IRONMAN - What an Amazing Experience

IRONMAN, what an experience, I had already heard a lot of people talking about their experiences, how fantastic it was to complete one of the toughest triathlon races on earth, but only after doing it everything I've heard starts to really make sense.
Many don't know, but my IRONMAN story started many years ago, to be more specific 2007, that was the year I decided that it would be my target race and that I'd be dedicated to initially finish the race, but always having in mind racing in Kona one day.

As the decision was made by mid 2007 I started training for next year's IRONMAN Florianópolis. Followed the training plan agreed with my coach (Emerson Vilela), daily training sessions of swimming, biking, running and strength exercises, a rigorous diet prescribed by Gabriela Motta, a lot of discipline, getting all training and diet done and also respecting my resting and recovery periods, which were potentialized by the work of Roney Campos, my acupuncturist, therapist and friend.
All was running as planned, was achieving very reasonable times and distances for a starter in long distance triathlons, enough to have quite good results, so went for my first long distance triathlon in Pirassununga. It was part of my preparation for the IRONMAN thus the main target was to have a good finish so that would give me confidence for the big one in May. So that was made, finished the 1.900 m swim, 90 km bike and 21 km run in 5h32min.
By the end of the race I heard a comment that made my day, my friend Gisele Sauer asked me a question: "How can you finish this race looking like you ran 10 km?" I didn't know how it happened exactly, but that was a very strong indication I was in the right path.

In parallel to all of that life was going on, specially my professional life and that's where a turning point came to my life.
I was a bit stuck in my career, so as there were opened positions in other offices of the company I worked for I decided to make myself available for one of these positions, after about a month negotiation, both at work and at home with my girlfriend, it was decided, we were going to Australia.

That's how my days in 2014 started.

That was December 2007 and all priorities changed from that moment on, that was a time to concentrate in my new challenges, Fernanda and I decided to get maried, we were going to live in a new country and start a new life, now together 24 x 7 so there was no other option, the IRONMAN was officially on hold, I would not be able to dedicate myself for the race and at that time there were other priorities in my life.

The following years were wonderful, our first years of marriage and life in Australia were spectacular, we strengthed our relationship, made new and great friends and went to unforgettable places.

Even so, it was a great distance and we missed our family, so getting back was needed and start a new phase of our lives, closer to our parents, family and friends that we missed so much while far away.

Returning was great, but adaptation was hard, it took a while to get adjusted, to be honest years. We got back by the end of 2010 after 3 years in Australia and I took other 2 years to really settle back.

After all the balance of 6 years of inconsistent training and no discipline at all got translated in a number, 16 kg. Yes, I had put on 16 kg over this period away from training, I was sedentary, no physical conditioning and very unhappy with the life I was leaving, something had to be done urgently, but the path between getting aware of the problem and actually take action is very long and for me, despite not consciously, motivation was needed, which only came by December 2013.

By the end of last year we went spent New Year's week/eve at the home of our dear friends Michelle Matos e James in Fortaleza, amongst laughs, chats and wonderful moments Michele presented me with the challenge: "Why don't you run IRONMAN Fortaleza?". I immediately said she was crazy, that there was no chance I'd do it being so unfit and on the top of it, there was no IRONMAN in Fortaleza, statement I had to take back after checking www.ironman.com and find out that in 2014 Fortaleza was going to host an IRONMAN for the first time.

I could barely sleep that night, thought about all possible excuses not to race the IRONMAN in 2014 and by the next morning I realized none of the excuses were valid, I had no reason not to race it, so before going to the beach at that morning I registered myself. It was done, that decision would change our lives in 2014.

After our holidays and back to São Paulo I wet to meet my coach Emerson Vilela and shared the decision took a few weeks earlier, by that time only 4 people were aware of it, Fernanda, Michelle, James and now Emerson.

When I told him, he got immediately excited so we started training immediately.

I was back, training with Emerson, that now counted with prof. Bacana giving us all support with the cycling training, also the swimming coaches at Reebok Sports Club (Vivi, Ricardo e Diego) strived to take the "anchor" I had tied to my feet when swimming.

At this time for the nutrition support I initially was taking advice from Dayanna Araujo and later from Renata Pahlsson, with their help I went from 93 kg to 83 in 5 months, what a fantastic job.

Finally, without resuming the work with Roney Campos none of that would be possible, week after week, after intense and challenging training, tough for the body and mind, Roney managed to get me back on my feet for training with his technique and acupuncture.

With that routine 10 months passed by, hard period, less than 5 hours sleep per night, had to stand pain, spent very little time with my wife and family and friends, and yet I had to keep up with my professional career, where lots of things happened over the year.

By the mid of 2014 I left the company where I worked for 9 years and started in a new one, so on the top of all the load coming from training I had to concentrate on my new job and deal with the challenges of the new role in the new company.

But, that's all part of the things that got me prepared for the IRONMAN Fortaleza!

Michelle and James at the Iron village.

The race week was perfect, prof. Bacana and I arrived at Fortaleza on Wednesday, we traveled together with our friends Michele and James that spent a few days at our place in São Paulo, they were also going to host us in their place in Fortaleza.

The rest of the week was very intense, a number of activities had to be accomplished till the race start, swim, bike and run practice, race check-in, technical congress and bike check-in.

With all done spot on I was ready for the race start.

The race day started perfectly, not a lot of wind and an apparently not too rough ocean, went for a quick swim, not necessarily for a warm-up, but to relief the tension, race start is always tense for me.

Finally we all went to the water, almost 1,500 "crazy people" were ready for an amazing day at one of the kite-surf's capitals of the world.

The start was given by a ship horn, I have to confess I love that moment!

The 3,800 m swim became 4,400 m for me, the swell, streams and the raising sun made my orientation was very hard and took me away from the right way back, however I still managed to finish within my forecast time, expectation was to finish swimming in 1h40min and I was back to transition in 1h30min, a great start.

Made the transition to the bike with no rush, didn't want to forget anything behind, and I didn't. Started ridding very confident thinking only on the next push/pull on the pedal, because thinking on the 180 km wouldn't help much. The first 55 km were tough, extreme heat and constant head wind made this leg a small torture, but I knew it was going to be like that and I was mentally prepared to stand it with a lot of patience.

As I got rid of the head wind I could enjoy the tail wind over the next 35 km, but that was just a little relief, because I still had to face other 35 km of head wind before starting the last 55 km with tail wind and finally get to the transition to the marathon. The final kilometers of the bike were very hard, started feeling cramps so at that time I noticed there was something wrong with my eating during the bike, that was a sign that the marathon was going to be tough, but things were still going according to the plan, I expected to finish the 180 km in  6h00, and ended up finishing it in 6h20, till that point only 10 minutes over forecast.

Got to the transition and surprisingly I was feeling good, got off the bike and managed to run vigorously to the changing tent, almost no signs of cramps, again made the transition with no rush and very consciously. The start of the marathon was like always, tough, my body takes time to get used to work with the new muscles and get adapted to the new discipline, but this time it was different, I didn't have enough energy to continue causing the pace of 4min50s/km I sustained over the first 4 km to drop to 7min30s/km, started to feel cramps all over my legs and I was desperate to find a source of energy to get myself back to the race. Despite the slow pace I knew I couldn't stop, kept always on the move and at every aid station I tried a different combination of foods and drinks, gatorade, bananas, gel carbohydrates and coca-cola, nothing was really working at that time, my stomach wasn't well, it ached, nothing that I ate was actually working, until that around km 28 I started to eat bread with gatorare, as magic my energy level raised, I'm not sure if it was only the food or if the energy from the crowd and my family and friends had something to do with it, but I was back.

I have a special note to make here, after my first lap of the run I had a totally unexpected surprise, my mom and my cousin Rodrigo Bueno were there watching the race, they didn't say to anyone and got there as a surprise and shout at me a big incentive at my first passage after 14 km run, it was so emotional to see mom watching the race.

I finally got better, ran the last 10 km in a decent pace and got to the finish line, a lot of emotions emerged, during the last meters of the race I was feeling extreme happiness, a sensation of mission accomplished, the crowning of 10 months of hard work and the best of all, to see that I have a family and friends that support me, they suffered with me and without me because of the endless training sessions and some of them managed to be there and share with me that moment, a moment that will be in my memory as one of the best of my life.

Now I have the real dimension of what is to be an IRONMAN!

Before finishing I have to write an special note for my lovely wife, since the first idea of running the IRONMAN Fortaleza til the finish line she was there with me, was my biggest motivator and suffered with the privations we had to go through and my absence, all of that for us to feel the happiness we felt at the finish line of the IRONMAN, Fê you are the best wife, friend and partner of the world, I love you!