The third Ironman of the season is getting closer and closer. Training is good, but long sometimes. Especially the rides over 6 hours can become really long, as shown in the movie.

Of course I made it and when the front door was reached a smile and a feeling of victory came over me.

Groningen – ‘Only 24 more to go.’ The water starts to feel warmer, but thicker at the same time. Looking at the watch it is time to hit yet another 100 meter. ‘Beep!’ The first couple of strokes easy, perfect, without effort. Looking slightly forward on the bottom of the pool. One eye closed, the other open to see where to go. Stroke, stroke, stroke, deep breath, turn, kick, stroke, breathe, stroke, stroke…

Still fresh, full of excitement, open minded and without expectations. Every hundred it gets a bit less. ‘Only 20 more to go.’ And that is a lot. Back to the basic of this training. Three sets of nine times hundred meter. ‘Only 2 more to go.’ As if muscles are fresh and the mind free again. Putting in two more hundreds.

First set done. On to the next. ‘Only 9 more to go.’ A new start, a new set, a new feeling and the mind back to square one. Not looking back, not looking forward. ‘Beep!’ Great first strokes, high elbow, breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke… ‘Beep!’ And another hundred gone. ‘Only 8 more to go.’ The water feels great, at least better then during the warm up. ‘Beep!’ ‘Go go go go! Only 7 more to go.’ Stroke, stroke, stroke…

Slowly the arms start to get tired. The split on the watch are relentless. The watch doesn’t lie. ‘Beep!’ Everything seems to be going slower, the first strokes feel not as fresh as in the previous set. The pain starts to be annoying and the mind is playing tricks again. ‘Only 11 more to go.’ The thought of 11 more makes the water feel like honey or some other thick substance. Strokes are getting shorter and the end of the pool is miles away. And the turn is still to come.

‘Beep!’ ‘Beep!’ ‘Beep!’ ‘Beep!’ ‘Beep!’ ‘Beep!’ ‘Only 4 more to go.’ The shoulders are feeling painful. The lower arms are burning. Co-ordination gets worse as the strokes get slower, more painful, less powerful. ‘Beep!’ One fresh strokes remains and then pain takes over. Swimming has turned into surviving the last hundreds and trying not to lose too much time. ‘Beep!’ ‘One more to go!’ The first strokes feel fine again. The mind tricked the body. The strokes that follow feel terrible. ‘One more to go!’ Every thought is blocked. The turn is taking on automatic pilot.

The last 50 meters seem to last forever. Every stroke hurts. Breathing left and right, gasping for air. Co-ordination is gone. The shoulders burn. The arms start to detach. Closed eyes. No thoughts. No feeling. 25 Meters seem to take forever. ‘Beep!’ ‘Done!’ All the pain is gone at that instant. The mind takes over. A shot of excitement kicks in. Yet another great set done! Tomorrow here I come! Unfortunately this feeling is gone in a blink of an eye.

Groningen – This will be the shortest post I have ever written. I got roughly 5 minutes to fix it, so I will get straight to the point! Running in a cloudburst is the most amazing thing you can do! It is… It is… Great, flabbergasting, wet, funny, relaxing and an experience I would not have wanted to miss. It was as if we were running in a bathtub, like aqua jogging in a swimming pool.

We looked at the radar yesterday and it was supposed to stay dry, but it did not! After 15 minutes it started raining. And there is rain and there is rain! It was unbelievable how much water came from the sky. First we took shelter under a tree, but when we got wet we just gave it a shot. We got wet to the bone. Nothing stayed dry. Within a couple of minutes the rain got to every place. And from that point on we did not care anymore. We started running through pools of water on the road. And tried to catch splashes from the cars driving through the water at the side of the road. I still have a smile on my face when thinking of this most wettest run of the year!

Race wrap up of Ironman Lanzarote 2011.

Putting everything together before the race. All the training and all those races.