Five full distance races in one year, and three of them in that classifies as extreme. The last four was scheduled within a period of just 8 weeks. Was the plan too ambitious? Was it too much?

My opinion is no. Would I give myself better chance of success tomorrow without doing Lofoten Triathlon and Challenge Almere between it? Most likely yes. Still, looking at it in retrospect I would not have changed anything. While having two full distances close to another seldom gives the best performance on the later one, there are plenty of people who have excelled, even only one week between. Where is my limit? How much can my body tolerate? It is only one way to find out.

I arrived in Oslo on Wednesday after working nightshift. From 18:30 until 07:00, for seven days straight. Not the perfect build-up for sure. To be honest, it sucks, even if the work itself is quit interesting. Something has to pay the mortgage, the food and the air plain tickets. I am lucky enough to be able to work part time (even if my salary of course is reduced equally). Going in to a race with on week nightshift in the sack, is far superior then doing it with two weeks, like I did before Norseman 2014.

Tomorrow is going to be a glorious day! I am looking forward to one last mega effort of the season. While I must admit that my thoughts lately have been on everything I am looking forward to do after my season finishes, I believe I can gather my force and mental focus to give it my all tomorrow.

The goal is identical to Challenge Almere, with a finishing time of sub 8:24, and Norwegian Ironman record. That of course means I also have to beat Lars Christian Vold, Marius Elvdal and all the other Norwegians at the start line. The course was super fast last year, but they changed the bike course and added a small mountain, that has to be ridden twice. How big the negative effects of that hill will be shown tomorrow, but hopefully it would still be fast. At least for me as a Norwegian, the weather forecast looks a lot more promising than in Almere, where I suffered in the heat.

59 min swim 1:05 with a non-wetsuit swim, 4:30 bike and 2:50 on the run. That is what I am aiming for! Wish me and the others luck and follow us on Ironman Live.