Triathlon and Veracruz

I am trying to give you as much information about Mexico and what we have done to continue improving as a team in a nation full of barbaries.  No shortcuts are possible in life; sooner or later our education is going to limit us, paraphrasing Albert Einstein.

In his new book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond claims that the scenario is more common than you might think, and that it maybe responsible for the fall of many ancient cultures we deem “mysterious.” Environmental destruction and the depletion of natural resources create vulnerability, especially in the face of natural disasters. And just like the Maya, the ultimate fate is rarely disappearance or extinction, but usually a decline from opulence to poverty.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/06/19/explaining-the-mystery-of-the-vanished-maya/

During the “Triatlón de Veracruz,” we saw improvements that will not change our way of looking at triathlon training because we are immersed in ignorance.  The fastest 2,500 kilometers after swimming 400 and biking 10k took place; 8:05 for a 14.-year-old who run more than a minute faster than the second competitor.  He had a team mate who ran 8:52 the run leg as the second fastest.  Only three kids were able to run below 9:00 in the category 14-15 at Veracruz over that course since triathlon started there for Mexicans.  Our elites, including Crisanto Grajales, were not able to run that fast at that age.  We can compare it with Rimini’s Duathlon World Championship (2008) because we are familiar with the course and it is equivalent; one of our athletes reached the podium then.

1	Richard	Murray	RSA		00:56:13	00:14:49	00:01:04	00:31:04	00:00:56	00:08:16
2	Alex	Ascenzi	ITA		00:56:19	00:14:48	00:01:00	00:31:27	00:00:51	00:08:09
3	Oscar	Vicente	ESP		00:56:23	00:14:49	00:01:04	00:31:22	00:00:54	00:08:11
4	Franz	Loeschke	GER		00:56:34	00:14:49	00:01:04	00:31:23	00:00:52	00:08:24
5	Mario	Mola	ESP		00:56:35	00:14:48	00:01:06	00:31:25	00:01:00	00:08:13
6	Felix	Duchampt	FRA		00:56:38	00:14:54	00:01:09	00:31:14	00:00:54	00:08:26
7	Tamás	Kéki	HUN		00:56:40	00:14:53	00:01:09	00:31:16	00:00:56	00:08:24
8	Mickael	Schwitzgabel	FRA		00:56:42	00:15:41	00:01:08	00:30:27	00:00:58	00:08:26
9	Tim	Van Hemel	BEL		00:56:47	00:15:23	00:01:08	00:30:44	00:01:00	00:08:30
10	Andrea	Vizzardelli	ITA		00:56:49	00:14:54	00:01:10	00:31:10	00:00:54	00:08:37
11	Peter	Bencina	SLO		00:56:50	00:15:20	00:01:09	00:30:47	00:00:56	00:08:34
12	Riccardo	Sterni	ITA		00:56:51	00:14:48	00:01:09	00:31:19	00:01:02	00:08:30
13	Jonathan	Brownlee	GBR		00:56:52	00:14:48	00:01:04	00:31:23	00:00:54	00:08:37

Great athletes were present then and nobody was able to run faster than 8:00 minutes the second part of the run (2,500 meters).  This is a benchmark for us; our athlete is a 14-year-old, the ones above are 18-19 years of age, but they are running the same distance after the bike.  Unfortunately, nobody can see what this means for the Mexican Triathlon, except for us.  Our athlete will not be competing for Mexico as a junior because he is unable to meet the requirements of “Marcas Mínimas” which for the Mexican Federation is the most important thing to manage the Triathlon budget for Mexico and the Federation’s athletes.  The right to compete does not exist because of the abuse exerted by the FMTRI.  The Mexican Commissioner for Sports, Alfredo Castillo (director of CONADE), says that he will change the Mexican Federation’s businesses but does not want to touch the Mexican Federation Business.

1          914      MORALES VÀSQUEZ RICARDO  Oaxaca                       Infantil Varonil 14-15 IC         

00:06:42 (17)  01:40

00:01:38

00:15:47 (2)    38.01

00:00:36

00:08:05 (1)    03:14

00:32:48         1          1

2          713      ALANIZ ORDOÑEZ JOSE ANGEL            Zacatecas       NINGUNO         Infantil Varonil 14-15 IC         

00:06:17 (4)    01:34

00:01:47

00:16:05 (4)    37.31

00:00:34

00:09:07 (2)    03:39

00:33:50         2          2

3          2847    RAMOS CRODA ERIK YAMIR      Veracruz                     Infantil Varonil 14-15 IC         

00:06:12 (1)    01:33

00:01:52

00:16:06 (6)    37.27

00:00:34

00:09:19 (3)    03:44

00:34:03         3          3

Richard Murray has been working on his swimming.  Swimming in a pool and open-water swimming are two sports, that is why testing in a swimming pool is useless for tirathlon.

After a somewhat disappointing end to his 2014 season Murray and his support staff have been working hard in rectifying what went wrong to make sure it does not happen again. In the coming season Murray will be smarter about his racing, traveling and where he spends his time. Murray is currently with the rest of the Joel Filiol training squad. They spend three weeks in Monte Gordo (Portugal) for the first camp. “I got in some pretty good swimming miles during this camp. The focus has been mainly on distances with two to three double swim days a week. It is a total of some 30 to 36km per week,” said Murray.

The Olympian added: “The goal has been to improve my swimming with lots of time in the water and to gradually work on the other two disciplines.” The big goal is to swim the 1500m in 17 minutes and 15 seconds.