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silver at norwegian national long course championships
 My first silver medal at the Norwegian long distance championship The day was Sunday the 19th of July. It was rainy and cool. I felt pretty good, except from my stomach that was a bit upset… I had won all the Norwegian cup races and felt I had my competitors pretty much under control. I felt sure, too sure! At the warm up the body felt good. I was smiling and laughing and chatting with the others until a few seconds before start… The start gun went off, and I had a great start! I was swimming next to the leader, and felt I had control, so I let the 3 other guys that came up pass without fighting as I thought they could follow the leader… I was wrong! After a few hundred meters the guy in front of me started slowing down and couldn’t follow the guy in front of him. I tried to pass and swim hard up to the other guys, but didn’t have enough energy to get all the way up to the feet of the guy in front, so I had to let them go. I swam steady, not to lose too much time… I came out of the water 1min 20sec behind the leader… Out of the first transition I was 50sec behind! I went out hard on the bike and caught the two leaders after about 4km. I used a lot of energy, but I think it was smart to catch them early as the eventual winner kept a high pace on the flats, so it would be hard to catch them after the long, steep hill at the start of the 20km loop. It was 4 loops of 20km and then an out and back of 10km. At the start of the 3rd lap, I tried to get away and got 15sec, but at the flats the 2 guys behind caught me pretty fast, so I settled down and tried to get some energy and water in before the run as I had struggled with my upset stomach the first 40km… I came first off the bike, but the 2 other guys was a few seconds faster than me in the second transition and I was right after them out on the run. I passed both and felt good, but after 2min the eventual winner passed. He looked fresh, but I felt good as well, but the fact that I only drank 1l water on the bike would be critical as it was only sports drink and no water served on the course. I tried to take some sports drink, but after 5km, my stomach turned and I knew I had to let the other guy go, ask for water and hope to secure a silver medal after about 6km… I got some water from my supporters after one lap and from the organizers after that, so my stomach settled and I got some energy from my Honey Stinger fruit smoothies and could secure the silver… My times were 26.59 on the swim, 37sec in T1, 2.25.37 on a very hard and wet 90km bike, 40sec in T2 and 1.21.34 on the 20.6km run. Total time was 4.15.27. I’m pretty happy with the time under the circumstances, but very angry at myself for thinking it would be easy and not taking it serious enough before start! The winner deserved to win as he was the strongest on the day, but it won’t happen again! Last I would like to thank my family, girlfriend and her family for the support during the race, Oslo Sportslager for supporting me with all my equipment (Polar watch, Everst bikes, Giro helmets, Fast Forward wheels, Orca triathlon suit and wetsuit, x-socks, Oakley sun glasses and Craft clothing), Ostmarka IL, M&M Tomrerservice, Laerdal Trevare and Laerdal Sport og Rekreasjon for financial support, CanWi for coaching and Honey Stinger for support with energy bars, gels and fruit smoothies! |
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