It's been a long time since we've heard from Keeto. After his inspiring Sub-11 South African Ironman and a few local UK races, it's all been quiet on the Keeto-front. Word has it that he took time off to give back to the sport by setting up track sessions for SAUK Tri (London's friendliest triathlon club). Others discussed rumours that his training had gone "underground" to rekindle the fire and find the holy grail that is Speed.

So after many doc consultations, and being told numerous different theories, a hole in my gut was diagnosed. "No more Ironman's unfortunately, as your body will shut down at 4.5hrs" were the words uttered to me by the doctor. Great, now considering the Ironman World record is 7h51...unless I was going to go down the road and ingest whatever Ulrich/Basso were taking, I was never going to finish an Ironman in under 4.5hrs !!

Next best thing: use myself as a guinea pig and see if the doc was telling the truth. 6 weeks after Eton supersprints, 5kgs heavier with no structured training, I headed to Antwerp for a half-ironman. It is a race to raise awareness on behalf of Marc Herremans (To Walk Again Foundation) It was also another Florida qualifier for those chasing slots. You could enter on the day and it was still only €100 ! Bargain. Put it in your diary for next year, highly recommended.

Eurostar across, hotel on Sat night. Register Sunday morning, with race starting at 12h00 (yip, midday start). Forecast of temperature, 34 degrees.

I had no idea how my body was going to react after 6 weeks of lying idle. So took along a supporter just in case something happened. There were some big names in the Pro field, AJ Johns, Spencer Smith, Norman Stadler et al. The gun sounded for the start of the swim, and I just cruised along at the back with not a worry in the world, get out alive and make the finish line, that was my goal.

On exiting the water, swim time 28mins,...no way.....must have been short. I was expecting 35mins. Long run into transition and this was where I really felt the heat. It was 12h30 and 35degrees. Got my bike and off I went for the 90km Sunday ride. I knew the course was going to be flattish, so 'nice and easy' was the order of the day. I took a sip of my drink (forgot my Cytomax, and with no sports shops open in Antwerp, had to make do with orange squash !), it was boiling hot. Only 2 aid stations on bike, one at 45km another at 65km. The first 7km takes in some customary cobblestones, they were more like bricks !! Guys were bending wheels and puncturing every 100m. I saw guys bunnyhopping pavements so they missed the cobblestones ! Bottles lay strewn all over the place after having dropped out of cages. I lost mine aswell. Once out of town, the roads were flat and open, although we did have to do 2 laps out in the farm area. Legs felt ok, wasn't hammering it and the time seemed to fly by.

On my way back into town to once again face the death trap of the cobblestones, I saw a TriDubai tri suit up ahead. Only one person has that suit here..... Hawaii IM champion Normann Stadler! My heart sunk.....I started cursing myself....."Keet you dumb nobber, you have done a lap short out in the farm area". How else do you explain catching Normann Stadler. As I got closer and rode up next to him, I glanced over and it was indeed him. I asked if he was OK, and he said he had punctured 3 times. OK...so does that mean I have done the correct distance, looked at odometer, 79km. mmmm and off I went.

Then after the cobblestones, all of a sudden we were in T2, which was right in the middle of the city town centre (think Leicester Sq in Ldn). That wasn't 90km I thought to myself, 2h19mins !! Never. Anyway, by now I was parched and knew I was dehydrated. Quick change, and out onto the 5 lap run course. Holy crap was it hot ! My shoes were on fire. The support was amazing. Laps 1& 2 went by without much fuss, but by lap 3, I was in dire straights....the doc was right....body was shutting down at about 4hrs. Stopping at every aid station for sponges and water, I vowed never to try and prove a doctor wrong again. Can't remember the last two laps, other than I was on Belgium TV when Marc Herremans came past me with 3 TV camera's following him.

After what felt like an eternity, I reached the last 500m, and into the town square. I hadn't looked at my watch all during the run, but when I crossed the line the time said 4hrs 34mins. The run was 21km, but the swim and bike were short. 1h40 run, not great, but hey, after 6wks off and in the heat, I'll take that !! The time was good enough for a slot to Florida, but having already qualified at Longleat, it rolled down and made some other person very happy.

So, did I get what I wanted from the race??

• Used as training day - yes
• Was the doc right - yes
• Did I learn anything - yes, lots of work to do before Florida

This weekend I am to BeaverMan Half-Ironman to see if I can go past race longer than 5hrs. Watch this space.

Happy training
Keeto