Breakaway Training - Multisport Coaching and Personal Training

Coaches Blog...

Monday, May 26

05/25 Ironman Brasil

- Hallie Putterman: 12h21' (*P.R.)

Race Recap

So you all know the crazy story of how I got here. Unfortunately my travel took up 2 full days, and my luggage didn't arrive til late morning on Friday, so Friday and Saturday were dedicated to race prep. Friday was spent building the bike and taking it for a short spin and registering at the expo. The cars may be smaller here but they drive all over the road. There's lots of cobblestone roads here which make for a very bumpy ride on race wheels (sorry Bri!). My gear bag somehow didn't get packed with my bike (NOT my fault) so I had to borrow or buy everything I needed for the ride (tools, CO2 dispenser, etc). I managed to shove it all into a water bottle so at least I didn't have to buy a gear bag. Tri stuff is NOT cheap down here. The CO2 dispenser was twice as much as in the states but, as I didn't have a choice (there are bike techs along the course but you're not guaranteed they will be there to help you so you need to be prepared in case you get a flat) I plunked down the money and got my stuff "just in case." The sun sets so early here (it's their start of fall) that the day feels like it ends at 5:30pm. We went to the race pasta party which I usually find quite inspirational. This one was mostly in Portuguese. The accoustics were so bad that even when they did speak in English, you couldn't understand a thing. Not much selection for meatless options, but the fruit was amazing. There was a huge banana boat filled with all kinds of native fruit, which was also all over the buffet table. Everyone started taking it so I left with an armload of persimmons, mango, guava and star fruit. The star fruit was amazing. Very few people had ever seen it so it was funny trying to explain it to others in a charades type manner.

Saturday started with a swim by our hotel. We're right on the water and I didn't want to use my wetsuit (didn't know if it would dry in time, and putting on a wet wetsuit ironically is a miserable experience) so I went in just my swimsuit. Cold at the start, but then just beautiful. If I didn't have the race the next morning, I definitely would have swam longer. Later that day we had to go to the expo to drop off transition bags (the bags used to hold gear from the swim to bike, and then bike to run). At the IM I've done in the US, this isn't a very glamorous experience, i.e. T1 bags to the right, T2 to the left, bikes over there, yadda, yadda. Here... completely different. You felt like a superstar. A volunteer meets you (they found one who spoke English) and first has you put on your helmet. You wear it through the whole check-in process. Then you see another who gives your bike a safety check, then one who puts a race tag on your bike, then another who walks you to where you rack your bike (we were racked in order of when you registered, vs age group and gender), then they take you to the part of the tent where you hang your transition bags. May not sound like much, but it was really very different from any other IM race I've experienced. Kind of cool because I've been wondering if racing international would be any different, since it's still an "Ironman triathlon."

Now for the race recap...

We took a shuttle from the hotel at 5am. The group who organized the trip had shuttles through the hotels to the race expo all week. We had already checked-in our bikes on Saturday, so the buses this morning were filled with half-awake/half-jittery athletes ready to race. It was really nice not to have to worry about parking in pitch black. Just one less thing to worry about pre-race in a foreign country.

As usual, the morning flew and they started shoving us out of the transition area towards the beach. You had to drop off all your gear at the transition area, which meant your wetsuit had to be put on about 30min before the race. I've been known to still be waiting in a port-a-potty line at that time, so it was also weird to have NO lines where I happened to be. It wasn't the race start, but I was still one of the last people out of the transition area. (I know that will surprise many of you.) As I ran down the long chute towards the beach, the Red Bull girls were there giving out cans. I ran by, then stopped, turned around and went back to grab one. They had me open it right there and down a few sips so they could get pictures. I also got interviewed while putting on my wetsuit. Not sure where either may end up, but it was fun feeling like a superstar.

the swim was just nuts. There were jelly fish everywhere and putting your hand into the water felt like putting your hand into a sea of gummy bears. I couldn't see the small ones, but saw the big jellies floating throughout the entire race. My thumb went through one of them and it completely freaked me out. (Billy, not as bad as those brown coconut jellies in Jax, but still enough to freak me out.) Fortunately it didn't sting. The swim course was shaped like an M, but I missed the swim preview so I just couldn~t figure out what to sight. I learned later that there was a very strong current and EVERYONE swam off course. Not knowing that, I almost had a heart attack when i saw 1:38 as my swim time. That's 20min off my expected time. 100% certain i swam a 2.8-3.0mi swim so I should be happy with my 1:38. ;-)

The bike was a lot of fun. We basically did loops along the highway so went through tunnels 4 times during each loop. There was one huge hill. During my first climb I was with another guy whose friend wanted to take pictures. He would sprint ahead, stop, and take a picture; sprint ahead, stop, and take a picture... we were riding... he was running barefoot. Wish I knew how to say in portuguese "your friend is making us look bad!" I'm really happy with my bike time and credit that as the reason for a new PR for this race. My coach really prepared me for the race and I was able to drop 45minutes from my previous bike split. Pretty sure my 1st and 2nd loops were close in time (they were 30 minutes off in my last IM). The course also took us down the entry ramp to a highway. That loop felt like riding on a velodrome. Since I really haven't seen any of Brazil, I tried to take in as much of the scenery as possible. While looking at the beauty I passed, I got progressively mad at the racers who just tossed wrappers on the course. Nowhere near aid stations, the would just toss a GU or Powerbar wrapper on the road. Not knowing how to say "litterbug!" in portuguese, or any other language, I made it my goal to just pass the litterbug. A few times the person would try to come back and pass me again, but I could always make it back ahead of them. Very happy that my portuguese lesson on the plane included learning how to say "left" as that's what you yell when you pass someone.

I got off the bike and saw that it was before 3pm. Figured I had a good shot at running a 4hr marathon, and if I pulled that off I had a chance at breaking 12hrs for my total time. Usually I don't have a problem running off the bike. I didn't even notice it was that hot til I started to run, and I think the heat got to me. The run course was a 1/2 marathon (13.1 mi) loop, and then (2) 10K loops. I thought that might be boring, but since the sun set so early it actually was great. There were a few hills on the first 1/2 and I ran up all but one (Felipe, those hill repeats by Black's Beach make all hills seem easy now!). The one hill was a KILLER and I started to walk at the first step... b/c it felt like I could lean forward and touch the ground. Fortunately it was very short and I got to run again right away. Most of that run went through town and I was amazed at how many families lined the streets. They yelled things in Portuguese which I hoped were words of encouragement and not something like "go fat girl!!" (Some ladies along the bike course at a bus stop started cheering for me and all I could understand was something that sounded like "feminina." Figured maybe that was something like "go girl!!" and I was right by a guy so I powered up and passed him and they went nuts cheering. It was hilarious.) The first half of the run went OK - after I got my legs by the first 5K - but then I had a breathing cramp the whole 2nd half. Couldn't get past 10min miles even though i felt like i was running sub 8:30. nothing on my body hurt (not the funky part of my it band at my knee or anything) until the last 5K. all in all... damn happy to finish. With 2.5hrs faster than my first IM. done with this distance... at least for a while. ;-)

Thanks for all the support and putting up with my long emails. Very happy that I came here to race, but now looking forward to going to Rio where I can really see some of the country (without having to worry if I should be training) and enjoy what's left of my vacation. I've got the passport AND all of my tickets. No more mishaps for this traveler.

Obrigada!

Hallie Putterman

Thursday, May 22

WHEN: EVERY SATURDAY
TIME: 7:45am *The Ride will start at 8am SHARP!
WHERE: HI-TECH BIKES
*Everybody is Welcome! All levels!
**COMPLIMENTARY COFFEE, MUFFINS AND COLD DRINKS AFTER RIDE

Saturday, May 17

05/18 Auburn Half Ironman

- Matt Harder: 9th Age-Group/ 37th Overall

_____________________________________________________________________

05/18 - Encinitas Triathlon

- Rachel Saldivar: 1st AG
- Chris Berg: 2nd AG
- Marty Taylor: 1st AG
- Matt Genovese: 3rd AG
- Simon Vainer: 24th AG
- Gunnar Granquist: 2nd AG
- Liz Granquist: 3rd AG
- Nuno Costa: 8th AG
- Dave Maquera: 7th AG
- Mike Sandoval: 2nd AG
- Gary Elmer: 3rd AG
- Brad Wise: 29th AG
- Claudia Abreu: 12th AG
- Tony Turpin: 29th AG
- Coach Felipe: 6th ELITE

Check the Pictures on Jay's Blog: http://www.tribuddy.com/
Check the Pictures on Nick's Blog: http://www.riffraffracing.com/
_____________________________________________________________________

05/18 - XTERRA Triathlon West Championship- Temecula

- James Walsh: 1st Age-Group/ 18th Overall
- Joe MacDonald:

_____________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, May 14

Fiesta Island Time Trial Series 2008
May 11th 20K Individual Time Trial

- Nick Brown: 1st Age-Group 19-29
- Chris Berg: 2nd Age-Group 19-29
- Coach Felipe: 4th Age-Group 30-39
- Matt Harder: 6th Age-Group 30-39
- Dave Platfoot: 7th Age-Group 30-39
- Daniel Yeager: 6th Age-Group 50-59
- Bethany Allen: 4th Age-Group 19-29

Thursday, May 8

Congratulations Claudia Abreu on the MS150 Bike Ride - From Miami to Florida Keys

Sunday, May 4

Spring Sprint Pictures

Spring Sprint 2008

______________________________________________________________________________

05/03 - 05/04 Wildflower Triathlon (Half Ironman & Olympic)

- Nick Brown
- Paul Anderson
- Mike Vitug
- Tyson Hempel
- Marty Taylor

Paul Anderson

Tyson Hempel

Nick Brown

Marty Taylor

Mike Vitug

___________________________________________________________________________

Check more Wildflower Updates on Jay's Blog: http://www.tribuddy.com/
___________________________________________________________________________

05/04 Spring Sprint Triathlon

Breakaway Training Athletes:

- Robert Patton: 3rd Age-Group 16-19
- Michael Praggastis: 26th Age-Group 20-24
- Matt Harder: 2nd Age-Group 30-34 (7th Overall)
- Matt Genovese: 3rd Age-Group 30-34
- Dave Platfoot: 5th Age-Group 30-34
- Giuseppe Ciuffa: 11th Age-Group 35-39
- Brad Wise: 37th Age-Group 35-39
- Gunnar Granquist: 3rd Age-Group 40-44
- Mark Wayne: 5th Age-Group 40-44
- Joe MacDonald: 8th Age-Group 40-44
- John Serrano: 5th Age-Group 45-49
- Antonio Marques: 7th Age-Group 45-49
- Gary Elmer: 2nd Age-Group 50-54
- David Teafatiller: 14th Age-Group 50-54
- Tony Turpin: 18th Age-Group 50-54
- Tom West: 17th Age-Group 55-59
- Brendan Sullivan: 2nd Clydes 40+
- Beth Gerdes: 2nd Age-Group 25-29
- Bethany Allen: 3rd Age-Group 25-29
- Silvia Gianmarco: 2nd Age-Group 35-39
- Christiane Honisch: 7th Age-Group 35-39
- Liz Granquist: 4th Age-Group 40-44
- Carol Campbell: 13th Age-Group 40-44
- Iris Rosario: 27th Age-Group 40-44
- Marilyn Bayzid: 15th Age-Group 45-45
- Susan Tussey: 5th Age-Group 50-54
- Rachel Saldivar: 4th Age-Group 55-59
- David Nisleit: 4th Duathlon Overall
- Tracy Elmer: 3rd Duathlon Age-Group
- Maria Gonzalez: 2nd Super Sprint Age-Group
- Vanessa Marshall: 4th Super Sprint Age-Group
- Susie Zolghadri: ***Flat Tire***
- Mike Morton: 21th Age-Group 30-34
- Coach James Walsh: 1st Overall
- Erik Nau: 4th Overall
- Coach Felipe: 5th Overall
- Coach Luke: 6th Overall

__________________________________________________________________________

MAY 4, 2008
BONSALL, CA
Daniel Yeager: 3rd Place

Coaches Blog Free Evaluation Testimonials Products Athlete Blogs