Brief season background

Nine months ago, I’d finished my first year of triathlon, which consisted of my first ever sprint tri, two olympics and one middle distance event. I had enjoyed the racing and most importantly, I’d enjoyed the training for it. Most of the training so far I’d done on my own, or with a hand full of friends. But I was inspired, and decided to sign up with Hampstead tri and Ful-on tri, and up the ante on my training volume and quality, and find fun and knowledgeable people to train with. This is also when I decided that if I took my training seriously, I might just be able to do a decent Ironman by the end of the year.

At my first ever Hampstead tri social, I had a chat with head coach Dan about my ambitions, and he kindly offered to help me with the design of my sessions, which we did as a team. The initial plan was to sign-up to Ironman Maastricht in my hometown, but since this IM was discontinued (sad times) I opted for Bolton, which was around the same time, and also conveniently located in the UK, eliminating international travel faff. Since the location was convenient, I was hoping I could convince one of my friends to travel with me.

The winter I spent focussing on running (my weakest) in the lead up to the Barcelona marathon (my first ever marathon) early March. I ran 3-4 times a week, but I still swam twice a week, and did a long Saturday ride each week with Ful-on tri. After Barcelona, I spent an equal amount of love and attention to all three disciplines, and especially upped the cycling hours and intensity aggressively.

• I averaged about 2-3 rides each week: Always a tough long ride on Saturday (between 130-180km), a short intense turbo with intervals, and often a third more relaxed ride on a Sunday or Wednesday.
• I swam 2-3 times a week. Always with a club because I would get bored otherwise. I did lots of drills and speedwork on Tuesdays and Thursdays, on would try and go for a longer steady 1.5 hours swim on a Sunday evening. Once the open water season started mid-May, it was very important to spend a lot of time in my wetsuit in the open water as I wasn’t very experienced with this. I made huge open water speed gains in June.
• I ran 2-3 times a week. Key sessions were a hard and fast 8-12km brick after the Saturday ride, an interval or hill rep session in the midweek and a third steady run (which got longer in the lead up to Bolton)
• I did S&C once a week, though twice a week earlier in the season.

All in all, I averaged between 10-18 hours a week, depending on whether it was a light or heavier week. Key in the prep to Bolton have been three tri camps in which I learnt to cope with a higher training volume and made big technical advancements in all the disciplines: In November with Tri Training Harder in the Algarves, in February with Ful-on tri in Club LaSanta in Lanzarote, and in May with Ful-on tri in Majorca. I also went on a number or extended weekends with friends, with lots of cycling, running and swimming which made a big difference: Nice in April, Girona in May, Wales in April and July. 

For races, I did both a practice Sprint and Olympic distance event in Eton Dorney lake, and also participated at the European age-group championships in the Netherlands. I learnt an awful lot during each of these races.

On a final note, the Bolton bike course got changed after everyone had already signed up. With the elevation profile changed to 2600 meters and the run still being 380, this was now the toughest IM in Europe. I was bummed about this, but I also knew that I wasn’t afraid of climbing hills on the bike, so perhaps even though I was an IM novice, this could play to my advantage…

Race weekend

I left London on Friday with my friend Stef, and with my bike on the roof of her car we drove up to Bolton. I registered, met fellow Oxford rower Chloe at registration (small world) who would also be competing in my category, and attended the race briefing with the other Hampstead Tri Club members who were competing. Amongst them were Hampstead head coach Dan, Richard M, Luke, Richard B and Valentina. After that, Stef and I made it to the Airbnb in Manchester which we affectionally called the “Ironman House”. Tonight it was only the two of us, but by the end it should be five! I felt privileged that so many kind people bothered to travel up and support me at the race.

On Saturday I made my way to Pennington Flash for a little practice swim, and to check-in my bike and bike bag into T1. Straight away before I even started the swim, my brand-new goggles broke, but thankfully I had a spare on me. Luckily it happened today and not on race day! The swim went well, the temperature of the water was now 20C instead of 12C a month ago and I was feeling good. Next up was the check-in of my bike and bike kit, and after some complex maths of how much nutrition and calories to put in the bag, I was done at Pennington Flash.

The next stop was Manchester airport to pick up my sister Geneviève! I was super excited to see her, as the last time I saw her was at the Barcelona Marathon in March. I picked up my sister and we made our way to the T2 check-in in Bolton. This also went well, and I managed to get a brief sports massage to iron out the final bits of tightness in my back muscles.

We drove to the Ironman house and once there, I watched some tv, my sister kindly cooked dinner and I did the final bit of race prep. My other friend Emma arrived shortly after dinner and my support crew for the day was nearly complete! Stories were told, hugs were exchanged, Emma put my hair into a beautiful battle braid and off we were to bed!

Race day

The alarm was set for 3.30 AM and I woke up feeling excited and ready. The night before I made a list of things to do before I left the house and in which order and I followed the plan meticulously. I put my kit, timing chip and sunscreen on, made coffee and breakfast and completed a final check of stuff to take to the race. In the kitchen, while making breakfast, I got a sleepy good luck cuddle from Emma, which made me very happy.

At 4.05 am sharp (exactly according to plan!) the four of us departed to Pennington Flash and once arrived, we made our way to the transition. I found a super energised coach Dan who gave a final little motivational speech and words of encouragement. I found my bike, put the nutrition on, chatted with Chloe, and bumped into my ex-boyfriend who was also competing and exchanged a quick hug. Time flew by, and before I knew it, Chloe and I joined the back of the 1.05 swim group funnel in our wetsuits and chatted rowing to distract ourselves from  what was ahead.

Surprisingly, I was still super calm. My aim was to swim 1.15, but Dan had advised me to join the back of a slightly quicker group and perhaps get some drafting benefit, which is what I did.

At 5.55 am, all 2000 participants and a large group of supporters listened to the national anthem and I finally felt very ready and excited to race. The music then changed to some intense techno and following a big applause from the spectators the race had begun!

Swim

I dived into the nice and warm water, let some water in my wetsuit and started swimming. I’d promised myself to start slowly and focus on finding a rhythm. I found it straight away and was relieved not to suffer from leaky or fogged up goggles (we weren’t allowed a water warm up).

The course was very well marked, and I focussed on finding a good racing line in the very busy waters, I spent the first half of the first lap overtaking a lot of people. Once I’d swum my way through the slower swimmers, I found a girl who was swimming at a good pace and spent some time drafting her from the side to conserve energy. A few minutes later, I felt strong and I pushed on to find a faster swimmer to draft. I found a guy in a gold AWA cap (meaning top 2% age group, the rest of us mortals were all wearing a white cap), swimming at a faster pace and spent the remainder of the lap swimming alongside him and together overtaking one swimmer after the other.

What was incredibly nice and not expected was the crowd support. Once I took the final turn of lap one, I could hear the techno music and the loud cheering from the crowd, which got louder with every stroke I took. Once close to the exit pontoon, I kicked a bit harder with my legs to pump blood to my head and I was kindly helped by two volunteers who pulled me up and out of the water, so nice! I then started the gentle 100-meter jog to the other pontoon while being cheered on by the very large crowd. Here was the first time I managed to find my own support crew and waved and smiled as I ran past. I looked at my watch and saw that I completed the first 1.9km in 33 mins, much faster than expected! I was really pleased; the race was going well so far! I then jumped in for the second lap. The number of swimmers were now much more manageable and more importantly at a similar pace to  my own. I then started swimming in the middle of a draft pack of five swimmers that including Mr AWA Gold cap. Swimming felt great and managed to really enjoy it. Whilst training this year it took some time and effort to translate pool speed to open water speed, and I was proud I managed to swim smoothly. Halfway during the second lap, I started to feel a little hungry and noticed I’d had to push a little harder to maintain the speed I’d been going at so far. Mr AWA gold cap was pulling away a little! I initially wanted to catch up and push ahead, but then reminded myself that the remainder of the day would be long and that I should not push it, and I let him go, since I knew I was on for a good time anyway. Once again, I really enjoyed the final turn and swimming towards the exit pontoon seeing the crowds. I got out of the water ok, felt the usual light headiness and was really pleased when my watch clocked a 1.10.01 swim time (01.51 min/100m, 10^th in age-group)!

T1

I broke into a gentle jog to T1, once again cheered on by a big crowd and made my way to the tent, which was filled with at least 50 people getting ready. I efficiently took off the wetsuit, put on my helmet, race number, glasses and nutrition and made my way to my bike eating my first banana malt loaf of the day. I noticed that most bikes in my age group were still parked, so I knew I was doing well in my category. I then ran with my bike to the exit and saw Emma, Stef and my sister again with some big smiles all holding a sign. I was super happy to see them and tried to read their signs while running with my bike. I should not have done that, because due to the light headiness and not looking ahead, I managed to drop my bike sideways, which freaked out my support crew. But I laughed, quickly recovered and the competitor behind me picked up the isotonic bottle that I dropped. All in all, I lost about 10 seconds with this clumsy act. I did however nail my bike mounting and off I went. T1 time: 7.26.

Bike

The course started on a narrow lane leading out of Pennington Flash lake and I knew it was full of bumps and potholes. Due to the clumsy “bike drop” incident I knew I was still lightheaded, so took it easy on the first road. As soon as I’d properly left the venue and turned onto the main road, I started to feel better every minute, and after 5 minutes I was feeling strong and in control. The course consists of a 20k run up, followed by 2 laps.

I knew the run-up was the only long section that was mostly flat (I think net incline only 1.5%) so I made the most of it, by spending time on my aerobars pushing around 32km/h while not trying too hard. I saw lots of spectators on the road even that early (7-8 am), and I got lots of energy from them. I pushed on and started to overtake roughly 1 cyclist each minute. I felt confident about my speed, my nutrition and the fact that I was overtaking a good number of cyclists. I was feeling strong and ready for the hillier sections.

The real fun started once I hit the actual “lap” part of the course. There were even more spectators who were applauding loudly, ringing bells and shouting encouraging words, it was great! The first part of the lap was still flat, and started with heading into Bolton town centre. In this section, I cycled past the finish line, and over a section of cobbles with the TT (bike was less happy about that). I was still feeling good. I knew the hills would start approximately 5k out of Bolton.

And then the hills came. One after the other, after the other. I would ascent about 1300 meters for the next 60k or so, meaning my average would slow down significantly, but I was ready. The bonus was that this was also the most beautiful part of the course and that I would come through many small towns. On every single hill, there were people shouting and cheering. In particular, the women would cheer very loudly and say “yes ironwoman” “you go girl” “chase those men”. I was so surprised by how much love I got. I saw a family with two young daughters in their pyjamas and one of the girls shouted, “there’s a girl cycling too, woah” and their mum said “girls can be strong too” and when I then waved at the little girl from my bike, she was super happy, and so was I. What was incredibly fun was overtaking men on the hills in front of the spectators, which would always result in a loud cheer by the audience or get comments like “he got chicked” “get the next guy”. I got so much energy that I needed to be careful that I wouldn’t cycle too fast, I had to consciously stick to Ironman pace and not try and smash the hills too much.

The toughest hills were towards the end of lap one, but I didn’t know that this would be the source of the best entertainment too. There were two highlights. Number 1 was my very own “tour the France” moment. There was a very steep little hill in a small town and on a section of about 50 meters – there were around 300-400 spectators, who were on the street jumping and shouting with loud music. Because they were positioned on the actual course, there was only a very narrow space to cycle through this big crowd and as I went through, they patted me on the back, cheered and sang and it was so amazing that I got quite emotional. I had never cycled through a crowd like this before.

The second highlight was hitting the top of Sheephouse lane, where I met the famous “Sheephouse Lane Wrestlers”, which were men dressed up as super heroes. They were dancing to super loud music, and had the most incredible signs (“you are my favourite”, “Kapow”, “don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done”) and were welcoming each cyclist as if we were superheroes ourselves and shouted encouraging words and gave high fives. You could see and hear them from afar and it made the climbing even more enjoyable.

After this, most of the climbing was done for lap one, and I started to hit the long (but technical) descends. The cherry on the cake was that I saw Emma, Stef and my sister at the cattle grid decent and I managed to just about say hi to them while speeding past at 48km/hour.

I then focussed on riding well on my TT in the aero position as I approached the only longer flat section of the lap heading into Bolton town centre for the second time. I was still feeling strong and fresh and took a lot of confidence out of that. I had now reached the point where I had done as much cycling as when I did the course recce a month ago. A month ago, I was exhausted after one lap, but that was off the back of 3 weeks of heavy training. It is incredible how much difference a good taper can make. This ironman race was all about finding moments of gaining confidence. I had already built my confidence once I had done a good swim this morning and this was the second moment in the race where I realised that I was doing well and had tapered well, so I took confidence out of that too.

Meanwhile, nutrition was working well too. I had an alarm every 30 mins and made sure to eat 250- 300 calories per hour and kept drinking well. I fuelled on banana malt loafs and vegan Deliciously Ella bars, which I had extensively tested in test rides. Because Ironman pace is not as intense as Olympic triathlons, I found it a lot easier to listen to my body and take the time to eat and drink properly. When I wasn’t steering, climbing or enjoying the crowds, I spent most of my time thinking about when to eat, or calculating my average pace and predicting bike finish time. After lap one and the run up, I had calculated that I could possibly be on for a 7-hour bike, which was faster than the 7.5 or 8- hour target my coach and I had set.

Heading into Bolton town centre for the second time was fun. It was busier this time, and here was also the first time that I got feedback about where I was in the field. One of the guys watching shouted, “hey Liv, (the brand of my helmet and bike), you’re looking so strong and are smashing it, do you know that you’re the 15^th female on this course? Well done!”. I was super happy to have found out that he was able to confirm what I suspected, because I had encountered so few women in lap one and certainly did not get overtaken by any of them.

Cycling out of Bolton, I mentally prepared myself for the next round of 1300 meters of hills again. I was ready and still feeling strong, and I attacked every single one of them with determination and consistency in my effort.

After five hours on the bike, the thought of more banana malt loaf or Ella bars started to appal me and I switched to “gels only” for the last two hours. This moment also coincided with my first moment of some self doubt, which was approximately 145k into the bike course. Though I was still going strong, I could feel a bit of muscle tightness in my calves from the climbing, could feel my legs were working and started to feel different parts of my back muscles aching a little. It wasn’t until then, that I also realised that I had a full marathon to run after this. And I wondered, “can you actually do this Nicky”. In my extensive pre-reading of ironman articles from training peaks and triathlon magazines, I remember one of the key messages for the bike being “cycle steady, and if you think you’re cycling steady, go steadier still”. I made an assessment and decided that I could still be on for a 7- hour cycle if I were to slow down a little. So, to crush any doubts, I made a conscious effort to ride a bit more relaxed, and take it a little easier on the descents to give my legs extra rest, rather than pedalling really hard. Additional bonus was that at this point I still had to pass by the “Tour de France hill” and the Sheephouse lane wrestlers, so I had something to look forward to.

I made it through to the final sections of climbing, enjoyed the support and took it easy approaching Bolton for the third time. While slowing down I did get overtaken by three women, but I let them go, as they weren’t in my age group and I was racing my own race. Coming into Bolton, I upped my cadence to spin out the legs, lowered my intensity, and started to mentally prepare myself for the marathon, my weakest discipline and most feared part of the race.

The big thing I’d told myself on the bike course was that I was allowed to celebrate finishing the bike course. I knew that if I finished it, I would become an Ironman because I had nearly nine hours to finish the marathon meaning I could crawl to the line if needed. This was my third moment of confidence in the race. Yes, my legs had just climbed 2600 meters and pedalled for 180km, but I had ample time to attack the marathon. I looked at my Garmin and finished the bike course in 7.01.12 (8^th in age group), reaching my stretch target bang on!

T2

I reached T2 and gently ran alongside my bike. This was the first moment to assess my running legs and I cautiously concluded that the first impression was okay. I also noticed that I was one of the first to park my bike in my age group and was pleased about that. In the tent I re-stuffed my tri-suit with running nutrition, put Voltarol gel on my shins, knees and hamstrings and put on my running shoes and visor. I was efficient, and off I went to run to attack the marathon! T2 time: 06.01

Marathon

As I ran onto the course, I felt good, and more importantly, my legs felt good. I was overjoyed and super surprised. This was my fourth moment of confidence: maybe this IM might turn into a very good one. This was immediately followed by my fifth moment of confidence, when I saw my sister, Stef and Emma. They had a big sign which said: “Nicky, you’re now chasing No. 7!”. And I was so excited to see them and very happy that I was positioned in the top 10 in my age group. I kept running and felt like I was flying, and I had to consciously tell myself to slow down and keep it easy. I was running at sub 4 hour marathon pace, even though my target was 4.5-5 hours, since the marathon was 400 meters of climbing and after a long day out.

The course consisted of four laps, going into Bolton town centre first, running alongside the finish (great for energy). Next up, the course would lead through Queens park, which was a steep uphill section, followed by a long road where you ran out (long uphill drag) and back (mostly downhill), to then turn into Queen’s park again into Bolton town centre.

I finished the first lap of 10.6k in 58 minutes while the pace feel was easy. During the second lap, it was still going well and I chased an easy feel again. Looking at my watch, I noticed I’d slowed down a little, and rather than running 5.45mins/km I was now running 6-6.15mins/km. I was content with that, given that the marathon had 100m climbing per lap. Looking at the score board Stef held, I was now chasing number 8, but I was pleased with that. I was the first Hampstead Tri athlete on the course, but in lap two I was overtaken by a strong looking Luke and Dan, which they very much deserved.

Entering into the third lap, it started to get a bit harder. I still hadn’t walked through a single aid station, as I had been able to keep running thus far. Entering the steep hills in Queens Park Lane for the third time was a struggle and my pace slowed down even more on the steep hills. Also, the long uphill drag on the straight road was tough, but I knew things would change once I would turn around and run downhill again. I made the turn, started running downhill, but my pace was still slow! I was determined not to run 7mins/km, but I failed to increase the speed! In addition, my legs were tired, my mind exhausted, I felt fatigued and several muscles were hurting big-time. I was incredibly disappointed that my pace had slowed down and worried it would start to fall apart. With that I knew I’d be disappointing a number of my friends by running a shit final third of the marathon. And because of all that, I started to cry while running, and because I was also upset that I started to cry, I cried even more…. This went on for a good two minutes, until a guy came running next to me and said “hey y’allright? I ‘ll run with you”. And within less than 20 seconds I saw 5.45mins/km appearing on my watch again! He was a true hero, and his name was also Dan (M20-24) and he ran with me for the rest of the marathon. Here is where we decided to walk through a grand total of 3 aid stations (I promise I did no more than 1 minute walking in total for the three of them together). It was in the third lap where I was struggling, but so were coach Dan and Luke, and I managed to overtake them.. At least I wasn’t the only one struggling.

Lap four was the hardest 10.6km I’d done in my life. Despite the excellent company from Dan, the loudest cheering from my supporters, the loveliest spectators on the side, it was pure hell, and the love I previously received, didn’t seem to be registered anymore. No matter what people said or did, nothing made me feel better anymore. My legs told me to stop, my back and hip flexors were burning like never before, my mind was exhausted and fatigued and I was constantly having to tell myself there was no crisis. Keeping the pace around 6.15- 6.30mins/km required every bit of determination I had in me ever, and pushing through the pain was the hardest pushing I have done in my life. It was brutal, bleak and horrible.

In addition to that, I was still always calculating my calorie intake ahead of every feed station, trying to understand if I needed water, Redbull or coke, if the gel needed caffeine or not, and if the pace I was going at would still lead to a sub 13 hours Ironman. Dan and I knew I’d be tight and with our exhausted minds, doing the maths was challenging. After 3 attempts at 37k I’d figured out that we couldn’t really afford another walk through an aid station anymore if we wanted to go sub 13 hours. I was desperate for sub 13 hours and desperate for a top-10 finish. I knew if I kept pushing, it was possible, and I would never have forgiven myself if I’d given up and started walking and let what I’d worked so hard for this day, slip away.

It took ages and ages of suffering, and the time seemed to have stopped, but I somehow managed to run back into Bolton at lap four. Dan was looking slightly fresher and I convinced him to sprint the final 1 km to the finish, as his time had started slightly earlier than mine and I wanted to ensure he arrived before the 13- hour mark too. Dan left, and I was back on my own, and apparently that was reason enough to cry again. One of the kind spectators saw me and said, “come on, it’s really not far, you’ve got all your four lap bands, I can run with you till the end if you want to!” Another hero! I somehow managed to say “I am fine, thanks” as company from a spectator on the run leads to a DQ. It was also in the final 1km that coach Dan came sprinting by (how did he do that!) and managed to finish just before me!

The last 100 meters: I made the final turn and heard the loud music and the incredible audience cheering for me as I turned onto the red carpet. I can’t say I felt happy or relieved, even the red carpet was 100% hell. I only managed to go through the motions, because I had rehearsed this in my head and only just about managed to put my hands up half-heartedly in the air.  But I did hear and see the presenter and heard the words: “Nicky Huskens from the Netherlands, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”!!!!

Marathon time: 4.32, bang on target.

Just after the race

As soon as I finished, I stopped and started crying very hard. Not because I was emotional or proud, but because the last 14k were so so horrible and I was in the most pain in the world. However, standing there, in Hamptstead Tri blue, was coach Dan with the biggest smile in the world that I have ever seen! He gave me the biggest hug and kiss on the cheek and said that I totally crushed it and that he was unbelievably proud of me. Also there waiting for me, was Dan I’d been running with and also from him I got a big hug. I managed to smile again. I couldn’t walk anymore, or move, and I collapsed.

Coach Dan and a volunteer lifted me to a bench and gave me some water. With every minute I sat there, I slowly started to regain some life. The pain was still there, but I was able to start feeling some happy feelings and coach Dan and other Dan made me feel better again. I have to make this clear once and for all: Coach Dan looked after me so well! He got me some pizza in the athlete tent, a cup of tea, crisps and collected my dry kit bag for me. I am forever grateful. Sharing this day with my coach and the other athletes was incredibly special. Dan said, “do you remember 9 months ago at the club social at the Franco Manco pizza place, when we started chatting together about season’s goals? Look at us now!”

Meanwhile Richard and Luke had also finished and we gave each other a big hug. The atmosphere in the tent was brilliant. Full of athletes who had gone through something special and who were also emotional and exhausted. Everyone was so kind to each other! I then made my way to the exit to finally great the most amazing supporter crew in the world ever: Geneviève, Emma and Stef! As soon as I saw them I cried again and I saw Emma cry too. They said seeing me race today had been quite emotional. Having shared this with them was very, very special and the sweet things they’d whispered in my ear at the finish line I will never ever forget <3. I told them all about the race, and they told me all about their perspectives and experiences, it sounded like they had had an incredible day out too!

After a rather painful pick up of my bike and bags at T2 (thanks Emma and Geneviève for carrying me around) I made my way back to the ironman house where I saw Ben, one more fellow HTC athlete with who I had been training much, who narrowly missed my finish because I was an hour quicker than predicted! Now the house was complete and the five of us had a lovely evening together eating pizza, reflecting on the day, celebrating, stretching and giving lots of hugs. The hot shower washing away the energy gels, sweat, dust and Redbull was also a definite highlight. I went to bed feeling happy, full of love and in an incredible amount of pain, but it was so, so worth it!

Brief reflection

I am incredibly pleased with the overall result of 12.57 and I had a fantastic day out. I truly enjoyed the race up to the 30km marathon mark and how well it came together after 9 months of focussed training. Pushing through the final 12k was the most painful thing in my life, but I am proud I managed it without falling apart before the finish line. The love I got from the spectators has been unlike anything I have experienced before. Most importantly though, I enjoyed the ironman training journey. I made some brilliant new friends, I enjoyed the majority of my sessions and it was incredible how my ironman fitness came along. I reached this point in May where I felt incredibly fit, and felt like I could keep going on forever.

I am very well aware that I could have not done this without the help and support I got from both tri-clubs and close friends. First and foremost, I had the MOST AMAZING on-course support from my uni friends Stef and Emma, and from my sweet sister Genevieve. Stef had sacrificed three full days to support me and drive me around, only six days out from her own wedding(!!). I am also grateful to Daniel Bingham for his help with the session design.

I am grateful to the Ful-on tri friends with whom I had the pleasure of sharing long rides, camps and other sessions. They are also all “ironmans”, so they gave me brilliant “expert” advice. Thank you in particular to  Christian, Justin, Brannigan, Martin and Eimear and also to running superstar Katie and rowing friend Jessie!

I also had an epic time with the Tuesday evening Hampstead tri swim crew, and appreciated their companionship, jokes and company at the sportives and other races that we did.

Lastly, I wouldn’t have survived the final 2.5 months of tough training without the brilliant companionship of the very speedy and inspiring “Pembrokeshire Pals” including the countless post session coffees, picnics, dinners and motivational speeches. Having shared so many sessions with them, and an epic weekend away in Wales made the entire IM journey the highlight of 2019. Thanks Liggy, Sam, Stewart, Hugo and Ben 😊.

Being a tri-club member? Apparently it makes you 2 mins per month faster!

Lead up:

Last year was my first year of tri training, and I relied very much on self-training, and a few sessions with uni and work friends here and there. Surprisingly though, off the back of that I did manage to somehow qualify for ETU Weert, which was only because it is easier to qualify team NED compared to team GB!

Since September last year, I have joined Ful-on tri and Hampstead tri and had the pleasure of sharing almost all my sessions and training camps with some lovely and speedy club members, many of whom I now feel privileged to call as my friends.

The training so far has been a blast, but with some injury bumps on the way. With a few years of rowing in the bag I was no stranger to training lots, but I found that your body definitely has to adapt to each of the disciplines. By virtue of being Dutch and having done leisurely road cycling all my life, it is not a surprise that biking is my favourite and strongest discipline.

The week before the race was a little more erratic than I would have wanted it to be: My wetsuit tore, my garmin watch (essential for pacing) broke, I got last minute surprise shin splints and was on antibiotics. But thanks to friends letting me share some of their kit (thanks Justin!) and a sharp taper, ultimately nothing stood in between me and entering a home race so close to where my parents live.

Once I arrived back home at my parents’ a day and a half before the race, it was great to solely focus on getting ready. I bagged some much-needed transition practice, and was able to explore the swim and bike course in Weert and meet the fellow athletes.

Race day:

The set-up was very professional, with two separate transition zones, and lots of additional rules to adhere to. The atmosphere was brilliant – even more so than in other tris, as the age-groupers were super friendly, open and very willing to share course insights. The racking was done per country per age-group, so I made friends with the other Dutch girls and we did the setting up and getting ready as a team. Even though the race started at 9AM, it was already over 20C and it was predicted to turn into a blistering hot day.

Having my parents there on the day was also absolutely brilliant, Not only were they my most enthusiastic on-course supporters, but they were also also taxi driver, kitbag carrier, bike mechanic, wetsuit repair seamstress, cook and emotional support team. This definitely translates to free speed on the course!

Needless to say, I was a little nervous at the start: Given training had been going well, I had set myself the ambitious target to go sub 2.30, which meant I needed to knock 17 mins off my PB from last summer.

At 8.55AM. F18, F20 and F25 (with me) were the first ones to be called to the start line on the sandy beach of a beautiful blue coloured lake (or as the Dutch say “het blauwe meertje”). We started on a long, numbered mat on the beach and we were meant to start the race by running into the lake. A first for me, but luckily I managed to practice this the day before the race.

SWIM: After what seemed like an endless time of waiting and some really nerve wrecking music (think: loud gongs with drumrolls), we finally heard the “on your mark” and “GO” and off we raced into the water! I had a superb start and sprinted the first 200 meters swimming into the water, as part of a little front group. However after about 400 meters swimming, multiple kicks in the face from other girls, and gulps of water, I started to feel a little panicky and totally lost my rhythm. This wasn’t the first time I got a little bit of open water panic, and I knew what to do. I slowed down, let some girls pass until I found a smaller group that was swimming at a more relaxed pace. 5 more minutes of uncomfortable swimming subsided, and I found my rhythm back – I was back in business! To be on the safe side, I stayed at a slightly more comfortable pace than intended but it meant I could swim well and with okay technique, rather than rushed and ragged. Swim time: 28.16

T1: I still haven’t nailed the running after swimming, and felt once again completely spaced out. However, I knew this would happen, so during the last leg of the swim I rehearsed the transition sequence in my head. I was a bit bummed to straight away be overtaken by a girl who sprinted like a cheetah out of the water, but I found my stuff okay and remembered to place all my swimming kit IN the basket. First attempt of flying mount failed due to being lightheaded still, so I got on “the normal way”. T1 time: 1.22

BIKE: I had looked forward most to this part of the race. 1 minute into the bike course I felt like my old self again and it was time to put some serious power down. Since March I have been riding a proper TT bike and I must say it did not disappoint. The course consisted of three laps and other than a 180 turn (3 times), it was really quite fast. There were many referees on motorbikes, and especially in lap two and three, I saw lots of unhappy female athletes in the penalty box for drafting, littering or blocking. My favourite lap was the third and final lap. By that time some slightly slower people had gotten onto the course, and I managed to overtake quite a few of them, and benefitted from entering into their draft zones while doing so. Added bonus was overtaking people who rode insanely expensive bikes with disc wheels (ha!). Overall really happy with this leg of the race, and managed to control my enthusiasm to not go flat out, so I could conserve some energy for the run. Bike time: 1.03

T2: Not much to say about T2. I ran in, found my shoes, had a disgusting caffeinated gel, followed by 250 (!!) meters of running out of the transition area on the usual jittery, overexcited legs. It took me a good minute to settle into race pace.  T2 time: 4.08

RUN: By far my weakest and most feared discipline. I was off to a good start, but due to the heat (27C by then), I quickly noticed that my target pace of 4.40 mins/K was a bit too ambitious. Things felt a lot better once I slowed down to 5.05 mins/k and was able to hold this for the rest of the course, which I was very happy with. The run was where I found most supporters, and lots of Dutch people shouting “Go Nederland, pak die Britten” (read: eat those British AGers!)” and “Go Huskens”. Also, lots of athletes had breath left to say encouraging words to each other, I felt very loved! In the last 1.5 K I found myself running with a British age-grouper and we made the deal to speed up for the last K and run together to the line. It really helped to have someone to run next to, and it was a really nice thing to share! Run time: 50.52

Finish: I was met by super happy parents by the finish line, and I was super chuffed with my time of 2.28 and a 19 minute PB!! It is not often that I am a little proud of myself, but today was one of those days. Added bonus was the finish line massage with two Dutch men looking after my legs (one for each leg!!), and meeting up with fellow FoT and HTC members. The Dutch chips and Limburgse vlaai (local delicacy) tasted heavenly. The day was well organised, the atmosphere was brilliant and seeing some super speedy people race by (across all ages) was incredible inspiring and energizing.

All in all, I had a great race. I clearly need more open water practice to effectively translate my pool swim to the race and I need to keep working on my running. The real take home message though is that thanks to 9 months of swimming, biking and running after some superfast friends (you know who you are!), who are willing to drag me around, coupled with team mates helping me with bike set up and training advice, that I have seen some serious gains in my tri time. A bit of simple maths reveals that I knocked off about 2 minutes for every month that I trained with tri members. As such, I would recommend to anyone who wants to push themselves a little more, to do this within a club. Another big help has been Coach Dan from HTC, who helped me with my weekly programming and session design.

Onwards and upwards from here: there were still 19 athletes in my age group faster than me (I came 20th), but I am confident I can improve, and am very much looking forward to sharing this journey with others. Next stop: Ironman Bolton on the 14th of July!