Column: What I learned about goals at the toughest triathlon in the world

The words greet the athletes long before the competition begins. In newsletters, on the website, in the Race Manual, it lists all the peculiarities of the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon between Eidjford and Gaustatoppen: "You are not prepared." Most of the approximately 250 participants annually think about preparing for the race, which consists of 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and a 42 km run.

It's different when it comes to swimming in cold, sometimes even icy water, cycling on Europe's largest high plateau, or finishing the marathon from the start at sea level to the 1800-meter-high Gaustatoppen. In the worst case, at sub-zero temperatures. What most people say about the world's most extreme triathlon is rarely mentioned: what athletes experience afterward, they are rarely prepared for.

There are five lessons I internalized for life after three participations in 2018, 2024, and 2026. Everyone can do it. Not everyone wants to. When those who practice long-distance triathlon and discuss it, they often hear: "I couldn't do that." It is usually said in relation to the swimming, whether in fresh water or the brackish water of the Hardangerfjord.