"You are never to old to learn. Even in my 20th Ironman finish I had to learn something. And in this case it took me of the win, I think. A small report of the most beautiful and challenging Ironman in the world. In the weeks before the race I felt that I became stronger and fitter. I was eager to race and mentally I was ready for a very though day in the office. A week before the race we arrived on Lanzarote. Still some time to get used to the heat and wind. It was the first time that I started together with 1600 other athletes here on Lanzarote. The result was that I ended up in a real washing machine. I got smashed everywhere and it was a real battle to survive. But luckily I did and the real race started. On the bike, the feeling from the beginning was really good and I was flying. Thanks of course to my fast bike the Isaac Muon TT. I was focusing all the time and getting my nutrition in as planned. But from here it went wrong. The energy drink from the organization was according to me too much diluted. That meant the energy I had to take in during the bike part was not enough. Besides that, because it was too much diluted the uptake into the blood was too slow. During the bike part I didn’t notice this. I started my run 10 minutes behind the number 1. Normally I’m the better runner and it should have been possible to run more than 10 minutes faster. I tried to find my rhythm in the first few kilometres. But after 5 km, my stomach started to protest. The liquid stayed in my stomach and I heard it with every step. A few times I stopped to try to throw up, but I could not. It was an awful marathon. But now I’m glad that I finished and it is another top 3 finish in an Ironman. I'm really sure I can show much better than this, and I definitely will do so later this!"
Heleen was wearing her new triathlon suit.
