Just got back from IM Brasil and thought of sharing my experience… get a cup of coffee because it’s long 
Happy training,
M
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Ironman Brasil, exploring Floripa
May 29, 2005
Pre race
I originally signed up for this race a month after completing Lake Placid last year in search of redemption. A friend of mine was tempting me with the idea to go down to Floripa and do IM Brasil during Memorial Day weekend. She ended up not doing the race, but I managed to convince Andrea to come along cheer me on (she ended up doing the race just 5.5 weeks after Boston! The woman is a little machine!).
While training for my third IM, I focused on having more fun, good body composition and shorter training session but with more intensity. Since I was training during most of the winter and spring and the weather in the Northeast was cold, I planned a few training weekend trips down south in hopes to do some big miles and get me prepared for Brazil. In February, Andrea and I went down to Clermont, FL, met up with Christiana Ober (a solid speed demon AG from the DC area) and then in late March we went to Chandler, AZ, for a week of intense epic training with some very cool people including a great Portuguese crew (best Portuguese triathlete Sérgio Marques, Sérgio Dias, José Martins and Paulo Sousa aka ‘smartasscoach’), German power house Olaf Sabatschus, bike speed demon François Modave and a few AGs. Both training trips gave me a good boost in fitness and endurance.
Since last October, I was very consistent on the pool, on a mission to crack the 60’ barrier for the 2.4 miles, logging in on average 4500-5000 yards 3 times a week. On the bike, I focused on concentration and consistency. And on the run, I increased my frequency up to 5-6 times a week and cut off some extra pounds
Basically, I was faster on all three sports. My swim times were predicting a 58’ swim. I was solid for the bike just hoping to go under 6:30, but knowing that all my training rides predicted a 6:00 split. And for the run, I was feeling fast and strong. Close to a 4hr marathon was doable. And I was a good 10# lighter.
My major goals for the race were to give a steady solid effort all along, avoid focusing on single splits, just go by feel and my HR and enjoy the fact that I can do IMs, and finish the race strong and smiling! This race was just a warm up to IM Canada and a good training for my nutrition since that has been a problem in the past two IMs (on the run).
On Tuesday, May 24th, Andrea and I headed to Brazil via Miami, and everything went smoothly. We met Carmenza Morales and Ricardo Cardeño and a few other Colombians in São Paulo while waiting for our connection to Floripa and got to chat with them a bit. A very sweet, down to earth group of people! Andrea was psyched to have a few Colombians buddies (there were 22 Colombians doing IM Brasil), that’s for sure! We got to Floripa and our bags and bikes came along. The weather in Floripa was beautiful. Low 70s, sunny, dry and just a tiny bit windy. The ocean was calm and blue. It took a couple of days to rest up from the trip and get accustomed to the weather and conditions. By Friday we were ready to go.
We stayed at the Palace Praia Hotel, about 7k from the race site with a fun group of people among them Olaf, François, Joanna Zeiger, a cool Italian (Albert Giorgio) and a couple of British, French and American athletes (as my dad put it, we were quite the UN group, very diverse). During the pre race week we all hung out together and enjoyed the delicious Brazilian food (including the ice cream buffet). It was a great experience to see how the pros dealt with their race preparation and still had a lot of fun and were relaxed all along.
On Saturday morning my parents came down to cheer and watch the race. It was great to have them there to support us! We drove the bike course and then went for a nice fish at the Toca of Jurerê. In the evening, we ate at the hotel and went to the room to pack up at 8PM. By 9PM lights were out.
Race Morning
Woke up at 4:00AM, shower and ate my usual pre race breakfast (whole wheat toast w/ almond butter, banana and honey, and strong cup of coffee, Brazilian style!). I was a bit nervous, but very relaxed at the same time. To my surprise I didn’t have any dreams or nightmares about the race for the past week, so that was a good sign.
Olaf’s friend took us to the race site around 5:15AM, so we had enough time to check the bikes, transition bags and get ready.
To our surprise the ocean was quite rough and the winds were blowing pretty hard. The forecast was promising a hot day, around 80F and sunny. It would be an interesting day…
I checked my bike, placed my nutrition bottles, checked my transition/special need bags and off I went with Andrea to the beach. We met a few Colombians on our way, Andrea was quite happy. We were trying to find people around our pace to swim together. She found one of the other Colombians also racing, Mirtha (she ended up getting 3rd in her AG!), that was planning on doing swim around her pace. I asked around, but couldn’t really find anyone aiming for 60-65’, so I just stayed on the second role on the left side and hoped for the best. The current was strong and the waves were constant, so sighting would be hard. And we could barely see the buoys from the beach.
Swim
The moments before the swim when they sang the national hymn were quite exciting… I could feel the adrenaline rush on my blood stream and the goose bumps… Just after 7AM the gun was off and off we went. The washing machine was on and at full speed. The first loop was quite hard, I got knocked up quite badly (at some point I thought I would have a purple eye!) and basically drank salt water every stroke I took, seriously no exaggeration. I existed the water just over 32’, by then I knew all my hopes for a sub 60’ were pretty much gone. The second loop was worst since I couldn’t sight at all, the turn around buoy was no where to be found, and the strong current kept throwing me off course. I was just imagining how Andrea’s swim was coming along… quite a rough day. I bet she was ready to kill me… since I once mentioned to her that the rougher the better J
I exited the water in 1:10 and average HR 150, just happy to be on stable land and thirsty for something sweet. Saw my parents at the wetsuit peelers and was happy to get on my bike. My parents told me later that the wetsuit peelers took all of Olaf’s clothes including his skinsuit, so he was naked in front of everybody! Quite a scene that my dad managed to get on photo. And that someone kicked Joanna Zeiger on the nose and broke it… she did the whole race on a broken nose! Tough cookie.
Bike
On the bike, I focused on getting my HR down for the first 20’ and just drinking some water. Got into a good rhythm right away and started my nutrition of 4 bottles of Infinit and Gatorade, powerbar and gels if necessary. My goal was to keep my effort at zone 2 around 130-139 HR and hopefully go around 6-6:30. I was passing people from the moment I got on the bike, mostly men, and a couple of women on my AG, so that was quite rewarding. I completed the first quarter of the course on a 6:00 pace, but I knew that the second quarter would be hard with the strong headwinds. Coming back the winds were so strong that my bike was going from right to left on the down hills, it was very scary! I reached the half mark at 3:16 feeling strong and relaxed. Nutrition was right on target. The second half went pretty smoothly, and I passed a few more people and finally got to see Andrea (she had never swam anything over 1.2miles straight and her left shoulder was bothering her, a rough swim for her like all of us, but she survived and looked strong!). My second half was even with the first one 3:16 and change, for a total ride of 6:33 and average HR 137. Time flew by… didn’t even notice. I was happy to be off the bike and eager to run the hills to Canasvieiras and spot my parents. I hadn’t seen them since the wetsuit peelers… but apparently they saw me twice on the bike. By now the temperature was around 84F…
Run
T2 was smooth, and off I was for the marathon. My stomach was feeling ok and my energy level was fine, so I decided to drop my gels and just go for Gatorade and water for the marathon. As Paulo had suggested I aimed for 60g of CHO per hour and lots of water. It worked just perfectly. The first half of the marathon had us going from Jurerê to Canasvieras through several small and steep hills with beautiful ocean views and little houses. I was feeling pretty good still and just focused on keeping a comfortable pace from the beginning and being consistent. Just after km 7, Olaf overtook me en route for his second straight win in Floripa. We exchanged a few words, and I told him that we would be going dancing the next day; he smiled at me and just said that his legs were fried. He still had 4k to go, but I had no doubt he would win since he had a good margin on Oscar. We had a bet going on that if Olaf won, he would go dancing with the group J He hates dancing.
The first half marathon was smooth. I saw my parents close to our hotel twice and got a boost of energy from them. I saw plenty of familiar faces on the course and that was very motivating as well: the British and Colombian connection, a few people from DC, etc. I caught up to Bobby, one of the Brits; he had a big smile from ear to ear and was truly enjoying his day. Crossed the half mark just past 2hrs and an average HR 144. I saw Olaf walking by with his friend, and he told me he had won… that was totally awesome! I then stopped by at the special need bag because I knew Andrea had written a motivation note 
It made me very happy for a few kilometers! And just after the 22k mark we crossed paths as she was heading out for her first half marathon looking very strong and fast!
The sun was coming down now, and the only words on my head were Paulo’s “a solid run in the IM isn’t a fast run, is a persistent one, where the most important is to maintain the pace from the beginning”… The second half of the marathon consisted of 2 little loops of 10.5K. The first 10.5K loop was the hardest one, mentally more than anything. I slowed a bit and was just discouraged by the fact that I would have to repeat it again and in the dark L My lucky star was a German female triathlete that caught up to me at the end of the first loop. She was running at a steady pace a bit slower than me with her husband and son on the bike next to her (not sure how the organizers didn’t catch them, but I’m happy for it!). We didn’t talk much, but she motivated me to be consistent and was counting down the kilometers. By the second loop I passed her for good and just kept trucking along. I caught up to a girl on my AG with 3k and upped my pace; I was closing in the one in 6th place, but didn’t manage to get her. Saw my parents just before the finish…
I crossed the finish line just over 12:30 with an incredible rush of energy and happiness and a big smile on my face! It was a solid effort and I left nothing in the tank. I was pleased to hear that even the pros had a hard day, being on average a good 30’ slower than the previous year. Happy to report that I had no bad patches at all during the whole race. I just focused on celebrating my health and keeping a steady pace all along, good form and technique. The volunteers and people on the course were great! The energy they transmitted was incredible, a good fuel for all of us racing! Not only did they say ‘good job’, but they were constantly saying ‘stay strong’, ‘be tough’, ‘strength’ (força, vamos lá!), ‘come on go harder’, ‘you know you are almost there’, ‘leave everything here’, ‘make us proud’… it was very motivating!
I waited with my parents at the final few meters for Andrea and ran with her the last few steps together, what a great way to finish the day! She kicked major booty at the marathon finishing her first IM with a 4:20 split just after doing Boston, torito! My official results got messed up because I ran a second time through the finish line with my chip on, but the organizers have finally corrected them now.
Post Race
After we got back from the race, showered and cleaned up, we went out for more fish with my dad and Olaf to celebrate a great day at the office! Poor Olaf was constantly being harassed for pictures and autographs; he is quite a celebrity in Floripa!
The next day we went out for drinks and dinner, Olaf, François, Mark and Bobby (the Brits), Andrea and I. They got introduced to caipirinhas And François got drunk after 8 years of not drinking at all Quite a show! We looked like little kids playing on the streets of Canasvieiras.
Overall I’m very pleased with my race. Looking forward to better swim conditions and getting faster on the bike. Can’t wait to go to Penticton in late August!
I highly recommend this race to anyone considering IM destination racing! It’s a very nice course, fast if the conditions are good, the people of Floripa and race volunteers are great, the food is delicious, and it’s a very affordable trip. And late May gives you enough time to train even in the Northeast.
Thanks for all your support and reading this!
