IMAZ, full disappointment
This is not a race report first of all, because i never raced anyway.
The week in AZ was all about disappointment, after getting sick around Wednesday i wasn’t able to recover. I was with the feeling that i could still wake up in the race morning and pull a decent race but the almost 0 exercise from Wednesday till race day was only enough to fool myself. I was having pain on my rib cage (OK i don’t know exactly how its called) when i had a deep breath, that was of course very close sintoms of pneumonia (been there already) and that was making me very uncomfortable about what would come next.
Anyway after much laying around and TV (and a lot of CSI) i went for it…
The “race” resumes to:
I was in the water next to Tim Deboom and Rutger Beke, what a duo eh? and the gun went off, i gave like 10 15 strokes and i lost all my strength, i couldn’t breath and was feeling really uncomfortable, not that triathlon is comfortable, its not but you get the point. They’re gone, everyone, and soon enough i start dragging my body through the swim course, i was really slow with a slow stroke and left the water already knowing that i would stop because that wasn’t just a bad swim. After around 59min i was out of the water and needed help to take my wetsuit off, something that i never done. everyone was encouraging me except for the race announcer, that said something like this “its Sergio marques, a student from Porto Rico”… #%#&/(/%, now i was having the worse time in my sporting career and this wasn’t helping at all :(.
When i was running, really slowly, into T1 i had a clear thought that i wouldn’t leave the tent but the volunteers cheered so much that i went for it. I jumped to the planet-x and gave it a shot. The less than 200W AVG from the first 20 min says it all… i pulled the plug and came back to transition area.
Waited somewhere near the Hot Corner and after finding Paulo, Jodi and Sophie i asked if i could have a ride home, end of story.
It was of course a very frustrating week, after so much work, not being able to race is just not fair. i would definitely prefer to have a terrible race, have 20 flats, hit by a meteor while in the bike, bad nutrition whatever.
the following days my ribcage pain got worse and i flew back to Portugal, after a few days off to fully recover from this i got back to some physical work on Friday.
I am in terrible shape right now, i feel (am) slow, I’m sure that 80% of fitness will come in just a few days, its just a matter of how fast i can find the 20%.
My racing calendar will change a bit now to handle this unexpected situation, will update both my site and blog soon.Its all about taking a deep breath and face what is next :D.
Posted by in 21:03:04
Ok i dont know why the blog is eating the paragraphes
Thanks for the update…
Alex
keep it going man! I’m sure that experience is just making you stronger and maybe that was just one of those “dues” that you have to pay before really having success at Ironman.
You handled it with a lot of class, especially coming to support Jonny and Miranda at the banquet. Rest up and get well soo.
Hi Sergio, cheer up!
Just stopped to say hi. I’m one of your fans here in the Algarve.
Wish you a quick recovery, so you can get back to what you love doing.
Hope you had a lovely holiday!
Take care,
Lenia
a Fan in Algarve, that sounds intertesting
you also have one in Finland!
you also have one in Finland!
Hey buddie, i just checked your blog to see how you are doing. I hope you are getting back to 100%!!! Hope it is getting warmer for you.
Sergio,
espero que estejas ja recuperado. Hoje participei no Escape from Alcatraz e quando falava com um dos profissionais, disseram me que tiveste um DNF em IMAZ.
O que me fez lembrar do meu DNF tambem no Wildflower tri festival um mes atras, apos um queda na bike na primeira milha, num troco de estrada bem mau e numa curva apertada, enfim duas semanas sem treinar.
Nao sei se te lembras de mim, sou oficial da Marinha, colega do Zacarias. E tambem me dava bem com Sergio Dias e tambem conheco o Paulo.
Eu estou em Monterey, CA a tirar um mestrado em Fisica Aplicada.
A minha proxima prova e’ Vineman Ironman em 4AUG.
Abraco
Pedro
This is really a nice blog,i always come here and read the articles