Trained for about 3 months. Started seriously about the beginning of July. How did I train? Well, more swimming and cycling than running. Swam between 6000 and 9000 meters a week, cycled about 300 km a week and ran about 6 hours a week. It wasn't so hard to do the mileage as I had only recently completed our triathlon circuit including 2 B-triathlons, a marathon, 2 half-marathons and some Olympic distances and sprints.

Ibiza is one of the Baleares Islands, a group of some five islands off the Spanish Mediterranean coast. We arrived 2 days before the event and checked out the bike course, 3 times round a 60km circuit. It was relatively flat with one significant 5km or so hill. Very picturesque, along the route you could spot the blue water of bays down below (well, I had time for that).

The run was in the town, and along the coast, 4 times a 10k circuit. The swim: twice around an island. The water temperature was around 26º but they still allowed us to wear the neoprene suits. We were a group of 5 women and 4 guys from my club (Club Natacio Sabadell) of which I've been a member since 1997.

It was the first ironman for two of us, Veronica's (one of the few Spanish women that compete on the international circuit)11th and 4th for the year. We tried out our bikes 2 days before the race. I had some problems changing plates so we had to get that checked at a bike shop. "Talk about stress before a race". The last thing I needed was bike problems. Anyway, that's another story. So the days before were spent lazing around the hotel, a little swimming, some of us, but mostly eating. The buffet at the hotel was good with great variety so we stuffed ourselves daily.

The hotel was right on the beach where we started the swim so no last minute worries about "you know what!". The weather was good and even cloudy on the day. Veronica and I got up at 4:30, had breakfast (the buffet was opened early for us), slept again till about 6 then took our stuff to the boxes. I wasn't 100 per cent well as I had a cold and had been coughing for about a week before. With the tension/nervousness/excitement, I wasn't feeling at my best. The start of the race was really unique. It was 7:30 and you could barely make out the island we had to swim around. It was a strange feeling swimming in the dark until the sun came out about 30 min later. The water was warm and clear and very shallow at parts. You could make out the fish swimming below (I had time for that too). My swim went as planned, did 1:24 as the plan was to not rush it, being my first attempt at the distance. At least there were people behind me! Felt ok coming out the water and took my time changing. I was not pleased with how I did the bike part. Had hoped to do 7:30 but did 8:00. Lost time on the up-hills but again I was more worried about not finishing than not doing any specific time. Just tried to maintain a constant rhythm. The other thing was the wind factor, which everyone complained about after, especially those finishing lower down on the list since it was more windy later on in the afternoon. The feeding stations were well organized, I ate every 30 minutes or so and mostly my stuff (energy bars and gels) as well as their bananas, dried fruit... and I drank a lot. The route was not closed to traffic so it was dangerous. After 8 hours on the bike I had had enough and was actually looking forward to running, no lie. Again, took my time changing, even had time to hear the announcer saying something about ....Lisa Cockburn from Trinidad and Tobago....

The run. Well, the truth is I felt good the first 2 rounds and great the 3rd but the fourth was hard, ran on pure mental energy. But I promised myself that I would not walk, what helped me pass quite a few others (men). A circuit of 4 rounds is just too tedious. There was little crowd support other than within 1 km of the finish which didn't make it any easier. And what a feeling running in the dark with the chemical light tube things glowing like beacons. There were parts near the turnaround point where there were no street lights. For the women, the police on motor bikes accompanied us then.

But I finished and what a feeling finishing at 10:00 at night. 14:30 hours non-stop. 183 started, 32 dropped out. I finished 8th out of 11 women, 2nd in the female veteran category and we won the women's team prize. I won $1800 TTD. The winner of my category finished one hour before me. It wasn't her first race of this distance.

So once done, I relaxed while I got a massage (the Compex electrode massage...), met the others (Veronica had finished some 3 hours before me), ate a little, talked a lot, then up to my room.

The following day I felt really good, better than expected. And what a feeling of accomplishment. We went to the prize giving ceremony had lunch then to the airport to wait for our delayed flight. My recuperation was phenomenal.

Having done the training and finished the race, which was the objective, I can safely say that it's not as hard as it looks. Although I have a hard time convincing people of it. The hardest thing would be finding the time to train. I was lucky in that sense since I was in between jobs and had time on my hands. Now, having started training for my next ironman in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands May 25, the situation is very different. I get off work at 6 and don't get home till 10:30-11:00 almost every night so now it's much more stressful, mentally and physically. But I like both the training and the competition and that is what makes it all worth while. I'll be running the Barcelona marathon on March 24 as training and maybe a duathlon/triathlon before the race. The duathlon season has already started but I find them very hard and I don't really have a good time. I did my first triathlon blanco as it's called here (cross country running, mt. Biking and cross country skiing). It was my first race on a mt. bike and only 3rd time skiing so needless to say I did it just to finish. And finish I did. The hardest part was the bike, 16kms of pure uphill, to the ski station.

So, I would encourage anyone who has a sound base of experience in an endurance-type sport to try the distance, with the appropriate training program. However, it does take a lot of patience, selfwill and a positive outlook to get to the starting line too.