My First Half Ironman / Jönköping 70.3

When I originally signed up for this, I didn't really think it through.

Let's go! Swim, bike, run! Let's go!

And one of the things I was looking for when I signed up for this was a big mental challenge. I didn't really have anything that really pushed me out of my comfort zone, anything that was really mentally challenging.

Time for bed.

Let this protect.

He's protecting himself from the blue light.

Sleep.

Good night. See you tomorrow.

Ciao.

Being comfortable and being stagnant is the worst thing that can happen to a person, in my opinion. I tend to always strive to do more, to be better, to try to improve in all the areas of my life, because that's what yields the best and the most amount of results. And that's what Also yields self-satisfaction because growth never happens in the comfort zone. This is the first step in a very big task that I've taken on. All right, soldiers, we're ready. Bike is packed up. I don't know if you see everything else is packed up.

Food, clothes.

It's time to head down to Jönköping. Race weekend. Let's fucking go. Super excited. Feeling good. Vibes are high. Energy is positive. Life is good. Nothing to complain about. Going to pick up a coffee and we're going to drive down, listen to some good music. Yeah, it's pretty good.

So the journey began. We arrived in beautiful Jönköping on Friday evening after a long drive from Stockholm. One of the first things we were greeted with—

rain.

Apparently it's pretty typical here in Jönköping. The forecast for race day didn't look promising, but we kept the energy high.

From nowhere, I don't even know if you hear me in this, but here we have some rice Some I don't know what to say in English. Plank steak, some beef. Let's eat this and wait for Luden Jule to arrive.

Later on in the evening, we rolled into town in our beautiful van, explored the city a bit. I'd actually never been to Jönköping before, only driven through. So it was nice to see the ins and outs and the city core as well. Saturday morning, we headed down to the village to get a real feel for the environment.

Innan förra omträngningen får du ha. Man får ju oftast bara plats med två. Welcome to rainy Jönköping. It's finally stopped raining. Still a bit windy. We're praying to the man above that— The weather gods of Jönköping. Yeah, the weather gods of Jönköping are with us tomorrow. Otherwise, it's not going to be as fun. But I mean, if it's sunny and nice weather, it's enjoyable. It's almost not even a challenge. At least— The mind will be very tested. There's one thing I've learned, it's nothing comes easy. And if you work for something hard enough and with enough dedication and intention, you can achieve whatever you want. It's all in the mind. Jumped in the pool the first time. I couldn't swim 25 meters without losing my breath. Jumped on the bike the first time, biked 5 kilometers, and then I was— my legs were completely fried. When I was there thinking that in a couple of months I'm gonna do this Ironman 70.3, It felt very out of reach. I picked a cap solely based on which one I think looks, uh, the sickest. That's a first.

Got some breakfast in us, lunch, and then went down to try out the water. And that was when it really kicked in, you know, putting on the wetsuit, going down where you're gonna go down tomorrow and start the race as well. And the nerves slowly started to creep up.

Feels good. Felt pretty fast even though the wind. So pretty, very nice in the water compared to where we are used to swim. So that's good. It felt very nice. Wasn't cold at all.

Hot tub.

That's nice. Feeling fresh as well. Feeling light. Decent pace as well.

After that, because that was not the only session for the day, then came the shakeout run, and that felt terrible. My legs were stiff, the back of my legs felt completely locked up, and that made me question Everything a bit. Am I really prepared for this? Have I actually done the work? Have I actually prepared myself enough for this big challenge, the biggest challenge of my life so far? Am I ready for what's to come? It was humbling, but in a good way. I wasn't scared, but I wasn't confident either.

Run done. Not super far, not super long, but just getting. I feel for it. Shaking out the legs a bit now.

Sauna, red light.

Yeah, time is flying. We gotta go drop off the bikes, uh, right now. We're gonna pack the bags as well, then some food before that gets too late as well.

We don't want to be eating too close to the bed.

Get home, then we're gonna do some sauna, red light, and hit the pillow. Get ready for the big day tomorrow. Feeling good, feeling excited. Kan vi försöka ta med den ska jag lägga den där.

Banan. Hur står det då? Inte så bra.

Här.

Nå du?

Eller hur?

Nu då.

Du kan trycka in den dock, inget kommer hända. De bara kommer ner lite, det är lugnt.

Jag säger till.

Hi, the bike is rolling, man. Bike is checked in, um, bag is dropped off, and it's getting realer and realer. Now we're gonna go out, grab the timing chip, get some food.

But we still had dinner, so we headed down to the city, grabbed some food, a bit too late for my liking, some final prep, and then off to bed. Emotionally, I felt blank. Me and Ludwig talked about it. It just feels like another day. Wake up, do the work, no emotions, no hype, just execute. 100% gonna be rich right after this. Time for bed.

Look at this, protecting himself from the, from the blue light.

Yeah, it just feels like tomorrow's just yet another Sunday when we wake up and we're gonna train. Now it's time to shut off and go to sleep and get some good—

oh shit—

some good night's sleep. Good night, see you tomorrow.

Ciao.

Good morning. Good morning. Rice cake after rice cake after rice cake after rice cake. And then some sourdough bread. Sourdough bread that is dry like a brick. You gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah, this is the real challenge, to be fair. Force feeding at 6 AM when you're already full from yesterday.

Let's go!

We got some food in us, packed up the last bits— wetsuit, goggles, the final gear— and then we got to transition zone by around 7 AM. Nerves creeping back in. When we came down to the start, we watched the pros go first. Unreal how fast they swim. It's like they're flying but in the water, you know. And then it was our turn. We self-seeded based on accepted finish time. Pink caps meant 33 to 36 minutes. Green was the fastest, under 33. And as we lined up, things moved very quickly.

Swim, bike, run. Let's go! We are ready for Ironman 70.3 Gdynia!

Suddenly, me and Ludwig were standing at the edge, just us and 2 race officials.

Go!

And the second, the second thing I, I know, I was in the water already swimming. And, um, swim started off feeling pretty bad. It was rough in the water in the beginning. Uh, I got a, a kick on my arm. Someone pulled my leg as well. But slowly but surely, I started making my way away from the people and also started to making my way to the front of the pack of the, of the pink caps. I started to pass and go by a lot of people, had very good speed, and in general it started to feel very, very good. At one point me and Ludwig was also swimming right beside each other, and just Ludwig is breathing to the left, I'm breathing to the right, so we're like looking at each other in every single breath. It was a very, very surreal feeling as well because that's exactly how we do it when we're training back home as well. So it just It felt like another training pass or another training session. And the second thing I know, I was going up from the water.

As soon as I stepped out, everything spun. I was lightheaded, disoriented, just running and hoping I was going the right way.

When I got into T1, I picked the pink bag, and the pink bag is for the, the running. So I was I picked the wrong bag, open it up. Here's my running shoes. Here's— there are not— where's my bike things? So I had to re-rack that, get the right bag, dropped all my things, put the helmet on, put the shoes on, grab a banana, ran to the bike, and then it was time to hit the roads.

Round 5.

Bike felt very, very good the first 5 kilometers. Then we got to a very hilly section. From kilometer 5 to 15, it was uphill like crazy. I was holding about 15 kilometers an hour probably throughout that whole time. And it was very, very steep uphill. Jönköping has pretty high elevation, and all that elevation is basically gathered or gathered in the beginning of the course, or most of it, a bulk of it. So it was a big, big climb up to the top of the mountain, and that in the beginning really takes a hit on your legs. So it felt pretty bad when at the top of that, at Legs felt very, very heavy. Felt like I had no power whatsoever. But luckily enough, I had my orange juice and my Swedish äppelmust on hand. Started to get some fuel in me, which was very, very needed. And slowly started to feel— yeah, to feel better and better.

Yeah, Lucas!

Came back down into Jönköping after the 90K run, or after the 90K on the bike through Smålands beautiful forests and, uh, Landscapes and got straight into T2. And T2 for me was very, very quick because I had already been on the toilet. So I was just racking off the bike, getting running to my bag, picking the right bag this time actually, on with the running shoes, bag in the bag, everything. And then it was just straight out for the half marathon. You want to have a look at that?

Yeah.

And the first 300 meters was pretty okay on the half marathon, but after that I completely lost my feeling in my feet, so I couldn't feel anything whatsoever.

How are you feeling?

Let's go.

Feeling good.

A bit sore in the legs, not gonna lie.

Yeah, you did it!

The second loop felt good. The crowd was electric. Around kilometer 18, we both said, this is it, everything we worked for. Cramps started kicking in. The people around screaming, cheering you up, is the best painkiller you can ever take. Then we slowly started approaching the finish line. The sun came out, perfect timing, just as we were about to finish. We entered the village, people shouting our names. And finally, we crossed the line. Despite all the struggles, the setbacks, the rookie mistakes, the pain, we finished. We came here with a mission and we executed.

At the end of the day, we managed to secure this, which is all that matters. Regardless all the obstacles along the way and the struggles we're facing, we've been— we faced, we managed to get the job done. We managed to pull through, we managed to come through, and we Executed on the plan and we came and secured what we came here to, to do, I guess. And it felt very, very good. The one thing that doesn't feel as good is that we very quickly realized at the finish line that this is not the end of our journey. This is the first step in a very big task that we have That I've taken on. In 6 weeks' time from this day, I'm racing Ironman Kalmar as well, which is double the swim, double the bike, and double the run. That is going to be the real challenge. This was just a warm-up. This was just the first part.

Onto the next one.