So one day outside Starbucks just before last year's XTERRA I spied a guy who looked like he was getting ready to DO IT. After a brief chat it became clear that not only was he a triathlete but a major executive in telecommunications in Europe and the Middle East. Now that is really interesting. How can you be both those kinds of people? How can you work in a high-pressure environment and then be motivated to participate in triathlons all over the world?

For Milan Sallaba, our guest, the answer is "to relax after work"! And there is a lot more to that seemingly paradoxical answer, as you can learn from watching our pre- and post-race interviews. So, to get us all in the right frame of mind for the upcoming 2009 XTERRA World Championships, we present this fascinating interview from the 2008 championship. Enjoy! The transcript follows here, for those without audio or video.

CJ: Aloha from Maui Sea at the 2008 Xterra World Championships. We're again here with Milan Sallaba, by the oceanside of the Wailea Marriott on a beautiful, slightly cloudy day, one day, less than 24 hours before the start of this excellent off-road race. Could you tell us a little about where you come from and what you do?

Milan: I've been traveling here from the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. I'm based in Dubai, that's a 30-hour journey by plane. I'm a management consultant, I'm an office head for one of the leading American consultancies there, and specialize in telecommunications.

CJ: Why do you choose to take this intense "vacation" challenge?

Milan: That is a question that I'm being asked quite frequently, and it's exactly because of my desk job's intensity that I'm looking for some outdoor activity to counterbalance and have something that acts as a valve to, basically, my indoor life. Coming back from one summer vacation, noticing that I'd put on a few pounds, I decided to change my lifestyle, and what I did is, that same day I bid for a bike on eBay, a second-hand bike. It arrived a couple of days later and, you know, within a week I was doing my first triathlon. In the last year I've done about 4 or 5 races, both mountain bike based triathlon and road based, including the European championships, and this was in Frankfurt, in Germany this past July.

CJ: Tell us a little bit about your experience with Xterra and why you're at this race.

Milan: Having competed in triathlon for a couple of years, I did get quite confident and comfortable with the format, and I wanted to again challenge myself and wanted to mix it up, and that's how I got into mountain biking and mountain biking triathlon. I started competing in the Xterra European circuit, both in Denmark and in the UK, which are very different from here, in that, for example, Denmark is undulating forestry terrain, and the UK is usually very wet and very hilly, quite slippery and difficult to handle in its own right. And being able to compete here at the world championships, it's something very special. You have to qualify to be here, and competing here is equal to winning as far as I'm concerned, and I relish the experience of being here with the world class athletes that are present, and just being part of a big race.

CJ: For our viewers who don't know, this race consists of 3 parts: a swim, a 20-mile mountain bike ride, which is up the side of Haleakala, and then a run, which is along Haleakala, and finishes running in the deep sand at Makena Beach, very unusual course. Certainly one reason that the Xterra World Championships are famous around the globe. Give us some insight into how you're going to approach this.

Milan: The swim is about a mile. I'm not a good swimmer in the scheme of things, whilst I'm comfortable - swim a few times per week in the pool - I have very little experience in ocean swimming, so it's important for me to get the swim out of the way without losing too much time. Then once I'm on the bike I'm a bit more comfortable because I have done more training on the bike recently, and the important bit is to, again, economize with your energy, but also to try to avoid having punctures. The lava is very sharp and it is important to find a good line and to ride up the mountain in a good pace quickly. You can make a lot of time up compared to weaker competitors. And on the downhill, obviously trying to avoid to crash, because, again, the lava is pretty sharp and it's unpleasant. Then the run, that's where you would want to expend the last of your energies, but again being careful. The last... it's an 11 kilometer run, about 7 miles, the last mile of which is along the beach. It's going to be very heavy on the feet, and it's important that one doesn't fall. In the past years there have been quite a few injuries. So again I'll try to approach the run with some caution, whilst the same time trying to not to walk but to basically run to the finish.

CJ: How about if you'd just go out on a limb for us and give us a guess as to your finishing time in the 2008 Xterra Championships?

Milan: We're looking at a combined time of 3 hours, 30.

THE NEXT DAY

Inga: Milan, it's over. How long did it take you?

Milan: It did in fact take me 3:55, so 25 minutes longer than anticipated. Main reasons: I had a flat on the bike and it took me longer to change because I ride a tubeless tire, which has a specific setup and I haven't done enough training. Anyway, so that took about 10, 12 minutes to fix.

Inga: Let me ask you real quick. I would think that a tubeless tire would not go flat.

Milan: Well they don't go flat as easily, but if they go flat it's an issue and it takes longer to fix. So the thing is with tubeless, you don't want to really have a flat. And then the run did take me also about 12, 14 minutes longer than anticipated. It was a bit more undulating and more loose gravel than I thought. But that said, you may think that I'm super disappointed. I'm very happy. I finished a race, I'm not injured, I didn't fall off the bike, and I gave my best and, you know, very happy with my result.

Inga: I think you're our hero. I mean, everybody who did this race today is my hero personally because I don't know how you can do it. It was so hot, even just standing here waiting for you guys to come back.

Milan: Yes it was hot. We were joking yesterday that I do train in Dubai. Dubai is equally hot, but I did find it quite a challenge because obviously when I go train in Dubai, I do that first thing in the morning when it's not hot, and this is in the midday sun. It was brutal.

Inga: Do you still think Maui is the best and the hardest?

Milan: It's definitely the best. The swim is wonderful, one of the best swims around. The entertainment and the organization is tops, yes.

Inga: What about the trails here, the bike trail. Is that one of the best ones?

Milan: It is a very good one. All the trails have unique characteristics, and I wouldn't want to do the same trail all the time. I think what makes this sport interesting is the variety. There was loose rock and lots of sand here. There's mud and gravel elsewhere, and trees and roots, etc. The volcanic stones and the lava have its own challenges. But it's a very good course and it's a tough course, yes.

Inga: And all in all, you said you're happy, you're happy with your performance, you're happy with the race? You're going to come back to Maui again?

Milan: If I qualify, yes, I would like to come back. I have no regrets having come here, doing the race. I had a great time.

Inga: Well, we give you a big Aloha. Congratulations. I think you did very well, and it was a hard day and an exciting event. I think everybody who did this race today is one of the best, and this is Maui Sea. All the best, all the time.
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