This weekend a lot of my friends are heading down to Salinas, Ecuador to race in the ITU Pan American Cup there. The race in Salinas combined with the races last month in La Paz, Argentina, and Viña Del Mar, Chile, constitute the super-early season ITU race schedule in the Americas. I realized last night that this is the first year since 2007 that I am not racing in the early season. As a result, this is the first year since 2007 that I completed a full, uninterrupted base training block! I’m probably the only person who is excited about that. Anyways, there are a lot of things I will miss about South American racing. On the other hand there are even more things that I definitely WON’T miss:
Things I will miss about racing in South America:
1.) The adventure. There is nothing quite so adventurous as going to a third world/developing country to race a triathlon. In stark contrast to the organization of World Championship Series and World Cup races, racing in South America is not only a battle of who can swim, bike, and run the fastest, but also a contest to see who can show up on the start line in the best condition. At the time this can be stressful, but looking back on my South American races it seems like a lot of fun.
2.) Crazy South American race directors. Starting from the first time you email an RD in South America about their race it becomes obvious that things don’t happen in a logical manner south of the border. Pre-race meetings usually turn into a debate on how the ITU rules will be enforced. If you don’t like how the course is set up you can usually argue and get it changed. This is kind of fun and would never happen at a World Cup or World Champs race.
3.) The tropical locales. I’ll admit it – Colorado Springs in the winter is not the most temperate place in the world (it could be worse, though). I would love to get out of here and go somewhere warmer if only for a few days. When I went to Nevis in 2008 it was basically the spring break I never had. That is something I will miss.
Things I definitely won’t miss about racing in South America:
1.) The adventure. Sure, I like a good adventure every now and again, but on the other hand it sure will be nice to NOT have to deal with everything that can go wrong in South America for once. I am fortunate that all of my bad luck occurred after my races in South America – in 2008 I crashed and broke my bike on a training ride after the race in Viña Del Mar, Chile, and last year in Ecuador I ended up in the emergency room after returning to the states due to some sort of viral infection. My good luck (in the sense that I have been able to complete my races in South America before disaster strikes) may well be running out and I don’t want to test that.
2.) Crazy South American race directors. Again, the same things I will miss are the same things I won’t miss. If a South American RD tells you he is arranging an airport transfer for you then you can count on the transfer happening maybe 20% of the time. Everything else is similarly disorganized. It’s nice to be able to race in modern countries and just focus on racing rather than trying to figure out how to survive while also preparing for the race.
3.) Interrupting base training. I love a good early season base phase – it seems to serve me well. This is my tenth and final week of my base training phase. I also have on my schedule the most miles of running in one week EVER for me and I definitely don’t want to sacrifice that. Also, I would have missed the Super Bowl and that wouldn’t be cool.
4.) In no particular order: Dogs chasing me around the race course, pedestrians crossing the course during the race, poorly designed race courses, and preparing for the possibility of getting mugged at any time. Not fun!
Here are some pictures from my South American racing days:
In Chile in 2008. No taxi needed – we’ll just take the luggage cart down this main boulevard to get to the hotel!
Goats wandering the grounds of the airport in Nevis in 2008.
A dog that somebody spray painted purple in Ecuador last year.
You forgot Giant Oysters on both the “Things you won’t miss” and “Things you will miss” lists…
It was delicious but it might have contributed to my trip to the ER…so I guess it goes under both!