Wish me Luck?

live tracking Late tonight, I'm taking a redeye to Miami before the even longer flight down to São Paulo. There will be plenty of time to sit and think, which is exactly what I need to prepare for 135 miles in the mountains of Brazil (that and sleep) I don't feel ready, although I don't know how you feel ready for this, unless you've got Shackletononian experience (amazing new word - you read it here first ;)

We've got 48hours to complete the course that winds throughout the hills and mountains along part of the Caminho da Fé, a pilgrimage route in the Mantiqueiras. There's over 30,000ft of climbing and that is scary. I have no clue (!) what that looks like. Over the past few months I've been seeking out hilly, off-road training rides and I have yet to come close to a ride that averages anything like this Ultra Marathon's terrain.

However, it is scary in a good way. This is a challenge and for all the grandiosity associated with such epic events, it is for sport. I'm going for the experience, to see what I've got, to see Brazil, to meet Mario Lacerda (the race director who's agreed to have me =), and to live a little!

You can track the race on this live map - I will be some sort of blip with bib # 1009 Race start is on the 18th-20th of January and starts at 7am (South American East Coast Standard Time, is what they call it - maybe)

http://www.ftrx.com.br/corredores/index.php

Outside Magazine

From the January 2012 issue of Outside Magazine

Andre Kajlich

TeamUSA.org Article

Met with Aimee Berg after the New York City Triathlon, we had a nice talk (okay, I jabbered about my self for 2 hours) and she wrote the following story. Thanks Aimee!TeamUSA.org

I did it!

Yes, it's a lame title - but I'm not worried. It feels good to set out towards a goal, work through the ups and downs, and pull it off. I am excited exactly because - I did it. I made up my mind back in September to do this race and never did I expect it to go this well. The physical and mental training routine was: work at it, focus, get better, get stronger, be lazy, slack off, regroup, recommit, and repeat. There has been a lot of small failures along the road, I didn't just setup a training schedule, stick to it and go win a race. Life just isn't that easy and it's hardly ever simple. I messed up the whole way through the process, BUT I addressed the issues - some of them on this blog. I was honest with myself about my desires and how much I was doing to achieve them. This time around, I am most proud because I pushed through the setbacks and flaws. I am learning to accept that there are certain things I won't ever get right and some that, if unfixed will cost me my goals.

The only thing that would've made this last week better, is if I could have shared it with my old man. As it all went down, I'm happy and fortunate that my wife, my mother and both my sisters were with me to experience a half Ironman and all the anxiety, adrenaline, fatigue and emotion that makeup an event. Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 was my first Ironman experience. In my mind, it was epic.

It was hot (high of day = 112) it was windy (20-28mph all race long) and it was long (the bike course was only 56 miles but it felt like 56 after the first 40). I spent most of the race in 2nd place, worried that 1st place was leaving me behind and fearing the moment I would see 3rd place slide into my field of vision and pass me. Well, neither happened and I caught up with 1st place on a steep hill during the run, in our racing wheelchairs. After taking over, there was another big downhill followed by a climb. The temperature was really started to bake and I just wanted it to be over. The next sight made it clear there was plenty more work. There's an intersection after the climb and you make a right. It is flat but straight into the wind. You can see far and all you see is runners on the left and right of the road, most of them walking, all of them spent. It was a grueling trip past a couple aid stations to the turnaround. Once I made that - I was home. It was downwind, I got to see my lead as I passed #2 and I knew I had it. Such a good feeling - about as good as 5hrs of sweat can feel, I suppose. Well, I made it the final miles and startled my family at the finish line. They were expecting to see the other guy first, then start looking for me. Suckers.

Without going on for several paragraphs to explain, my handcycle didn't conform to the rules. At the awards ceremony, it was explained that although my equipment wasn't why I'd won, I would not be on the podium because of the regulations. So, I was extremely excited when, Marc Aten and Jason Fowler acknowledged what I had done by declining the 2nd qualifying spot to the World Ironman Championships in Kona. Which means - the stage is set for the next goal and we're going to Hawaii!

-Andre

Need Juice? Gotta Squeeze!

I suppose sitting here on the side of the road, waiting for my wife to come pick me up, can be shown as yet another example of can do versus will do. I definitely set out on this handcycle ride with the can do attitude. That wasn't enough and after 33 miles - I just couldn't go any farther. Let me see,

Can do:

Ride east, go far, turn around at some point and ride home. Pretending it was race day, I set my fastest pace yet and was pretty excited to have crossed the 30 mile mark in record time. However, I did this even though I stayed up late and drank some amount - let's leave it at some - of wine the night before. I didn't bring enough fluids with me and I had no source of sustaining calories.

I think the can do attitude gets you only so far...and right now that's 10 miles short of home.

Will do:

Plan, prepare, execute. When I say that I'll do something I not only have to believe that I can do it but I have to include what I need to do for it to get a real shot. 

What is this going to take?
How much am I going to need to give?

Setting goals, dreaming up fantastic endeavours, it all counts for crap if you don't also figure out a way to make it happen - day in, day out.

There is more to determination than wanting it.

My goal is to go down to Texas and earn a spot in Kona. I've tried to play it off as unlikely and that this is simply a fun event that I want to enjoy and complete.

Yet, that is not what I TRULY feel and I  must be attuned to my desires...otherwise, there will be a time, as there has been in the past - when all I can say is:

"I could have".

The size of that goal comes with even larger demands. Training isn't just sweating a couple times a day, eating right, and planning for the physical task ahead. More is required, yet it's easier for me to go out for a ride than it is to get all my stuff prepared for the next day, after a ride.

Diligence pays those dues.

As Rudy Garcia-Tolson advised me recently:

"train hard - stay focused."

If that's your juice man....then  we should all drink up!

-Ajk