidewalks have beautiful designs and are made of different kinds of stones, just like the lobby floor of a 5 star hotel.

We are staying at The Shangri-La Hotel, in the top of a Hill right next to the Prime Minister's house, the name of the hotel says everything and from our balcony you can see the Putrajaya Mosque, one of the 3 other ones in the Main Street, where the run leg is gonna be (2 laps) I can't wait to be running here.


The Putrajaya 70.3 is gonna be held in the Pullman Hotel, also an incredible place (later I will add some pictures) and the bike leg consists in 3 Laps around Putrajaya, in a perfect conditions freeway, flat with some rolling hills in the mix, I think we will get fast times, not like in Cancun.

Well...... I will eat breakfast and then head to the Pullman hotel where we will stay for this night (5 star hotels are very cheap here) there..... after a 1 hour ride, I will go for an easy swim in the course that's also very well marked with buoys every 100 meters and then relax for the rest of the day.

Everything seems perfect here, I'm feeling good and I know I'm in Shape, so I hope to be writing about a good result tomorrow after the race.