S7E10 -- Ohana Guest | Acyr Da Luz - 515 : The Ultra Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Mary Jo (00:15):
You're listening to 515, the Ultra Podcast, the show
that invites you into the livesof people who make up the Ultra
family.
Here's your host for theseconversations Larry Ryan.

Larry Ryan (00:28):
Thanks, mj.
Today's Ohana guest has racedat four Ultraman races.
In our conversation he sharesnot just stories but a ton of
tips.
Some are what not to do, whichhe learned the hard way, and
some tips that worked for him,including advice from some world
champs.
My guest today has escaped fromAlcatraz and competed in four

(00:53):
Ultraman races.
Despite being dyslexic, he wasable to skip a grade early in
his education in Brazil andeventually attended Stanford,
where he was a member of thetriathlon team.
After an intense career thathas taken him and his family
around the world, today he isworking for a startup in
California.
These are just some of thethings I learned by reading

Running to Myself (01:16):
A Journey of Endurance, a new book by my
guest who joins us today fromBelmont, California, Acyr Da Luz
.
Welcome to the podcast, Acyr.

Acyr Da Luz (01:27):
Thank you.
Thanks a lot, Larry.
Thanks for having me Honored tobe here.

Larry Ryan (01:32):
For our world audience, because we do have
listeners from around the world.
Belmont is on the San FranciscoPeninsula, about halfway
between San Francisco and SanJose, kind of not far from
Stanford.
What is it like there?
Why do you choose to live there?

Yeah, no, thank you .
Yeah, you're right, it'shalfway through, I'll tell you,
like Palo Alto and San Franciscoand it's a great place to live.
We really love living here.
We moved to the peninsula forStanford, so we moved over here
for school right in 2016 anddecided not to move away because

(02:16):
changing kids' school again andkeeping them in the same school
that was kind of the plan.
We ended up moving from PaloAlto to Belmont and what is
close, very like 20 minutes, butyou like a lot of friends in
the area.
What I really like on is becauseI live in an area that is has a

(02:37):
lot of opportunities in termsof work, education, a lot of
things happen in the Bay Area,but I'm 10 minutes, 15 minutes
from the from, from themountains, from very nice bike
rides, from the coast.
I'm like 30 minutes from thecoast.
So it's it's a very I canreally enjoy nature here and, uh

(03:00):
, it's one best cycling placesin the us, right, just like on
thes a lot of mountains, verysafe to do it.
So I think it's a goodcombination.

Larry Ryan (03:10):
Yeah, yeah.
So it brings all of yourdifferent parts of your
lifestyle together, of yourtraining, your work, enjoyment
of the nature with your family.

Great.
That's an awesome place to livein and we are kind of not too
far from Tahoe that we gosnowboarding a lot, not too far
from Yosemite that we go campinga lot, so there are places that
we go every year as a familyand here it's kind of a good
place to be Excellent.

Larry Ryan (03:41):
Well, I mentioned that you're working for a
startup in that introduction andI know from reading your book
you spent a long career goingthrough some major companies,
but maybe tell us about whereyou are now and the people that
know you from past races theycan catch up to where you are
now in your life as well.
With this startup, what sort ofwork are you doing?

Yeah, so I spent most of my career in consulting,
started back in Brazil in 2001.
And for a long time started asa new analyst and developed my
career on that other age ofpartner and moved around the
world right Went to Europe.
We lived in Switzerland forabout five years, spent some

(04:27):
time in Asia.
We came to US in 2012.
2012,.
From now we moved differentplaces in the US, but mostly now
live in California since 2016.
So my life was really workingwith large corporations and
building business withinconsulting.
Late last year I got anopportunity to join a startup to

(04:52):
work on AI innovation,something different that I was
willing to do and I'm learning alot.
It's a different size of thecompany, the organization, how
you navigate.
It has a lot to do with what Istudied and learned and lived
through at Stanford, so I'mexcited because of that.

(05:12):
One of the main reasons I havedone and studied at Stanford was
to do that to move from the bigcorporation, big corporate
America world to the startupworld, and I think that that's
happening corporate Americaworld to the startup world and I
think that's happening.
So excited with that.

Larry Ryan (05:28):
Excellent.
Well, you know, I would like tokind of go through a little bit
of your history.
You're not unlike a lot of theOhana guests where you start off
with maybe not the bestsporting background, or at some
point in your life, in your case, you became not the best
sporting background, or at somepoint in your life, in your case
, you became not the bestsporting background.
And then you, you know, youstart off with oh, I'm going to

(05:51):
do a 5k run, I'm going to do amarathon, and and, and that
story goes on and on.
But let's, let's go right backat kind of early on into, like
your childhood years.
You were originally, you saidin the book, like your childhood
years.
You were originally, you saidin the book, you know, fairly
thin athletic.

(06:15):
You skipped a grade in gradeschool, despite suffering
dyslexia, and I guess that meantthat you were hanging out with
some older kids you know.
And so when you got into yourteen years, things started to
turn a little bit for you whereyou weren't already treating
your body very well.
Can you tell us a little bitabout, like, what happened at
that time and that stage in yourlife?

Yeah, no, definitely.
So we started early on in life,right?
So as a kid I was very active.
I'm from Rio, originally Rio deJaneiro in Brazil, but my
family had a house in themountains close to like two, two
and a half hours from Rio.
We'd spend all the weekendsthere and I would never be home.

(06:57):
I would get my I'm talkingabout five to 10 years old.
Right Between that age Iarrived there, get my single
speed bike and just disappeared.
My mom sometimes would have tochase me down because with the
car and try to find me in themany roads around.

(07:17):
That Didn't have many cars onthe roads so I was pretty safe.
I would spend the whole weekendbiking with the kids.
It was plain with friends.
For me it was not exercise, itwas just plain.
But that's why we would do alot.
Then I was about 10 years old.
My dad had some issues on hisjob.

(07:40):
He lost his job, had to start acompany.
As a consequence, we stoppedtraveling, stopped going to the
house, stay more in rio.
That environment that for mewas kind of was where I would
love to spend my time withnature biking friends.
But I went away and and in rRio I would swim, I would go to

(08:05):
the club and swim during theweek and bike on the weekend.
That was kind of my mainactivities.
Then, from one time to the otherone, very quickly it went away
and then I started puttingweight without noticing.
For me it's easy to understandwhat happened now, but back then
I could not see that.

(08:25):
And then I would be quiet andmore not very active as I was,
and then I felt like 13, 14,like teenage years.
I was younger than everybody,right, because I had skipped a
grade early on.
So a way to fit in, of course,is like the easy one.

(08:52):
At that time it's like oh, go,drink, right, because it doesn't
require a lot of skills to dothat.
Right, let's say it.
And I remember as a teenager Iwould drink a lot, a lot of beer
, hard liquors going out.
Brazil was probably easieraccess than the US for drinking,

(09:12):
especially back then in thetime, and a lot of the friends
that was kind of the community Istarted to hang out with and I
don't think that was treatingeither my body or myself the way
I would today, but that that'show it worked back then.
And uh, and I was, I wasgetting very distant from the

(09:36):
kid that was growing up before,the active kid that would spend
all day biking, never stopped.
I would wake up five in themorning, knock the window off of
my friends, get them on thebike and disappear, right that
that.
That kid was left behind and Ibecame the guy that would, I

(09:56):
don't know, pull all lightersdrinking with friends, come back
, not dedicate too much time tothe, to the studies that I
needed to, that I should so.
So it kind of, if I compare myearly ages with late ones, very
different.
Right and uh, and at home Ididn't have a lot of reference

(10:17):
on exercise, or my dad neverexercised, or my mom did a
little bit, but was more walking.
For me, exercise, or like amarathon or anything, was
something that I'm watching thetv, some ultra person doing that
, that would not.
I'll not belong to that world,right that I'll never see that,

(10:37):
yeah, um, so so that's how Igrew up, right and and things
took a turn on teenage yearsthat were not very healthy and
it took me a while to reallyunderstand that.

Larry Ryan (10:57):
Tell me if I'm reading in too much of what I
read in the book.
It probably has a little bit todo with the relationship with
your father as well, who was abit of a serial ultra
entrepreneur maybe, or it justhe would move from one thing to
the other and would work superhard and thus that kind of was

(11:18):
you got into the idea of.
You know that that health andfitness maybe was not the most
important thing.
You know that health andfitness maybe was not the most
important thing.

But a career and working hard was important.
Yeah, I think you are right onmany aspects.
His focus was always on thecompanies, on the business he
was building one when I worked,he would build the next one and
move from business to business,never prioritize his health or
even the relationship and thefamily, so it was very distant.

(11:48):
I would see that from adistance.
When I was about 18, I was 18,actually his companies, all of
them kind of went south, and atthat point I looked in the
mirror and said, look, he's notgoing to be my dad or his

(12:08):
company.
I think I have to own this andbuild my own life.
That was a very, very difficulttime in our family for my
siblings, for my mom, for him,for everybody, for me.
Everyone took a little bitdifferent.
What I took was I have to focuson it, on my career.

(12:33):
I have to build my own worldhere, right?
No one's going to do it for me.
And so I dedicated a lot oftime to the work, to the career,
and neglected the body and thehealth.
That was not very well takencare of in teenage beginnings,

(12:53):
right?
So things didn't go very well,right.
I started getting veryoverweight and a lot of health
issues would come after that.

Larry Ryan (13:04):
Well, you tell the story in the book of when you
joined the service in Brazil asmandatory at 18, you were unsure
of what your weight was and youwere shocked when you found out
where you actually were.

Yes.

Larry Ryan (13:18):
Can you tell us about that?

Yeah, yeah, exactly , I was 18.
In Brazil it's mandatory thatyou have to enlist for the army,
for the military right that Idid for the Navy.
And then you go there, you haveto do a physical exam and all
of that, and in front of themilitary person there he puts on

(13:48):
your form and keep going.
And I remember on that queue,right, I was on that line and
then the line was going veryslow.
So the military guy was like,hey, people don't need to wait,
just put your weight over there.
When you come here, just tellme your weight and we'll move
forward quickly.
Right, don't need to wait, Ijust want to push the line
across.
And then it was like a fewminutes before me and I was like

(14:11):
, okay, good, I don't have towait, right.
And then, uh, and then then theperson in front of me, he would
ask the weight, and the guy, hesaid 80 kilos.
And then, uh, and then he askedme right after right, I didn't
know, I announced it 80 kilos.
And then he asked me rightafter right, I didn't know, I
said 80 kilos, whatever, just gowith that, it's good, it looks
good, sounds good, let's goFurther down the line.

(14:34):
The guy took my forearm andsaid, uh-uh, this is not right.
So what?
You don't have 80 kilos, let'sgo back there and wait?
Said okay, let's go back.
And it was way above that.
I think it was like 114, right,it was like way, way above that
.
And then for me it was areality check, right.

(14:54):
I said, oh, things are worsethan I thought and I had to face
that.
At that time I said, look, I'mgoing to lose weight and I did.
I went all the way to 83 atthat time 83.
But when the crisis happenedwith my dad and then I had two

(15:15):
folks at work, they start tocome up, come up, come up, and
suddenly I was above 113.
I was like 120, right, whenthings got really bad and I was
working extremely hard.
It was very hard to findbalance and I think that was I

(15:36):
was probably turning.
I turned the person that I whatI did not admire my dad.
I ended up becoming that.

Larry Ryan (15:42):
Right.

Right, because I was not really having a healthy
life, not dedicating time to thefamily.
I was just focused on work.
He was focused on the company.
I was focused on my career.
But it's still work.
Yeah, and at a certain point onmy career I had a very big
disappointment right that I wasall set, ready to be promoted to

(16:08):
become a partner.
It was a big deal, bigpromotion at that time and did
not happen.
But when that happened for meit was kind of a turning point.
I took it hard.
I said okay, something's notright.

Larry Ryan (16:23):
Yeah.

And there's a reason why this did not happen.
And I went back and soulsearched, back home.
I think I mentioned that in thebook.
I could have changed jobs, Icould have changed countries, go
back to Brazil, I could havechanged careers.
But I said look, I'm going tochange myself.
I think that's what I need todo.
I need to focus on what I thinkthe core things are spend time

(16:49):
with my family, take care of myhealth, and that day I decided
to start running.

Larry Ryan (16:56):
Yeah, this is my favorite story in your book and
I just want to set this up alittle bit.
It's like when you decide itokay, there's a time for a
change, you talk to your bossthat night and you're like he
wanted you to come in for some5am meeting or something and

(17:17):
you're like I can't do it.
I'm starting my running programtomorrow, and he was a little
incredulous and a little bit bitmaybe insensitive and didn't
believe that this was somethingthat you were going to be doing.
And maybe that even sparked youa little bit more, because not
only did you start a runningprogram, you didn't even wait

(17:40):
for the next morning.
You decided you went home andyou started that night is what
you've written in your book that, like, if I don't start it now,
he might be right, I mightnever start this thing, and so
there there's just somethingabout.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about how that?

went down.
Yes, I think the start is alwaysvery hard, very hard, and I
always decided I'm going to do,instead of focusing on losing
weight.
I said, look, I'm going tostart running because I think
running is positive and I'mgoing to lose weight by running.
I'm going to run, I'm going tostart running.

(18:16):
That was my focus.
And I was on a 7am call withhim not call meeting, in-person
meeting and then he said, look,let's meet tomorrow at 5.
And then I said, no, I can't,right, I can't.
And why?
You have another meeting?

(18:38):
I said no, because I'm going togo for a run.
And he was like what, what isthat?
What are you talking about?
And I'm saying, look, if I toldyou I was going for a doctor
appointment, you would be okaywith that.
I'm just preventing that doctorappointment, just avoiding that
.
And he was like he was in shockand um, and I remember he was

(19:05):
like I said, look, I have totake care of my health, I'm
going to start running, I'mgoing to do the morning.
And then he was shook, his hand, his head, and yeah, we
probably need to take care ofour health as well.
Of course he was thinking.
I'm sure he made him think hisown life because he was working
a lot and I didn't put his namein the book.

(19:29):
That's just just uh ideas,right, I protect who that one,
that person is, because I don'texpose him.
And then he, um, and then saidokay, so I'll take care of it,
we can meet another time.
And I drove home and then I saidyou know what?
This is not going to go wellbecause if I don't show up

(19:51):
tomorrow morning, things willmake, got a snowball, make it
worse, um, there will be reasonsnot to run every time.
But when I arrived home, I saidthere's no reason not to run,
I'm going to do it now, I'm notgonna wait, and then I'm gonna.
If I can do it, I'll do ittomorrow morning, if I do the
other day, I'll do it.

(20:11):
So I said I'm gonna use everytime, every spare time I have to
put the run right.
So I arrived, went, changed,left, left the home and I didn't
even know where to go right,like, okay, go run.
I said, yeah, run for what?
Run to what?
What goal?
No course, it's not like arunning track or running.

(20:33):
There's nothing.
There was like a parking lotand I'm saying it doesn't matter
, I'm just going to startrunning and it was very hot.
I had not noticed it was hotbecause I was never out, I was
in the car, I air conditionedthe whole day.
I said you know, I'm gonna justdo it, and it was very hard,
horrible, dragging myself, likethere were a little bit of of

(20:54):
small hills that for me werevery hard to climb at that time
yeah and I said no, I did it.
And um, so I ran and I was thereon the next day I think it was
six, maybe five or six am and Ishocked him.
He was surprised and he was oh,no, run this morning.
He expected me not to run.

Larry Ryan (21:13):
Right.

Right and said no run this morning.
I ran yesterday and I'm goingto run every night.
Yeah, there was a part of methat wanted to do it, and there
was a part of me that wanted todo it, and there was a big part
that wanted to prove him wrong.
Right, so I used that in myfavor.
I said, look, I'm going to usethis for a positive energy for
me doing something good.

(21:35):
And I never stopped since thatday.
And there were many reasons notto run many days.

Larry Ryan (21:40):
Yeah, and I think you know this is what I feel
like the book was really allabout.
It was that, that taste of gritor resilience that moved you on
to the path that you're able to.
You're able to build on it eachtime and kind of set a new goal
.
And many people don't have thatgrit or resilience to even take

(22:04):
that first step.
But once you took that first,step.

It reshaped all facets of your life, One of the
main reasons that I wrote thebook.
That got me going to write thebook and motivated me, and I
thought that very often.
One thought that I had was oneday I'm sure my kids will be in
a difficult situation.
Something didn't happenprofessionally, personally, a

(22:35):
relationship, whatever.
It is right.
This is life.
It's going to happen and I wantthem to know, to remember, to
have it vivid on their memory,that a lot of the good things
they lived through happenedbecause I was in that moment
Right, so they can turn badthings in their favor and use

(22:57):
that energy to do good thingsfor them.
Yeah, both on career, on theirhealth, on in relationships or
who they are as people.
Yeah, and in the book, you'reright, it's a lot about taking
negative stuff that happenedthat you didn't plan, and how

(23:18):
can I turn this into somethingpositive?
Right, even some issues onraces.
I step back and look Now Iunderstand what happened and why
it happened.
That way becomes my energy forthe next one.
Of course, when I finish, get amedal, it's good, it's great.
But I would say the most funchapters to write and the ones

(23:44):
with most lessons are the onesthat did not finish as I
expected, and I tried to put alot of I don't know some fun
into it, because when you looknow, things are laughable At
that time.
There's a lot of stressinvolved, yeah, yeah, but a lot
of them are laughable now.
Right, all right.

(24:04):
And I think, try to keep itlight.
Yeah, absolutely, it comesacross that way.
It's not going to be perfect,but take that energy and make it
positive.
There were a lot of things that, when I look back, I could take
it negatively in life, likewhen my father had a lot of
financial issues and some healthissues that I had.

(24:24):
I could do that and take itnegatively and blame others.
But instead, okay, how do Imake this and take it to the
positive side?
Not easy, but it can be done,yeah.

Larry Ryan (24:39):
I feel like you've definitely done it.
I mean, and, and the way youprogressively go through each of
the different goals that youhave, and it doesn't matter,
like you share the, the, theparts that went wrong, as much
as you share the parts that wentright, and and I think that
makes for some greatstorytelling.

(25:00):
You know you're not hiding the,the failures you had there,
they're in there as well.
And you know, even looking backto your first goal, which was
quickly set once you get outrunning, and that you were like
I want to run a marathon and andthen you're like I want to run
a marathon in under four hours,like you were making some lofty
goals pretty much right away.

(25:23):
And like all great quest stories, though, you know the
protagonist, they need to findsome aid along the way, someone
to create bonds with incompleting these quests, and for
you, it was your friend, fellowBrazilian, danny, and your

(25:44):
family, who you brought in.
You know your children werevery young at the time when this
was going on, and now you knowthey're off in college and
things like that.
So the book tells a great storyof your family and all the way
through their growth.
But can you tell us how thatwas a part of what it was that
was important to you, likebringing in these other people

(26:05):
like Dani and your family.

Yeah, no, definitely so, for anything in
life, it's very hard to do italone, right alone.
Right, you need the supportnetwork, I, and when I started,
one thing that was clear in mymind was that the support

(26:28):
network had to be my family.
If I could not engage them, therunning career, the oath, the
triathlon would would.
The running career, thetriathlon would put us apart and
not bring us together.
Right, it's not uncommon to seepeople starting down that path.
I'm going to do an Ironman, I'mgoing to do triathlons, I'm

(26:53):
going to do ultra distanceracing, and then marriage and
family just take a second place,and then things don't go the
right way.
Right, for me, that was clear,and how to do that was hard.
Right, because people all havetheir own priorities and what

(27:13):
they like to do and what theydon't like.
But for me it was can I buildthat support network with them,
even if it's support networkwith them, even if it's not the
fastest, even if it's not themost efficient?
Right, but can I do that?
Um, I could get the coach, Icould join a running club, I
could.
Right, dunny, I think, was agreat buddy because our, our

(27:38):
wives, were close right, theywere friends.
Our daughters were close, right, they were friends.
Our daughters were friends.
So we would go for racestogether, we would train
together, they would meet us.
That was great and we wereneighbors, both from Rio, so
that was good.
But I would engage the kids,principally very early.

(28:00):
And I joke I joke a lot Today,half joking, right, because I
say on the beginning I would gofor a run and Sophia and then
Gabriel.
But Sophia was five, six yearsold, she would bike, have
whatever 16-inch bike, 14-inchbike, I don't even remember.

(28:20):
She would bike with me.
I would go to a nice path thisis very near the bike path I
would do like 20k, 21 K and shewould go.
She was like small and doing itright and and for her that was
normal.
That was like she would stop,eat some granola bar, take some

(28:41):
water.
I would be running back andforth till she recovers and then
we would continue.
It was fun.
She started growing up and gaveher the same story.
Then they become too fast onthe bike and they become a
little bit bored because theyare trying to keep up.
I used to keep up with them,but now they are much faster and
then they grow a little bitbored because they're trying to

(29:01):
keep up.
I need to keep up with them,but now they're much faster and
then they grow a little bit more.
They start running with me,right.
So we start running togetherand I'm trying to get them on
the right pace and I have towait for them and it's okay.
Now I'm in the phase that I'malmost getting.
I think I need to get the biketo chase them, because they

(29:26):
start, they're like they go.
So, no, come on, wait, wait,like I.
Like I saw the whole the wholejourney, right.
Yeah, she was like the littleone I had to wait to push on the
bike on the heels and oh, weare together now you're faster,
come and run with me now.
I say, hey, where's my bike?
I'm almost at that phase, right.
So so it's, it's, it's them.
It was natural, right.
And today we do the triathlonstogether and we did a couple of
them.
We did the nationals together.

(29:48):
We were ready for the nationalsthis year to do together with
her, myself and her, but then itgot canceled on the day it
didn't happen because of rainand all of that.
But it's been a fun experience,something we do together, yeah,
you've been a great role model.
When I look back, I said, okay,it worked Right, because it's

(30:09):
not that if I push too hardmaybe I would get them away from
it because they would hate orthat's something that forces me
to do it.
I was always trying to make itfun, so it's not easy.
There is not like a straightanswer.
It's kind of more great andright.
Yeah, but it worked.
More art than science.

Larry Ryan (30:28):
Yeah.

Yeah.

Larry Ryan (30:29):
No, I think it's great the way you were able to
have the family be such a bigpart of what you were doing.
You know many of the people Italked to that's one of the
things they give up is.
You know they spend their hourstraining and they're out on
their own a lot of the time andyou know so they're giving up
those family hours or they'refinding other ways to bring in

(30:53):
family hour times and you justincorporate it all together,
which is fantastic, and I thinkit's obviously been a positive
role modeling for your kids.
They have both dabbled in thisalready, so, yeah, it's a good
story.

No, it's good, and that was so you mentioned I
start running, I want to do amarathon.
I did a marathon in muchshorter time than I expected
right, I expect to do a marathonin three years.
I did like six months right,less than six months and I said

(31:33):
I'm going to go for the Ironman.
What for me, was just somesuperhuman would do that.
That's how I grew up right,there was one person in Brazil
that was a reference.
She's like amazing, likeFernanda Keller.
I remember growing up andlooking at the TV would always
be her doing this Ironman inHawaii and all these kind of

(31:55):
insane things for me.
That's how I grew up, thinkingabout triathlon and Ironman.
I said I'm going to go for it,and it was.
I grew up thinking abouttriathlon and Ironman.
I said I'm going to go for itand it was very hard, injuries
and so on but it was fun to doit.
I was happy and the family wasproud.

(32:16):
But I could see Jai and thekids.
They were all proud and happyto be in the race, but there was
limited engagement when I triedthe Ultraman at Canada.
I think it's because now theyare part of it and that was the

(32:38):
main thing that attracted me tothe Ultraman instead of the
Ironman, because I was not aloneanymore.
The whole race and evenpreparation.
It was not an individual sport,it's a team sport and my team,
as I mentioned in the book, wasmy family, so we would discuss
strategies.
The first one is a big lesson,everybody right, it was so hard

(33:02):
and sleep, deprivation, lack offood, all wrong, right, we're
not prepared.
But the second one was great.
They were great, right, and,and I finished because of them.
When the third one is different, right, right, you have read
the book.
There were some issues on theswim and they were perfect.

(33:24):
I was not and we didn't finish.
But then they became awell-oiled machine, they know
what to do and they are engagedand they had fun, they run with
me.
It's good, they supported me,it's good and it supported me.
So I think becoming a teamsport, making triathlon a team

(33:46):
sport, was what really led me tothe.

Larry Ryan (33:47):
Ultraman.
Yeah Well, let's kind of gothrough each one of these a
little bit.
We are 515 Ultra Podcast, solet's hear about these Ultraman
races you were doing.
I know in 2019, when you cameto Ultraman races you were doing
I know in 2019, that when youcame to Ultraman Canada I was.
I was there helping out toorganize the race.

(34:07):
At that time is before, I wasthe co race director and and you
say that you felt a little bitout of your league, that the
briefing that I was giving wascompletely intense and you were
feeling the imposter syndromewith all the people in the room
and their resumes, and you werejust really not prepared for

(34:30):
what it took to do that race.
You told your family crewingwould be simple.
They'd have to see you everycouple of hours.
Tell us about how that racewent for you, yeah.

Tell us about how that race went for you.
Yeah, so I wanted to do theUltraman in Hawaii, but you need
to qualify.
You had to qualify, right.
So Ultraman Canada was open andI said you know what?
I'm going to register.
I don't know if they're goingto accept me or not, invite me

(35:00):
or not, but I'm going toregister.
I don't know if they're goingto accept me or not, invite me
or not, but I'm going to try.
I have done the Ironman last 12months.
I have the distance.
Let me try.
I was not sure I would get in.
I said I'll register If I getin.
I get in.
All right, then I'll thinkabout it.
But but I'm not.
But I didn't put too muchthought into it and then I

(35:25):
registered.
A few days, weeks probably later, I got the email from Brad
invited to register.
I said, oh, this is now serious, let me talk to my wife.
And then we went and talked toher.
She was, oh, I'm not sure.
And we were questioning.
After a while she was on boardand she was.
But what is a judge?
Easy, it's easy, don't worryabout it, it's.
It's a place with a lot ofwineries.

(35:47):
You can spend time on winerieswith the kids.
I need you to kayak for me for10k in the lake.
She and she looked at me.
I never step inside a kayak, Idon't know how to do it.
I said that would be easy.
Come on, I'm swimming, you're akayak.
But she never had entered in akayak before.

(36:08):
I said, no, no, we'll managethat.
Kayak is not a problem.
And then every three, four,five hours we meet so we refill
my water bottles and change foodand keep going.
No rush, no stress.
Then I got her to agree.
Right, that was the deal.
And then I talked to my sister.
She was in Brazil.

(36:28):
I said, oh, I'm gonna join.
That's probably fun.
I would spend time with Jai onthe wineries and the kids.
I'll help her out.
We'll meet you once in a while.
Is it your sister?
Yeah, and then, and then myfriend at work.
I was working with yon at thattime.
We have done one half ironmantogether, one marathon.

(36:50):
I told him, hey, I'm gonna dothat.
And he said, oh, my gosh, thisseems so hard.
I said, uh, you can crew for meif you want to tell you I'm
gonna want to do that, okay,good.
So suddenly I had like a goodcrew.
Number of crew.
Yeah, but no one had ever doneit right and I had never done it
.
But I said, okay, it's fine.
It's okay, guys up, get thecourse.

(37:12):
I'll load on my Garmin.
Everything will be fine, don'tworry, I'll manage.
You just need to meet me everyso often.
So change the water bottle.
That was the message.
And then we get to that briefing, and then there was so much
detail and oh, talking aboutthat side of the road that I

(37:37):
don't know that shop and likethe know that shop and like
every the false flats and this,and I was looking at this.
Everyone knows what they'retalking about.
I have no clue.
I said, okay, we have to lookat this more seriously.
It's not follow the course only, there's more to that.
Oh, I forgot to miss that.

(37:57):
I missed something.

Larry Ryan (37:59):
Go ahead, change it.
I registered.

And I was training not too much because I was
working too much, but I wasmanaging and then the elevation
profile was published, right, Idon't remember.
I don't know exactly when youjoined, but the elevation
profile was published after,yeah, or at least I got to know
after.
Right, maybe I didn't payexactly when you joined, but the
elevation profile was publishedafter, or at least I got to
know after.
Maybe I didn't pay attention toit.

Larry Ryan (38:24):
Yeah, it was the traditional course for a number
of years, but yeah, yeah, but Ihave no idea.

And when I look at the elevation profile, I said
I'm done, there's no way I cando this, not because of the
distance or the elevation, butthe time my average pace when I
turn the mountains.
Here it is, it was about 15, 20below.
It needed to be for three, fourtimes.
I said.
The distance, I said it's aproblem, but okay, but I

(38:55):
consider not going to the race.
We're talking to my wife beforebecause, look, it's going to be
too hard, I'm not training thiselevation, and she was oh, we
signed up already, let's go.
I said yeah, let's go.
Fine, I think she wasinterested in the whining and
then she thought she would bespending time on the whining.
And then we come to the briefingLate.

(39:17):
We were behind, I didn't knowit was mandatory, I didn't pay
attention to it.
And then we come late.
They are looking for food, thekids are hungry and all these
details that you're presenting,and I'm trying to keep up.
I'm looking at yon, I'm lookingat that and and we are like
look, what is he talking about?

(39:37):
Right?
And then there's thisintroduction of the athletes.
I remember I had done threeIronman and I thought that it
was a lot.
And then come these people ohno, I have done the best, race
is Badwater, I love that.
And I said what's Badwater?
And then I look it up while inthe meeting, in the presentation

(40:00):
, and like 135 miles in thedesert, I said oh, my god.
And then people, oh, and by theway, I'm gonna do next week
again, and two people, I thinkmark and uh, right, yeah, both
were like I'm gonna do this thisweekend and next weekend I'm
gonna do the.
This was the 515.

(40:20):
I'm going to do the 520.
That was the like.
There was some conflict whichone would stay.
One 520 was going away.
They decided to stay, right,yes, and I'm looking.
These guys are going to do thistoday, this weekend and in five
days from now.
They're biking, they're doingeverything again and I'm saying

(40:41):
look, I, I don't belong here.
Everyone that presented there.
Oh, my favorite race was eitherbad water or the iron man world
championship.
That was kind of most of it.
I said, oh, if I look at mytime and I remember I'm so far
from being qualified.
Right for me, I, this is not mygroup, I'm going to be in
trouble here.
Right, I said that's going tobe hard.

(41:04):
I really, really felt out ofplace, right, I felt okay this
I'm not built for this.
I don't think I should evenstart.
But you're there, you travelall the way there.
I said I'm going to go for it,I'm going to do it.
But it was hard, it was awake-up call, I would say.

Larry Ryan (41:26):
Hello listener, I love getting your feedback and
suggestions for the podcast.
Keep them coming at515ultraman@ gmailcom.
For those that want to help mepromote the show, I suggest that
you tell a friend to listen too.
Word of mouth is a great wayfor podcasts to get new
listeners and if you don't mindpublishing your feelings, a free

(41:50):
way to support the show is byleaving a five-star rating and
review on your podcast app.
It's a chance to tell me whatyou love about the show, and it
helps others discover it too.
Final, if you're so inclined,you can show your appreciation
for my work by clicking thesupport link at the bottom of

(42:10):
the show notes to go to my buyme a coffee page.
Thanks for all of your feedbackand support.
Now back to the show.
You are listening to myconversation with Ohanagas Asir
Dulus.
After getting a littlebackground into Asir's life, we
are about to hear if his fearsthat he is not prepared for the

(42:32):
515 experience are founded.
Here comes his wake-up call, ashe said, and the lessons he
learned as a result.

And then we went for day one.
Day one was very, very hot.
Temperature was like 45 Celsius, right, a lot of wildfires.
The course changed because ofwildfires.
I started to swim.
I did the 10K swim.

(43:02):
Swim is by far my best sport,not that it's great, but it's
better than the other ones.
I had a challenge on the swimbecause I had trained in Santa
Cruz for the long runs.
There was salty water.

(43:22):
When I did at Okanagan Lee Ikind of felt I missed the salt.
So I finished the swim a littlebit down.
I was planning to do like 320,310 was more, like I think, like
340.
But I needed 45 minutes torecover, to even recover before
I can get on the bike.

(43:42):
And then I finished the bike.
That I thought was easy wouldbe easy because it was just 145
kilometers, very hot.
My head would explode.
It was so hot.
I would stop to meet the crewand they would throw ice on my
back, on my head.

(44:03):
I would not even feel it and Ihad a flat tire.
And then I finished.
But it was way harder than Ithought.
I started having a lot of feverand feeling bad and almost
throwing up when I arrived atthe Airbnb.
It was all this a lot of sunand it and, and it was hard

(44:26):
right like sunstroke.
And I remember talking to mywife saying I don't think I can
start tomorrow.
I look, if 145 kilometers waslike that, can imagine 276, and
I can't do it right, and she was.
And then, and then she wasabout to say not to do it, and I
remember my, my sister wouldcome say, go for sleep.

(44:49):
You sleep like a rock.
Every time you don't, don'teven move, you just just pass
out and wake up the next day.
You're gonna be fine tomorrowwe'll talk.
We are the ones that don't have.
Don't sleep that easy.
It's going to be hard for us.
I went to bed but didn't, Ididn't even remember much.

(45:10):
And then when I woke up for thenext day, I don't even I didn't
remember.
I was what was happening.
And then my wife was bringingme when we're talking to her.
I was, oh, I have to race todayand all of that.
And and she was like, are youreally going to do it?
I said, oh, I am, because Ireally woke up feeling fresh

(45:31):
when I went to stand up from thebad note.
It was hard.
I said, oh, that's going to behard, but I did it.
I said, let's do it, let's getstarted.
I did a big mistake because Ijust didn't know right.
And then what we did was no onewas ready.
So I asked Dion to drive me tothe starting line and then the

(45:57):
crew would be ready and then hewould come back to meet me, to
pick them up and meet me later.
And it then was very, very hard.
I almost did not start and thenyou know, everyone line up, the
guy, go right, the gun went offand I said, look, I gotta go,

(46:19):
what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna just quit.
And then I start doing and itfelt good, it didn't feel bad, I
think the adrenaline.
And I said, look, maybe I cando that.
And then I start pushing.
I remember I was very close anda little bit ahead of Mark at
that time.
I remember for me a referenceon my pace was Mark.

(46:41):
That was the reference I washaving right on the on the bike
and I could leave him behind andI was doing well, feeling great
.
We were kind of in the secondgroup.
There was the first group thatwent off, like Jordan and a few
folks.

Larry Ryan (46:58):
I'm glad you didn't try and keep up with Jordan.

No, that would not be smart.
That would be a very fastdecision to quit after.
So I was like trying to keepour head up.
This guy has done beforebecause we talked right.
So look, if I'm on hisneighborhood, I'm in the game
and I was pushing, it was goingwell and then I flat tire and I

(47:27):
said oh gosh, no crew, nothing.
I had filled the tires withsealant.
I said, look, maybe I'll justload the air here.
See what happens.
And it held.
I said okay, let's go.
But like another hour and ahalf later, another flat tire.
And the reason for all theseflat tires was I was so

(47:48):
concerned with the time, rightthat, the pace to close that,
all the elevation and everything12 hours.
I went for the fastest tirethat I could find and I said,
look, this is going to hold fora day.
I don't need to hold for a week, it's just a day.
But it didn't.
It did not, it doesn't.
I remember it was VictoriaCorsa and it's built for like

(48:16):
indoor kind of track.

Larry Ryan (48:20):
Right.

The stones, the little rocks stick to it and
then the more you pedal, themore the wheel goes right the
tire.
It starts passing through thetire and then punctures.
It's not that you hit thepuncture, it's just a normal
rock that does it.
But I didn't know that and sothat was a flaw in my strategy.

(48:44):
I didn't know, so I had to pumpthe tire again and then I had
to stop and change the tire, soI had a lot of tire trouble.
You mentioned Jordan, right.
When I finished like race wasfinished he won.
We were sitting side by sidejust chatting and I mentioned
that I had all these tirechallenges and he said what I

(49:07):
did you use.
And then I said, oh, I came toyour course.
And he said, oh, you did this.
I did the same thing you did inCozumel 2014.
The race ID, the first Ironman,said I did the same thing.
And then he was like and I hadfive flats and quit the race

(49:29):
because I could not do it.
I said, great, you are justfive years ahead of me.
That's okay.
Right, I'm five years behindyou because I'm not the only guy
.
I didn't feel that stupidanymore, right?
So look, the guy is winningthis race.
He did the same thing fiveyears ago.
I get it Right.

Larry Ryan (49:49):
But like it's just a matter of experience, and he
went on to win the worldchampionship that year as well.

He went to.
Yeah, he did that, he did thatand it was awesome.
So I didn't finish.
So in the end, before the tirechallenge, I remember everyone
was concerned with the wall, thefamous wall right, yeah, famous
wall and I saw people walkingthe bike on the wall.
It's very challenging for us.

(50:12):
Very beautiful place, verybeautiful area.
I would never be to BritishColumbia I was not planning to
do that, but we love it.
We love the lakes, we love themountains.
The ride was beautiful, verychallenging, but the wall was
fine.
It was just a hill right, a bighill in the incline.

(50:32):
What for me was very, verydifficult was the wind when you
come down the other side of thewall and that corridor of wind
that doesn't matter if you're onthe left, right the valley,
it's just like headwind all thetime.
And that part I was surprised.
I was not expecting it.

(50:52):
And then I would see my averageright, my speed.
I said, guys, this is notlooking good.
I've been pushing.
The end missed by eight minutesthat day.
Right, and it was the first onethat didn't make the cut right,
mark was the last one to makeit.
And then I didn't make it andlike I was very, very frustrated

(51:20):
.
But on the other hand I wasproud because young came to me
and said, look, I think you'rebuilt for this.
Looking how much you train, howmuch mistakes we all did in
this race, the wind, that wasthere in like eight minutes.
I think you can do this.

(51:41):
And that's how I left there.
Left that day I said, said,look, I I think was very close
if I had the experience.
I'm sure I had.
Like it was not about havingthe physical or the mental
strength to do, it was theexperience.
Yeah and um, so that's how Ileft the second day, um, and

(52:03):
when I finished that race I saidno, this, no, this is, I'm
close enough, I'm going to doanother one.
Yeah, and then I went forFlorida and we were much better
prepared and there was one eventright.
So I was working at Google atthat time and I was on the

(52:27):
cycling distribution list.
It's good, you're there.
You see what's happening,people invite for rides and all
that.
And someone wrote asking abouthey, I'm going to do my first
Ironman, any tips?
And then I replied with what Ithought would be helpful for her
Things that I had learned on myIronman.

(52:47):
And then I wrote in the endvery like I didn't believe we'd
have any results, but I putthere does anyone has the
experience of Ultraman?
I probably need help.
I didn't finish one and I'mtrying to go for the second one
and I let that happen, right, Isaid no one who at at Google is

(53:07):
gonna be doing Ultraman.
And then a guy reply, copyingRob by say, oh, you just have
Rob, great, the world changer,right.
And then.
And then Rob replied very kind,advice was very nice, is oh,
great, we can meet up for lunchand then we can talk, and so on.

(53:28):
I said yes, of course, Right.
So it was the first time I wasmeeting someone that had done
and I had never talked to anyone.

Larry Ryan (53:37):
Yeah.

But from the race that had done right to get
coaching.
Yeah.

Larry Ryan (53:42):
For people that might not know, you're speaking
of Rob Gray.
He was the 2017 world champion.
He was also on the podcast backin season four, episode 13.
Great guy, Lots of information.
Unfortunately for you, this wasbefore the podcast existed, so

(54:05):
you didn't have this ability toget information about Ultraman.

Lucky for you, you were able to hook up with Rob
Gray.
It was luck.
It was luck and you're right,there was not Right.
But for Hawaii I had thepodcast and it helped me.
It helped me a lot, I'll tellyou how.
But then I met with Rob.
He was very helpful, veryhelpful.

(54:33):
A lot of recommendations, right, and sharing his own stories.
And I remember three thingsspecifically right.
One of them was I was nottraining a lot during the week
because I was working too much,and then I felt I had to offset
that by going very long theweekends.

(54:54):
And he said forget about that,don't do that.
You need to count the weekmileage, not the day.
The day doesn't matter, you canstay on the bike 12 hours, it
doesn't matter, right?
So I start planning for thewhole week mileage and not for
days long mileage Like you do ina marathon that, oh, I have to
be 36 or I have to right, youdon't have that long ride that

(55:16):
you have to do.
You need to have volume perweek.
That was his first one.
It's more important volume perweek than what you do in a
single day.
Uh, that was one.
So I adjusted my plan.
And then the second one I don'tgo for a run, I don't run
straight, I go for one walk, onewalk right.

(55:36):
And then he was like very fast,describing his strategy I start
with eight and a half 1.75,with eight and a half 1.75
seconds, and this, yeah, and hewas like look, do like nine
minutes one minute.
And I remember thinking tomyself, right when I started
running and did the marathonsand did all these races, I would

(56:02):
never allow me to walk on therace right on the run.
Maybe because I would not allowme to walk on race right On the
run, maybe because I would notfeel a runner if I was walking
right or something right, ormaybe I'm not tough enough
because I'm walking right,whatever right, and I'm seeing
across the world champion say,oh, the best thing is because I
walk.

(56:22):
And I said, look, yeah,sometimes you're like yeah, like
feel like stupid, right and uh.
And I said look, yeah.
And then he said look, yougotta save your legs, so walk in
the beginning, do five, like 10minutes, one minute, sometimes.
Do eight and a half, one and ahalf, and describe his strategy
and so on, and then and then youreduce that over time, right,

(56:45):
and then the last 21k youprobably just run because it
becomes very hard to stop andstop, but at least you save your
life, because if you go runningtoo much and then you're
dragging yourself.
And he was describing all thatand and then and then.
That helped me a lot, I think,making breaking a mental barrier
that I could walk right on therun.

(57:05):
That was actually smart to dothat early on instead of
dragging myself afterwards.
So that was one and the otherone.
He was always very efficient ontraining.
I could I could see that how hemanaged his.
He's someone I I think myselfon someone that always try to be
efficient on things and can doa lot of things at the same time

(57:26):
.
I could see his thoughts.
He's always looking forefficient ways to train,
efficient ways to race,efficient ways to engage his
family as well.
And then he was like look, thebest way to train for a long run
is not doing a long run before,but start with a downhill run

(57:47):
that's going to wear down yourquads and then you do another 20
, 30, 40 kilometers after thatand then he'll say run till it's
done.
After you do the 10K downhill.
He lived in the area before.
He's now living in Boulder, buthe knew the area, the mountain.
He said go to Page Mill Road,run that down and then run to

(58:12):
the Leo Legs Up Down.
Once you do that once or twice,you're ready for the ultra.
You'll finish the ultra withoutproblem, and that's a strategy
I use for Florida.
Six weeks before I went to pagemill road.
It's like a 13 kilometerdownhill steep can get up to 15,
16% and I did that and then didto complete 50K and then was

(58:42):
six weeks before the race and ithelped.
So these three things helped mea lot when I met Rob and then I
felt I really felt ready forFlorida.
Based on that, I got the righttire, I got the right volume per
week and I got the righttraining and strategy for the

(59:03):
run.

Larry Ryan (59:04):
Yeah.
And you got a crew that now hasexperience which is probably
one of the bigger ones as well,because you brought back the
same crew, correct?

Same crew.
Everybody wanted to go back andI said are you guys sure you
want to go back?
And they were no.

Larry Ryan (59:19):
Now we're going to do this and and but, but you
still, even though you've hadall this and you, you've psyched
yourself up to do it.
Um, I just want to share someof your times with the people
that are listening, because youstill, you push the limits.
My friend like, uh on on daytwo, you were an 1144 and on day

(59:44):
three, that crew would havebeen pulling their hair out
because you were 1154.
So your walk run strategy.
I'm sure at points they werecalling it into question and
maybe you were too.

Oh, they were very stressed.
Everybody was very stressedabout it.
Yeah, that's right, that'sright.
So go for florida.
The first day, the swim.
It's okay.
I, I make time on the swim so Ican kind of cool down on this
on the bike on the first day.

(01:00:19):
Right, I don't need to push toohard.
Yeah, and I finish on.
The swim was challenging becausea storm came in and and flip
kayaks and and slow down thekayaks, not so much the the
swimmers, so I would have towait.
My wife she was in kayak andshe could not move because it
was too windy and she wasstruggling and I would wait for

(01:00:42):
her to catch up with me.
So the swim was hard for thekayakers.
There was one that flippedtwice or three times and sank
and then the athlete had to quitthe swim.
So my wife was safe, she wasgood.
She was with a lot of pain onher elbow afterwards and
complained with me for a longtime.

(01:01:03):
I had to hear that.
But it was okay and day onefinished okay, as expected.
Day two I knew it was hard, Iknew it was very hard, the pace,
but barely Canada.
Canada was more elevation, butI was managing.

(01:01:26):
Well, I could manage.
I could see that I was about tofinish and and then it was time
to get dark.
I still had time and you oldfinish.
So I kind of took the gogglesout, the glasses out, because it

(01:01:47):
was getting dark.
I slowed down and said look,there's one goal now be ready
for tomorrow.
I told my crew stay back In thelast 40, last hour I was much
slower, very high cadence.
I said I have to get ready forthat run because they chew in
Canada.
If I did not have the flats Iknew I would have finished, but

(01:02:13):
I knew I would not have finishedthe run in Canada.
I knew that I did not finish.
I tried and locked and I saidthey choose behind me it with
like an hour and so on.
I said my challenge is going tobe this one and I know it's
challenging.
And it was.
I did the run, the walk-runstrategy, and I kind of knew my

(01:02:39):
pace and I was like I'm going tolet you sprint to the last 21K
and I know how much I can do inthe 21K, 21k.
I can do that if I need undertwo hours.
So I'm going to pace myself tobe before that.
But at that time when the lastone can arrive.

(01:03:02):
My crew met Slava.
That was an athlete that theyhad met in Canada In Canada as
well, yeah, and she was.
Are you guys doing what youneed to do?
Are you driving your athlete?
Are you pushing him?
He doesn't know what'shappening.
He's tired, he's exhausted,right.
She gave them a very hard time.
So they got desperate and theysaid, oh, he's not going to

(01:03:26):
finish that.
I didn't know any of thatbecause I'd never stopped
running and for me it was allabout look, I cannot go too high
on heart rate.
I was under control, I knew Iwould finish, right, but I was
under control.
But they got desperate and theystart pushing oh, I have to go
on this.
I said got desperate and theystart pushing, oh, we have to go

(01:03:48):
.
And this said we'll do it,we'll do it, we'll do it, and
and then, and then.
Then I said, look, it's fine,I'm gonna do it because I can do
this, I can do I.
I was very conscious the wholetime, but I knew it was coming
close, cutting close right yeah,I said I'm gonna sprint.
I remember talking to my wifeand the kids and they last mile.
They come together right.

Larry Ryan (01:04:07):
Yeah.

Acyr Da Luz (01:04:08):
And then let's sprint.
I said I'm going to sprint whenI see the finish line Because
if I get injured, if somethingsnaps on my leg, I can still
finish.
I'm not going to do it now, I'mnot Not.
And then a lot of people camehurled around for running in the
end.
And then a lot of people camehurled around for running.
In the end it was very nicebecause I think everyone
expected me to be completelywiped out, but I was not.

(01:04:31):
I was kind of preserving myself.
I was preserving myself for asprint that I did not need to do
.
And then when I saw that finishline, I said, okay, guys, let's
go, let's sprint, let's do this.
And when I started running, Ileaving every, everybody behind,
everybody, right, no one couldkeep up.

(01:04:52):
And my wife and my kids whathappened?
Where were you?
I said look, guys, I was savingmyself.
That's what I took from rawright I.
I did not wanna.
The worst thing is wipe me out,like in the first 42k, and then
I can't finish this right.
And then then finish, as youmentioned, like five minutes,
right, six minutes to go.

(01:05:12):
But in my mind I was neverafraid.
I was very conscious, yeah,very.
I knew I would finish and, um,when I crossed that finish line,
I I remember it's possible, Idid it.
I felt very, very, very proud.

(01:05:33):
I was very happy, was harderthan the Ironman, much harder
because multiple days you had toengage the people, so many
weather element challenge youhave to face, so long on the
bike, but I was very happy, veryexcited and, uh, and the whole

(01:05:54):
team, the whole crew, and said,okay, now, now we go for the
world.
Right, we go for kona, for forthe big island.
Yeah, kovid hit a month later.
That was was February.
I did that in February 2020.
March 2020, lockdown, all racecanceled.
Everything Took, I think, twoyears for the Ultraman world to

(01:06:18):
come back.
They canceled two years in arow.
They canceled 2020, 2021.
But they came back in 2022.
And I registered for that and Itrained a lot, a lot.
I would listen to your podcastall the time and I had a lot of

(01:06:41):
known people.
That was in Canada, right.
Briefly, a lot of stories.
He helped me a lot, a lot.
Um, I remember and I forgot hisname now the japanese athlete.
Uh, I think it's japaneseathlete.
He, he mentioned that one oflike.

(01:07:02):
Normally you finish askingwhat's the one thing you
recommend or you advise peopleright, and he was do not
underestimate this one.
Even if you're a good swimmer,do not underestimate this one,
for somehow that got stuck on mymind.
I trained like the sport Iprobably least needed less.

(01:07:25):
Least training was swimming andwas the one I trained the most
yeah I said, look, I have totrain this thing right.
There's a reason people areafraid of the swim there it's.
It's called open ocean.
You start from a bay, go open,then come back on a bay.
This is not a lake swim, it'snot a bay swim that I do in

(01:07:47):
Santa Cruz or even here in SanFrancisco.
I said, look, I trained a lot.
I was doing open water, I wasdoing the pool with the wetsuit
in the pool, wetsuit open water.
I was not like my shape wasvery gooduit in the pool,

(01:08:07):
wetsuit water.
I was not like my shape wasvery good, especially in the
swim for that race.
Yeah, and I went a few daysbefore to Big Island with my
sister and Gabriel, my daughterand my wife.
My daughter had school, shecould not go.

(01:08:27):
I went a few days early.
I drove this, the course, right, I did everything, I studied
everything.
I was, I was perfect, I'm gonnado that.
Nothing's gonna stop me.
And then we go for the day, wedo the check-in, we go.

(01:08:49):
And then day one starts.
I wake up, what, 5 in themorning, 4.35.
And then I get an email fromthe kayaker that is supposed to
go with me and then, hey, I'mfeeling sick, I'm not gonna join
.
I said oh great, great startyeah, then I text um cheryl

(01:09:14):
right and said already workingon it.
I said, good, fine, and I Iwould stay.
I stayed this time, in bothtimes, at the courtyard, that
you see the starting line rightthere, this swing, right, I'm
there, I can, I can see, and Ican see people arriving, I can
see.
I try to make logistics easy,right, as easier, as easy as as

(01:09:38):
it can be.
And then, and then he said, hey, we have a challenge, have to
go down.
So we went down there, said,hey, we have a challenge, have
to go down.
So we went down there and therewas no kayaker.
And then she was working onthat.
But how do you pick someone nowto kayak 10 kilometers at five
o'clock in the morning and like,oh my gosh.

(01:09:59):
And then, and then the stressbuilding up and all of that,
everyone, everyone in the wateralready.
And then comes someone.
Oh, I can be, I found someone.
It was a friend of someone thatwas helping Cheryl and the
person was kind of a very niceperson, was a great human being

(01:10:22):
for doing that, but had noexperience right.

Right.

Acyr Da Luz (01:10:25):
When I said that said, hey, you have to give me
all this food during the, andshe said, oh, do I have to give
you something?
Yes, what?
I said, no worry, I'll tell youalong the way.
And and I said, look, you'regoing to start from the beach, I
start from the pier, we'll meetover there.
I said, oh, I know you're kindof tall and this I'll be on the
water.
You can't see.

(01:10:45):
I'll yell the number very loudall the time.
Memorize the number, yell backthe number, we'll find each
other.
I said, okay, good, and then asI start entering the water, the
horn went off like time to goand everybody's swimming and I'm
catching up.
And then I start swimming.
It comes the place where youmeet, like whatever 100 yards,

(01:11:10):
200 yards on the front, and thenI start yelling the number.
You can see it's kind of stilldark and you see all these
people they all look the samefrom the water and I started
yelling my number no, not this,not this.
I said, okay, what do I do?
And then I look, I'll continueswimming and she's going to find

(01:11:30):
me because kayak is much faster.
And then I start, continueswimming, and then another kayak
come and then I yell my number,nothing.
And I say, look, I think I'm introuble here.
I think she's not going to showup.
She quit, what can I do?
I was just looking at thekayaks in front.

(01:11:51):
I said I'm going to follow thatbecause that's the path and I
would just go.
No support, I'll just keepgoing until someone get me out
of the race, because you can'trun, swim without support.
But I'll try to hide myself inhere and keep swimming.
And then, and then the, the,the would come like a small boat
or the, uh, the jet ski, rightin check.

(01:12:12):
I said before he asked anything, I'll say just ask, find my
kayaker, and then I'll give thenumber.
Keep swimming.
I said, look, I've not lookedtoo much before.
I'll not make eye contact, Idon't want this guy pulling me
off the race, right.
And then they're like I'll findher.
I said great.
And then I keep swimming.
But then it starts spreadingout the people.

(01:12:34):
When I was looking the kayak,it was far.
So I'm looking at the mountainnow and like alone in that ocean
, I said, doesn't matter, I'mnot going to stop.
And then I'm going to swim this.
I knew I had to be by like sevento eight kilometers at a
certain time, because thecurrents would turn.

(01:12:54):
Because the currents will turn,and if you are slower than that
, it becomes exponentiallyharder because you're now
against the current right.
So I said, look, I have to push, I have to push.
I was planning to finish inthree hours or sub three hours
what would be a great time,right?
And I said, look, I got to push.

(01:13:14):
I got to push and before thecurrent turn, forget about food,
I'm going to make this and thenI'll recover on the bike.
And then, about an hour, shefound me.
I saw she come in and she foundme.
And then the story is she wasafraid to go alone, so she had
to find one more good soul tojoin her on that kayak.

(01:13:37):
On a double kayak, she go withme.
And that took time, of course,right.
And then when she she arrives,okay, good, no one's gonna pull
me out of the base, I can finishthis.
And and then, and then shearrived, I said, look, there's
been a right.
Since I'm pushing hard, I getwater, drink some water.

(01:14:01):
And then I swallowed some food,right, more than normal,
because I was trying to recover.
Things didn't settle well when Istarted, right, because maybe I
did too fast.
This was shaking, because I'renow on the outside of the bay
and it's shaking, and in the marthe ocean is kind of hard and

(01:14:26):
you're trying to go fast thewaves, sometimes you swallow
more water than you you should,right.
And then and they're like, oh,this thing is not feeling great.
But I said look, look, but Ihave to be there by two hours,
otherwise this is going to beexponentially hard.
And I'm there, swimming,swimming, swimming, and the

(01:14:46):
nausea starts building up and Isaid, look, do I slow down?
I look at my heart rate it'svery high.
I did another mistake.
I like the full wetsuit becauseI'm much faster, but it's so
warm and I think that was aproblem to keep my heart rate
down because temperature washigh.
So everything built right.

(01:15:07):
Too much food, quickly, theocean mix up and down right Very
, very hard, swallowing water,the stress that I had to go
through.
At a certain point I said, look,I didn't reduce the pace and
the certain point I just I justcould not handle right.
And then I started like feelingstop, feeling bad.

(01:15:30):
I stopped and and then, andthen it like started throwing up
right and I said look, how itwas horrible, horrible.
I was very bad, feelinghorrible.
They stopped by my side and Iwas like trying to hold on the
kayak.
The kayak would bump on my headand like all this, because

(01:15:51):
you're on the ocean, an openocean, and she's like raising
her hand to call for support,right, and I'm saying no, don't
do that, don't do that.
No, no, no, no, don't do that.
These guys are gonna pull meout of the race, don't do that.
Like I'm okay, I'm gonna, I'mgonna recover, and then and then
.
But I could not say thatbecause I was throwing up and

(01:16:12):
having all these issues and thenand then, once we finally got
down, I said no, no, I'm gonnabe okay, I'm going to be okay.
They said fine they were scaredboth of them of course and like
the guy's going to drown here.
And then I said, okay, I'm okay,I'm better, I'm going to start
swimming back.
And then I started swimming.

(01:16:34):
I did half in an hour and ahalf like 5k in an hour and a
half, like 5k an hour and a half.
The other 5k took me threehours and I would stop all the
time.
All the time I said I just goslow, so I keep my heart rate
very low.
I I'll glide to the water, yeah, but then you don't move

(01:16:56):
because the current had turnedright.
So I would swim.
That transparent water from fromhawaii is great.
I'll look at the bottom, one,two, three times.
And then I'm over the same rock, right, and I'm like, okay,
this is not working, and thenI'll have to push.
Every time I'll push, I wouldmove, my heart rate would spike,
and then I would have to push.

(01:17:17):
Every time I would push, Iwould move, my heart rate would
spike, and then I would have tostop, throw up and then come
back.
So it was like a grind.
That next three hours was likevery, very hard and all the way
to the end, right.
I remember stopping so manytimes and then, when it was not

(01:17:39):
that bad.
I would just I'm swimming, Iwould turn to the back, swim
backwards, throw up and thenkeep swimming.
I said, look, if I'm notfinished, if I don't do that, it
was very hard, very hard when Ileft that water.
So when I was arriving there,taka came to pick me up from the

(01:18:00):
water ride to meet me there.
I felt like twice.
I was completely dehydrated, Iwas dizzy, I could not see water
, food, anything.
It was very bad.
And then my wife started likeshe started holding me to stand
and to go to the bike.
And Jai was now go to the bike,there is water for you, fresh

(01:18:25):
water to clean.
I said I don't understand, Ican't go up, I can't climb on
this bike right now.
So I had to go to the restroom.
I took a shower.
I kind of recomposed myself.
I remember looking in the mirrorand I looked of recompose
myself.
I remember looking the mirrors.
I look like half of what Istarted because I was so
depleted.

(01:18:45):
The right thing to do therecertainly was to stop right.
All right, we all know that.
But and I thought about that,right, but look, train, so much,
you do so much.
You're there with a family.

(01:19:06):
Tata had traveled from Brazilto Hawaii just for that race,
and she was coming back.
She was not enjoying anything.
I said, look, if it's not forme, at least for them.
I'm going to do this and I'mgoing to go back on that bike.
I really, really I gave it allout.
I said, look, I'm going to buybecause, as there is no, no

(01:19:30):
second or third day, becauseotherwise I'm not going to make
it.
I caught up a lot of time butend up missing that day for
three minutes three minutes yeah, and and because I start
cramping up on the hill on thelast, on the final stretch, I
was depleted, dehydrated.

(01:19:51):
Cramping up, I, I could see it,I, I knew I could do it, but
the, the legs didn't.
The end I missed for threeminutes.
It was horrible, right?
So much training.
It's different in Canada.
Canada was unprepared.
This time I was super prepared.

Yeah.

Acyr Da Luz (01:20:12):
And the family.
So it was a very difficultmoment.
We finish decided should welook what do we do now?
Do we stop?
Right, call iron man done.
Ultraman haria done.
My life was in camp of that.

(01:20:33):
Look, you already did anultraman.
You're good, you don't need tocome to this.
It's too much effort.
But I said, look what exampleI'm giving.
If I go there, try it, fail anddon't do it, I don't finish.
Right, and I really wanted todo that.
So in the end, we agreed and Idecided to go back in 2023.

(01:20:56):
Yeah, we agreed and I decidedto go back in 2023.
And but I said, okay, for thistime, I'm going to call that old
friend called Rob Gray and said, hey, rob, what about becoming
my coach?
So I don't have to get a reviewby myself.
And that was very helpful, very, very good, because then make
training more efficient,preparation more efficient and

(01:21:20):
another knowledge, right, whattype of wetsuit and a lot of
things that are not not writtenthat people do, right, and then
you learn that, whatever, Ithink 90 of the people that take
anti-nausea medicine beforeswimming I didn didn't know that
, right, no one talks about this, right, no one published that

(01:21:41):
on Facebook, right, but I lookit up Is it banned or not?
It's not banned, you can take itand all of that, but like, but
no one talks about it, right?
So there were a lot of goodpieces of information that he
gave me right.
He would say, look, get one ortwo cokes in the kayak.
If things start getting bad,get that.

So there was all these tricks that you had to
live through, that, or listen tothe podcast, which I know you
were getting some tips there,but maybe not all of them.
A lot, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Acyr Da Luz (01:22:16):
And he was like, okay, once you start, take that
cap off, right, no one's goingto look for the cap and that's
going to help you a lot with theheat, right.
And then if you look at thatrace, a lot of people already
start without the cap becauseit's so warm, the water and it
makes a difference.
So there are all these kind ofthings that you need to
experience, right, the podcasthelps.

(01:22:37):
So in the end it helped a lot.
And it was hard, it was verydifficult but could make it.
Swimming had 10 feet wave onthe first day, so it was way
worse than the year before but Idid it without any nausea and

(01:23:05):
then finished the bike, not alot of time left right, but I
was in the control, I was notstressed.
I was very afraid of day twobecause they choose long and I
thought there's a lot of risk.
You're asleep, deprived, busyroads, right and, but was

(01:23:28):
outside.
The best I ultra man day I haveever had was that day to the
year before.
That's like a small, smalltrick, but I think a lot of
people may benefit from this.
The year before, when I did notfinish a miss for three minutes,
I went for day two, to go downthe mountain, the volcano

(01:23:50):
Kilauea.
I wanted to time how long wouldtake it because the next year I
could do the math and like Iwas trying to right calculate in
my head, I said I want to dothat and then I'll go.
But then I was very slow onthat day.
I was going down very, veryslow kilowatt.

(01:24:11):
Everyone was leaving me behind.
I said, look, I'm demotivated,I get it, but like, but I'm
still pushing.
And even I was like pedalinghard.
I could not keep up.
After 30 minutes, or 25, 30minutes, I had a flat tire
without crossing.
That puncture was just, youknow, the flat that comes from
inside out, right, that that youhit like a hole, but I didn't

(01:24:35):
hit a big hole and I was tryingto understand.
I never could make sense ofthat.
And then, day two of the secondyear, I left the bike on the car
because I was too tired andthen I went to the bike, to the
car to get the bike to pump upthe tires.
For day two, when I starteddoing that, I brought the bike

(01:24:57):
inside the home to pump up thetires and then it was very cold
outside the volcano altitude andthen I came to the warm at the
home and said let me pump up thetire.
And then I couldn't understandwhat happened the year before
and would happen again this year.
I was doing that in a warmtemperature when I would go
outside the tire.

(01:25:18):
The pressure is not the same.
The cold temperature wouldlower the pressure and my tire
pressure was way lower on theday two of the first year.
I didn't know, so I took it out, I emptied both tires, filled
it with the cold air and Ireally flew that day.
It was amazing.

(01:25:40):
I, I finished it and I and Iknew was cold, so it's perfect
condition for me going downhill.
I said, look, I'm gonna maketime.
In the beginning I finishedthat killer.
Well, my wife thought I was asecond right.
I was like I said I'm gonna dothis and and then there was a
rain, I think all in coldtemperature.
I was like I said I'm going todo this, and then there was a

(01:26:00):
rain, I think all in coldtemperature.
I was much faster than theother ones and then, when it
heated up, and then I started toslow down but I knew I would
finish and I finished with overan hour left and it was very,
very, very, very good and thenjust had the double marathon on
the extreme heat to deal with.

(01:26:21):
Um, it was a very difficult raceduring the last day, very
difficult, but uh, one thingthat rob again suggested and
helped me a lot.
He remember I mentioned that Iwas doing this downhill runs and
this was helping me gettingready to a certain extent,

(01:26:44):
because if it was too close tothe race it would wear me down
and take me too long to recover.
So I had a few races,especially Ironman California in
Sacramento, that I could notrun right, and that was four
weeks before, before theUltraman, and we figured out
that was the reason and so on.
So one of the mitigationactions that Rob gave me was

(01:27:08):
okay.
One thing that you could do Iknow you didn't train that way,
but trust me it's going to helpyou and I said, oh my gosh, you
start with one shoes that ismore cushion was the Bondi,
right, the Rocker, the 101 Bondi.

Yeah.

Acyr Da Luz (01:27:25):
And then switch halfway through and get
something that is lighter, lesscushion, but lighter.
For the second marathon, I waskind of scared about it and it
took me a while to do it.
I dragged all the way to 60,65k when I did it, but it felt
fresh.
It felt like fresh legs.

(01:27:46):
It was amazing.
I said why don't I do that inevery race now?
Because it felt really, reallygood.
So in the end, finish this timenot only six minutes left on
the double marathon, it was morelike 15, but it was very good.
I think everyone was very happyand excited about it.

Yeah, well, you know you're talking about.
You picked up some lessons offthe podcast.
Thank you for sharing yourlessons as well, because there
is somebody out there who was inthat's in your shoes now that
was you know at the time whodoesn't know all the little tips
and tricks and is probablylistening to get those.

(01:28:32):
So your tips and tricks arejust added now to the to the
catalog for the people thatlisten.
Every episode there they theyget them all.
so thank you for adding those inand and uh thanks to rob for uh
giving those to you yeah, no,thank you yeah and and speaking
of you know tips and tricks andpeople coming for things I I

(01:28:55):
don't know that your book wouldnecessarily be written for an
Ultraman person, because I thinkthe story is already known.
However, I think it's probablymore written for someone who,
when you tell them aboutUltraman and the distances and

(01:29:15):
they're like, oh that's crazy, Icould never do that.
There's inspiration in it tomaybe not do an Ultraman, but to
make a change that's going tomake a change for them.
I think that's what I took awayfrom it.
It's not.
I mean, ultraman is how you'retelling the story, but it's more
about taking that first step,having that grit, that

(01:29:37):
resilience to make that change,and I don't know, was that the
purpose behind what you werelooking at?

Acyr Da Luz (01:29:47):
Yeah, yeah, I did not want to convince anyone that
Ultraman was the best in theworld and everyone should do
Ultraman.
Yeah, I wanted to inspirepeople to do things they don't
believe they can do it.
Hey, change is possible.
You can do it.
If you have the discipline, youcan do it.
Go, start moving.

It's going to be good for you and we get to see
your children grow up throughthe book as well.
Yes, so that they get to thepoint now where they're, you
know, hopefully taking in someof the lessons learned and
applying it to their own lives.
It's.
It's a good journey, for sure,for the people that are watching

(01:30:31):
on YouTube.
I'm going to just put up anAmazon link here and they can
hit that QR code and find yourbook on Amazon, and if you're
listening to the podcast, youhave to search it up.
It's easy enough to find.
Is it available in other placesother than Amazon, and what

(01:30:53):
formats is it available in andwhat formats?

Acyr Da Luz (01:30:56):
is it available in?
No, I have.
I have right now an Amazon.
Uh, I just just published onAmazon I I have on different
place for physical store, but Ididn't advertise on publishing
that too much yet.
Okay, um, so Amazon, it has, um, it has the the the hard cover
with with with nicer pictures.

(01:31:17):
It has the hard cover withnicer pictures.
It has the soft cover, softback, what is easier for reading
to carry around, but thequality of the pictures are a
little bit less.
And then it has the Kindleversion, right, the digital book
version.
For the next, I'm working onthe audible and the portuguese

(01:31:38):
translation that's what I wasgoing to ask.

Are you releasing it in portuguese?

Acyr Da Luz (01:31:41):
as well.
Yeah, I am, I am, I have theversion.

I'm still editing, uh, but it will come soon great,
and, and, and what's next umathletic career wise for you
yeah, I have a few.

Acyr Da Luz (01:31:58):
I have an Ironman coming up, ironman California.
Again that happens here inSacramento.
It's going to be a restart thisrace.
Next year I turn 50.
And I think for a long time Ihave not done.
I'm going to focus more on time, try to lower that time, maybe

(01:32:20):
do my PR on marathon, pr on theIronman.
I think that's the goal and I'mlooking to build for the ultra
races actually in Californiathat I'm very interested in,
badwater.
Going back to the kickoffsession on Ultraman Canada,

(01:32:46):
where the first I learned aboutthe event and the more I
searched the more I know howhard it is and that inspires me.
And the other one is WesternStates, just because in the
place that I go often, we gooften to Tahoe, we go often to
that resource, specifically toPalo Alto, and I think that will
be a very interesting race todo Not next year?

(01:33:09):
Next year focus a little bitmore on time, then the year
after going after those.

Well, thank you very much for coming and sharing
your stories to the listener andfor giving us some new tips to
follow for the people that aredoing these upcoming 515 races.
It's always good to have thoseextra tips brought in by someone
, and we didn't get into all ofyour stories.
Obviously from your book, sopeople should check it out.

(01:33:36):
And there are, as we say,obviously from your book, so
people should check it out, andthere are, as we say.
You know, people learn fromtheir failures and, as I said
earlier in this podcast, you putall yours in there as well, and
I think that's something thatis nice that you don't hide
those and then people can learnfrom those as well.
So some extra tips if they pickup your book as well, whether

(01:33:58):
they're doing a 515 race or amarathon or just trying to get
in shape, you know you've addedsome good information in there.
So, and definitely inspire withyour determination that you've
shown.

Acyr Da Luz (01:34:13):
Thank you, thanks, larry, and thanks especially for
hosting the podcast.
It's a wealth of information.
I love to listen and it hadhelped me a lot preparing for
the races, and I'll continue tobe an active listener.
Thank you, excellent, all rightwhile you're there.

Mary Jo (01:34:42):
Drop the names of the people you think we should
interview and we'll get in touchwith them and make that happen.
Thank you for listening to 515,the Ultra Podcast, a production
of 5.5 Enterprises.
Now, really, go subscribe nowbefore you forget.

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S7E10 -- Ohana Guest | Acyr Da Luz

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S7E10 -- Ohana Guest | Acyr Da Luz