Somewhere in the middle of the way back, after about 20 kilometers - we meet passenger ships (we can think of boats like buses on water) and near the island of San Giulio, there is a large bay on the left near where there are a lot of waves and currents like I haven't seen before that swim; we practically move everywhere.
I grit my teeth, close myself even more in my thoughts, and follow the direction chosen by Fitz.
After crossing the island I will take only 4 important lessons:
- the point of arrival, although visible, is not as close as it seems. The better it is signaled, the further away it is when I see it. Specifically, here - what do you think? it is about 3 kilometers away; and from this distance, about an hour - it's a bit too early to get excited, like I did.
- We move on to lesson 2, which I still can't master properly - if the end is near, I don't have to start refusing food
The nutrition plan is made, when you have a clear mind, to stick to it - not to adjust it when your brain is jammed, after the effort.
Those who were with me on later swims will recognize this behavior, of mine (ex the adventure on the Danube, from 2021)
- lesson 3: keep my pace, not the others.
As we approached the finish line, I had the following thought about the ranking: I'm clearly not the first, but I'm certainly not the last. If I were 3rd now and I was overtaken, I would finish in 4th place - worth it anyway, but isn't it a shame for the effort made?
With our separate marathon swimming results, we keep an eye on the skins/ non-neoprene swimmers in front and behind.
Of course, I begin to see an athlete behind me (without neoprene).
And the race to the finish begins. I could not understand how this athlete appeared and where he got these fantastic reserves, to recover more than 300m in 3 kilometers (after all 27).