Challenge Almere-Amsterdam - The Race
Done! What a day. It has been amazing and challenging. Wind, rain, a bottle down and a flat tire - not exactly what you wish for during your first long distance race.
T-3 Weeks - the last hard weekend
The last hard training weekend consisted of a 3h run on Saturday and a 5h 30min bike ride on Sunday. During the run I tested carb intake via drinks. It went well for about two hours than I hit a low and switched to gels. Much better.
The bike ride went smoothly, fueling strategy worked nicely. Nothing to change.
On Monday, the tapering started. Reduced training effort and a lot of rest.
T-2 Weeks - a cold
During this time I started to increase the intake of antioxidants (berries, honey, cinnamon, beetroot). I can neither nor deny that this makes it difference, but it for sure helps me to get into a pre race mood. Never the less I got a cold which knocked me out for three days. Not good, but timing wise also not bad. More forced tapering and recovering from some hard training weeks.
T-1 Week - carb loading
3 days of low carb food followed by 3 days of high carb food. High carb meaning around 1000g of carbs per day. That was tougher than I thought. I created a sample plan using an LLM and adapted to my needs and preferences.
T-1 Day - registration, bike checkin
Picking up my bib, stickers and goodies. Preparing bike, helmet and transition bags. A little bit and a little bit more of rain. Luckily we were around the Triathlon Expo to take cover and not get soaked.
Bike checkin and transition bag setup was quick. Everything ready to go. Back at the hotel for a quick dinner and going to be around 9 o'clock. Alarm will go off at 4.45.
T-3 hours - breakfast
Breakfast at 4.50 o'clock with a coffee and some music to get into the mood. Changing into my trisuit, adding a layer of warm cloth. The night was pretty rainy and it is damp outside. Leaving the hotel around 5.50 and moving to the transition area. Double checking the bike position, attaching the bike computer. Everything is in order. Moving to the swim start.
T-30 mins - in the hands of the starter
Putting on my wetsuit. If I wasn't nervous before, here we go. Luckily there is my wife, music and a lot of other people.
The start
I can not even remember if there was a whistle, a bang or what actually gave the start signal. Everyone starts swimming. It is crowded and I am finding my way through masses of people. The first round is going very smoothly. I am finding my position and now we there are fewer people around and I can focus on my rhythm. During round two I missed one bouy. And had to swim a small detour.
It was not a big detour, but still annoying. What I did not notice during the swim, my watch stopped tracking and switched into break mode -.- Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. During the swim I do not rely on my watch, it is just to track overall time.
T1 - to the bike
The transition went smoothly. I took my time to not miss anything. Took my Gel as planned. The weather was a lot nicer than it looked on the day before. I decided to just go with my trisuit and not put on a long sleeve.
Bike
What an awesome start. The sun was nice and warm with some pretty strong wind. At kilometer 6 we had some cobble stones. I payed attention to the bottles attached to the frame. Those are important, containing most of my carbs. I lost one of the bottles from behind the saddle. Not sure how that happened but nothing to worry about. I replaced the missing bottle at the first aid station.
At kilometer 42 I noticed a flat rear tier. Well what can you do. Concede? No way. So off we go changing the tire. I broke three tools. Luckily one of the other participants offered me one of their tools. This changed everything. It still took me around 50minutes to change the tire.
Once that was done the remaining ride was smooth. Around 4hours into the ride it started raining heavily. With strong winds the rain was not pleasant and cold but still manageable. All together it did not get too boring during the ride. After a total of 6 hours and 43minutes it was time for the next transition.
T2 - to the marathon
Getting off the bike my legs felt strong and ready for the run. Switching into my running shoes, a quick gel and off we go.
Marathon
I started strong with a 6.15min/km pace. I was able to hold that for 24kms. Then things started getting tough. I started switching between running and walking.
On the run I met a few people that were fighting like me. Joining forces we pushed each other to walk a little bit less and run a little bit more. After a total of 4 hours and 48 minutes I was finally crossing the finish line. I was able to stand proud and enjoy the finish. This was a long road. The hours of training paid off.
Challenge Almere, it was a pleasure - see you next year!