IM France 2010 Race Report
My wife, 2 kids, and I left for Nice on Saturday and arrived Sunday morning. My bike was not with my luggage so immediately the pucker factor increased. I think US Airways left my bike in Philadelphia as our flight out of Norfolk was delayed and we ended up with an about 5 min layoever between connection. Just enough time to run throught the terminal. Thankfully my wife was very calm and comforting and assured me that the bike would be in Nice soon. However, in the back of my mind were stories of bikes never making it the races. She was right; my bike arrived the Monday afternoon. But, I was glad we left for Nice several days early and have a few days to find a rental bike, if needed.
There was no shortage of restaurants in Nice. Just a shortage of spinach salads of which my digestion had become accustomed to twice daily. After 2 days of searching I found a small salad Café with spinach. Yes, I used to watch Popeye cartoons. Bread, cheese, and salty ham seem to be a staple of the French diet – all of which I usually avoid. So, we found a few Mediterranean restaurants to frequent and gave up on French quisine.
Wednesday, we hired a driver to take us along the bike course. We had an 8 passenger van with the back seats down so I could take my bike and ride sections of the course. This was a budget breaker. It took us 6 hours, but, it was worth it to see the many many climbs and the hairpin turns on the down hills. I forgot my power meter in the hotel room so I decided to ride the 2 major climbs – 1 was a series of 3 hills with plateaus which took me an hour to climb as slow as possible. This preview made me feel better about the ride because my bike handling skills are questionable.
Saturday, I had check-in from 2-3pm.
Pre race day and race day I followed the EN nutrition plan as closely as possible. Saturday afternoon I had a large lunch with salad and entrée (Lebanese – yummy). Had a to go (French call it “take away”) salad. We went to early dinner at 5 pm and were done eating at 5:30pm. Stopped and picked up a take away power smoothie. At 2 am race morning I had a smoothie, a 2 x GU pineapple gels. At 4:30 I had hummus and another gel. I felt full so I did not force any more food.
The swim start at IM France is on a rocky beach which was uncomfortable to my feet to say the least. Race organizers prohibit flip flops or sandals. There were also start “lanes” with different times. I started in the 1 hr 6 m lane. In retrospect I should have gone with the 55 m lane which was much smaller. I figure I did not enter the water until 2 m after the cannon went off due to crowds of swimmers – 2,500. The swim was 2 uneven laps. The 1st lap 2.4 km, 5 m land run, 2nd lap is 1.4 km. There were several elbows and kicks but I did not lose my goggles. Just could not get a rhythm for most of the swim. In the whole scheme of things it’s kind of so what? But, the swim is my strength so I kind of like to think about swim stuff. My wife says I came out in one of the lead packs. 1:06:06.
T1 – nobody to help me with my wetsuit so I did it myself. My bike was on a rack close to the tent which was nice and easy to find. 00:06:14
The bike started off fine. According to plan the 1st hour was in gear 1 – 161w which is the only flat part of the course. After that there was nothing but 5 – 13% climbs and wicked descents. I counted at least 6 or 7 hairpin turns at the bottom of several descents which scares me who trains in pancake flat land. So all the climbs people passed me like the plan says. I just could not seem to make any ground on the descents. So, at mile 6 hr I was at mile 80 and was thinking this is going to be a long day. And, at looking at my power file in retrospect I was at 300 TSS. For nutrition on the bike I stuck with 1 Infinite bottle/hour. I also did not understand the requirement for wearing a race bib number on the bike and got several yellow cards (warnings) from the officials. I had a couple of bottle in my x-lab cage that said Elizabeth City, NC and that was a source of conversation during the ride. One guy was from Raleigh who commented on the lack of hills in EC. Maybe next time I’ll stay anonymous. Near the 90 mile mark I started thinking I need to get the heck off this cotton picking mountain so I elected to increase the power a bit to 200w. 7:24:07.
T2 – No cramps. Legs felt fine. Took a little comfort time to re-tape my right foot for plantar fasciitis and left ankle for ankle sprain. The swim as usual loosens the tape so I made sure I had extra in my transition bag. 00:09:09
The run started according to plan which was of the 4 laps, the 1st would be 10:00 min/mile pace or slower depending on feel. Then Laps 2-3 at 9:16 – 9:45, the lap 4 at whatever was possible. Nutrition was supposed to be water and Infinite. Laps 1 -2 went ok. Then lap 3 things went sour. GI discomfort included stomach cramps and 1 urgent trip to a porta potty. I responded first by slowing down, then a taste of gel which I could no longer stand. At several points stopping was the only thing I could think of to help. I think this was the “line.” Several things went through my mind at this point. Most revolved around how dumb an idea this was. But, the internal conversations always ended with expletives that motivate me and the thought that I am not quitting.” I also develop blisters on toes that I had never gotten blisters before. The extra pair of socks in my Run special needs bag did were not there. I must have forgotten them. I crossed the finish line at 5:27:15 smiling with my kids. Total 14:12:51.
Lessons Learned:
1. No solid food on race day. I still have to figure out nutrition in foreign countries. This is the 2nd OCONUS race that I have buggered the run due to nutrition. Last year it was a Olym Dist race in indonesia.
2. Leave early for the trip. This adds peace of mind for bike transport. Bike shipping overseas costs too much. UPS and DHL estimated $600-700 each way.
3. Plan on a long bike ride - no matter what. Don't panic.
4. Be more aggressive in self seeding on the swim.
5. Find out if I'm supposed to wear a race number on the bike 3 days before race day.
6. Put extra socks in my Run special needs bag.
Comments
George - Thanks for the report. Sounds like a very tough bike course, for sure.
Over the past five years, I have stopped taking ANY solid food starting with dinner the night before - meaning lunch is my last normal meal. I take about 800-1000 cal in a smoothie (usually Jamba Juice) for dinner, and then in he race, nothing but drink or gel.
It's quite possible that during your 7+ hours on the bike and during the first two loops of the run, you loaded your stomach with more calories than it could reasonably absorb. I think the EN advice to err on the side of too few rather than too many calories is right on. Its VERY easy to take too many calories on the run, even if you're just drinking something like an infinit solution plus gels. Something to consider for next time.
I love hearing about these "OCONUS" (that's a new one for me) races, as someday I hope to wrangle an early season IM "out of the continental US". IM France is on my list, but it the bike sounds kinda scary.
Congratulations on your finish! I think it's very cool doing tris in foreign countries.
Family photo at Cote de l'Ecre - the highest point on the bike route.
Finish line with the kids.
IronKid