BEYOND THE SURFACE

Listening When Everything Starts to Go Wrong

The day before the race felt… right.

Saturday was light. Just an activation session, enough to wake the body up without stressing it. The legs responded well, surprisingly well considering it had only been a week since completing the Ironman 70.3 in Valencia. There was no heaviness. No real signs of fatigue. Just that quiet sense that things were in place.

We’re ready.

And for once, my body didn’t argue.

The Race Begins

The first kilometres felt exactly how you want them to feel. Controlled. Comfortable. Almost too easy. Madrid hadn’t started asking questions yet.

But somewhere around KM 3, something small happened. I had to make an early toilet stop. It didn’t make much sense — I had already gone before the start — but I brushed it off and kept moving, trying to settle into the rhythm of the race.

Then it happened again, around KM 6. And again, close to KM 8. That’s when it stopped being random. That’s when the conversation began.

The First Signs

This isn’t normal.

Water was going in, but nothing was staying.

Water in, water out… what’s going on?
Are we missing something? Did we start wrong?

There were no answers. Only signals. Around KM 9, the quadriceps joined the conversation. A tension appeared that didn’t belong there so early. It wasn’t fatigue, and it wasn’t effort. It was something else.

Too early for this.
We’re missing something.

I didn’t wait. I took sodium. Pause.

Let’s see if this stabilises things.

Nothing changed.

When It Gets Real

By KM 14, the discomfort had turned into pain. Now it was clear. This wasn’t going to be a normal race. And for the first time, the thought appeared.

This might not end well.

I answered the only way I could. More sodium. Pause. Then a gel.

Take it. Give the body something.
Whatever it needs, we give it.

But the questions were still there.

Is it sodium? Magnesium? Something else?
Why aren’t we holding anything?

No certainty. Just decisions.

A New Goal and The Cost

By the time I reached KM 21, halfway, the plan had already changed. It was no longer about the finish line.

If we get to KM 30… we’re still in this.

That became the only objective. And somewhere along the way, something shifted. Not suddenly. But subtly. At the next stop, something was different.

Wait… That’s not clear anymore. Are we finally holding something? Did we start dehydrated from the beginning?

No clear answer. But enough to keep going. We reached KM 30. Still moving. Still in it. But that fragile balance had a cost. After more than twenty kilometres adjusting, protecting, compensating… the load started to move elsewhere. Around KM 32, the adductors spoke. Then the glute med. Tight. Heavy. Overloaded.

Of course… We’ve been protecting the quads all this time. This is the price.

No panic. Just awareness.

The Final Layer

Around KM 35, the knee joined. Sharp. Clear. Unavoidable.

That’s the tendon. Inflamed.

Pause.

This is going to hurt later.

And in that moment, there was no negotiation left. Only a decision.

We’re finishing this.

From that point on, something changed. Silence. The conversation stopped. Not because everything was fine. But because everything had already been said. I had listened.I had adjusted. I had taken sodium — again, and again. Pause. Then gel. Giving the body everything I had. And in return… It gave me just enough.

From KM 35 to KM 40, there were no more questions. Just movement. Just rhythm. By KM 41, there was nothing left to analyse. And when KM 42 appeared…There was only one thing left to do.

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42.195

The Real Lesson

This race wasn’t about performance. It wasn’t about pace. It wasn’t even about the result. It was about something much more fundamental. Listening. Because your body always speaks. At first, it whispers. Then it insists. And eventually, it forces you to pay attention. The difference is not whether things go wrong.

They will.

The difference is whether you are able to stay in that conversation long enough to respond.

From a Coaching Perspective

From a coaching perspective, this is where endurance sport becomes something much deeper than physical performance. Because what happened in this race is not exceptional. It is simply exposed. In sport, the signals are clearer, the feedback is immediate, and the consequences are tangible. But the process itself is the same one we experience in everyday life.

Something doesn’t go as planned. The body — or the mind — sends signals. Discomfort appears. Uncertainty follows. And in that moment, we have a choice. To ignore. To react impulsively. Or to listen. Listening does not mean having all the answers. It means staying present long enough to understand what is happening, managing the emotional response, and making the best possible decision with the information available.

That is self-leadership. That is emotional regulation. And that is what ultimately allows us to move forward, even when conditions are not ideal. Because performance — in sport and in life — is not built on perfect scenarios. It is built on the ability to adapt when things are not.

A Final Reflection

There will be moments where your body and your mind don’t agree. Where things don’t go as planned. Where the conversation becomes tense. The question is not how to avoid it. The question is:

Will you listen?

And when you do…

Will you know how to respond?