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Immediately after Ironman70.3 Maastricht, my last heavy training block for Kona started.

TriathlonWorld and Trikipedia follow triathlete Julia de Leeuw on her way to Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii.

Immediately after Ironman70.3 Maastricht, my last heavy training block for Kona started.

Bart and I drove from Limburg to France to train in the hills for 2 weeks. My in-laws have a beautiful house here. We know the roads here like the back of our hands and you hardly encounter any cars when you get on your bike. Enjoy two weeks! And also important; training in high temperatures.

But everything comes to an end and once home, working life started again after 5 wonderful weeks of summer holidays. That always takes some getting used to. I work 5 days a week as a teacher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Combining work with many hours of training per week is sometimes quite a puzzle, but with good planning I can usually figure it out. You only notice that recovery is really different when you are on your feet all day. Secretly, I also like being able to focus on other things than just yourself/sports. In any case, the weeks are really flying by.

On the weekend of September 10, I was able to compete in the half triathlon in Almere. Let's see what the form is really like just before THE big race! Challenge Almere is a kind of home race for me. I live on the other side of the Gooimeer in Weesp and I always choose the Challenge course for my training on the time trial bike. The dike to Lelystad holds no secrets for me, haha!

The day started soaking wet, what rain! After an excellent swimming part (30 minutes), I was allowed to get on my bike. My favorite part. I started well, was in a good rhythm and was able to pedal against the wind in nice wattages. Top! It didn't take long before the first groups(!) started to overtake me. Oh, how bummed I am about that. Not just because it's not fair. But every time a group comes along you have to keep your legs still and there goes your nice rhythm.

I was so worried about it that I was even mentally exhausted. Even at the start of the run I was worried about something over which I had absolutely no control. In retrospect, this is a great lesson for future races and Hawaii. Only focus on the things you have control over, otherwise it will only cost you negative energy.

For half a triathlon full in my training block, I am again very satisfied with the paces and results. Trainingpeaks now tells me that there are still 18 days until race day. There will be a lot of training this weekend. And then... we can go!

Tags

challenge almere Ironman Hawaii