IM France

During the 1980s the Nice Long Distance triathlon (Swim 4 km, Bike 120 km, Run 30 km) was, alongside the World Championships in Kona, one of the two important races each year with prize money and media attention – Wiki

This is why I have always wanted to race Nice.  Last month I packed up my bike and headed over to Nice – a course that I have been watching since I was 12 on TV and on paper is ideal to my abilities; tough technical bike course with a flat run.  All set in the French Riviera.  The flight there is long, but flying in over the southern most edge of the French Alps as they meet the Mediterranean was spectacular.  Of course I was only able to sleep a few hours on the flight, I found the time change to be a bit of a challenge.  Upon landing I unpacked my bike, put my race wheels and gear into my BOB trailer and rode out to find my accommodation: the local youth hostel.

After this my task for the day was staying awake and adjusting to the local time.  For this task I headed back down to the massive, stony beach which the french flocked to like it was their job.

The following few days I checked out the swim, and run courses, and found that the only way I could preview the bike course was to get a press pass – which I was able to easily sign up for online.

The next few days I relaxed, slept, rode over to Monaco with my Editor, Kevin Mackinnon.

Pre-driving the bike course was great.  I got to meet a few journalists & photographers, as well as riding along with a French radio reporter.  The bike course looks great, no crazy climbing, lots of cool little ‘euro’ towns and twisty roads and a fun descent out of the Alps.

Check the bike in and move to a little hotel down town for the night before the race.

Race morning – up at 4am, eat my oatmeal, and head out towards the main public area and the race start.  This is always a really cool part of IM races, as more and more people come streaming out of small side streets joining the throng of Iron Warriors all migrating towards the swim start.  Surprisingly there are still a lot of locals still out on the streets, and they start chanting ‘IronMan, IronMan, IronMan…” as we swarm by.

The Race:

Swim:
My training in the water has been going really well over the past month and I was planning on coming out of the water in the top 20 – on the day I was never able to find my rhythm swimming.  Normally I am a person who races better than in training, but today wasn’t the one for it.

Bike:
Regardless of the event I am always happy to be on my specialized, and here more than ever.  Because of a slower swim there are throngs of people for me to blow-past, which is also fun, but I am careful to keep an eye on my watts.  During the race I was riding with 4 guys who were blatantly escheloning the entire time.  The only thing I hate more than triathletes drafting is doping, but that is harder to spot.  Needless to say deterred them a little, but at the out and back section of the course with around 50km to go I could see that within 10 minutes of me there were 2 packs of 20 and 30+ athletes coasting along.  Guess this is why I was the only one with aero wheels – they don’t matter when you aren’t in the wind.  I nailed the descent, putting a bunch of time on the dirty drafters, and having watched my wattage, rode strongly into town.  (one other note: as the roads were open there were athletes supporters driving cars on the course.  Also I passed several cars/ delivery vans etc on the descent with on coming traffic.  On one occasion a round about was full and I had to bunny-hop up onto the sidewalk to pass some vehicles there.  Considering that I, with 2500 others paid $680 cdn on entry closed roads would have been nice.)

Run:
It was nice to head out on the IM run start feeling so strong, and having to purposely hold back to maintain my desired pace.  Going through the first 8km was a breeze, but from there I started getting some cramping in my gut.  This got worse, until I though of vomiting, which brought temporarily relief.  The run/ pain/ vomit trio repeated itself 7-8 times.  When I saw the last of my oatmeal from 10h prior I was a little worried, but also happy because the cramping would then stop.  The next 5km were OK, but then I started getting dizzy.  When I lost feeling in my hands I checked into the Medical tent.  I knew that I was still in contention for my Kona slot, and figured if I could get in an IV (by-passing the troublesome stomach) I could still run back into my qualifying slot.  As the Swiss/Italian red cross girl told me, this is France, they had cots, water, and sugar packets.  She took my pulse 38bpm – 8 beats lower than I have ever measured in the morning, 2 minutes after I had been running, and confiscated my shoes.  So there I was, drinking sugar water, and waiting for my pulse/ bp to come up so I could finish the stupid race.

We had a heated discussion about my crying or not.  She won, so I didn’t.  Then she gave me the gummy bears from her lunch (40 calories) and 50 minutes of lying on a cot later my HR was up to 97 so I was given my shoes back.  With 7km to go I puked again, and just walked in to the finish.

Post Race:
Several of the people from the Youth Hostel had come out to watch me, but sadly I was in the tent at the time.  When I finally rode ‘home’ Reda (Belgium) and Fransisco (Peru) saw (but didn’t say until later) that I was a shadow of the person who had left, looked after putting my bike away, cooked me supper and put me to bed.

Thanks guys, that was Huge.

Debrief:

Obviously I was disappointed.  This race has cost me 12% of my inheritance, and it was an event that my dream goal was placing in the top 10 overall.  I still have not looked at the results, but more than 10 people passed me in the final 200m.

I know it’s a little cliche, but you do learn more about yourself following a race like this than when everything goes perfectly.

There was a few days where I was, ahem, somewhat grumpy.  Thanks especially to Jim, and Tracey for your e-mails.

I am now twice as motivated to have a great showing at IM Canada and pay back all my sponsors, team mates, and family there.

Nat

Random, somewhat relevant Footnote:

This last thing is a really interesting article on one of the most interesting, hard working and talented cyclists.  He’s the reason for most of the irrational and annoying rules that we have to conform to while time trialing today.  Working mans champion Graeme Obree.

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/interview-legendary-scottish-cyclist-graeme-obree-21919

If you are thinking of going to IM France:

I would bring a road bike with clip on bars with Hed Scorpio, or Ardenne wheels.  Something that will handle beautifully.  Your goal on the bike will be to make the best pack possible at the top of the hill.  From there conserve energy, and eat.  While drafting you will have lower heart rates which will allow you to digest your food.  Don’t forget to stretch and get ready for the run.  Keep your head up, get to the front for the descent, and then get back in the pack for the 20km run in to the bike finish.  Laugh at the 50-100 people who actually rode the bike.

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