Norseman Extreme Triathlon was just a step too far for my first Ironman Tri, but what a  wonderful experience.

This event is fantastic, definitely has the wow factor, but is brutal in nearly every way. Registration starts at 2.30am, the 3.8k swim is in a tidal fjord, the 180k bike route (200k this year because of a change in weather conditions affecting the swim) climbs 2400m, the 42k run ends in a 1800m climb and requires the carrying of a mountain/survival bag. Every athlete must have a support crew.

A few words about support and travel to event.

My wife Fuss and children Liz and James were my support crew 

. We drove a motorhome from Somerset to Norway over 48hrs, which incorporated a continuous 24hr stretch from Beckington to Hirtshals in northern Denmark 

. After leaving Somerset on Tuesday evening we arrived in Eidfjord on Thursday evening.

Friday 5th August

At the pre race registration we were told a cruise liner had stirred up the water in Eidfjord, which had reduced the temperature to 8 deg!  As a result our swim would be moved 20k down the fjord to a warmer 15 deg patch of water. Great! But what about the extra 20k to Eidfjord?  Well, we’d just have to cope with that and the cut-off time wouldn’t be changed!

I should have fitted in an afternoon sleep, but making arrangements for the new T1 meant this ‘went out of the window’.

Saturday 6th August

After getting what felt like 1hrs sleep we dropped the bike at T1 at 2.30am and made our way to the 3am registration at Brimnes ferry port. Breakfast consisted of flapjack, banana and water with nuun tablets - mmmmm.

Swim - 3.8k in 1hr 35mins (position: 115-ish out of 250)

At 4.45am we jumped off the back of the ferry, which is a great way to start a swim and at 5am the horn went to start the race - by the way, there was nearly 500m from the ferry to start line. The conditions were good for the first half of the swim and I felt comfortable swimming in the top 1/2 of the group. After that, though, conditions took a turn for the worse with the wind picking up and the tide growing stronger. The lead swimmers exited the water in 59 mins and I exited in 1hr 35mins. Conditions continued to deteriorate, support kayaks capsized and 23 swimmers had to be plucked from the water after 3hrs!

Transition 1

In Norwegian triathlons full nudity is allowed in transitions. When I heard about this ‘opportunity’ I thought OMG no way, but the thought of doing a 200k bike leg in my trisuit was enough for me to do the Full Monty. Kids weren’t happy, but there wasn’t much to see! 

Bike - 200k in 7:40hrs

I used my carbon road bike with clip on aero bars and a 53-38 28-12 gearing. Even Tim DeBoom (IM 2001-02 World Champ and NXTRI 2011 winner) used a Felt road bike with clip-ons.

Fuelling the bike is always a challenge. I drank 0.75 litres of water with 1.5 nuun tablets 

 every hour and consumed 400 Cal every hour - 2 Torq gels plus bars 

. Water was in a Speedfill container on the frame and a bottle behind the seat. Gels were taped to the frame and food in bag behind the stem.

The scenery on the bike route is just stunning and the road surface much better than our local roads.

The first 20k of the bike leg up to Eidfjord was fairly flat, but then started to climb to 1200m. The route to the 60k checkpoint at Dyranut took us through a beautiful valley and followed a old road, which meant there wasn’t any traffic for about 20k. However, the weather was wet and cold, which I didn’t dress properly for.

At Dyranut my support gave me some warm clothing and water. The next leg to Geilo took us through the Hardangervidda national park and past the Hardanger glacier. This 60k section also had lots of amazing scenery, was much flatter and the weather started to improve. A bonus was a 10k descent into the ski resort at Geilo and Checkpoint 2 (120k).

More water and a banana (the appeal of energy bars was wearing off) and I was off on the next 40k section. This smaller section had three small 200m climbs each up to a ski resort. The descent down to checkpoint 3 (160k) was 10k, but much faster. 

Fuss found a shop at checkpoint 3 and cleared them out of melon, bananas and tomatoes - at this point I was craving something natural and juicy.

From Checkpoint 3 I was straight into a 600m climb up to Imingfjell and the final 40k. Coming off the top of the climb and into the final 30k descent through a most beautiful valley I had to be careful not to spend too long gazing at the scenery. This final stretch to T2 (200k) gave my legs a rest and a chance to take on a bit more food. However at this point my gut was complaining and I really couldn’t eat much other than bananas or very small amounts of other stuff.

Transition 2

My time from T1 to T2 was roughly 7:40hrs which put me in the top 120 

. I couldn’t quite believe my position, so took 5 mins in T2 to apply a bit of cream (200k in the saddle takes its toll) and set myself up for the run.

Something else that I couldn’t quite believe was the change in weather. The sky was now clear and the sun was really quite hot. I needed to take some water with me so opted for my Inov-8 bum bag with hydration system. This was great, but I’d chosen this as my mountain bag, so had to empty the rest of the contents.

Run - 2.5hrs to 25k

The run route consisted of a flat 24k run around a fjord and then a 1800m climb over the final 18k. My strategy for the run was a steady 12kph over the first 24k, then walk the majority of the last 18k. I’d eat bananas, a gel if I could stomach it and sips of water (with nuun tablets). This worked well for the first 6k and I moved past a few athletes, although time running in direct sunlight was hard. At 6k my gut started to really complain and I had to do a Paula Radcliffe. Luckily Fuss was nearby and threw me some toilet paper. I sprinted for cover at the side of the road and ...... enough said.

At 10k I took a banana and ate it very slowly over the next 8k. The heat was getting to me and by 16k I needed to throw a bowl of water over my head.

The stretch from 16k to 24k was very difficult and ultimately contributed to the DNF. Fuss stopped more frequently, probably every 2k to hand me water, which I threw over my head. Gradually my gut was hurting more and more and at 24k I had to walk for a few 100m’s.

By this time I was at the bottom of locally named Zombie Hill and the start of the 1800m climb up to Gaustatoppen.  Although in 140-ish place (first 170 got a Black T-Shirt) my gut was cold and I felt terrible. 

Fuss was parked at the side of the road and talking to another athletes wife. Understandably she didn’t feel comfortable driving the motorhome 

 up the very steep and narrow switchbacks, which made up Z Hill. This meant I had to think of a way of getting me, food, water, mountain bag and a support crew member up to the top. Another athletes wife offered to carry my stuff, but her priority was her husband and I couldn’t rely on this.

Just to explain a few more of the NXTRI rules - all athletes must enter the mountain (37.5km to 42km) with a bag containing a mandatory list of things - warm clothing etc. Also, every athlete must be escorted up the mountain by a member of their support crew.

After what was probably 5 mins of going through options Fuss agreed to give it a go, but probably wouldn’t be able to stop on route. I ran on for 300m, but quickly came to the conclusion that I couldn’t continue. The following things were racing through my head and all pointed to it being too risky and painful:

• My gut very cold and complaining and I couldn’t eat without feeling very sick
• I emptied my mountain bag at T2 and wasn’t sure that I had everything or that it could be put back together later?
• The prospect of no support on Z Hill worried me
• I wasn’t sure I was going to have a mountain bag and support from 37.5k to the top.
• Carrying all my mountain stuff the full 1800m wasn’t appealing especially if I couldn’t guarantee support being at 37.5k

Even though a member of the NXTRI team pulled up in a car a little later and offered to escort me up, I declined as I had made the decision to pull out and it seemed all too difficult to start again.

I became very cold and had to take my wet clothes off and climb into bed. It took me over 2 hours to warm up and to even contemplate eating something.

BUT...........I’ll be back next year for the NXTRI 10th anniversary.

Lessons Learnt

So, when attempting the Norseman Extreme Triathlon I’d do these things differently

1. Your support crew are very important and you can’t complete the NXTRI without them. They should understand the needs of a long distance triathlete together with the emotional peaks and troughs the athlete goes through. If you take family members make sure they understand what’s going to happen, what you’ll need and when and ideally take someone who’s ‘been there before’.

2. Driving for 48 hrs and losing a full nights sleep 3 days before NXTRI isn’t a good idea. How much this contributed to me feeling terrible at 24k I don’t know, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Next time we’ll fly into Oslo, hire a car and drive to Eidfjord. The homeward journey to Oslo is also much shorter.  The time taken to prepare for the journey and the journey itself was also training time lost.  My only significant race week training was the 3.8k swim at Vobster on Saturday 30th July.

3. Not sure if just drinking water and nuun tablets was a good idea. Probably should use a carb drink in the Speedfill bottle next time, with a small bottle of water in the seat cage. 

4. My choice of energy bars wasn’t great and I should find something that isn’t so sweet as I’m sure this contributed to me feeling sick. I also didn’t have any suitable caffeine stuff to give me a lift at the low points in the run.

5. Over the first 60k I pressed on in the cold wet weather and should have stopped to put on the waterproof jacket I was carrying in one of my seat bottle cages. How much energy I used keeping my core warm I’ll never know, but it didn’t help later in the day. 

6. Did I push too hard on the bike? I probably did over the first 60k, which is why I didn’t think to stop to put on my waterproof. Why didn’t I take on board the stuff I’d been reading over the last six months??

7. Shouldn’t have emptied my mountain bag to provide something to carry water in. This contributed to my confused state of mind at 24k and worries about how I was going to get onto the mountain. Next time I’ll take a separate hydration bag and a dedicated mountain bag, which won’t be opened until 37.5k

8. I didn’t take anything to settle my stomach, which was a big mistake. Next time I’ll take some stuff that calms complaining stomachs effectively and quickly.

9. Throwing cold water over my body and stomach between 16k and 24k contributed to the pain, cramps and general feeling of sickness. Next time I’ll maybe sponge some cold water onto my head, but that’s about it.

10. Don’t use a motorhome as your support vehicle unless your driver is confident with driving on steep mountain roads in a big vehicle. Some of the roads are very small and there’s very little opportunity to turn on the road at Gaustatoppen.