Tiago Costa

8 December 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Another good training weekend: biking + running

Things keep going road to IM. Yesterday after some equipment trouble we managed to complete 100km on the bike, going at 35/38km/h a good part of the ride (which is waaaaay above my regular speed average) – I was drafting behind a couple of friends.

Today I was at Meia Maratona dos Descobrimentos (half marathon) completed in 1h32m25s. The day was chilling (for Lisbon weather 😉 at about 5C at the time of the race start, but overall it was a nice day to run.

On a professional note I must say this race’s website is pretty bad.

Meia Maratona dos Descobrimentos 2013

24 November 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Pre-season for IM Frankfurt

While the real deal will only start in January I have been trying to gain some endurance, specially on the bike and in the water.

Yesterday I had a really nice brick putting together 90m on the swimming pool, 60m on the turbo and topping up with another 60m run.

Today there was a ride with some friends. I went out for a 2 hour ride but things got interesting and it took us about 5 hours to complete 110km going through some tough uphills. It was an excellent ride since I really need to put in the hours on the bike. More to come, soon.

12 November 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Lisbon Marathon 2013

On the 6th October of 2013 I ran my 4th marathon. Even tough I was not as excited as on the previous races, a marathon is a marathon and those 42.195m should always be respected.

This is the first time in many years that Lisbon marathon offers runners the most amazing course, departing from the center of Cascais and then running mostly along the sea and the river until the finish line at Parque das Nações in Lisboa.

I had no particular goal for this race because it is now larger of a bigger plan to conquer the world… well, maybe not. Maybe it was just part of a bigger plan which is getting in shape to make it through Ironman Frankfurt 2014.

I finished with 3h26 which means I was above my PR by 6 minutes, but I was expecting that because my training is now split across biking and swimming as well. I knew I hadn’t logged so many km while preparing for the race because the training hours were being split and also because I felt confident that I could still make it with less training km even if I had to let go the goal of breaking my PR.

And I happy I didn’t put a lot more effort because race day came to be a very hot day with the temperatures around 26/28C meaning that breaking a PR would be really hard. Besides I clearly felt my batteries running out about 8km before the finish line (meaning those last km were made in pain, but I guess that comes with the territory when you decide to run any marathon).

For future reference here are the time splits and overall ranking.

Chip	3:26:31
K10	0:51:25
K21	1:44:18
K30	2:27:19
K32	2:36:36
K33	2:45:19
K36	2:57:03
K40	3:20:11

Age Group Ranking:	53 (Seniors Males)
Gender Ranking:	223 (M)
Overall Ranking:	234

7 October 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Exercise, cardiac health and lifespan

Just a bit more than a week before my 4th marathon and at a time when I am increasing my training volume after the summer I came across this interesting yet scary TEDx video:

Dr. James O’Keefe Jr. is a cardiology researcher and (was) an exercise junkie until he followed some previous studies and also conducted his own research that show no positive correlation between exercise junkies (as in long endurance races) and overall cardiac health. To be even more clear he comes to the conclusion (and I guess it doesn’t take a genious for this insight) that just like in every other thing, overdoing something is never good.

If you take the time to watch the video you will find some hard evidence showing that while there are cardiac health benefits from exercising regularly like 3/5 times a week with moderate effort and duration (ie, less than 1 hour per session) but when you go above that threshold you get on other end of the curve meaning that no only the marginal increase in terms of health benefits become smaller but you can go all the way to seriously hurt your health.

His video and presentation is supported by several different studies and they all point to the same not so so good conclusion, at least for people that like me think that running 42km might be fun. Because when you are training to run a marathon you will most likely be logging more then 50km per week. Even if this distance would mean something like 5 hours spread on 5 different sessions you will also need to go out on the long runs for 20/30/35km, meaning that if you are an average runner you will be out there running for more than 3 hours, way above the “recommended” threshold considering cardiac health benefits. And I will not even go to describe the long bike sessions for Ironman triathlon training…

But Dr. James O’Keefe Jr. brings even more terrifying evidence showing that not only will your heart present muscular tissue damage after such a long effort (which will self heal within some days just like all the other muscles on your legs) but it seems that permanent damage is also done with the heart tissue becoming rigid and leading to severe conditions after years of abuse.

Most people would think that runners and other athletes should be very healthy people but when you are on the inside you know that that is not always the case. For instance I don’t seem to be able to find any runner that takes it seriously and runs a couple of races every season that can claim that he or she has never had any trouble (yes, I’m looking at you knee, feet and ankle).

So just like my better half is always joking, we runners are all healthy until we are not. Most likely we have all had some pain here and there and that has probably lead us to some time off (weeks or even months) to recover; meaning that the “healthy” athletes after all might not be so true. And this is only the most visible part of it, because these are the kind of injuries you can just go through and heal within a short time frame, even if we don’t know what consequences they will bring later in life. Adding to these we now have this proved concern about heart health, which at least for me is much more of a concern than some joint pain (at least for now!).

All this makes me wonder, with all this knowledge, why do I and lots of other conscientious (?) people still keep going all in on endurance events that last 3 to 10+ hours and imply heavy weekly training plans that will (very) frequently put you over the 1 hour daily exercise threshold?

Well, I don’t know about other people, but for me it is all about making the most out of our finite time on the face of the planet. But there is a lot more to it… I will leave that for a future post.

30 July 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Next sports challenge: Ironman Frankfurt 2014

After about 10 weeks with this idea drilling my head very often I have finally committed to it. Upon completing the Half Ironman in Lisboa getting back to training was not so easy. It was not that I wouldn’t want to train or anything, but I felt like I needed additional motivation to keep me focused (everyone’s knows that it is easier when you have a goal).

Of course the Ironman was the thing hitting my thoughts so after giving it a long thought and setting things up with my loving partner I decided to throw myself forward (hoping to hit the ground running 😉

So if everything goes according to the plan, in about 11 months I should be arriving in Frankfurt for the Ironman.

Until then there are lots of things to sort. My main worries right now are:

creating a training plan which can fit my family and business agenda
deciding whether I should go for a “time trial”bike
checking out logistics to travel with the bike
advancing my swimming skills to go longer and faster
increasing a lot my cycling endurance and power.

I will be updating the blog as I sort this stuff out.

Meanwhile it seems like I will also be entering Cascais / Lisboa marathon in October, for which the timing is just right for a strong season start.

5 May 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Half Ironman 70.3 Finisher – Lisboa International Triathlon 2013

After a bit more than half a year of triathlon training I am now a proud Half Ironman 70.3 Finisher! Hell yeaaaah!

Today we swam 1.900m, cycled 90km and ran 21.1km in the Lisboa International Triathlon under clear blue skies and a very light breeze making it a bliss to go through the bike course in a very decent 30km/h average (at least for someone still averaging 27km/h a couple of weeks ago).

So we arrived at the location around 6.30am to place the bikes and all the stuff (bike and running shoes, socks, fuel, etc) on the transition park. After a short queue we were allowed to the park where we had our names placed on the bike racks. Everything was properly setup around 7.30am and we then moved near the swimming spot and watched the start of the Olympic distance race. Then at 8.15am we finally entered the water and the race started at 8.20am.

As I had wrote before when it all started, swimming seemed like the biggest challenge, but as training progressed I quickly realized that the bike is where it really hurts, because it is the longest leg of the race, so it is basically where your performance matters the most.

Anyway, last Sunday we did race the Triatlo do Estoril under lots of gusty winds and I felt like I was going really slow the whole course. All the teenagers and 20 something raging on the bikes, going head to head and drafting a lot, made me feel a slow turtle on the course.

Today it was a different story. The swim was OK even if I could only get into my rhythm after the first 600m or so, when the pack spread. Also there was no wind slowing me down and the running distance was something I am adapted to, so I was able to cycle the 90km in about 3 hours and then I was still able to push through the half marathon (plus I was on my backyard where I know by heart all the little cracks on the pavement – really). And it does make a difference because since I am not strong on the water nor on the bike I could at least take advantage of my experience with running to finish with a reasonable overall time for a first timer.

I was very happy to find all the personal effort and commitment coming to a good result. The goal was really only to finish it right, which I did and I managed to beat my finishing time expectation for quite a lot. I was not worried with the time; I even kept my bike computer on the odometer all the time so I wouldn’t be influenced by the average speed.

I have made a couple of mistakes (for future reference: I forgot my bike gloves and fuel for the run on the basket and I left my running shoes laces undone) but I have learned a lot (also for future reference: I don’t need so much fuel or fluid on the bike).

My training buddy, who I challenged for the face 6 months ago when he hadn’t still ran a marathon also did finish with a very good performance.

Again the proof that with hard work and commitment anything is possible.

And now I am already looking for the next challenge. Let’s see what the future brings!

Race stats:

Overall Position – 157
Age Group Position – 33
Total time – 05:07:17

Swim
– Position – 178
– Time – 00:36:17
Transition 1
– Position – 185
– Time – 00:02:32
Bike
– Position – 247
– Time 02:55:40
Transition 2
– Position – 140
– Time – 00:01:41
Run
– Position – 52
– Time – 01:31:05

22 April 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Triathlon training in progress

Just a quick post to recap on training. After a few weeks of biking only on the weekends I came to the conclusion it would not be enough, so I started training once or twice during weekdays. I have only enough time for a 20km ride, but I try to do it at least twice a week and what a difference it makes. I feel much more prepared when I hit the road on the weekend since I started with this and it seems it is good to improve my average speed (which is still slow – around 27km/h).

Next Sunday we will be doing the last essay for the real thing at Triatlo do Estoril, entering the Olympic distance (1500m/40km/10km) after Alpiarça’s event back in March where I entered only on a Sprint distance (300m/10km/4km) to see how the logistics fits. I really enjoyed Alpiarça not only because I had a lots of fun during the race but most of all for everything around the event – seeing the pros in action was really great and inspiring.

Triatlo Alpiarça – Transition Zone

And about inspiration, if you are into triathlon make sure you watch this great Ironman video:

26 March 2013
by Tiago Costa
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About wireframing and honesty

I just came across this great post from ALA – read it here.

I could really relate to the story being told about wireframing. Everytime we do create wireframes it is hard for our Clients to realize and focus that what we are presenting is not really the design itself, but only a sketch. I usually refer to that wireframes are to web design what the house plan is to the architect. So at the end of the day if could be a good thing to go really lo-fi and just sketch wireframes on paper so no one will think that the type actually means anything.

“Pen sketches are—and will forever be—the fastest, cheapest, and most universal way to create and share your ideas for any medium, particularly in early ideation phases. The pixel precision of wireframes can lead clients—and designers—into thinking there’s no design work left to explore once the first round of wireframes is complete. Or, precise wireframes can lead them to fuss with fonts, styling, and alignment of elements on a grid. These are the wrong things to focus upon in early design phases.Because pen sketches are so far removed from web materials, they’re never confused for the final design. Even if you wanted to, it’s hard to fuss about fonts in a pen sketch. This keeps everyone focused on the right things at the right time. After the concepts are resolved through pen sketching, designers can work honestly with clients and design in the browser to bring the visual ideas and prototypes to life.”

As I finish the post I really think the guy is trying to sell his stuff (Inkwell and MoreBlue) so no linking here on purpose! 😉

11 March 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Disruptions: Digital Era Redefining Etiquette – Great piece of content

I just found this article shared on Facebook “Disruptions: Digital Era Redefining Etiquette” and it is very related to the one I wrote more than a year ago “Is this email productivity or just plain rudeness?”

Let me highlight the message behind it, because if my post was only about email etiquette, this one goes a lot further:
– don’t send “thank you” or “ok” emails when they are adding zero value to the conversation;
– don’t ask for ~~directions if you can them on Google Maps~~ anything you can easily find on Google;
– don’t leave voice mails it will probably not be listened to anyway (I’ve turned my off several years ago because it took too much time – SMS FTW!);
– don’t send a text message when you need a loooong answer, because I won’t be typing that on my phone (more so, if you can just Google it).

Great quote here:
“In the age of the smartphone, there is no reason to ask once-acceptable questions: the weather forecast, a business phone number, a store’s hours. But some people still do. And when you answer them, they respond with a thank-you e-mail.”

And another something I also agree too:
“I have decreasing amounts of tolerance for unnecessary communication because it is a burden and a cost”

Why? Because we are all drowning in digital messages and we need everyone to be part of the solution.

4 February 2013
by Tiago Costa
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Training for the Half Ironman in Lisbon

Just a quick recap on my current training for the thing 🙂

First of all I haven’t a written plan, on purpose, because that would lead to disappointment since my work life is very intense, so I try to fit in all the training time I feel like I need, splitting it across the different disciplines.

Apart from some detours here and there I have been fitting in 2 swimming pool trainings + 2/3 running trainings during the week. Then on the weekend I have been aiming at a short brick combining something like 1 hour biking + 1 hour running and then a long biking train on the other day.

When I first started training, swimming seemed like the “big thing” but now I see the real challenge (at least for me coming from a running background) will be the biking. Some other athletes have also confirmed on this. This is basically because the swim is relatively short, so it won’t make much of a difference finishing on 40 or 50 minutes (some guys go well below that, but it is not my league), but since the bike is the longer stretch of the competition it makes big difference being able to ride at an average speed of 26 or 32km/h – so I guess this is where I need to put more training effort.

Meanwhile I have finally managed to go near the competition biking distance with a 80km and a 90km training sessions. It is not easy but it is doable if the road if mostly flat and the wind is light. Today I decided to ride up to Ericeira and I had to manage strong head winds (strong enough to ride my 7m kite 😉 – it was gusty and around 17 knots) and lots of hills (>1.500m accumulated climbing).

Here is a photo taken during a pit stop heading to Praia do Guincho:

Riding 90km against the wind