Hi!

First of all, thank you for being willing to support the adventure I decided to put myself into.

Now it's time to create some sort of roadmap, some guiding path for this looong project. That was actually some of the DM's I got on Instagram - how to tackle such a long proejct.

I honestly have no idea on how to set it up so I went to my friend ChatGPT asking for guidance. According to him, going from scratch to getting a slot to Hawaii would take 3 years if I'd be able to train 20 to 25h per week.

Well, that's is pretty much impossible for several reasons:

1. The more hours you train, the more recovery hours you need.

   Theoretically speaking, to accommodate such volume of training I'd probably need 10 extra hours per week. It would bring the average daily hours to 4 to 4,5, on top of sleep. It's too much pressure on the system;
   

2. Avoid burnout.

   The biggest risk of pushing hard on these long endurance efforts is to drain the battery so much that health falls apart and you end up crashing - sometimes quite literally.
   

3. Balance training with the demand of work.

   The workload increase I've been experiencing in the last 12 to 18 months mean I need to be on my desk 6 to 8 hours per day or having the flexibility to travel. A strict training schedule would push me beyond my limits and something would have to give.
   

4. Need for social life.

   I've been paying more and more attention to the impact loneliness has on health of people, myself included. Working mainly remotely and pushing in so many different areas mean I'm a lot of hours on my own. I want to allow time to be with people without screwing training.
   

5. Time with family.

   I want to be a role model for my family to follow and show how to balance all the most important things in the pursue of a dream, which means saying no to a lot but a massive Yes to my wife and baby.

So 20+ hours per week is out of question. What I can reasonably commit is around 10 to 14h - roughly the same amount I devoted in the journey to Cascais in 2023.

When I confronted GPT with my real-life availability, he then answered it will take 5 to 10 years. I'm ok with that!

But where and how do I start? What lies ahead for the next 6, 12 and 18 months when it comes to challenges, goals and accomplishments?

That I can decide and that’s what I want to share with you.

For the next 6 months, this is where I will focus

• Lose + 12kg

  This is the current battle, one that I won before but apparently didn't win the war. This will be critical for several reasons, all pretty obvious: less load on joints (speeding recovery), better power-to-weight ratios, better level of recovery and inflammation.

• Full recovery.

  I’m sick and tired of being out… I will recovery fully from the nagging injuries that put be on the side lines for 2024. This is well under away - but let's not jinx it!

• Strength training.

  I decided to jump into CrossFit as a way to increase mobility, perform non-linear movements (if you think about it, triathlon is just going ahead...) and improve strength. Together with the social aspect of it makes a great combination to endurance training.-

• Finish a 10km under 55min.

  Maybe I’m being too optimistic but I'll try to do it in January.

• Complete a sub-2 half-marathon “comfortably”.

  It will probably be the Europe Half-Marathon in Aveiro, Portugal, in April with the definition of "comfortably" still to be confirmed.

• Gravel bike ride.

  Do a 3 day Gravel bike tour of the Santiago's Way with close friends. I've done it this year, I found it challenging while I was still in good shape... I feel it's the kind of challenge that will make be get of the saddle and ride.

This will bring me April. It will create the backdrop and pillars of the 12 to 14 months ahead.

For the period of 6 to 12 months - let's say between April to December 2025 - the plan is to start a massive training block for the 70.3 and a marathon. The goal is to finish off some pending business with these races! I want to finish the half-ironman in less than 6h and do a sub-4 marathon.

The biggest challenge will be the calendar. I'm aiming at

• Ironman 70.3 Cascais, Portugal, or Ironman 70.3 Marathon, Greece, both running in late October;

• Maratona do Porto (Porto Marathon) in early November - I have unfinished business with this race...

In the lead up to the peak weeks of late 2024, I will probably sign up for my first medio or granfondo and several non-racing challenges: a project I'm calling "sea2sky" which will take me from home to Portugal mainland highest peak, a try at Everesting and probably some sort of non-official training camp.

With these done and dusted, time to tackle the full Ironman somewhere mid 2026, the main goal for the 12 to 18 months period. I don't know exactly where, it's still a little too far away... any suggestion?

So there you have, how the next 18 months will play out for the #road2hawaii journey.

I'm really focused on creating the routines I need to accomplish the short term goals, it's not being as easy as I wish it would be.

Now you know what my roadmap is and you can keep me accountable! What do you think are the weak links in the chain and that I’m overlooking?

I'll keep you posted about my numbers on my weekly letter.

Thanks!

Onwards we go!