Last year I qualified for my PRO license and as a result I am now stepping up my game to the PRO field instead of the Age Group field. Often people ask me if lots has changed since then. My answer is: no, not really. For me turning PRO was the ultimate goal. After starting doing triathlon about 7 years ago, every year I became more serious with the sport. Every year I took small steps to close the gap to the PRO field. It was a big gap at the start, especially with swimming. The gap is still big, but every year I was getting closer. Now I am ready to experience the PRO racing and hopefully decrease the gap along the way and be more competitive along the journey. In terms of my life, not a lot has changed since turning PRO. I am still working 26h a week and training about the same amount compared to last year.
Most changes for me happened last year, before turning PRO. I changed my team after I won the Overall Age Group at IRONMAN Lanzarote. Got a new coach, added a sport psychologist and a nutritionist to help me perform at my best. During the year I also got a new bike that better fits my body type. Often this type of changes take time to be fully used to its potential and I hope I can show that in my first race as a PRO. Racing IRONMAN Lanzarote as a first PRO race feels for me as the perfect choice. I know the course and the challenges it brings. It is a very honest course and more a race against yourself than other races.
The question that now arises is ‘where am I at compared to last year? For me it feels hard to tell in terms of ‘time’, that also depend on the circumstances. But I do feel in a completely different place mentally last year. Winter training was good, nearly perfect if you ask me. Of course, I have insecurities. As an athlete we always want to show on race day what we are capable of and we want everything to be perfect. An IRONMAN is brutal and as much as I strive for perfection, there will always be lessons learned on race day. I feel ready to embrace it and see where I am at in this field.
What’s my goal? Obviously, we all have dreams. Dreams of having a great ranking. Focusing too much on goals that depend on the competitors can end up in disappointment. For me, my main goal is to outperform what I did last year in Lanzarote. Not so much in terms of time, because that also depends on the circumstances. But in terms of the things that I have in my own hands. The subgoals to a great race for me are nailing my nutrition, having a strong mindset along the day (i.e. having fun AND not getting stuck into negative selftalk), pushing hard on the bike and running a sub 3h05min marathon off the bike. That last one is indeed time related. But for me the run is the thing I look most forward to. And setting a time goal there doesn’t stress me and does not depend too much on the weather.
Whatever race day will bring, I am ready to enjoy racing in the PRO field. Besides that it will still be swimbikerun as hard as you can!
