How an Ironman triathlete experiences competition

At Plameca we are sponsors of Fabian Carmona (26 years old), triathlete of the modality IronmanThe race consisted of a 4,000-meter swim, a 180-kilometer bike ride and a 42.2-kilometer run. On the first Sunday of this month he has run the Ironman Barcelona. After a few days of rest and reflection he has written a chronicle of the competition. We thought it would be interesting to share his reflections so that you can get an idea of the experiences of a super athlete during a tough race like the one described.

 

This is how he explains it Fabian CarmonaI arrived on the day of the race in excellent shape and with motivation through the roof. The day before the race went according to plan, leaving the equipment in the pits first thing in the morning and spending the rest of the time resting and psyching myself up for the big event.

 

"Sunday the alarm clock goes off at 5:15 a.m. and I realize that I've been able to sleep 6.5 hours straight, which is difficult on the night before a big event. Everything is going great. I have my usual competition menu for breakfast and then I go to the start line. At 7:30 a.m. I finalize the preparations in the pits and put on my wetsuit.

Swimming

"I swam the 4,000 meters in 1 hour and 12 minutes. I'm happy to have done my personal best despite how little I've been able to train in the last few months.

Bicycle

"I ride the 180 kilometers in 5 hours and 7 minutes. I start looking for my cruising pace and I see that physically the body responds, so I decide to ask for a little bit more and I manage to pass through the first checkpoint Montgat (km 54) at 39,1km/h. I regulate power and intensity, reaching the next kilometer point in Calella (km 90) at 36km / h on average. There I see my parents cheering me up and I get ready to face the second lap. I continue at a good pace until the next checkpoint Montgat (km 141) where I arrive with an average of 36,6km/h. But it is in the last 35 kilometers back to Calella where I notice that something begins to fail, the body is not going fine and my strength begins to falter. I'm losing spark until, at kilometer 150, I notice that I have emptied completely. Without gasolineI pulled myself out of weakness to complete the bike sector at an average of 35.1 km / h, achieving my personal best in spite of everything.

Foot race

"I run the 42.2 km in 4 hours and 54 minutes. When I get to the pits, empty of energy, the first thing I think is to give up, because running a marathon without energy can become a real mental and physical torture. However, I see my parents waiting impatiently in T2 to see me start running and my heart asks me to continue for them. I go out to run trying to pick up a gentle pace that I can maintain for the maximum number of kilometers, but I see that, empty of energy, despite eating and drinking at the refreshment posts, it is mission impossible and it is too late to correct the mistake. Repeatedly I think about giving up, but out of respect for my parents I decide to continue running, jogging and walking until I reach the finish line and finish my sixth race. IronmanThe race, perhaps the hardest at the psychological level, in a discreet time of 11 hours and 25 minutes.

 

"My failure in this Ironman was in the bike sector, where I didn't ingest enough energy to face such a caloric consumption. Sometimes it is not as easy as it seems, because once you are in the middle of the competition, the concentration is such that you forget or you don't calculate well the tempos of ingestion and hydration".

 

Fabian Carmona ends his chronicle with a phrase from Henry Ford: "Failure is the opportunity to start again with more intelligence". At Plameca we understand the feelings of triathlete because we knew he wanted to set his personal best. Despite this, we believe that finishing six Ironman At only 26 years of age, this is a feat within the reach of a select few. You have a lot of success ahead of you, Fabian!