01 Apr The RACE – last chapter
The days were suddenly different than I had been used to in recent months. I had more time for myself, I was more fresh and I was able to devote more time to my family and club obligations. The training sessions were only 1 hour a day long. Just enough to keep my body active and have good muscle tone. As a precaution, I booked 2 massages in the last week. I haven’t had that many of them in the whole year, but I have to admit that it was nice.
If anyone still doesn’t know exactly what IRONMAN is, I’ll give you a quick breakdown. This is the longest form of triathlon in which the competitor has to overcome 3.8 km of swimming (the time barrier is 2 hours and 20 minutes after the start), 180 km of cycling (the time barrier is 10 hours 30 minutes after the start) and run a marathon of 42 km (all in less than 17 hours, which is the last time barrier). Each of the individual disciplines is demanding and worthy of respect, and connecting everything together is something special. For most participants, the test is a race against themselves. It’s only for a group of professionals to whom this is a job, it’s a real race. No telephones on the road, headphones in your ears or similar devices are allowed, you are not allowed to ride a bicycle in the draft. No outsiders are allowed to help you during the race itself. There are a lot of rules, and the judges are very strict for professionals, and sometimes a little less for amateurs (I’m talking mainly about drafting on a bike). The start of thousands of participants is usually at short intervals (6-10 seconds). So it starts with a fight with each other in the water. Swimming one over the other. Chaos. And then goes on to find your bike among thousands of bikes (if you don’t remember exactly where you have it, it can be quite challenging), and in the end, surviving a running marathon and fighting with yourself. That’s IRONMAN for short. The word itself is magnificent. In my eyes, the people who have done it I really respected and they were real iron men and iron women. I was ready to join them.
Obviously, like before every race of mine, the weather gets a little spoiled. This time, however, it was quite real, because 1 day before our departure, there were reports of severe flooding in the city where the race was supposed to take place. The streets were flooded with water, the sea crossed the coastal embankments, the water carried trees through the streets, and a huge avalanche was triggered. They even closed the highway. In short, an emergency situation, and right at the place of the race. I was scared that the race might be canceled, but the organisers assured me by email that the race would be held as the weather would calm down by the weekend. It was Thursday, 3 days before the race (the race was on Saturday). I folded all my belongings into the car, loaded the bike onto the roof, and drove off to Cervia. Of course, the whole family went with me, and friends also come to cheer. Along the way, I listened to the dire situation on the radio. As we approached the scene itself, we were hit by heavy rains 70km before the final station. I could barely see where to drive. There were quite a few roads closed, so I chose a side one that looked open. In the meantime, I checked if it was possible to access the hotel by car, but there was no answer. It’s not going to stop me from my goal of becoming an IRONMAN, which it will be,” I reflected. By the time we arrived in town, the water had already disappeared from the streets, leaving devastation in its wake. Garbage everywhere, no people anywhere, no parked car, the streets completely empty. Ghost town. I parked in front of the hotel where we were going to stay, which was only 100m from the shore. We were greeted at the reception by a lady who knew almost no English and was very much impressed by the weather, quite shocked. From then on, everything worked as it should. The streets and beaches were full of garbage, but that didn’t bother me. I had a clear goal.
For Friday, I had planned an easier cycling training in the length of about 15 km and a 5 km run. So much so that I stretched my legs a bit after a long car ride the day before. I drove through the streets and was already starting to feel the pulse of the race. There were competitors everywhere. We greeted each other and wished each other luck. Deep down, I felt proud to be a part of this story. Tourists and passers-by greeted us with smiles and cheered for us the day before. I had tingles all over my body. Wonderful arousal overwhelmed me, but still with a little uncertainty, because I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into and how my body would react to the whole load. In the afternoon we went to the venue where I had to leave the bags ready for the changing disciplines and the bike. This was followed by a briefing, where we were presented with the entire route, the rules and warned of certain dangers. There were about 2000 of us in the hall. There was an incredible energy. Positive people, charged with energy, ready to overcome the IRONMAN distance. No competitiveness was felt, which is unique to a sporting event. We were all fans of each other. I’ve never tasted anything like it in my life. We were all like one family. It was interesting to me that in the hall, when asked if this was the first triathlon for anyone, quite a few people raised their hands. I found it quite unbelievable that anyone would take on the first triathlon trial in the hardest way possible (it would be really interesting to see how many of them completed the race in the end).
Days before leaving, I asked crowned IRONMENS about the tactics of the race. As in other sports, a lot depends on tactics. The tactics of bringing in food and water, the tactics of tempo in certain segments of the race, what to take with you, how to dress, prevention, thinking, problems… I was really happy with the advice of Sašo, Sandi and Jan, who each gave me some clever tips that I could then use in preparation for the race or during the match itself. As for food, I decided on the tactic of consuming gels right from the water bottle. I’ve never done that before. I’ve always eaten gel by gel, but this time I poured as many as 14 gels into the bottle, which should be enough for 6 hours of cycling (that was my time goal). The thought of having gel on the menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow gave me chills. It’s true that I was used to eating the same gels in training, but they never replaced my main meal. They were just food inside the training. This time it will be mine. If the body stops accepting gels and starts rejecting their intake, my race is over. So basically even if you are well prepared, if your body doesn’t accept the food it will fail sooner rather than later. I believed that everything would be ok. I had no other choice. Everything is gona be ok, somehow I will make it- is my old phrase.
The night before the race, I started to get nervous. With friends who had come to encourage me in Italy, we went out to dinner. I didn’t exactly have an appetite. My whole body hurt. I felt all the muscles. Unbelievable what our head can do to us. I couldn’t wait for the next 12 hours to pass and the race to start. The start was scheduled for 7.30 with the first competitors, and the transition zone will close at 7.00. I put the last things in my bags, set my alarm for 5:00 a.m., and tried to sleep. It didn’t work. Probably each of us has had similar problems at some point when we had something unusual, very important on the agenda the next day. I’ve been waiting for this day for 3 and a half years. You have to fall asleep, you have to rest, you have to be sleepy echoed in my head. That only made it all more difficult. I don’t know when I fell asleep.
The alarm clock rang and the action went off. FINALLY! Lars, my son wanted to come with me. We left the room and went to the reception, where they prepared breakfast for us, because there were quite a few of us from the hotel who competed and they prepared a special breakfast for us. At 6:00 a.m., we left the hotel and tried to park the car as close to the finish line as possible to make it easier for me to pick up the bike after the race. Somehow we made it about 500m from the finish arena, a good position. There were already a huge number of people and competitors everywhere. Everyone was preparing in their own way. Most of them had really good quality equipment, jerseys, companions. They were in groups, in pairs… I felt very different, alone. But I knew what I was coming for and quickly changed my outlook.
With my head held high, I took the gels and potions for the race to the change zone, checked the filling of the inner tubes and slowly made my way towards the start. Nice weather was forecast with a fairly strong wind, which otherwise did not make me happy as it meant suffering on the bike, which was my worst discipline. I put on my wetsuit and we walked towards the swimming starting point. We also crossed the finish line, which was equipped with a red carpet. It looked beautiful and I drew a picture of myself running over it in 12 hours with the biggest smile on my face. I jumped into the water and swam some 100m. I lined up in an endless line of competitors, in a swimming group for about 1h 15 min. In front of me, there was at least half of all the participants. It was already quite warm, especially in neoprene. I took one last sip of water, then said goodbye to Lars and Dejan my friend and the countdown could begin. I lined up at about 7:15 a.m. The start looks like they drop 6 competitors every 8 seconds. You can calculate how long 3000 competitors has to wait. In between, they encouraged us with loud music. There was a sense of excitement among everyone. We clapped, sang, jumped, talked. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes here, as I didn’t have any gel with me, and I threw away the water much too soon. I didn’t start until 8:30 a.m-half an hour later than I anticipated (I always told them my timings for previous races so they knew where to expect me at some point. This time I missed because of late start) That meant I didn’t eat for more than 3 hours, which I shouldn’t have afforded. Unfortunately, you can’t go anywhere to the toilet while waiting for the start, so I went in a wetsuit a little before the start. It’s an uncomfortable feeling when urine runs down your legs, but that’s normal there. Everyone does. Many of them later urinate on the bike or while running. We went into the water.
In the last seconds before the start, my eyes watered. That’s it. Now it’s just you and nothing else. That’s what you’ve been waiting for, during all training. Enjoy to the fullest. It’s your day. Those were the phrases that went through my head. I was searching in the crowd of fans to see if there were still mine, but I couldn’t find them. Finally, it was my turn to start. There was a whistle under my feet, and the time began to count down. I screamed from happiness and ran into the sea. Soon I ran out of ground under my feet and the swimming part and the fight with the waves and the rest of the competitors began. In the sea, even at the beginning, there is panic. You can’t see anything, kicks or punches are flying everywhere, and to top it off, the waves and currents are playing with you. I remember telling myself that I had to swim calmly, repeating technical things to myself, but when you get hit by one of your fellow competitors every now and then, it’s hard to be calm and focused. On the first turn (the route is marked with big fights) we hit each other together, I think 4 competitors. I had to stop completely. Then I decided to go a little off the ideal line and swim alone. Somehow I succeeded, but every now and then there was someone who got in my way. By the next turn, they were about 2 km, so we were swimming parallel to the beach, 200m away. The arms were pretty good. I swam at my own pace for about 2 min/100m and tried to fall into some kind of automatic flow. Otherwise, that’s the hardest thing in the water, because it’s really not a comfortable environment for me. I can’t breathe the way I want, I can’t see, my mouth is salty… But that’s the way it is, and you have to get through that part of the game. It may sound ridiculous, but I also had a tactic of urinating through the race. One of these stops was planned during the swim, as then I wouldn’t need to look for a wc later during the race. I made it my mission to try to swim so automatically that I could pee while swimming. I’ve never tried this before and I have to say that it bothered me for quite some time. I concentrated for a long time and believe me, though it would be ridiculous to put my thoughts at the time on paper- I was pleased when I succeeded and I swam and peed. I’m in neoprene, like I’m peeing in diapers, but that was a great achievement for me. Try. It’s not easy. 🙂 When I got to the last turn I knew there was still about 1500m to go. My hands were getting heavy. It started to chill in my body as the water temperature dropped a lot due to the flooding and it was around 20 degrees. Being in such cold water for more than 1 hour was something new to me. It was mainly in my head. I hit into the other competitions a few more times, but that didn’t bother me so much anymore. The last turn, I still had 500m to go until the end of the first discipline. I was satisfied, knowing that I would succeed.
Soon I felt the ground beneath my feet. It’s a fantastic feeling. I felt quite a bit drunk from all the waves. Like how a person feels when he steps off a boat to land after a long time. I waved to my vocal fans and also to the rest who were enthusiastically following us. I started running and taking off my wetsuits along the way. I also found a shower while running and I was already in the transition zone. Most of the competitors just take off their wetsuits and continue the race, but I decided to put on cycling pants with thick foam on my ass so that I wouldn’t get hurt on the bike. I went to the tent and calmly wiped myself and changed my clothes. I ate the gel, put on my cycling shoes and helmet, and ran out of the change zone with my bike. Dejan ran beside me and really gave me a lot of energy with his encouragement. It seemed to me that he was even more excited than I was that the first discipline was behind me “If all goes well, I’ll see you in 6 hours.” The legs were soft. In the first kilometre, the race almost ended fatally for me, as I drove into a crack in the roadway that I didn’t notice and I really don’t know how I managed to catch myself from crashing to the ground. Obviously, I was destined to move on. Soon we left the town of Cervia and went to the scrawny fields, where the wind was blowing strongly. It was a strong wind. At first sideways, then fortunately for us, in the back, but I realised that if it was blowing from the back now, then it would also blow from the front. I quickly caught a fairly solid rhythm. I was careful not to go too far out of the watt zone and the heart rate I had set for myself. After 10 km, I tried to drink a bottle of gels for the first time. And then the first shock of the game. My stomach said no and after the first sip I almost throw out. At first, I panicked. The race was over. If my body didn’t accept the gel practically at the beginning of the race, and I only have that with me, I would have a hard time continuing. I quickly gathered myself and told myself that I need to look for solutions and that everything will be ok, that I have to be patient and maybe my body just doesn’t need extra food right now. I’ll try again a little later, as I drank the gel on a shift, which was 20 minutes ago. I have to listen to my stomach and my body. I decided to eat by feeling and not according to a plan like I had made before the race. And so it was. Miles passed, the body first accepted the protein bar and a little later the gel for the first time. I was relieved. Everything went well. I felt fresh and I was able to pedal well. The average speed was over 30 km/h, the power of rotation and the heart rate were constant. I was very pleased. A few times my teammates and I joined together in a slightly larger diluted group, because it was not even possible to drive 1 by 1 on the streets and with a long distance, as the rules say. There were fewer and fewer people along the road. We were left alone and turned onto the highway, which was completely closed to us in both directions. What a luxury. We were able to deploy and the judges also drove around us quite a lot, warning if someone was driving too close to the other. Of course, some did not heed the warnings, so they received a yellow card, which meant a 5min penalty (you have to serve the penalty in the next area by the road intended for offences). I’ve seen all sorts of competitors, with different equipment, eating in different ways (some of them practically eating lunch on a bike in the time trial position)… Most, of course, with much more expensive and better bikes. It was quite sweet to overtake such people. In short, I tried to pass the time and think about other things than a sore back, stiff legs, and wrist pain that was getting worse by the minute. I monitored my heart rate, meter readings, drank gel, and ate chocolate bars. So miles passed and we were already off the highway towards a short hill 2 kilometers long. Apparently, the organizers had to make sure that the race had a few meters of altitude, otherwise they would have taken the race with only about 100 of gain meters. So we were in for quite a steep climb, which caused a lot of headaches to the “chronometrists”. Many of them even walked into the gorge, as the gear ratio set for the flat race did not allow them to overcome it. The descent was wild, I enjoyed it and we were already halfway through the cycling. We went back to the highway and lap 2 followed. I had been about the same distance with some of the competitors since I started cycling, and I decided to try to stick with them. I drank gels, isotonic and water, and cut down the miles to my destination. We drove up the hill a second time. Now I knew what awaited me, and I rode it even more boldly. I overtook a lot of competitors there, because I’m better at driving uphill than on the flat. This is also because of my light physique, which is not built to drive fast on the flat. The ride uphill broke the rhythm of cycling for all of us and wasn’t easy, but it was easier for the mind, because at least something interesting to make the time pass other than pressing the pedals all the time on the highway where you can see the miles ahead. As we turned back off the highway toward our destination, a strong wind blew head-on. There was still 30km left to the finish, which meant about 1 hour of driving on top of the current 4.5 hours. My legs were hard and heavy, and 1h in the headwind was the last thing I wanted. “Just hold on a few miles,” I said to myself, gritting my teeth, holding my head down and pedalling. I suffered. But that’s part of Ironman. If it were easy, everyone would become an ironman. Suffering was part of it all, and I chose to do it myself. The worst thought was that you have to endure a marathon and you don’t know how your legs will behave later. We finally drove into the last 10 km and we came closer to the city. The city has given us leeway. The wind eased and I began to enjoy myself again. In the last 2 kilometers, I overtook a larger group of cyclists, drank some gel one last time, and rode towards the interchange. During the race, friends and family were able to follow me through the app at all times. They knew where I was at virtually every moment. Well, except in the water, when there was some kind of glitch and I was in one place for 30 minutes. At that time, they were very scared of what was happening, because competitors who had problems and finished the race in the first discipline drove past them from the water. They asked the organizers if I had resigned. Well, thankfully, they saw me pretty soon after I came out of the water. The app played around with them a bit and I can imagine there was some panic at all the resignations and I was in the same spot in the water for half an hour. With loud cheering and excitement, I was greeted at the finish line of the cycling section. With their encouragement, I got tingles all over my body. The children were screaming and there was no better feeling. Great happiness overwhelmed me as well, as the cyclist part was passing by. The discipline I feared the most. Just one more marathon and I’ll become an IRONMAN.
The exchange was rather confusing. When I stepped off the bike, my legs didn’t obey me. I almost fell. Good thing I was able to lean on the bike. It took a few 100m to walk alongside the bike. I tried to run. I put the bike in my shift spot, took off my shoes and ran to the change bag. I had to change again, this time in running gear. It was only my 4th triathlon race and basically the situation is a little different in the race, because it’s not only important to change which I hadn’t trained at home, but also to decide what you take with you. You must not forget the start number and gels. Unfortunately, with the excitement that I only had a run to go, and wishing not to waste too much time, I did just that. I went into the running part without my gels, which I had left in the bag. The first meters of the run were a real ecstasy. The loud cheering of those closest to me, and my feet were as light as a feather. Unbelievable, I thought. I just bounced past them, and I had a huge smile on my face. It really goes so smoothly, were my thoughts. I enjoyed it. Now, I just can’t start too fast and get carried away. At that moment, I didn’t know I was gel-free. I started running. My legs flew on their own after the cycling part, as they were used to high cadence (turns – I rode close to 100 per minute). In fact, it’s extremely difficult to run slowly at first. By consciously braking myself, I managed to run the first kilometre in 4 minutes and 20 seconds, which is 40 seconds faster than planned. In the second kilometre I managed to stop my legs at 4:50, but in the third, I already had the desired rhythm and I ran around 5:00, which was my goal for at least the first 30km, then would see how I felt. At the 4th kilometre, I started looking for gels in my back pocket, but unfortunately there were none. I should have had 3. Shit, I thought, but I immediately looked for solutions. I’m going to have to try eating theirs, as I still have a good 3 hours of running to my finish. At the next stop, I took the organizers gel, which was completely different from mine. Much more jelly-like and really weird in taste. I spit it out, drank some water, and continued. I decided to take a second flavour at the next stop (they had two options). This one was even more disgusting. I didn’t want to upset my stomach with an unknown taste, because I already had 8 hours of activity behind me and I didn’t know how my stomach would even react all day long accepting only gels, let alone a different composition and flavours. I decided not to take anything and try to continue with just banana and water at the stations.
The first lap I really flew through the air (there were 4 laps of 10.5km each) I easily set times below 5:00 per kilometre. In between, I greeted children and spectators, who cheered loudly for all the participants. I felt great (of course, as possible as it is to feel great after just over 8 hours). I was aware that the race was still long and that the crisis was definitely coming, but the excitement of how well I was doing carried me a little too far. At the end of the round, my fans were waiting for me. They enthusiastically escorted me to the second lap, and I just bounced past them with a smile. 3 more laps to ecstasy. At the beginning of the second lap, I jumped on a little need in the toilets that were set up along the tracks. Planned 2nd stop time I was dosing the liquid so much that I only needed to drain 1x in the water and then on the run. That’s it for today. Excellent! The belly was great, too. That’s what I feared the most before the race, how it would be with my belly. Somewhere around the 15th kilometre, however, I started to feel pain in my left hamstring. This is not a good sign, though. The pain looked like a muscle was preparing to cramp. I began to think about what was happening, why it was happening, and how to solve the problem. OK, I don’t eat gels, I don’t drink their isotonic liquids. So it won’t go any further, the muscles need fuel. At the next stop, I drank 2 glasses of isotonic drink, coca cola and ate half a banana. I ran on and talked to a competitor from Italy for a few miles. I just got a little distracted and diverted my attention away from the muscle. Running wasn’t tough for me, as I had a heart rate of around 145 beats per minute the whole time. It was a little faster than the conversational run, with times around 5:00 minutes per kilometer. At each station I was now drinking isotonic potions, but I felt the muscle more and more. At the end of the second round, to the loud cheers of my fans, I tell them that I’m no longer my best and that the real suffering begins. I quickly instructed Dejan to bring my gels as high as possible for the next round so that I could start enjoying them as quickly as possible. And indeed. I proceed to the third round. Unfortunately, just a mile later, exactly what I feared the most happened. I had to stop. The last step gave the last signal, before a severe cramp seized me. So. Another 20 km to the finish line, and I was cramping. In an instant, all plans changed, how I would end up reaching the time of even around 10 h 30 minutes, which I had an open path to before this happened. Now, it looks like I won’t even go under 11 hours. Perhaps from now on, the only goal will be to reach the goal at all. NO NOOO!! I worked so hard, sacrificed so much, gave so much up. It won’t stop me now, I thought. I walked about a mile and thought about how to overcome the problem. I started running with a modified technique. Like a half-crippled runner who doesn’t use the back box. My pace dropped to 6:30 minutes per kilometre. I barely made it to the next station with refreshments set up every 3 miles. Again, I ate a lot at the station and drank coca-cola. From here on, it was primarily about survival. The final time was no longer important. I suffered. I suffered greatly. The enjoyment of the race was gone. Every step was difficult, and I was afraid that it would grab me so hard that I wouldn’t be able to take another step. It looked something like I ran 1km and walked some 100m because the muscle was just about to cramp. And then I would run again, and just before the cramp start walking. That’s how it was. I couldn’t wait to see Dejan with my gels. Somewhere on the 6km lap, he came across with an electric scooter that he had quickly borrowed. What a relief. I squeezed the first gel into myself and continued. Dejan rode beside me and encouraged me. It was easier because I was struggling. He stayed by my side until the end of that lap when I asked him to let me run the last lap alone. Let me also say that it was against the rules for me to receive gels as I am not allowed to get any help from the outside, but thankfully the judges did not see it. I was willing to take the risk. I continued to alternate between running and walking. The pace, however, is around 6:30 a.m. I ran past my fans with tears in my eyes. The pain in my leg was increasing, but I was relieved by the thought that I was only a good 10 km away from the IRONMAN title. 10 kilometres of otherwise severe suffering. I thanked Dejan and started the last round. I ate a new gel, stopped at the first stop, and drank everything I could. If I compare the stations from the first lap and now, I spent maybe an extra second on them at the beginning and I didn’t let down the pace at all when I grabbed the water. Now, I even stopped for a snack for a minute or so, but that was necessary for my body to somehow maintain the ability to continue running.
The mental struggle with myself was incredible. All the tough mental moments from training came in handy when I had to divert my mind away from the pain and exhausted body. I decided to relive all 3 and a half years of training and matches in my mind. I remembered how I set myself the goal of becoming an IRONMAN, how I started training, I imagined past trainings, races, happy and difficult events and moments. What all happened during this time. It was really nice to go through the journey. In the meantime, however, I didn’t stop any further. Otherwise, I was constantly adjusting my running technique from limping, to running with almost no leg lifts, to practically stiff legs. It probably looked very funny , but I didn’t bother with it one bit. During the run, there were a lot of people along the track, as they ran through the city and along the beach, which is full of hotels and tourists. There were also many encouraging and funny signs. The one that stuck in my memory the most was this one, which even in the last round, when I read 4 more, drew a smile on my face for a while. It said like this: “Remember! You even paid for this!” I laughed for a really long time in the first round. We are real fools. We even pay for all this suffering, which is not short but lasts a whole day. But in some weird way, probably all of us involved enjoyed it. Unfortunately, every once in a while, I’ve seen some competitor on the sidelines, writhing in convulsions, vomiting, sitting by the track, or just gathering strength to keep going. On lap 4 they even resuscitated someone along the track and it was really horrible to see him being shaken with a defibrillator just as I was running past him. Later after the race, I heard that they had managed to save him, but at that moment, such scenes did not help me with my pain. Another 5 kilometres separated me from the finish. Only half a circle left. I was starting to feel better. I squeezed the last, third gel into myself. “Now only to the finish line, Robi,” I said to myself. I began to believe that I would succeed. My heart was filled with happiness, I got a new impetus. Maybe it will even go under 11 hours. I didn’t know the exact time because I didn’t know exactly when I started in the morning, because of such a long delay. The stride was getting longer and with each one I was getting closer to the goal. I sang to myself to be mistaken. 3 km before the finish line, I stopped at the last stop and refreshed myself. No more stopping. I upped the pace to 5:30. I was more emotional every moment. Another 2 kilometres to the finish. I succeeded, even the journey of 3 and a half years was taking on a whole new meaning. I began to be overwhelmed by crazy feelings. The pain in my leg disappeared or I didn’t feel anything at all. I ran with the biggest smile possible. About 1.5 km before the finish line, someone I didn’t know shouted Buckwheat Cokan. Later, I also got a picture from him showing how happy I was at that moment. Complete. My eyes were getting watery, I had tingles all over my body, my legs were just going away by themselves. I entered the last mile. I said to myself, “Now just let go and enjoy. You deserve it.” So many hours of training were making sense. I would go over it all again, because these were very special moments and feelings that cannot be described. Soon I saw the red carpet. The last 200 m. Fans crowded along the fence. I know they’re mine somewhere, too, but this time I didn’t look for them with my eyes. That was just my moment. It’s amazing that even when I describe those moments, I feel similar feelings as I did then. I just flew on the red carpet. I screamed, laughed, and enjoyed the roaring cheers immensely. After a little more than 1000 hours of training, with raised hands, teary eyes and a smile on my face, I heard the words ROBERT, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! Amazing! I succeeded. The outburst of emotion at the finish line was really big. I broke down. There were simply too many emotions. The organizers came to me and convinced me that now was not the time to cry, but to celebrate and rejoice. There were tears of happiness. There were so many emotions in me, the desire was so great that I just couldn’t control my emotions. A medal was hung around my neck, which was given to every participant who reached the finish line within the time limit. I kissed the medal and limped off into the warm tent. It was almost dark outside and it was getting colder. I managed to calm down somehow, and I proudly stepped in front of the billboard, where I took my first picture as an IRONMAN.
There was a huge amount of food and drink in the Tent. Even though I knew I had to eat something and that my stomach was suffering from the gels all day, I couldn’t get anything in myself because of the adrenaline. Not even a sip of triumphant beer. I decided to go out to find my family to share these feelings with them. I limped out into the street, where there were a lot of people and it wasn’t easy to find myself because I didn’t have a phone. We finally saw each other. The meeting was wonderful. The heart was full, the goal was accomplished. I became an Ironman with a final time of 10 hours and 50 minutes. I did it! I quickly changed my clothes and lay down for a massage for 20 minutes, which we could use for free by the participants of the match. It accepted them. We walked towards the hotel, where I took a shower and changed for dinner. Since our hotel was by the track, we saw a lot of people still struggling in the race. At 9:00 we went to dinner, where we relived a beautiful sunny day. They in their own way, children on the beach, parents of course more in the pub, in between cheering, fear when I was calm in the water, and later problems how to get to my gels, which were in the car far away from the track, renting a scooter, etc. In short, it was a busy day for them watching the game as well. When we came out of the restaurant, it was 11:30 p.m. There were still competitors on the track. Some were barely walking, others were trying to run. Unfortunately, I knew that they would not be able to reach the finish line in time, as they still had at least 7 km left until the end of the race. And at the pace they had, there was no real chance of reaching the finish line until 00:30, when it was the last time to cross the finish line. I can’t imagine fighting for 17 hours and then a little before the finish line you are told that you have failed and the race is over for you. Sad. But unfortunately, these are the rules, because there has to be some kind of time barrier, otherwise it would drag on indefinitely. It was a really wonderful, memorable day.
The dream became a reality. I didn’t believe I’d ever be able to finish an Ironman race. I just wished and was getting closer every day to the possibility of that happening. It happened. With perseverance, intransigence, stubbornness and a great desire to achieve what I set out to do. Until 2 years ago, I couldn’t imagine how I would swim 3.8 km or how I would cycle 180 km. Now I’ve done everything in one day. You can call me IROBIMAN
At this point, however, I would like to express my sincere thanks once again. First of all, my wife Tjasa and children Lars and Varis, because they tried to understand me when I accumulated kilometres of training and I didn’t have time for them. Sašo Pistotnik, who introduced me to triathlon and helped me with training and advice. Sandi Ivancic, who taught me how to swim and helped me with advice inside the race. To the Plavčak family, who came to encourage me to the race. To Nik Korber, who set up my bike so well, and to all of you who have followed my journey through all 4 years. If I’ve got you at least a little excited about sports, and I know I’ve got some of you, my satisfaction is all the greater.
You’re probably wondering if I’ll ever go again? Never say never, but certainly not in the near future. But I’m going to do some more halves ironmans, because I like triathlon and I feel good in my body when training all three disciplines. The whole distance is unfortunately too much strain for the human body, and I don’t think it’s the healthiest thing for me in the long run.
IRONMAN, thank you for a wonderful experience! I became IROBIMAN
Timetable
Swim time: 1h:18 min 12 sec
Transition time: 14 min 7 sec
Cycle time: 5h 32 min
Time 2nd transition: 8 min 36 sec
Marathon time: 3h 43 min 44 sec
Final time: 10h 56 min 38 sec
2976 competitors started.
Final place in the 35-39 age group: 118th place among 320 who finished the race.
Final place all groups: 646 among 2250 who finished the race (withdrawal of more than 700 competitors)
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