Tri Venezuela

Training for triathlon in Venezuela is pretty cool - especially after two years on the flat, dry, beige-colored deserts of Qatar.  Not only are Venezuelans really into training, they have beautiful places in which to swim, bike, and run.

This is the 25 meter outdoor pool at school/work.  Master swim club meets twice a night, each night of the week - and there are some GOOD swimmers!

Luca & Wilder were braver than me when it came to battling these waves at Boca de Uchire recently.  On the day we were leaving there was a swell and the two sets of waves got pretty big.  My friend Leah and I went out for a morning swim and totally panicked and had to swim back to shore.  I thought I had overcome my fear of open water, but it returned with a vengance.  Between the cloudy water and the big waves, I realized I've been spoiled by open water swims that look more like...

this.  Amazing, clear water and hardly any waves.  One day I ran the trail on the right to all seven beaches of Siete Mares.  What a place!

This is where I bike - the Cota Mil, right at the base of the 9000-foot Avila mountain.  One lap = 26 miles and about 300 meters in elevation gain. For those of you at home, imagine if I-70 from Edwards to Eagle, Colorado was closed every Sunday morning from 6:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. People run, bike, skateboard, walk their dogs...some days it's pretty dangerous. Today I saw six young boys going downhill on BMX bikes with no brakes heading into oncoming bike traffic.  "Derecha, derecha!" was all I could think to yell while waving them over to the right - but I had to catch them first. They were flying!  I think people know that the road is closed to traffic so they turn off their brains. 

 

Innes took this picture while trying to spot me during a recent race.  This was the racecourse - open to all traffic.  From Las Mercedes (the neighborhood where we live) through city streets to to top of a volcano 17 miles away.  So cool.  I won a turkey.  Had a hard time fitting that in my pocket for the ride back home.

This is along one of my regular running courses, across the street from my house, up this big hill past a few soccer fields and an awesome driving range.  However, one day I looked out my living room window as eight guys on four motorcycles got pulled over by the police.  Never really figured out what was going on, but one of the police took every one of their bikes apart looking for something and then let them all go.

This photo doesn't really do it justice, but this is the beginning of a huge hill that goes two miles nearly straight up and past the US Embassy.  The "four-way" stop just out of the photo on the left is more like an 8-way stop, and no one really stops.  Interesting to run through during rush hour.  However, people are very generous about letting runners/cyclists get by in the city.

 

There are a couple of differences about triathlon in Venezuela that I would like to mention in closing...The women down here wear the most amazing workout tights - even when they are not working out!  Wilder and I are dying to get some.  Every color and pattern imaginable on every body type imaginable.  It's a whole blog post unto itself. 

 

 

And here are the last two differences...yes, even the triathletes um...get their nails done.