iLumen Bilzen Triathlon 111, Belgium, 17 May 2026

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Preparation


First race of the season, so didn't know what to expect form wise. I was confident in my swim, as it's only 1000m, unsure about my bike level and was pretty sure the run was going to be hard as due to injuries I had to really manage the run load so far. Target for this race was to have a controlled swim, try to keep power around 250-260W on the bike and see how it goes on the run. Swim, bike and run course changed compared to the previous years, so not a real one to one comparison.

Location


Registration, swim, T1/T2 and finish line are all located near the "Kanaalbar" in Bilzen along the canal. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy. The swim is a one loop setup in the canal, the bike course was a relatively flat 4 loop setup and the run course was a flat 3 loop setup. 

Swim 0:17:12 (AG-11/84)

  • Due to the cold weather and it being the first race of the season I wanted to take it really slow in the beginning and take my time to get into things. Jumping into the water it actually wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, first time I wore 2 swim caps to isolate against the cold water, did the trick perfectly and didn't felt uncomfortable. I kept it relaxed and gradually increased the pace. After a while I found some good feet to sit on, but lost the in traffic. A while later I found those feet again and just stayed with them relaxed till the swim exit. Unlike other swims this one felt really short and I rather had a feeling like "ow its already over" vs. "finally the swim is over"! Looking at the gps map I swam pretty much straight on the course, so only positives for the swim.
  • Comparison - swim direction was opposite as last 2 years if I recall correct:
    • 2024: 0:17:11 (1:43/100m)
    • 2025: 0:18:59 (1:53/100m)
    • 2026: 0:17:12 (1:43/100m)

T1 0:03:41 (AG-14/84)

  • The hardest thing in T1 was pulling myself out of the water. Due to the cold and rainy weather I opted to take the time to put on an extra cycling jersey on top of my tri suit. And I had some cycling gloves in the back pocket just in case. 

Bike 2:47:13 (AG-11/84)

  • Instead of the 3 loop setup of the past years they opted to go with a 4 loop setup this time, which had less kilometers along the canal, so I was expecting it to be a bit slower compared to the previous years. 
  • I was really happy that I took the time in T1 to put that extra cycling jersey on because it was pretty cold on the bike. After the first lap I took the gloves out of my back pocket and my hands were very thankful for that as they were already feeling cold and stiff by then. The forst half of the first lap I was fighting with my watch as it was not showing the data screen that I was expecting and I couldn't find my heart rate on the watch, nor was it broadcasting it to my wahoo bike computer. After a while I just stopped worrying about it and went on with my race, afterwards it looked like during the swim I had selected open water swim instead of multisport, then I stopped the activity and restarted again an open water swim instead of a bike activity, anyway something to pay attention to next race.
  • Power wise I was able to lay down the power I was aiming for, limiting it to around 250-260W on the straights and during the climbs trying to keep it controlled below 330W. Nutrition wise it was hard to get all the fluids in with the cold, really had to force my self to keep on drinking. Per 33k I had around 40 grams of carbs in my drink mix (750ml + half a hydro tab) plus 1 - 50g gel resolved in water. Looks like this fueling strategy worked well as I was still able to push out the wattage during the last lap.
  • I lapped every +-33k to be able to see the power stats after the race, they are relatively steady over the entire race.
  • Comparison - almost identical to last year's numbers:
    • 2024: 2:31:44, 46th, 39.2km/h, NP 268W, 35/194
    • 2025: 2:30:00, 36th, 40.0km/h, NP 268W, 36/244
    • 2026: 2:47:13, 11th, 36,7km/h, NP 253W, 11/84

T2 0:01:57 (AG-7/84)

  • Totally forgot to take of my cycling jersey in T2, prob should have done that to keep my temperature a little lower during the run. 

Run 0:48:27 (AG-54/84)

  • Almost immediately out of T2 I was starting to have stitches left and right just below the rib cage. I tried to ignore them as long as I could but after around 1 k I really had to walk because I couldn't bare the pain anymore. I tried to start jogging again a few times but every time the pain came back pretty fast and I was forced to walk again. Around 2 k in I finally managed to get running/jogging again although I had to keep it in check as the stitches still took a while to fade out. My quads were starting to cramp up so I took 1 salt cap to counter that which worked well, after the first lap I took 1 gel as well just in case I needed it. Only the last 500m I felt comfortable enough that I could increase the pace and still make it to the finish line. Heart rate during the whole run was way higher compared to where I would expect it to be at these kind of paces. Best guess at this point for the root cause of the stitches was that I'm no longer used to being hunched over in TT position for this extended period of time, I should take the last few k's to sit up a little and control my breathing, as during the run I felt like I was unable to get any deep breaths in.
  • Comparison
    • 2024: 0:42:25 - 4:13/k - 71/194
    • 2025: 0:44:29 - 4:20/k - 102/244
    • 2026: 0:48:27 - 4:50/k - 54/84

Overall 3:58:32 (AG-16/84)

  • Happy with my swim and bike, not happy with how the run went, felt like I still don't know now how my run shape is due to the stitches basically blocking me from running free coming out of T2. But happy that I pushed through and didn't step out after lap 1 on the run, and mostly that I managed to finish injury free.
  • Comparison
    • 2024: 3:37:49 - 40/194
    • 2025: 3:37:40 - 49/244
    • 2026: 3:58:32 - 16/84

Some lessons learned

  • Wearing double swim caps during cold water swims do work.
  • During cold weather days, adding an extra cycling shirt on the bike works as well, put cycling gloves in the back pocket to have that option available as well.
  • Nutrition strategy of resolving 50g gels into water works.
  • Ever with hydro tabs take the salt caps on the bike in case you feel cramps coming up.
  • The last few k on the bike, take the time to sit up a little, control your breathing and prep for the run. 

Result

  • Swim  0:17:12
  • T1       0:03:41
  • Bike    2:47:13
  • T2       0:01:57
  • Run     0:48:27
  • Total   3:58:32


Tags: iLumen Bilzen Triathlon 111 race report, race report iLumen Bilzen Triathlon 111, Triathlon iLumen Bilzen Triathlon 111 race report


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