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Monday, July 25, 2011

Alpe D'Huez: A race that deserves it's legendary status

Preparing for a beast
It was as tough a race as any I have done. The Alpe D'Huez Long Course is known for being a hard day at it's best. However this year the Alps added their own "plus forte" spice through weather to the normally piquant mix including a 2.2k lake swim, 115k ride with just under 3,000m of climbing on three cols, the last of which is Alpe D'Huez itself and then the final 22k run completed in 3 laps each with a decent hill included around the ski resort of the Alpe.

Climbing through the fog and rain on Alpe D'Huez
This year the race day was cold, very cold! The rain started early and fluctuated between light to torrential as the day progressed. The water was as "fresh" as the race organisers had forewarned at 14oC with new snowmelt joining it from the falls in the mountains above it during the preceding week. Apparently there was even hail on the bike course at one point. Happily I managed to avoid that just through sheer dumb luck. Some rich European race experience coming my way and fast!

As a soft Australian I was more intimidated by the weather than the course. My bike training included plenty of cols and I find it hard to find a flat run for training near our home in the Aravis Valley. I was not unused to training in cold weather, but managing the logistics of racing in it was a much greater challenge. My previous races in really cold weather had not been much fun! In the end I opted for wearing a cycling jersey over my trisuit so I could load options of vest, gloves, arm warmers etc in the pockets. The weather that week had kept changing from windy, cold and rainy to clearing and warmer and then back again so I felt I needed to be prepared for any eventuality. Would it be too wierd to put in a light beanie? I wish I had!

The race itself

Such a polite bunch
"after you", "no, after you"...
I managed a decent swim start as it was a deepwater start and many people were trying to leave getting in until the last moment. I gritted my teeth, jumped in and found a good spot a few minutes early which was lucky as the race got started by the growing momentum and a loud sound on the speaker a bit before it was meant to and plenty of folk were still standing on the rocks by the shore, having to jump in late. I felt had an okay swim except the cold really took your breath away, almost literally. Not fast, not slow and no mistakes, just cold and crampy in the legs by the time I got out to T1, happy to leave the lake behind.

You had to laugh at my transition to the bike! I fell over trying to get my wetsuit off as I couldn't feel where my feet were by then. Even after getting sorted and on the bike I still had trouble getting my feet in my shoes for the same reason. Not feeling my feet was a bit of an issue that would come back to haunt me later in the day as well. As we rode down to the dam wall I slowly finished getting changed, taking all the clothes out of my pockets and putting them on; incl gloves, arm warmers and vest.

I rode well for down the long valley to the first col and then up the Grand Serre, vying with Coralie Lemaire and Amy Marsh. Descending down to the second climb I took in lots of nutrition as I realised the cold would add to the energy burn rate. It helped that the gels they used on course were one of the few I've had that tasted really good. I must have needed them!! Despite this, by the second climb, the more gentle Col D'Ornan I hit a few energy flats as the rain changed up a notch from wet to torrential. At the top of the climb I was cold (never a good sign when you have a long descent ahead) and the road was like a river with water streaming across and along it. I lost traction a couple of times early in the very technical descent off the D'Ornan and lost my nerve. I usually descend ok but on that descent got a bit freaked out by the combination of a cliff on either side (one up, one down), little or no barrier, soaking wet brakes and a road where the surface flowed. I remembered I was a mum of two beautiful boys that I could not let any race outcome get in the way of and so I went down at a granny-like pace, swapping from race to survival mode and froze in the process. By the bottom I was shivering so hard my bike moved on the road. I didn't care though for that moment I was just delighted to be at the bottom. I had promised myself the Alpe D'Huez climb as a "treat" to warm up again before the run. Heads can do wierd things to keep looking for the upside when racing! Alpe D'Huez is a relatively short but tough climb on an easy day. After 100k, two previous cols and a cold, wet day it felt bigger than the last time I had ridden it in the sun the previous June. The last few kms I lost some time as my energy just wasn't there to keep a good race pace. All up it was a long, scary and tough ride that for a change I was glad to get off and into the run. The ride is usually my favourite leg of the race. I wasn't in a great position coming into T2 (in 12th) but neither was it too bad given the star studded quality of the field. I still had aspirations to run into a top 10 spot... well that was before I took off my bike shoe and saw my toe.

So learning no 1. "take care of the little things in long course racing" as if you don't they may become the big things. After Nice IM I lost a toenail. Unfortunately it decided to fall off just two days before the Alpe D'Huez race. I was worried about it for the run so stuck some medical tape in my T2 bag to quickly put on before the run to protect it as it would likely come off in the swim if I stuck it on before the race. However with soaking wet feet throughout the bike ride and 3,000m of climbing to do pulling up into a hard carbon race shoe, by the time I got to T2 there was no skin left on the end the toe to put a bandage on. It was a pretty ugly bloody mess, more hole than toe. So as you do, I shut my eyes, gritted my teeth a little, stuck my offending foot in a sock and shoe so I couldn't see it anymore and headed off on the run. The worst bit about it was that having not been able to feel the damage for most of the bike ddue to the cold cutting down feeling from the extremities, in the run I warmed up enough to notice (ok really really notice!) the damage that I had already done, especially as we splashed through muddy puddles and ran over loose rocky trails. Ouch! Ouch!

Are we having fun yet? A painful run.
So 3 laps to the finish, 22k. I realised as soon as I started running it was all about finishing now, not racing competitively for a place. First 400m around the sports arena felt like hell, so I just promised myself to do 1 lap to see how it went and maybe stop at a secours (first aid) if I could spot one to bandage the offending toe &/or get some pain killers. I made it around, despite a bit of a lobsided run and saw my great cheer squad as I came into the finish area for the second lap. Jackson yelled at me "just 2 to go Mum and you are finished" so I took his advice (he is 7 and didn't know about the toe but could see something hurt) It was good mental reinforcement to keep me going! Don't dissapoint the kids. I have never DNFed so didn't want this race, after all the work I had put into it up to then to count for nothing. Lap 2 ... grind the teeth a little and only 1 left to go. By then having raced in the freezing cold, wet up and down mountains for over 6 hours, I was not going to let a measly 7k loop get between me and a finish. So, one more for the dummies and I finally made it to the finish in 7:15. Given the large numbers of DNFs that day it ended up being not too bad a result, just 15 mins off my target of a top 10.

Finished!
Finished. Just getting there
was a good result for this race for me today
As I was so cold I took a very long shower and warmed up with plenty of hot drinks and food after. Despite winning the veteran category I missed the presentation, and they didn't realise my age as I signed up late so I didn't even get the "old girl's" bling for the kitchen shelf to remember a race that will not easily melt into a blurr along with any other races like it. It is a legend of a course. After racing it, I more deeply respect why the legend continues. Although I was initially dissapointed with my finish time/place, with a bit of reflection I am truly pleased just to have finished it!

Hats off though to Cat Morrison for her great win on a really tough day. It is no suprise to me the gong went to a Scottish lass. I can't imagine the weather bothered her much. She probably didn't even notice it as being anything out of the ordinary!

Maybe I'll have another go next year, hopefully in some sun!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

A very different race! Tristar 111 Lyon

Lyon, a beautiful city on two rivers
We are just back from another race weekend, this time close to home in Lyon. Although we had driven around Lyon a few times heading elsewhere, we had not yet take the opportunity to go and see what the city had to offer. The inaugural TriStar 111 race, also the first triathlon to be based in Lyon provided the perfect excuse.

The 111 is a new format of triathlon that Star Productions has come up with to offer something different to triathletes. It incorporates a 1k swim, 100k bike and 10k run. Although I was still recovering from Nice Ironman just 14 days ago I thought that it may suit me given the overweighting of the bike (my current strongest leg) which was in effect done twice over on this course, once in distance and the other in difficulty as the 100k incorporated just under 2,000m of climbing. So a few days before the race as I felt I was recovering well and getting my energy back I decided to sign up.

When I drove the course before the race with Joel Jameson, one of the pro men competing we were suprised by the technicality of the course. Despite having raced in lots of interesting regional races around this part of France, I had not yet seen a course quite so challenging. The roads around Lyon are really rough, even on the flats along the river. Once you climb into the hills it deteriorates further, to the point that on one of the descents there was just about enough tarmac to hold the potholes together! So it was not going to be a fast bike, and that was before the rain arrived.

Bike in, ready to roll.
In the sun, the evening before race day
Race day dawned, cloudy and cool. We were underway at 8:30am in the Saône River which joins the Rhone just a little further downstream. I exited the water third woman and ran the 500m or so into T1 to get my bike and onto the main stage of this race.

By the 5k mark I had overtaken the young, talented  Swiss triathlete Adeline Rausis, although I was in turn overtaken by Coralie Lemaire just before we headed up into the hills. Before we had really got going on the first hill, the clouds finally gave way and the rain arrived, first a little and then a lottle! OK so it was a deluge. The road became a river and at the top of the first big climb the thunder and lightening arrived to join in the fun. What were challenging descents in the dry became seriously hard work with low light and rain reducing vision, potholes hidden under water, wet surfaces and extra gravel, dirt, leaves etc getting washed across the roads. I backed right off as this was really a bonus race in the season for me and not worth a nasty fall. I was also pretty cold by the bottom of each descent so almost delighted in the uphill sections to warm up again.


End of 1 lap, do I really want another!

Coming back in to the start area just to head out again on the second lap, I've got to admit it was very tempting to call it a day. I am not one to do so easily though so sucked it up a little and headed off for another round. On the second lap I passed Coralie as she had pulled out with a flat tyre but was once again put back to third slot by a Swiss lady, Lisa Stucki who trains with Natasha Badmann so not suprisingly is a strong rider. We had vyed for a while, but I wasn't prepared to chase her pace on the second descent after I hit a pothole that I hadn't managed to dodge so hard on the first lap there, that both my wet hands slipped straight off my bars and I was lucky not to follow them with the rest of my body. So I let her go with the goal to catch her on the way back to town or in the run. Juliette Benedicto who was leading the women's field was far enough ahead by then that bad luck or a withdrawal aside I knew I was racing for 2nd/3rd.

After all the excitement of the bike I was really grateful to successfully negotiate the last cobbled corners into T2 and get out onto the run. The run was 2*5k and weaved up and down along both sides of the river between the barge tie in areas and the footpath/bikepath higher up along the road. It also crossed two lovely old bridges each lap. Even here the surfaces made for some additional challenge as they varied between pavement, big lumpy cobbles, mud, grass and cement. While down on the lower rougher paths I opted to run along the smoother cement river's edge which was about 10-15cm wide but dropped straight into the river on one side. It was better to run on but also kept the concentration up to avoid a second swim! I did manage to close the gap on Lisa but not quite enough as my legs, prefatigued from Nice just wouldn't quite turn over as fast I would have liked. Anyway all good in the end and happy to be finished in 3rd just over 1m behind her. 


Fun with the boys at a cafe in the Old Town of Lyon

So in summary I loved the format as 111 is a different and interesting distance to race. The TriStar crew are a really fun bunch too who just want to make sure everyone there enjoys themselves. The day itself was hard, harder than the distance would indicate, partly due to the course and added to significantly by the weather. Lyon however was a true delight to discover and my wonderful cheer squad (best in the world, and I swear I'm not biased they really are!) loved it too. Outside of race day, the weather was great for exploring. The city centre is stunning, with river's flanking each side of it, there are Roman ampitheatres and relics from when it was the centre of Roman Gaul (and called Lugdunum), beautiful buildings reflecting it's more recent merchant wealth, fantastic museums including good stuff for young kids, a very groovy, narrow cobbled laned medieval old town, good cafes and restaurants and an amazing park, the Tete D'Or which has a lake, a zoo, botanical garden, deer park and just about anything else you could want, especially if you are 4 or 7 years old.

We'll be back!

A bientot
Christine

Friday, July 1, 2011

Ironman Nice - A big race and outcome

Last Sunday I raced Ironman France in Nice. It was a long, hard, hot day, but a wonderfully rewarding one: the culmination of 7 months specific training and a big objective of mine, to finish in the top 10 on this tough and super competitive course. So the summary; 

Swim  1:01, 8th Pro F
Bike    5:32, 6th Pro F
Run     3:41, 9th Pro F

Total  (incl transitions) 10:22 9th Pro F
The calm before the storm

My overall finish was 9th pro female, finishing less than 2 mins behind the legendary Alexandra Louison and 4 mins behind the super experienced and multiple IM winner Heather Gollnick. I was 10th overall woman as one really lovely and very strong age grouper from Brazil (but Finnish heritage) passed me at the back end of the run.

Two weeks ago when I downloaded the list of the pro women and looked at their stats I thought I may have been expecting too much. Most were super experienced, had multiple podiums at big races and all had sub 10hr PBs on faster courses with a number sub 9.5hrs. It seemed pretty unlikely that I would be able to mix it with these chics, given I started triathlon 2 and a half years ago, have completed exactly 1 ironman previously and am 41 with two kids and a background in corporate roles in the banking industry. Not entirely relevant on the rocks of  the Med at dawn, racing through the hills behind Nice or pummeling pavement along the Promenade des Anglais! Most of the amateur athletes there would have as much or more experience in tri as me let alone these pro ladies. I am delighted to have been able to realise what I felt was a pretty ambitious goal.

So to the race day itself.
Let the games begin!

SWIM: The swim was just nuts! Beautiful, calm, azure Mediteranean at dawn one minute. 2,600 swimmers running over the stones, diving in and beating each other up to find their way through the crowds and out to the first buoy the next. The first 450m or so was more like rugby than swimming. 


Grateful for a hand
exiting the swim over the rocks
We started in the pro box in the middle of the fastest men so were surrounded by aggressive blokes. I swam people not water for the first 450m or so before I got any blue water opening up. I was pretty worked by the elbows, hands, feet etc of those around but I must be getting more used to French starts (in Oz it is usually waves a few mins apart) as this time it didn't knock me around either mentally or physically too much. I found some good feet to follow most of the way and by the end of the first lap I was well placed and holding a nice rhythm. The second lap was much calmer and I exited the water just over the 1hr mark for the 3.8k, in 9th (8th after the race as Britta Martin was DQed).



View out over the bike course near Col D'Ecre

BIKE: My favourite part of the race. They say this is one of the most beautiful bike courses in any tri in the world. I would believe it. It is one of the most challenging too as it climbs >2200m up into the Provence Alps before descending it all back down into Nice again in one 180k lap. I loved every minute of it. I rode into 7th place by T2 with the 6th fastest split on the day.

Heading uphill, with an audience
My favourite moment was out descending Martina Dogana, the women's favourite at the 45k mark just after I had passed Kim Loeffler and Heather Gollnick. I didn't see Martina and Heather again on the bike although Kim and I tick tacked most of the course with me finally getting the better of her in the last 20k home but by a small margin. The excitement for me on this is that last year I had a much weaker swim and when I arrived in France I wasn't very good at descending. One year on and I was up there with the best in the business after the swim and on the bike including the descents.


Still heading uphill. Not a bad view.
I seem to be enjoying it anyway.
 I rode hard but at a fairly steady effort and within myself on the climbs and undules on the high plateau and then descended cleanly and fast. If anything I held back a bit as I was concerned about overcooking it on the bike and coming off too flattened to run well. I absolutely loved the descents, not too technical relative to the cols around the Haute Savoie, so you could really get some speed in and take the time to have an aerobic break. I was worried about getting penalised for drafting on the way back into town as lots of groups were forming once we got back to the flats as there was a good headwind so a clear benefit. I backed off and held a good wheel at the 10m mark. I'm very glad I did as the group in front of me that had bunched up were all penalised a bit down the road. Besides being a beautiful ride there was lots of great support on the course through each village (loads of stunning little ones) and on the big climbs where a number of supporters had driven out to cheer on friends and anyone else going by.

RUN: I came off the bike feeling strong and ready for the run. It was heating up and was above 30oC for the 4 laps of 10.55km each on flat bitumen along the promenade. My first lap was on pace for a 3:20 run but between the heat and possible nutrition / hydration deficit or lack of race conditioning I couldn't hold what I really feel should be a good pace for me for the 2nd and 3rd lap. By the 4th lap I was still a bit slower than I would have ideally liked but was beginning to come good without so many flat spots. I know I can run better but just need to learn how to access it and hold it more consistently off the bike.
 
Hot and flat, out and back, and back and back!
Enjoying seeing the boys on the run.
Martina and Kim both ran past me on the first lap. I may have been run past, but given the quality of their running, I actually just enjoyed watching them fly by. They both run beautifully and faster than my race pace. Martina ended up running a 3:04 marathon into 2nd place, Kim a 3:10 into 3rd.
 
So my only dissapointment with my race was had I been able to run a bit more consistently in the middle few laps where I had some energy lulls I would have got both Alexandra Louison who was fading fast and held off Heather who passed me at the pace that I feel I should be able to access. Anyway no regrets really, just opportunities for the future. I know I raced my heart out and put down everything I had on the day. The good news is I feel I have the form and just need a bit more strength-endurance &/or race day nutrition / hydration to finish a little further up the field again.

For now though, time to kick back and enjoy life without such a high focus on training for a week or so. As the boys just started school holidays (Les Grand Vacances) today I have the perfect excuse for some downtime. Tomorrow my swim will consist of jumping off  the diving board at Menthon with Liam and paddling back to the stairs!