Alberto Lugo went to Carlsbad,California (Dannon Duathlon) with a purpose..............to earn a spot at the ITU Short Course Duathlon World Championships in Alpharetta, Georgia. As often happens with a man with a plan, Lugo succeeded in his goal and will visit the Peach State in October to take on the best short course racers in the world. Most that have raced against Lugo this season have seen only one view of him..........from the back as he's racked up win after win in local action. TT/NM took the opportunity to catch up with the Champ while he is deep in his double secret training regimen for the Worlds.

TT/NM...Congratulations on your berth at the ITU
Worlds....was qualifying for this event one of your
goals this season?
 

A.L....Qualifying for the world championships in either
duathlon or triathlon was
my goal this year.  I fell short of qualifying for
worlds in Cancun for the
olympic distance triathlon in October of this year
when I went to Cour d'
lane for nationals last year. My thought process was
that I would take
whatever came first this year, but I knew that
duathlon was my strong point.

TT..... Has your training changed as you get ready to head
to Georgia in October?
 

A.L.....My training has definitely changed for the better as I
prepare for Worlds.
In the racing that I have done thus far, my brick work
outs consisted of
racing as fast as I could at the SW challenge series
races. Of course, that
also included transition practice and speed work. Now,
in preparation for
worlds, I am doing more brick work outs outside of
races as well as defined
speed work.  I had peaked a little early prior to
nationals in Carlsbad and
was forced to take some rest due to plantar fascitis.
I went to the race
hoping to do well.

TT..... What's your plan for the race? Can you win an age
group title?
 

A.L.....My plan for worlds is to race my own race and cut my
time significantly. I
may be a little optimistic to say that I can cut at
least 4 minutes off my
1:04 split on the bike and at least two minutes off my
20minute 5k run at the
end (due to my brick workouts). My training is on the
upswing again and I
feel healthy and ready to race again, I just had to
take it easy after
nationals for a while. So I am confident that if my
race goes well, and
looking at some of the times out there, I can place
top five. I am
optimistic for an age group win, if not more. There
are a lot of great age
groupers out there and I just hope I am one of the
best.
 

TT...... Back to the SW Challenge Series.....you've
dominated the Elites this season......was it a goal
to get back on top after last year?
 

A.L......My goal for the SW challenge this year, and I think
you got it right, was to
win the overall title after coming in short last year.
After Nationals, my
focus changed from seeing how fast I could get and
going all out on my races
to more controlled situations in my training. There is
probably still a
chance to do more races in the SW series, but I have
to focus on worlds. One
of the articles that I read on Transition Times said
that there is always
the possibility of winning an age group title since
there are so many races.
I literally had to struggle to get all my races in
just after nationals, but
you never know, someone hungry enough may take the
gains that I have made.
My main focus at the races this year was to prepare
for speed.

TT...... At the Las Vegas Tri, you were walking late in the
race, holding your stomach.........what went wrong?
Did you take lessons from Michael G?

A.L.....No excuses, I was not feeling up to racing two weeks
after nationals and as
I mentioned above, my focus was on doing the race, and
no matter how much I
wanted to do well, my body just did not feel like it,
so I took it easy on
the race.  If you have noticed, I may do well every
other race, but I could
not see my self or feel my self doing it several
weekends in a row. I may
say though, that I am humbled. Most people go out and
do races just to
finish them (well, me too) but I felt something
positive by not doing as
well as I wanted to in Las Vegas. Sometimes you just
have to step back and
enjoy the fact that you are healthy and just being
able to compete (win or
lose) which, by the way, is all in how you define it.
I saw it more as a win
than as a loss, when I saw how hard it really is to
race (hard). My hats off
to everybody in these races (especially those guys and
gals on mountain bikes).

TT...... Any chance you're considering turning pro?

A.L.....My focus has always been on turning professional. When
I first started doing
this, I would say "I am just having fun right now" and
I realized I was
wrong. You should always have fun. My way of thinking
which comes from my
mountain biking experiences is that if I finish the
race without serious
injury or anything worse, I should be very thankful
that I am able to
continue to compete. When I turn pro, it will be no
different. I strongly
believe that you need to be mentally into anything you
do and always look at
the positives.  Nothing or nobody should ever put you
down, especially yourself.

TT..... What is your athletic background?

A.L.....I ran college track for two and a half to three years.
I ran cross country
and track at UTEP. I ran the 800 meter dash and placed
7th in the WAC my
last race and lettered in track. My track career was
just getting off. I
found that it usually takes two to three years of
anything before you start
to realize your true potential in any sport. I then
started my training as a
Physical Therapist and my conditioning decreased. I am
very anxious to get
back to that level of athleticism, and it has taken
some time. So I am
confident in my abilities to do well in the pros.

TT..... What does next season hold? What types of races
are you planning?
 

A.L.....Next season, I plan to continue a well structured
racing season. Like last
year, I plan on doing some races in Dallas, which is
part of the reason I
did not compete in too many races of the SW series. My
focus will be on two
major races for nationals and worlds. My swimming is
coming along as far as
technique is concerned, but like I said , it takes a
while. If my duathlons
get stronger and I continue with my swimming, i should
eventually attain a
high level of fitness in both.

TT.... Tell us about your reasons for joining Tri Team
SW.
 

A.L....I joined Tri Team SW because I feel it is important to
have some unity in a
sport that is about individualism. I have trained on
my own for so long that
joining a group would help my mental outlook on
things. Racing is as much
psychological as it is physical and  being part of a
team and helping to
achieve goals together is what racing is ultimately
all about. I also hope
that I can share my experiences with others if they
want to hear about them.
No one should ever leave this sport or not partake in
it because of the
simple reason that everybody seems to be on their own.

TT...... Any chance I'll ever beat you in a race?

A.L.....I liked that last question. When there is hope, there
is always a chance.
When you give up hoping don't even try (always race
hard, you never know).
By the way , in mountain biking you never know and
that is why I did that
crazy sport. I found out that too many other people
always gave up or fell
off the mountain
(just kidding) and I could very well be the winner at
the end of the race. I
hope you liked the response and thanks for the
interview.

Editors Note: Alberto Lugo was nice enough to answer the final question in politically correct fashion but rest assured that if ever I do beat A.L......you'd better put some warm socks on..........cause your feet will be getting mighty cold..........because hell will just have frozen over!