Latest News: September 2012

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"