So here is the Brazil report. We'll start with the picture that's worth 1000 words. This is a picture Nancy took, about 50 yards from the finish line. Needless to say I was totally out of it by then, there was not a single cell in my body that wouldn't hurt. Well worth it.
Nancy and I about 3 hours after the race. Nancy is exhausted after a whole day of waiting for me to show up at various stages of the race and me - well still pretty much out of it. The things that hangs around my neck is the IM finisher medal. Likely the most precious award I have ever gotten in any sporting event.
Florianopolis IM 2006 report
We started on Friday the 19th in the afternoon, got to Denver International, got to pay an extra $100 to get the bike on a plane (grrr), got on a plane to Houston and followed to Sao Paulo. An interesting town, would not want to live there. Spread over a large flat area, houses with red roofs and clumps of tall (about 15+ floors) apartment buildings are peppered throughout the landscape. We had to pickup the bike, go through customs and then check it back in. Two hours later we landed in Florianopolis (with an interim stop in Curitiba). Got the two pieces of luggage no problem but the bike didn't show up. It turned out that four out of five bikes that were supposed to be on this flight didn't fit on the plane so they were put on the next flight. We had a van waiting for us (arranged by our hosts at Pousada Pouso do Marujo). The driver, Nei, decided he didn't want to wait for another half hour (yes, time is money in Brazil as well), so he helped up to fill the baggage claim and drove us to the pousada (aka Bed'n Breakfast in English). We got warm welcome from one of our innkeeper's sons (well versed in English) and got into our room. We settled in and about an hour later Ida, our innkeeper showed up and immediately offered help with the bike. She called the airport and was told it's on a van and being delivered. It's about 4 o'clock now (we landed at 2 pm). Two guys in a VW Passat Station showed up at about 5:30 bringing a bad news that the delivery van rolled over, so they are redelivering the bike. Wrong bike. Some poor guy on the other side of the island got our bike delivered to him. So they had to go back to the airport, swap the luggage, exchange the paperwork, etc. It took another phone call by Ida at about 7:30 pm to learn that there is a soccer match in progress, therefore all traffic is jammed up. Nancy was getting to be pretty nervous about the whole thing, while I just laid in bed and didn't worry too much. The bike eventually showed up at about 8 pm, I took it out of the box, reassembled it, everything seemed to be OK. It would have sucked if it got lost or damaged. I also had my wetsuit, helmet, bike shoes and a couple pairs of my running shoes in the box, so I would have been totally hosed. That evening we learned that in Brazil, things may work out slower than we'd like them to, but eventually they will work out. That's the Brazilian way.
Sunday May 21st, a week before the race.
Woke up at 9 am and had Ida's great breakfast (eggs, sausage, yoghurt, breads, cheeses, fruits, etc.). Then we went for a walk to and on the beach, just a couple of miles in a light rain. The beach is really cool, long, sand is very compact so it's easy to walk on. Came back through the village. Nancy rested a bit while I went for a short run. It's nice running here. Shortly after I started I clocked myself at steady pace of 8'30" mile, my heart ticking at 153. Hmmm, sea level, it does work. Then I came up on this bad ass hill, I ran all the way up, it kind of sucked. But the view from the top was worth it, I could see the lagoon, the sand dunes, the bridges over the canal and the vilage itself. Pretty cool. Just to keep the log of what I did,
9:52.85 @154 beats, 9'51" mile, 1.0 miles, coming back
11:09.51 @ 145 beats, 8'52" mile, 1.256 miles.
The damn hill was at least 10% climb, running down sucked too. Oh well, got back to pousada, got Nancy and went to eat at a buffet that charges by a kilo. Good food and relatively inexpensive. I like inexpensive, I don't like cheap. We got stuffed by various meats, seafood and veggis for about $10 for both of us (including 2 beers).
It has been raining all day long. My overall impressions of the island are great. I thought it would be a bit warmer, but hey, it's winter here at the end of May. Ida said this was the coldest May they had in 20 years. Our luck. Yesterday I went to the nearby store, got a 5 liter jug of water, chocolate, bananas, tangerines and a bottle of Brazilian wine. The immediate lesson learned not to ever buy Brazilian wine. It sucks. This acquired knowledge was shortly confirmed by the innkeepers and another guest from Germany, Klaus. Klaus also came to race, he's kind of serious about it. He has been doing this for quite a few years and aspires to qualify for Hawaii.
Monday May 22nd
We rented a car. Small Fiat, about $30 per day (including insurance). No radio, no A/C, no problem. However, the thing didn't have heater, either. That came as a surprise :). We went up North to Jurere International (that's where the race takes place) and traced part of the run course. Seemed reasonable, except there were these 2 bad ass hills. My first thoughts were that we're probably looking at a wrong place, only to learn a couple of days later that yes, indeed, they want me to run these hills. Hmmm, I don't think so. We also tracked down the hills on the bike course. It isn't too bad, nothing that I haven't seen in Colorado. But nothing to sneeze at either, this is not going to be that easy.
Tuesday May 23rd
Got up at 5 am, drank 24 oz of water, did my morning ritual - cereal, milk, yoghurt, banana, coffee (coffee is good here). Went back to bed, got up at 7 am, put on my wetsuit, walked to the nearby salt water channel and did a bit of a swim practice to the amusement of smoking and coffee drinking locals on the shore. It was freaking freazing. I swam against the current up to the bridge and back, probably about 1/2 mile each way. 20:11.78 and 15:16.20 respectively.
Then I went for a short bikeride, just to test the bike. 6.34 miles @ 143 bpm, 18.9 mph, 20:01.7, then 8.216 @ 153 bpm, 16.3 mph, 30:10.59 on the way back. On my return trip I went past our pousada and decided to defeat the bad ass hill I ran up yesterday. I didn't even bother with any kind of shifting strategy. As soon as I started the climb, I shifted as many gears as I could and moved steady at about 3.5 mph. Slow and steady, still a lot of effort. My bpm at the top reached 179. This hill is a bitch.
Then I had breakfast #2, spent the rest of the day just driving around, went down South and checked out various beaches. The sun came up once in a while but it's still pretty cold for the most part. Klaus told me about a SNUGG wetsuits made in GB, got to check them out.
Wednesday May 24th
I didn't do a damn thing, a day of rest, just hanging around, walking on beaches, eating.
Thursday May 25th
Went for the half course test swim at Jurere, 45:03.93. Fighting the ocean current, this is really the first time I swam in open water in wetsuit. I think I didn't fit the wetsuit well and consequently it scraped the shit out of my skin right under my right shoulder blade. Lesson learned.
Went through the registration and race briefing. Picked up my race bags and the race chip at registration. Holy crap, this is official now, I have a yellow bracelet on my right wrist that identifies me as 'the participant'. Wow.
Friday May 26th
Discovered nude beach, it was just us, me with my naked ass and a couple of other naked guys who occasionally wondered around and wondered why Nancy doesn't want to take off her swimsuit. Hint: I am the only woman here among bunch of horny bastards.
Went to pasta dinner (IM carboloading party). I have never seen so many skinny people eat so much pasta. I endulged myself with at least three full plates.
Saturday May 27th - the day before the race
It's time for the equipment check, make sure I have all the stuff I need for the various legs of the race. There are several bags that you need to fill up with stuff, you have:
- swim bag - there is no need to fill that one up, that's where you put your civilian clothing in the morning, it's also your change of cloth after the race
- bike bag - you get this before you get on the bike
- special needs bike bag - half way through the bike ride
- run bag - before you run
- special needs run bag - half way through the run
The bike (not the bike bag) is fitted with a Bento box for food supply, a couple of water bottles and a toolkit pouch. Things I had with me:
- spare tube (brand new)
- electrical tape
- patch kit
- tire levels
- Topeak toolkit
- valve covers and retaining nuts (why??)
- Body glide
- bandaids and body patches
- 12 salt tablets
- 4 aspirins
- small bag of Cashews (Bento box)
Bike bag
- helmet and gloves
- bike shorts (my regular Sugoi) and jersey (loose, J&G cyclewear)
- bike shoes and socks
- my GPS + HR belt
- Food: 2x Power Bar Harvest (220 cal each), 2x Cliff bar (250 cal each) for a total of 940 calories
Bike special needs bag
- didn't use
Run bag
- bandaids + patches
- surgical tape (I wished later on that I had it with me on the run)
- suntan lotion
- the buff (my headgear)
- 12 salt tablets + 4 aspirins
- running shorts (my Sugoi tri shorts)
- my tri top (Sugoi)
- running shoes (Saucony, Trigon Ride)
- running socks
- Food: 1 Lara bar (220 cal), 5x Gu (100 cal) for a total of 720 cal
Run special needs
- Food: Gu Chocolate, Gu Espresso (2x caffeine), Power Bar 2x caffeine + 4x sodium, Enervitene. Obviously I was planning to be pretty exhausted if I made it this far, so these were my weapons of choice for the second half of the marathon. Sugar, sodium and caffeine.
Then you take all these bags and your bike and check it in on Saturday afternoon. No water bottles on the bike overnight - bring them with you in the morning, the pump and tool is OK. I had a squeeky Orca whale on my handlebars and got it blessed by the race officials as long as I promissed not to spook other racers with it.
Still on the subject of bags. I decided it will be desirable to change into clean and dry clothing after each discipline, so I put a change of cloth into the bike and run bags. Some athletes put on their tri suit under their wetsuit and stay in it all day so they don't have to waste time changing. I figured out that since my goal is to finish the race, a couple of minutes of rest while I am changing into dry clothing are likely to help me.
In the evening I took one of my water bottles, opened 12 Power Bar gel packs, dumped them into the bottle and filled it up to the rim with water. The idea was not to have to open the gel packs on the bike (thanks Klaus for giving me the hint). So I had one water bottle loaded with 1200 calories.
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