I really like it here in Santos. The people are all friendly, and even though I have no idea how to communicate with anyone, I feel really welcome. This morning Paco (did you know that Paco is short for Francisco? I was wondering why everyone was calling him Paco….) and I called Fabio Carvalho, and it turned out he was already on his way over to find us at our hotel. He helped us schedule massage (45 reais for an hour! That’s like 20 dollars!) for tomorrow, and then told us when we could meet Paulo Miyashiro and his triathlon group for a noon swim. 

The swim was fun, but it was near the entrance to the river where all the freighters come in and out. I guess they periodically dredge the bottom of the river, and that periodically happened yesterday. So there was all kinds of silt and dirt floating in the water and the visibility was terrible. The tri group was about 10 or 15 swimmers. The plan was to go straight out around a series of five yellow buoys, then turn right 90 degrees and swim down to a giant channel buoy, then another 90 degrees and into the shore. As soon as we started swimming I found myself way to the right of everyone else. I hadn’t realized there was a current that was sweeping me away! I caught back on to the group right as we started passing the yellow buoys, but I was on the inside and swimming at about a 45 degree angle to get past the buoys without being swept into them. The first one was fine, the second one was fine, the third one was fine, then we come to the fourth buoy – I spot, it looks like I’m about 4 feet to the left of the buoy, three more stokes… BAM!!!! My head and hand hit the metal buoy at the same time.  I stopped, felt my throbbing face, adjusted my Swedish goggles (not the best goggle style for collisions), blinked a few times to bring the world back into focus, then skipped the fifth buoy in order to catch back on to the group. We flew past the next buoy, then swam at an angle again toward shore. When we stopped I found my forehead and nose were both bleeding a little, but what can you do? We turned around and swam back the way we came, only this time we were against the current from the big channel buoy up to the yellow buoys and it took over twice as long. My forehead is bruised right on my eyebrow, but I don’t think it’s all that visible.

Then tonight Fabio came back and went running with me the length of the Santos beach (10km round trip) – with a few stops to say hello to the people he recognized and to get some Gatorade from the tri club’s refreshment cart on the beach.

I noticed a couple things that I will have to try to get pictures of in the next couple days. Like the fact that the buildings here don’t all stand straight up and down. One condo building overlooking the beach was leaning so far to the right that the top looked as though it would soon touch the neighboring building. Also, there’s a trolley outside out hotel that doesn’t move. Finally, I saw a redhead today. She was Brazilian, but she was whiter than me (maybe I won’t take a picture of that – it might make me a creep.)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Courtenay Brown – my girlfriend who gets less attention from bencollins.org than Klepto the Crow – is living with my parents in Seattle. She’s gone from a household with three triathletes (Aaron, Me and herself) to being an only child to my mom and dad. Now, I always tell people that living at home isn’t so bad because my parents are “easy to get along with”, and I really think that’s true. The thing is, I’ve had 25 years to learn how to ignore them and get out of long conversations when I have something else to do (e.g. “I need to go stretch and get homework done, what’s for dinner… ew, can we have something better? …maybe I’ll just cook for myself”), but as their son I have the right to be abrupt and unappreciative on occasion (I certainly push the limits on “occasional”, but a few “Thanks Dad, you’re the best!”s and I keep my stuff from being thrown into the street.). And don’t get me wrong, most of the time I really enjoy hanging out with my parents. Courtenay is in that weird place where she’s still a guest and hasn’t really established her role, which makes it pretty hard. Moreover, she has no job (anyone in Seattle want a really smart part-time employee? She’s good at admin work and better at copy editing – thought she only sometimes applies the latter skill to my blog.), is training full time to prepare for her first year as a professional triathlete (she was on a pro women’s cycling team beforehand), and it turns out that beautiful fall weather Seattle had was a total fluke and the “Emerald City” is mostly just gray and wet (I still love it, but I can see why it’s tough for the non-native transplant who’s primary job involves being outside in spandex for 30 hours a week). Anyway, I’m trying not to micromanage my Seattle household from Brazil, but I feel really bad that I can’t help out and that I decided to disappear from home only a month after she moved there. I’m sure all will turn out well. It usually does.

This is how two international triathletes fit two giant duffle bags, two bike cases, two bikes, plus backpacks and themselves into a small hotel room. It feels just like home!!

We don’t have great internet access in the hotel (they say that it is being repaired “right now” but that was 5 hours ago and it is still being repaired “right now”), so Francisco Serrano and I are down the street at the other host hotel for the race, the Hotel Atlantico, where they generously let us have the network key.

I was trying to get the pictures above to post all side by side, but my site doesn’t have enough width. Maybe I can get my dad to download the pictures and Photoshop them into one image. (I don’t know how to do it myself).

We got an email this morning that there would be a van to take us into Santos. The email said, “The van will be paid for yours ok. the driver is already knowing.” I took this to mean that the van was paid for, but then this afternoon the race organizers changed their mind and asked for us to pay them back for the van. I don’t think I quite understand, but I’m sure we will figure it out. At least the ferry ride to Santos was kind of cool.

[look ma, no hands!!]

Today the ocean went from glassy and flat to substantial surf. I’m not sure how long the swell is supposed to last, but it made today’s ocean swim a lot more fun than the last few days in Guaruja. There were hundreds of surfers, and after swimming for about an hour Francisco and I body surfed for a while before heading to dinner.

This was the first night I’ve eaten anything different from the Hotel Breakfast and the Chicken Filet, Rice and Beans from the restaurant the Fast Triathlon set us up with (it was called Sony, and was really weird, one waiter was awesome, and the others seemed to hate us.) We went to an Italian place in the mall by where we’re staying.

Santos is completely different from Guaruja. It’s actually a big city. There are shops and malls and traffic and bunches of people. Guaruja was silent. Like a get-away town with only a few resaurants and a handful of hotels. The rest of the Guaruja beach was just houses, condos and some beach bars. I never even found a place to buy clothes with the $250 that American Airlines offered to give me. My loss I guess – at least the front desk boy at our hotel was nice enough to lend me some clothing. I will certainly miss the Hotel Miramare, it was run by a really nice family.

That’s about it for now. Maybe tomorrow I can write something with more connectivity.

P.S. Read Courtenay’s blog.

This weekend I started off the 2009 season with one of the most fun races in Triathlon. It was the 2009 Fast Triathlon in Brazil. The field consists of six three-man teams, each from separate countries. The countries invited were Brazil, France, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Our US Team of Victor Plata, Matt Chrabot and myself moved up one podium step from last year, claiming second, just 20 points behind the winning Brazilian Team. Last year, we were about 60 points behind Brazil, and 10 points behind Canada. All three of us improved, but I think Matt and Victor would agree the “Most Improved” award goes to me (MVP definitely goes to Matt, and Victor can have “Most Consistent”).

The format of this race is unique. It consists of three individual triathlons, each with a 250m swim, 4km bike, and 1300m run. Each round took approximately 10 to 12 minutes, and we were given about equal rest between rounds. The Fast Triathlon is a huge spectator event in Brazil, and is broadcast live on national television. Before the race the media conducted interviews of the athletes, and for the past two days we have seen ourselves on television during the commercial breaks. It’s amazing to be treated like a star with fans asking for an autograph, pictures, or any kind of proof that they indeed stood next to us. I drew the line when I was begged for one of my K-Swiss water bottles. “No, I need those!” Check out some of the video coverage from the race here.

In the first round I found myself nearly last into the water. Matt was just in front of me, and Victor was to his side. Out of the water, I was 5^th, but Matt came from behind and we mounted our bikes together just behind the front pack. Soon we were in a group of about eight athletes, and just behind the lead motorcycle, so we sat in and waited for the run. Matt nearly won the round with his run, but faded slightly and ended up third, while I sank to 7^th or 8^th, just in front of a Frenchman.

Then in the second round I hit the water with the leaders, exited 3^rd, and passed the leader from Brazil to mount my bike alongside the French champion swimmer, Benjamin Sanson. This time the lead group was only 4 until another Frenchman and Matt bridged up. On the run I stayed ahead of each of the Frenchmen and improved on my first-round run. I sprinted over the line for a photo finish with one of the Mexicans. My arm may have crossed the line first, but the results aren’t yet available. I was 5^th or 6^th. Matt finished 2^nd, and Victor finished right behind me, ahead of the 2^nd pack.

For the final round there was nothing to lose, so every team was willing to take chances. Somehow Paulo Miyasiro from Brazil and Benjamin Sanson made a 50m gap out of the water over the next swimmer: myself. I’m actually still confused how it happened, because as we rounded the final buoy I was on Benjamin’s feet, but the next time I spotted they were both already nearing the beach! I would say it was a wave, but there was not a lot of surf.  While I was racing through transition, Miyasiro hopped onto the wheel of the lead motorcycle and even Sanson couldn’t stay with them. I waited for more riders to work with me, but rather than forming a small chase pack, the entire field became one at the end of the first lap and the two men remained off the front, with Sanson dangling in no man’s land. On the third lap (of five) another Frenchman made a strong attack and gained almost 10 seconds on the group. We left him sitting in front until the final lap, then reeled him back in. Again I ran faster than the previous round. Matt stayed in the game for another top three finish, and Victor and I finished 6^th and 7^th respectively.

This was a much stronger race than last year, and it’s great to see that my fitness after a month of base training is good enough to race next to the Brazilians in the peak of their summer season. Next week I will really put my early season training to the test with the Santos International Triathlon, just a 45 minute bike ride from here. If my improvement over last year’s Fast Triathlon is any indication of what’s on the horizon, 2009 is going to be a much better year.

USA was 2nd after Brazil and ahead of Mexico. Matt Chrabot killed it. He’s an animal. He was 2nd in at least two of the three races. Victor was solid in the front of the chase pack and I was solid at the end of the lead pack. I’ll write more later, but I will say I’m much happier about this race than I was a year ago.