Name: Mauricio Zardo-Stella
Age: 47
Occupation: Mechanical Engineer
Years doing triathlon? 1
First Triathlon? My first triathlon was the Beaverdam Sprint in 2017. But I consider an indoor Triathlon, promoted by Arlene Barbosa at YMCA, as my start at the triathlon world.
Your favorite triathlon? NC State Championship at Townsend Lake in Greensboro
Meal the night before race? Nothing special, just low carb (as I always do) and smaller than regular days.
Pre-Race Meal? Banana and Papaya (just because papaya it’s my favorite fruit)
Race Nutrition? GU Energy gel (with caffeine)
Favorite motivational training song? Several. One of my favorites is Lose Yourself – Eminem (side note: as a non-native English speaker it took me years to decipher what he was saying).
Favorite mantra? “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Key Workout? T1 and T2 are my weakest. I started doing bricks to improve that.
Best Triathlon training or racing tip? Bring a bucket to carry your stuff to transition and use it as a seat. Ralph Crook teached me that one.
Triathlon literature or other sources of information? I bought “The Triathlete’s Training Bible” by Joel Friel, and the book is showing an entirely different perspective to me. Notably, I was training in a very inefficient way.
Who inspires you? My wife and kids. They showed me what “One Day At a Time” means when we moved to the US, and although they couldn’t speak English, they embraced the situation and made the best of it.
Future goal? I’ve already registered for my next goal: an Olympic Triathlon in Williamsburg, VA in July. If all goes well, I will aim for a half Ironman in 2019.