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IM France Race Reports
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The usual waves of nausea started, breakfast was not what I had wanted really but luckily I have a pretty good constitution
and can stomach most things, we met at reception and wandered down to the prom. sorted out the bike and joined the queue for
the loos, one person in front of me and they announced they were closing the transition but luckily I managed to dive in
and do what I had to do. wetsuit half on and did the shuffle down to the shore across the horrendous pebbly beach. I tried
to visualise the buoys and the direction but it was damn near impossible. I am easily panicked in openwater and having had an
excellent swim at Bala I waited when the gun went off and found some relatively clear water, no panics, no faff and no wifey
to hold my hand and felt quite comfortable. sighting was damn near impossible as expected and following people did not appear to work either as everybody seemed
to be going in different directions. When looking for the red buoys the distance perspective just wasnt there and coupled with
the fact that all the males swimmers had red hats just compounded it, once I hit the furthest one I was lucky enough to
spot a rope line of small floats and followed that, completed the first loop by my watch in under an hour, easier to sight
on the way back and the second loop passed without incidents. Didnt see any jellyfish although I kept thinking I had when
it was only the bubbles that my hands were causing! Got out from the second loop and realised my watch had stopped. luckily
I spotted Oxy and he told me the time was 1.32 or something like that .... I know this could have been about 10 mins quicker
if the sighting had been easier.
T1
fairly swift for me although I personally dont like having a helper as it flusters me and I am likely to forget something but
I was glad to have help to get my wetsuit off, my bike was miles away so it meant running in my socks all the way down over
a soggy carpet to get it so my socks were wet before I started.
Spotted some of the support crew on the way out on the bike and settled in to a nice rythym towards the airport.
some mental arithmatic and I was already about 15 mins up in my time from the swim which I was pleased with.
My mouth was feeling like a salt mine for the first half of the bike course but I knew that was not an indication that I
could forget taking salt on board and had 2 bottles on board with salt tabs in and started on them immediately. got passed by
a few people and then we met the first climb .. short and sharp and 10% my arse! I passed Flyaway at this stage who had a
brill swim and this hill was the highest my heartrate got at about 168 I think, in the next few hours I saw Squishy and Kanga
and Anna I think (parts are a blur)
I have to say I was dreading the bike course, I am not a strong cyclist although I am an improved one but it was absolutely
beautiful, the scenery was stunning when I allowed myself to look! when you are cut off chasing you have to know where you
are at more or less every K marker so I had a list of distances and time of day that I needed to be at them but I knew it was
counter productive to look at these before 'the' climb. At the third aid station I think they had run out of most of the drinks
and cola and I uttered a few choice words, I made the decision that I would pick some up off the side of the road as I didnt
want to tackle the climb without any fluids and most people had found that the water bottles didnt fit in bottle cages and so
had taken a few mouthfuls and ditched them, I'd take my chances and pick up a second hand one.
We passed though Tourettes which is where I had decided to go through shouting every obscenity I could think of just to amsue
myself but there was a frnechman there who obviously had had some mechanical issues who did it for me.
Saw many many sidelined bikes and discarded tubes and offered a few prayers to the god of pirates.
The climb. Not as bad as I had feared really, I managed a slow steady pace of about 7mph which kept my HR around the 150's for
the most part until the final push. Desperate for a wee I had a little conversation with the devil and the angel on my shoulders
and in the end I got off and dived behind a bush .... I couldnt bring myself to pee on the bike!! Met Anna on the climb who
was having a little moment and we had a natter for a while and played cat and mouse.
At the top of the climb I allowed myself to look at my average speed knowing that I need to be at 12mph to be within time and
it was at 11.3 ... I had some work to do! I cycled like a madwoman, keeping an eye on HR and saw the average slowly creep
up and up to 12 ... then hit another climb and down it went, and so it went on but the average was climbing steadily.
I had a couple of issues with my front QR jobbie and didnt fancy my front wheek coming off on some of those descents and had to
tighten it again twice - operator error I have no doubt!
I think I heard them before I saw them and I have never been so glad to see OXy before ... another time check and cycle like a
mad woman and still feeling strong, average speed is picking up and I can smell the end! I had totally forgotten about the
last climb so it came as a bit of a shock to be faced with a 5k climb but it wasnt too taxing! At this point I shall mention
the weather, it was fecking hot! Not much shade at all on the bike course and I was drinking loads, gels every 45 minutes
or thereabouts and I felt good for the majority of the time which was pleasing.
The rest of the course came and went, and soon I could see the sea but was still about 18 miles from the finish, I have never
done so much counting on the bike working out times and speeds and finish times but it gave me something to do.
Back along the prom was carnage, dangerous and down right stupid, for the later cyclists we were dodging cups and rubbish from
the runners and people trying to cross the road, I was nearly taken out twice by a cyclist crossing the road and an old dear and
missed both by millimetres. Very pleased to see T2.
Bike time by my watch 8.20 - average speed 12.9 - max speed 28.3
T2
uneventful and a quickish change for me and out on to the run, quick look at the clock and so starts the mental arithmatic
again!
Not sure what went on with my sums but I had in my mind that I had 6 hours to complete the run which would be 20 mins or so
quicker than last year, 45 mins per 10k and that wasnt going to be an issue I hope. lovely to see all the pirates out on the
run after a fairly lonely bike ride.
I had a run/walk strategy in my mind but I also know that for the first few miles of the run my HR is always very high and takes
a while to settle so I took it fairly easy and soon started on a new strategy of run for 100 steps and walk for a 100 steps,
this developed into a long term strategy and one that worked very well, in hindsight I think the counting was the antedote to
everything else, I counted 1-100 every step of the way for the whole 26 miles, I am sorry for only grinning inanely at everyone
who spoke to me but I was frightened of losing count, run 100, walk 100, run 100, walk 100 and so it went on, luckily there
were timing clocks at each end and still thinking I was on for a 6 hour marathon I was very happy to see quite even splits at
each end, I dont think there was more of a minutes difference at any one time? third lap was hard work, runners were thinning
out and pirates were getting less, the lift that the PSOF ssupport crew gave at the end was immeasurable! Oxy and Zilla out
a bit further into the course at times and all the other breakaway pirates and UK supporters who seemed to have picked up on the
black and yellow!
I had a wee in the portaloos every time I got to that particular aid station and was drowning myself in water at every opportunity.
It wasnt long before they had run out of gels and stupidly I had used myu own gels first rather than use the aid stations and then
my own. I soon passed DV and Kanga on the run although DV rather unsportingly overtook me in the last lap! My run felt still
very strong and I was passing others on the last lap. I dont remember an awful lot about the run other than counting 1-100
incessantly!!!
Last lap, people were telling me to run when they saw me walking and that I didnt have much time left but I knew that I was ok
for time/pace and that if I ran more I would certainly slow up so I ignored the devils and angels and stuck to my guns. That was
a very long run up to the airport and lasted for ever, the run back tho was excellent .. the end was in sight and the clock at
the turnaround gave me 50 mins to get to the end .. 5k in 50 mins, no problem!
I was on a walk bit when I met Dermot who had come out to find me, we worked out I had time and it was lovely to get that reassurance
I could hear the finish line party and broke into the last run section as I came down the shute. I remembered my mother saying
last year with my finish photo that she couldnt tell who I was in hat and glasses so I took them off and climbed the ramp to the
finish with pirate supporters ringing in my ears.
15.54.
marathon split, I was chuffed to bits. A marathon PB after all that was the icing on the cake. I am not a fast swimmer,
cyclist or runner but to complete every section faster than last year was beyond my wildest dreams. I owe many thanks and
wether they want to hear them or not I dont care, Anna and the other Chiltern Sector over the last few months for offering
encouragements and being excellent cycling companions, Smiffy for pacing us round the Castles 100 with his non stop singing and
general hobbitness, for the Pirate crew in general, To the WAISTer crew on beginners where I began life many years ago and for their
their unwavering support over the years and for Rosey for having the belief in me and for his knowledge and help in the
last few years, I really dont think I would have done it with out you.
I am still coming to terms with what I have done, I am chuffed, I am exhausted and had a very bad few hours last night when my
body shut down and I had hot and cold sweats and shivers and generally felt like shit, its down to recovery and I havent planned
that very well in hindsight, I would have phoned my mum but she is on holiday so I phoned Rosey instead and was told to go to bed.
and can I just point out again ... 5.35 marathon PB !
Look out Switzerland.
Here’s another one for you…
After last year’s first foray into Ironman I felt a lot more relaxed this year, possibly too relaxed for Mrs S who was constantly on at me to get my arse into gear on the Saturday but eventually I did so and took my bike out of its box and went for a test ride. Luckily everything worked ok including the new for race day chainset, chain and cassette. Got down to packing T1 & T2 bags and rather cleverly nearly forgot to put any running shoes in the run bag, oops!
Race day
Standing next to my bike with all my swim gear in a bag, 2 deflated tyres and the need to go to the toilet when they announce that transition will close in 5 minutes, oh crap, really need to look at the race briefing more closely next time! Managed to sort everything out, thanks to the helper who knocked on the toilet door but that wasn’t going to speed things up, sorry. Met up with Bassy and GOM and surveyed the start pens, Bassy noticed that the longest estimated swim time was 1h 25m, commenting along the lines of f*ck me where do we start, Monaco? Swim A quick stagger over the stones and shake of hands with Bassy and we were off, no idea where exactly but the beauty of being a crap swimmer is that there’s always a few to follow. Got into a reasonable rhythm and all went ok, no punching or washing machine activity but for the first time in my swimming life I was in a pack of about 5 people, very strange feeling. Nothing outstanding to report really.
Timing: Lap 1 – 59m 29s lap 2 – 35m 34s, Overall 1hr 35m 3s, rank 2168
More...
Bike
What a brutal day in the office that was. After a great send off by the pirate supporters and a spin along the Prom des Anglais, accompanied by a motorbike cameraman we left town and headed for the hills. The short sharp shock was made so much better by the name checks we all had on the road, thank you for that guys, top work. Nice to overtake a couple of TT specific riders who were walking up it too. Managed to nearly have an unclipping incident thanks to a Clio driver in Vence who decided to stop at the junction were we began ‘the’ climb. After that I knew it was going to be a hard slog but I certainly wasn’t prepared for the pain on the 21km climb.
The low point of the day was going past the 5km to the summit sign, thinking great 3 miles to go, then spotting my speed at 5.9mph, err, that’s over 30 minutes more, not good, but if it was easy everyone would do it. JFDI and I did.
Once over the top the part I was looking forward to most of all. Having been a fan of the Tour de France since the early 80s I’ve wanted to descend a big hill with semi-closed roads. Wasn’t overtaken at all the way down to sea level and managed to pass 2 cars who looked a tad surprised.
Rolled onto the Prom again to see GOM at the 5km point on his first lap of the run and then numerous other Pirates as I headed to T2, pretty demoralising to see so many people already running and this is where my band envy first started!
Timing: 7h 30m, 9s, up to 1987th place
Run
Never enjoyed a marathon more than this one. I’d said to Mrs S that I loved running in the heat and I think she took it as a bit of bravado but I really do like it. It was certainly made easier with so many Pirates on course at the same time and to have so many supporters.
Got into it all quite quickly and decided on a food strategy of a water, coke and tuc biscuit every other aid station with just water and coke at the others and it seemed to work well. Started picking off people with any number of bands on bit still hated those with more on than me! Felt strong (relatively of course) all the way through, totally different from Austria last year and have a fairly consistent bunch of splits to support that. Once all three bands were collected it was time for 10k more and some rest. Was told off by Bassy and Crashie for showing off by running, sorry chaps!
Reached the finishing funnel to hear first the announcer with “here’s another Pirate” (he said that everso much on Sunday!!) Then the huge Pirate support and then Mrs S swearing quite loudly (sorry Hollywood, hope you weren’t offended but I think she was quite happy!)
One run up the ramp and a jumping punch of the air and it was done and time to make like a Cheshire Cat for the next, well actually I don’t know how long coz I’m still like it!
Timing: 32:58, 36:12, 38:44, 35:06, 35:33, 34:16, 36:58, 35:37ish, total 4h 45m 27s, up to 1584th
Overall 14 hours 9 minutes 29 seconds
Well done all who achieved what they wanted and commiserations to those who didn’t, recover well and come back stronger, see you in Switzerland
ohh, how sweet, i'm going to have to stop reading reports incase i start blubbing at work.
great race meldy - glad to see all that training paying off. metronomic splits as well like you say. lots of people could learn from that.
i did wonder if anyone did a negative split. will check later.
how are the legs?
oh well, better do some work, will catch up with the reports later on.
I was thinking of doing a race report, but it would read more or less the same as last year!
Good swim, (Improved by 6minutes on Austria), good bike (but pushed too hard again!), and thus, fell apart on the run
Just wanted to say congrats to all the first timers and those that improved on their times overall, as that was some effort considering how much harder I thought this course was compared to Austria.
Oh and great running by Meldy and Anna
Soooo,
IM France eh?
Drive down was good - if a little rushed on day 2 when I failed to set the time properly on my alarm, resulting in a lost hour -D'oh!. Thanks to my dad sharing the driving, I managed to get a ride down from the dog leg to the bottom of the last descent and also take a peak at the first climb (glad I did that!) I also discoverd that I go faster down hills following blonde swiss girls on bikes than I do on my own!
Couldn't believe the heat that the car exterior thermometer was reporting - 32 degrees before we got down to a slightly cooler 27 at the coast.
Pirate gathering was great - right from the start, I'd seen the support ant FLM mile 17, and been part of it at Bala, but it quickly became clear that this was going to be another step up again!
Luckily, Laurent Jalabert managed to contain his excitment about meeting my dad again, and the organisers accepted my Drs letter to say I was fit to take part, so apart from a very long walk back from bike racking to the hotel after we'd failed to take a map, all went well pre - race.
Now, my last mass start swim was Lanzarote 2002, and in hindsight, I've no reason to believe I'm any more of a competant swimmer now than I was then, so why I chose to start on the second row (even of the 1:14 section) is beyond me. Needless to say, I soon realised that I wasn't going to have enough energy to win every wrestling match that I was getting in to and complete the swim without drowning. My tactice of trying to drink the Med so I could run the rest of the swim course didn't seem to be working either, so I just trod water for a few seconds, bounced people off me, and then got on my way . Sighting was not so great, and I think like many others, I followed somebody elses cap thinking it was a bouy for a while!
Got out of the swim in 1.23, having swum very slightly quicker over the second lap than the first. Not on schedule, but happy to be alive!
Now, at Lanza, I'd tried to get by with very little bike training, on the basis that I used to be half decent, so I could blag it - clearly that had not been the best plan.
This time around, although I'd not been riding the bike much pre- FLM, and I'm limited to long rides every other weekend, I had at least given it some respect - and I'm certainly glad I did.
Soon got the engine going down the Prom Des Anglais, and happily greeted Garr as I caaght him after 5 or 6 km - I could see our little side bet was starting to swing in my favour.
Was greeted by yhe sight of a woman zig-zagging up the steep climbe, and managed to time my passing on the zag side as she zigged. Unfortunately someone else got it wrong, and behind me I heard the jolly sound of bike and rider tumbling sideways down the steep slope in unison. - oops!
Got in to a good rhythm on the bike, and soon realised the bonis of being a carp swimmer is being able to make smart arsed comments as you pass fellow pirates on the bike (sorry!)
Pirate support was great - writing on the road was inspiring, and if it hadn't been for the idiot in the Clio stopping on the corner in Pre du lac, I may even have raised a smile for you all
Bit of a disaster when I got to the drink station toward the top of the big climbe and got just half a bottle (when I really needed 2 full ones), - had to stop fpr that too, but at least I didn't have to resort to minesweeping in the gutter ( sounds like it got really bleak later on!)
Thanks to Crashie for pointing out my lack of bravery / skill on the descents ( I think we concluded that if you stop eating lard that slows you up on the climbs I'll try not to be such a wuss going round the bends!)
Bit of a bad patch after 20k without any drink, so thats my second excuse for grumpyness at pirate point on the bike dog leg!!
Got back to T2 in 1030th place, having gained approx 900 places on the bike!
Meldy - loved your report - so calm and happy as always - on the surface - although you were obviously working your ar$e off the whole time. Absolutely brilliant. Inspirational. Well done you.
Great reports by all pirates. Thank you all for sharing so much - it's awesome. Fab pics too - guaranteed to have the flintiest b*stard in tears.
But I did see another eagle, just remembered that!
At the end of FLM 07, I'd felt pretty rough in the heat. Unfortunately, one step outside T2 at Nice confirmed that I felt much worse with 42km to go here, than I had with 4.2km to go in London, plus it was 10+ degrees hotter - but at least I had a hat (my one thing I'd never raced in before the big day - in true Pirate fashon), which I soon discovered was excellent for scooping up cold water and soaking my head with.
I knew I had to drink, and ideally get some gels down me. Every time I tried though it bounced straight back up in to my mouth - and at this stage I was too proud / civilised to puke it straight on to the road.
My HR was very low, and I was unsteady on my feet even keeping to shuffle mode, I had an uncontrolleable urge to wee - yet even when I found a nice shady tree ( 3 or 4 times) I could have spat more - like others, I was still comples mentis enough to recognise the symptoms of dehydration and heat stroke.
I forced liquid down in little regular sips - so glad I'd had the forthought to put a lucozade bottle in my run transition bag - filling it up at every other drink station, and just managing to keep the liquid down (most of the time).
Crashie & Bassy joined me after the first lap on one of my (now regular yet relatively fruitless) tree watering stops by the airport, and we dueled for a while, with my shuffle being faster than their walk, yet their run being faster than my shuffle. I believe there was some talk of muggling me for my wrist band a one point too!
I had by now changed to survival strategy, all time targets having gone out of the window, I figured that if I got to half way and felt no worse ( I really couldn't imagine how I could feel worse to be honest!) than I had at the start, then I would have proved to myself I could do half a marathon like that, so all I needed to do was repeat it.
It was at this point that I actually started to lift my head up a little and really comprehended the extent of the Pirate support on the prom - the big crowd, but also many other little pockets of 1 2 or 3 people - I think maybe some members of the crowd had just decided to "adopt a pirate" for the day too, as there were some distinctly French accented words of encouragement that end in Pirate - at least I think it was encouragement!
The final trip out to the airport turn was soooo long, andf I was determined to keep going at something resembling a run. The final leg back towars the Pirates and the finish line was mentally so much easier. I tried to high five every Pirate I saw on that last leg, and every runner I went past in my direction was a small but essential victory. With 2km to go I went past Doozer, feeling slightly bad for pipping him at such a late point, especially as he'd offered encouragement all the way round when we'd crossed on the run and yet still uncertain if I was going to be able to keep my own momentum going to the end.
I think I may have raised a smile as I went past the Pirate support for the last time, and eventually crossed the line having picked up anohter 100 or so places on the run.
Will I do another one??
After Lanza I said never again. During the run in Nice, I was thinking I may not even finish this one.
I finished in 12 24, over an hour quicker than 6 years previously. The draw of going for a sub 12 is certainly strong, but in order to respect that goal with the training that it deserves there is a huge commitment.
One thing I do know, if the Pirates didn't exist I would never have even entered this one ( oh, and that little side bet with Garr!), and I certainly wouldn't contmplate doing another one now without them.
Go Pirates!!!
I agree, Melds. I went for a walk after I posted my report and thought of loads of other things I forgot to put in my report.
Just in case we forgot any important times or something like that