My IM France
Guess my IM France began ages ago with a concerted few months of trying to convince Rob to come and do it with me. But he didn't So this weekend I flew out on my own, 'Billy No Mates'. Still you race on your own.
Nice is nice, just what you might expect in the South of France, hot, sunny, old ladies with dogs, people running/cycling inline skating along the prom. Did I say hot, I'll say it again. Nice is hot 35 degrees hot.
I stayed at the Etap about 1.2 miles along the prom towards the airport fom the start. Too far along really, it's cheaper, but you walk up and down the prom a lot.
Pasta party was OK, met a few people, got to ride the tram, but it was a repeat of the Briefing notes to a live French background music band, that I got sent a few weeks before. They did get Zamora the previous IM Fr winner up on stage, but I wouldn't rush across town to get to it.
Expo area was good for drooling over new gear and finding some shade/aircon.
Saturday, racked my bike and chatted to others in the queue, that's what is good about these events. There are all sorts of people. The guy next to me was from Patagonia en route to Mongolia via France to research wild flowers. I don't meet people like that every day!
Sunday started at 4am, eat something, anything, just eat it, so cold 'oats so simple, flapjack and energy bar', yuck, and off to the start. (Eye opener nbr 1). 4:30am Sunday morning and this end of Nice is full of 'ladies of the night', I just saw the green crossing man so ran across the road towards them. They just saw a man running towards them and instantly jumped up on duty. I don't get out much at 4:30am so it was an eye opener to me! But I digress, back to Ironman.
T1 is a huge place. I borrowed someone's pump. Poor chap. He was enjoying a kiss with his girlfriend when this small skinny old guy taps him on the shoulder asking if I could borrow his pump, and then he actually came over to help me read the dial, (I didn't have my glasses on).
Down to the swim. On the beach (stones) I chatted with a woman next to me, doing her first IM and I told her that the biff, in my experience of the 2 other IM's I had done, was not as bad as I expected. Whoops. This was the worse biff I have experienced. I did not get clear water all the way around, my technique was rubbish, my sighting was rubbish, I did not even see the 2nd and 3rd bouys. It was horrible and I was not in my happy place for the whole swim, in fact I was in a 'I'm never doing another Ironman place'. The water was calm, flat and clear. I'm just not convinced about the starting pens idea.
T1. It's a long run into/out of T1, got on the bike and blasted out along the Prom. Time to settle down, get some energy in and start riding. It's flat, the road surface is good. Out along the river valley, no problems, then a 90 degree left and there it is, 500m of struggling humanity, bikes zig sagging, people pushing bikes! Down into my low gears, stand up, breathe, pedal, breathe, pedal. How long is 500m? Still made it to the top, heartrate well up, but it came back down again. This next section through French villages, up and down is fairly normal, and the downhill sections give you a taste of what is to come. I flew on the downhill sections, on the outside shouting 'left' at everyone to make sure they did not pull out in front of me. Sooner or later I arrived at the 'Col whatever', maybe by now I had started along the road to 'my happy place', but it was still along way off. The road up to the Col goes on and on, and people say, 'only 7km to the top', but 7km takes about an hour. I had trained for this event on Boxhill in Surrey. My long ride was 6 hours and climbing Boxhill 12 times, but the Boxhill gradient is not steep enough. It's not out of the seat climbing and it's not that your heartrate skyrockets, it's just a steady grunt of a climb. The benefit is the downhill that's got to follow sometime.
Aid Stations. Not enough people manning them, I missed the energy drink a number of times, if there were more volunteers I think I would have managed to get some. It's hard to remember where the ups and downs were. There is another climb through the trees which is lovely. Then an out and back which is a very slight incline, then a shorter climb when I was left eating the dust from an M60 on a Cervelo P4. Then comes the downhill. I was finally getting close to my happy place. Time for a quick change of ego, out went the middle of the pack, dad and work slave, pop, in went the Lance Armstrong ego. It fitted well! I blasted down the downhills, into my top gear, crank it up, on the aerobars, and fly, overtook loads of people, hairpins, twists, turns woods, villages, lots of fast open, smooth road, I loved it. I had arrived in my happy place. Something like 30km of the best riding I have ever had, just me, my new Lance ego and Cervelo P2C (the best bike, I love my bike, I shall give it a good clean and kisses and a fresh cotton wool nest), (it's still in the bike box at the moment).
As you come down the temperature goes up and soon your back in the oven that is the river valley, except whilst you were away the headwind kicked in. All the way back to the airport into the headwind. Somewhere near the airport I ran into the back of a pack of riders. Hearing a motorbike I kept back, only to find it was some chap chatting to his mate on a bike coming down the outside. There was serious drafting going on here, not until the start of the prom did I get a space to pull out and go, or should I say, 'take my turn on the front'. Good ride along the Prom though.
T2, arrived into T2 with another Andrew, that I had traded places with a few times on the bike. We ran out together and he went on ahead.
The run (warning graphic information). My happy place was evaporating and the Miranda Carfrae ego I ordered had not arrived. First 5km was not good, stomache felt yuck from all the energy gels, 2nd 5km was better after drinking water instead of iso. Overtook Andrew again. It must have been on the 15-20km section I stopped for the toilet and had to queue. Not happy and lost 6 mins at least. That's where Andrew overtook me again. How come theres not more toilets? Is there a world shortage of Portaloos? Bugger. Then I got into a slog, just need to keep going, if you walk it takes longer, just keep going. Showers were good, aid stations were good. My body just kept saying, 'are we there yet', 'I need a wee', 'I'm busting'. I wee'ed on the run, I wee'ed against a fence, I wee'ed down my leg leaning against the barrier, but I didn't wee in the shower, because as Craig in Big Brother 1 said, 'that's disgusting'.
The final 10km turn around finally came and I checked my watch. If I was to make it under 13 hours I needed to run. The last 10km I picked up my skirt, manned up and ran, walking the aid stations. It worked, I think I picked up 4 minutes on American Andrew, he still beat me, but I was pleased with my effort for the last 10km, coming in, in 12:47.
The Finish Line, it's long, it's noisy, it's hot, sunny, it's blue, it's got pompom girls, and it's got an announcer. 'You are an Ironman' the words I had been waiting for. The words I never ever wanted to hear ever again, I was cured, my Ironman career was over, never doing another …. But now I'm over that thought J and signed up for IM Germany 2012.
After the finish, massage was good, food was good, and stayed around at the finish line stands until the end and fireworks. Question is, did the guy they let come down the finishers chute at 16:00:04 get a medal?
Hero of the day.
2 hours into my bike ride I overtook a 1 legged man. No prosthectic leg. Just one leg, doing like one legged drills. So the question is, how did he do the 12% hill when others walked, apparently he got himself off the beach into T1. Who is that chap, because Bob Babbitt on Competitor Radio should interview him. He is my legend of the day and I would like to hear more about him.
Thanks to all the supporters, online and at the event. Thanks to the 2 chaps with their wives (sorry I've forgotten your names), First dropped out a week ago on medical advice and the second dropped out on Sat with stomache issues. Pity you couldn't do the race but thak you for your support, I heard your shouts a number of times and really appreciated it.
The results. finished in 12:47, which put me at 49/179 in my age group, so pleased with that. pleased with my bike time (I love you Cervelo P2C). Pleased with sections of the run, pleased with about 50m of the swim. Happy to be recovering.
