Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg was hot 🔥

+35 C heat develops a love for cold snowy winter. I never thought so much about diving into an ice hole. By the way, self-talk helps relieve the heat.

I needed to be flexible and prepared in terms of eating strategy (actually, drinking one): eat less, drink more. Throughout the distance, I drank 3–3.5 liters of water, 500 ml of Coke and 500 ml of Red Bull, 500 ml of liquid based on Oralpädon (Natrium, Kalium, Chloride, and Citrate). I ate half a banana and 2 SiS cookies on the bike. No hard food for me on the run — even Maurten gel is a bad idea. There is almost no blood in the stomach, I can only digest the easiest sugar and caffein — Coke and Red Bull are perfect.

Fuel up in advance with salts — I started drinking Oralpädon about 5 days before the race and continued on the race day. Without it I would have got guaranteed cramps in my adductors and calves by the middle of the bike stage.

What are the most anticipated questions for 90% of 3000 participants? Is it a wetsuit or non-wetsuit swim.. This time water temperature was 26C and no wetsuits were allowed (>24C). Sorry, guys! But I’m rather optimistic — it’s the only opportunity to cool down during the race.

90 km on the bike with hot air, like from a hair dryer. The race is flat and fast first 30 km, followed by 60 km of endless medium to small hills. My plan was to limit power by 280–300 watts on climbs and spin at least 200 watts on the descents. As life shows, descents are ideal for attacks on average triathlete.

Running a half marathon along the hot embankment is a special chic. Yury, our CTO, helped a lot with his funny and motivational words: “Move on! Run faster! It’s just 20 km to go!”, and “Great pace ! After the turn, you can add a little bit! ”,“Great job! Push harder to the finish line! ” Apparently, from his side, it seemed like I had a lot of hidden energy 🔥

5 min ice shower and a massage were by far the most pleasant moments after the finish line. Followed by receiving the medal🥇

My result this time was 4 hours 43 minutes which is 40 min faster than 5 hours 23 minutes in 2014. And that’s truly The OMY! Sports Effect 😎

Oleg, OMY! Sports CEO