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Watching the two meters high waves crushing into the shore, I realized my first race in 1,5 years could be a difficult one. The bike course had been changed as well – instead of the familiar, flat route along the coast, the bike course consisted of one 90 km lap in a beautiful, but hilly natural park near Calella.

The season before had been spoiled by a stress fracture in my heel bone, and my winter training had been punctuated by difficulties and small setbacks. I was especially unsure of my running, not even having been able to run a single road race.

Of course, I chose to make my comeback in a half ironman race. Accept no less. I chose a familiar race, the Barcelona Half-Challenge in Calella, a bit north of Barcelona. There were more participants than ever before, since it was simultaneously the European Championship race. Consequently, the organizers had a really hard time keeping their time schedules – I had to stand in queue more than one hour in order to get my race kit.

Come race morning, the wind had calmed down, but the waves were still killer size. As is the practice in the Challenge Family events, the start happened in start waves of approximately 300 participants. As the start signal was fired, I run into the water – only to be thrown backwards a couple of meters by the first wave. It was a battle to get to the first buoy, but then, further out to the sea, swimming parallel to the shore, it was a bit easier.

Another surprise for me was how cold the water was. I was struck by the familiar ice cream headache immediately when I started swimming, and by the time I got within sighting distance of the transition area my fingers and toes were all numb. I would guess around +15 degrees – I never realized the Mediterranean could be that cold.

I finished the 1,9K swim in 37,21, which is horribly slow even for me. In order to further complicate issues, my fingers were so numb and weak it took me minutes to get my wet suit pulled over my ankles.

Shivering, I went out as hard as I could on the bike in order to get warm. I overtook dozens of competitors, which is not unusual.

The climbing started early, and there were three hard climbs. One of them reached 700 meters, the two other climbs were merely 500 meters. I had no option but to be humble and rely on the small chain ring.

Moreover, the descents were really nasty. Not dangerous or fast, just technical and slow. They weren't the usual type of serpentines you will find in the mountains, where you can accelerate, brake, and accelerate again. Rather, the road was circling it's way down, never allowing you to get your speed up. Also, because of the long, slow descents, I was never really able to get warm.

I didn't fancy the bike course very much. Maybe someone found satisfaction in the beautiful forests and the silent roads, but for me, I felt this particular type of terrain doesn't suit me. I wasn't able to get into a good rhytm, which is also proven by my heart rate – i finished the bike leg with an average heart rate of 133.

My bike split time was a ridiculous 2.53,01, which is not at all comparable to the 2.22 bike split I had back in 2011 on the old bike course in Calella. On the positive side of things, I had saved a lot of energy for the 21K run.

I felt fresh at the start of the run leg, and felt comfortable with a pace around 4.55 min/km. The first 10K lap went smoothly, but somehow I knew the shortcomings in my run training would catch up with me. During the last 10K, i managed to keep the pace, but I got a lot of pains and cramping in my legs.

I finished in a very mediocre time of 5.26,10, which would be the slowest half ironman I have ever done. But times are not comparable, since the circumstances were very different to any race I have done before.

All in all, it was a decent return to competition and a good drill for things to come. More than anything, a good workout.