Yesterday was an unexpected good day. Or let’s say, a better day. I took the race as a training day, but it’s still an Ironman, so the atmosphere is ‘something else.’ 😍
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The swim went very well, apart from not looking where I was going, ended up swimming 2050m. At 31min out of the water, knowing I still have to regain strength, I was very happy with the swim.
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As you do in training, I took it slow during transition, checking my heart rate. My Garmin was going to be my most important companion today.
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The bike was quite surprising. Still couldn’t generate the watts needed to elevate my heart rate. But the power was a lot higher than 3 days before.
Took it even more relaxed in transition 2. Toilet stop, checking my body again, setting my Garmin to only show my heart rate, because the pace was of no importance.
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At 1k into the run I saw Simon and he asked me if I was still ok? And added: “You’re somehow in first place.” Huh? This was supposed to be a training, checking how much damage the mumps had done to my body these last couple of weeks. Now I suddenly was competing for first place in my age group. My body was nowhere near ready to compete. So I didn’t. I found a pace I could hold without suffering and was able to keep it that way until the end. I finished the half marathon in 1h36min, that’s a lot better than expected, makes me wonder what could’ve been… the biggest surprise was winning my age group. Pauline came close though, she ran a great half marathon. If she would’ve beaten me in the end, I might have knocked myself over the head with my slow transitions! 😉
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So, a great day in the end. I went from an inflamed fevered balloon head to finishing an Ironman70.3 in under 5 hours (4h51), all that in 3 weeks time. Gets me hopeful that I will be able to compete at Frankfurt, close to my best shape. Still need more power though. 💪
Elien Janssen 