Day 0: Wednesday May 27th – Prior to the trip
My flight is late on Wednesday (actually it is early on Thursday but with the previous hours I end up going out of my house on Wednesday night) after a long day at the office and several coordinations.
On my way to the airport I pick up Walter, reporter from Terra, media that has decided to cover the campaign in Brazil as well as the whole peruvian group. Last minute borrowed wetsuit pick-up and arrival at the airport (the wetsuit I’ve been using is a surfing wetsuit and not specifically for swimming; besides it’s a little loose since I have lost some weight during this last few months and I end up feeling cold and dragging water).
Day 1: Thursday May 28th – Arrival at Floripa
Airport, counter, airport tax, passport control, etc. Finally, Lan’s flight and we wake up in Sao Paulo. Car rental and off to Florianopolis. It’s about an 8 to 10 hour drive. Exiting Sao Paulo is endless but once on the highway it gets much better except for a short part wh
ere the highway yields into a one-lane road. The road is pretty heavily loaded with trucks but we manage to drive by other cars going to Floripa and you can tell by looking at the bikes on the roofs or racks.
The driving is very long but we finally arrive at night. Posada Maria’s is the hostel where almost all the peruvian athletes are staying. It is at Canasvieiras beach and I strongly recommend it.
Pizza, pasta and good night.
Cold weather and occasional raining.
Day 2: Friday May 29th – Training and family arrival
Early awakening, breakfast and bike mounting (it travels dismounted in a box). It is cold but we head to the Ironman Expo (you can find all sorts of souvenirs as well as specialized articles for sports; this is also the place where you receive all the initial race kit) with our wetsuits ready for an early swimming. The beach is Jurere and is where we will be swimming the day of the race so we are introducing ourselves to it.
The ocean is as calm as a pool. Ideal temperature despite the sun is not shining yet. 6 peruvians get into the water. The idea is to swim about 1,500 meters but I get disoriented and lose my path, aided by a slight current, ending up in some other buoy. As I was alone, I got bored (to be honest I also got tired and was afraid of burning the strength I was surely going to need the day of the competition) and got back before everyone else. In the end, about 25 minutes and 900mt. The good thing is the new wetsuit is working very well although it feels rather tight. I have just decided I’ll use this one on Sunday.
Kit reception and rules review. The kit includes: control chip (must be attached to
your ankle at all times), wrist identification and a few colored bags that you must hand in to the organization prior to the beginning of the race. Each bag is used to identify a leg of the race and what you don’t put in there is off the race. My number: 1125.
Lunch at a nearby beach called Ingleses and back to the hostel. In the afternoon we did about 40 minutes of cycling to test the tuning besides using it as a photo session and one last ride with some friends.
This night was Pasta Dinner for all the athletes and my family arrived (they did the same endless car trip from Sao Paulo to Florianopolis). Rebe, my mom, sister with boyfriend, my mother in law and my uncle Manuel Ricardo and aunt Pilar. I have the rooting assured for the day of the race.
My flight is late on Wednesday (actually it is early on Thursday but with the previous hours I end up going out of my house on Wednesday night) after a long day at the office and several coordinations.
On my way to the airport I pick up Walter, reporter from Terra, media that has decided to cover the campaign in Brazil as well as the whole peruvian group. Last minute borrowed wetsuit pick-up and arrival at the airport (the wetsuit I’ve been using is a surfing wetsuit and not specifically for swimming; besides it’s a little loose since I have lost some weight during this last few months and I end up feeling cold and dragging water).
Day 1: Thursday May 28th – Arrival at Floripa
Airport, counter, airport tax, passport control, etc. Finally, Lan’s flight and we wake up in Sao Paulo. Car rental and off to Florianopolis. It’s about an 8 to 10 hour drive. Exiting Sao Paulo is endless but once on the highway it gets much better except for a short part wh
ere the highway yields into a one-lane road. The road is pretty heavily loaded with trucks but we manage to drive by other cars going to Floripa and you can tell by looking at the bikes on the roofs or racks.The driving is very long but we finally arrive at night. Posada Maria’s is the hostel where almost all the peruvian athletes are staying. It is at Canasvieiras beach and I strongly recommend it.
Pizza, pasta and good night.
Cold weather and occasional raining.
Day 2: Friday May 29th – Training and family arrival
Early awakening, breakfast and bike mounting (it travels dismounted in a box). It is cold but we head to the Ironman Expo (you can find all sorts of souvenirs as well as specialized articles for sports; this is also the place where you receive all the initial race kit) with our wetsuits ready for an early swimming. The beach is Jurere and is where we will be swimming the day of the race so we are introducing ourselves to it.
The ocean is as calm as a pool. Ideal temperature despite the sun is not shining yet. 6 peruvians get into the water. The idea is to swim about 1,500 meters but I get disoriented and lose my path, aided by a slight current, ending up in some other buoy. As I was alone, I got bored (to be honest I also got tired and was afraid of burning the strength I was surely going to need the day of the competition) and got back before everyone else. In the end, about 25 minutes and 900mt. The good thing is the new wetsuit is working very well although it feels rather tight. I have just decided I’ll use this one on Sunday.Kit reception and rules review. The kit includes: control chip (must be attached to
your ankle at all times), wrist identification and a few colored bags that you must hand in to the organization prior to the beginning of the race. Each bag is used to identify a leg of the race and what you don’t put in there is off the race. My number: 1125.Lunch at a nearby beach called Ingleses and back to the hostel. In the afternoon we did about 40 minutes of cycling to test the tuning besides using it as a photo session and one last ride with some friends.
This night was Pasta Dinner for all the athletes and my family arrived (they did the same endless car trip from Sao Paulo to Florianopolis). Rebe, my mom, sister with boyfriend, my mother in law and my uncle Manuel Ricardo and aunt Pilar. I have the rooting assured for the day of the race.
The food was good, a pretty samba show and the feeling the race was very close. We all peruvian athletes went with our Ironman Team Peru shirt (donation thanks to Johann, other peruvian athlete) and one argentinian athlete liked it so we made the first, and classic, t-shirt exchange. This is part of the friendship that you can sense in this sport. Rather than being a competition against each other, it is a race with your own self.
Hostel and good night; on Saturday was planned an early cycling.
Day 3: Saturday May 30th – Check-In
Just one day away from the race and the day breaks with rain and cold weather so I decline from going out with my bike. A few of us stay at the hostel and when everyone else returned we decided to go for a short, 45 minute, run to activate our legs. Later I took my family to the Expo to check out the cool stuff besides getting acquainted with the finish line I’ll be crossing the very next day.Later on came the bag filling for the competition. I made a list of what should g
o in each bag so the logistics were much easier after that. White bag for general stuff (kind of a backpack for your shoes, short & short you arrive at the transition site); black bag that you hand in empty and will be used to keep all your swimming stuff after you go out (wetsuit, goggles and swimming cap); blue bag for the cycling (helmet, gloves, clothes, pulsemeter, sunglasses, replacement tubes and some food); yellow bag for the running (shoes, clothes and podometer basically); and finally the green and red bags for “special needs” used to retrieve stuff at the middle of the cycling (56 miles) or the running (13 miles). This last ones are not mandatory but you typically put on some more food, warm clothes or additional replacement tubes for example. This is what I did.This logistics is like a ceremony for every athlete because it’s very important to be sure everything is in the bags. This might help you be a little bit more relaxed the day of the race. In this case, the tips and help from more experienced triathletes comes in handy so thanks Eduardo for the help!
In the afternoon, bike check-in and bags hand in. It is still raining so it doesn’t look good for Sunday. I even have to cover my bike with plastic bags in order to avoid the rain to wet it, completely at least.At night, after a few coordinations for the waking up next day, off to sleep early.
Sunday is going to be a very long day but I’ll tell you all about it on my next post!
Our goal: their future
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