Ironman France – Gerardmer
Saturday, June 26, 2004
The report that follows is my recap of the week leading up to the race, race day, and a few days after the race.
My pre-race training in France was very interesting, to say the least. Claire and I arrived in Paris on Wednesday, June 16. My first few days of training was pretty low-key in order to recover from the 12-hour flight and jet lag, which took about 2-3 days. My first Saturday in France, I had one last big ride scheduled (100k), which would be one week out from race day. Claire had 70k planned for that day; so she came with me and planned to turn back after 35k and I would continue on to get 50k out and 50k back. When I look back at that day, I am sure glad Claire came with me because what we got ourselves into definitely required one of us to speak French and understand screaming French police.
We left Claire’s grandparents about 7:00 am for our ride and felt that we would be OK as long as we remembered the routes that we took out. The day was quite cold and overcast. The roads in France are quite narrow so we decided that we would ride these roads until we found a decent highway to ride on. The roads were all very busy and in some cases, no shoulders. About 30k into the ride, we found a fairly busy highway that we thought might be a good place to ride. We figured we could ride it for a while and then find an exit to get to the other side when we wanted to return. The shoulders were quite wide and there was a sign with a bicycle and a circle around it. To us, this meant, cyclists were welcome on the highway and the wide shoulders were maybe meant for us. However, a few kilometres into the stretch of highway, we found it quite odd that every few cars would honk at us as if we did not belong there or something. A few more kilometres, we realized we might be in a bit of trouble as there was no way of crossing the highway to get going back in the other direction, as the highway had 4 lanes in each direction separated by a large meridian and exits were few and far between. By this time, the rain had started to pour hard and cold and almost every other car was honking at us and giving us disgusted looks. Just then, a police car pulled over on the side of the highway and two policemen started yelling at us. Of course, I didn’t understand what they were saying but with Claire’s knowledge of French, she was able to tell them we were able ride on highways in Canada and that we didn’t understand what were doing was wrong. Well, it turns out riding on certain highways in France is totally forbidden and the sign with a circle around a bicycle means no cycling allowed?? , however, cyclists are totally welcome on the other routes, where no shoulders exist and the motorists drive like maniacs. Cycling for us in France turned out to be quite frustrating because of this. It turns out, there is good cycling in France, you just need to know where to go and find it. Obviously, we were nowhere near the Tour de France circuit.
As a result of our little adventure that day, we were escorted off the highway, by the police, and brought to a small town that we had never heard of. They gave us directions to get back to where we needed to go and told us to stay off the auto routes. Needless to say, the directions given to us by the police were not very good, resulting in a 2-hour journey back Claire’s grandparents in the freezing rain. I managed to get in 70k of my planned ride.
The swim workouts in France were also very interesting. In the pools that I swam at, there was never any organization in the lanes. (in some cases, lanes did not even exist). I thought maybe this was just the first pool I went to, but I ran into this problem in all 3 pools I swam in (Chelle, Gerardmer, and Paris). In Chelle, where there were no lane ropes, some people were even swimming in a diagonal direction, almost causing a couple of head on collisions.
Claire and I met Barb at the airport in Paris the following Tuesday and we went back to Claire’s grandparents for the night. Once we picked up Barb, I really started to feel the Ironman excitement. We left the next day and spent about a half a day travelling to Gerardmer. The town was picturesque with two small lakes, surrounded by mountains. It was just what I had expected. Arriving in Gerardmer Wednesday afternoon gave us over 2 full days before the race to get settled in and get in some last minute training. The weather for our first two days was extremely windy, rainy and cold. However, race day turned out to be beautiful and sunny.
The last bit of training for Barb & I included a pool swim, a lake swim, and 1 loop of the IM bike course. The pool, of course, was chaos. We got kicked out of our lane after our warm-up and drill set just before our main set because there was a kid’s swim lesson scheduled for that particular lane. After that and consulting with coach Kev, it was decided that would be enough attempts at pool swimming. We did get a couple of quick lake swims in and a 60km ride on Thursday.
Immediately after our last workout (60km ride) on Thursday, we began carbo-loading. That night, we went to the carbo-load dinner, where I helped myself to 3 large helpings of pasta and bread and 2 large plates of fruit. The day before the race, Claire and I were invited (again) to have dinner with the very nice family with whom Barb was staying with. Again, we had pasta, bread and fruit - typical pre-race meals for me. That night it was off to bed early for a good nights rest. I managed to get to sleep at a pretty decent hour, about 10:00 pm, which gave me about 6.5 hours sleep.
At 5:00 am on race day, I picked up Barb at her homestay and we went back to where Claire and I were staying for some last minute preparation. The hotel that Claire booked for us was conveniently located across the street from race site and bike transition area. This worked out very well for us, as Barb and I could put on our wetsuits inside and stay warm. Claire, the “overseas Impact Team Manager”, was amazing support throughout the day, as always. The course was very spectator friendly with 3 loops both on the bike and run. This gave Claire the opportunity to help Barb and I with our Special Needs Bags on every loop (this was allowed there) and cheer us on throughout the entire day. She was always there, when needed, giving us mental support and encouragement. If anyone has been in a race with Claire watching, you know she's pretty good at cheering. The French cheering squads were pretty good too but, to be honest, I did get tired of hearing "allez, allez, allez" all day long. They just don't have the variety of cheers that we do.
I went into Ironman France with a couple of goals. I wanted to break 10hrs and qualify for the Hawaii Ironman. It turns out, had I gone under 10hrs, a Hawaii spot would have been available for me. I think I picked the wrong race to try and break 10hrs. Although I did not break the 10hr mark, many positive things came out of this race. Doing Ironman France gave me an excellent opportunity to do a very challenging Ironman course. It has given me one more Ironman race under my belt and has set me up for an awesome Ironman Canada race in August, with only 2 months separating the 2 races. I did a personal best in both the swim and run in Ironman France, but my bike split was the slowest I’ve had yet, but for very good reasons. The difficulty level of Ironman France can be seen by the finishing times of all the athletes. There were only 11 Hawaii slots available in my age category and all top 11 finishers in my a/g went under 10 hours and took their Hawaii spots. My opportunity at IMC for a Hawaii slot should be much better.
My race started off with my best IM swim yet. In my first two IM races, I went 1:02 something and, in France, I went 59:15 - 3 minutes faster. I did want to break an hour in the swim so I was quite happy when I looked at my swim time as I exited the water. I broke an hour and came out of the swim feeling good. My transition times were all pb’s as well, which might have had something to do with the shorter transition area than IMC. The swim start was a little hectic to start but went very smooth after about 500 meters in to it. I went pretty hard at the sound of the gun for the first 500 m or so then drafted on some fast feet for the remaining of the swim. In the end, the strategy worked out good, and the faster than usual swim didn’t beat me up, as I exited the water feeling great. Although I didn’t see Barb, we must have swam very close to one another, as she exited the water 4 seconds behind me. I left T1 before she did but it did not take her long to catch me on the first 60km bike loop. We then rode the first two loops of the bike course together, which helped me out mentally, knowing that, if I was riding alongside Barb, I was riding strong. By the time we started on the third lap, Barb pulled away from me.
The bike course, although extremely challenging, was spectacular. The ride consisted of 3 - 60km loops, with many climbs, 1 long descent, rolling hills, and frequent passes through old, French villages. During our training ride two days before the race, Barb & I felt that it might be a fast course because of the long descent, which came immediately after the first big climb. However, we discovered on race day that it was a challenging bike course, regardless of the long descent. The descent did allow for a good recovery, but with 3 big climbs, each loop, for a total of 9 big climbs, the times just weren’t that fast. The first climb was about 20km into the ride and was about 3km long with a grade comparable to Peach Cliff Road in OK Falls. After this climb, there was a short flat section and the start of a long descent, probably for about 15km. This section allowed for a long, spinning recovery. Immediately after this descent was the start of the second big climb for about 4km. In think the average grade of this climb was about 7%, comparable to Yellow Lake climb, maybe. Then came some rolling hills, flat sections and gradual climbs before the third long climb. One more fast descent came after this third climb followed by the last 10k gradual uphill climb into Gerardmer. This 60k loop was repeated 2 more times, resulting in a significant amount of climbing over the 180k ride. Significantly more climbing than I am used to doing over that distance.
The first loop went well and felt pretty good. I kept my heart rate in zone 2 (aerobic) and allowed it to reach the top of zone 3 on the hills. A few times, I found my h/r exceeding my anaerobic threshold by or 2 or 3 beats. Whenever this happened, I would back off a bit and get my h/r back to AT or just below AT. The first loop took me 1:55:00 and I felt as though I had taken it pretty easy. I felt at this point that I should be able to hold that pace and maybe even pick it up near the end, giving me a 5:45 or better bike split. This would then have set me up for a good solid marathon.
Lap 2 of the bike course felt good but was a bit slower, finishing the 2nd 60k in almost 2 hours. By the 3rd lap, my pace had slowed even more. I was very fortunate to be able to ride 2/3 of the bike course with Barb. However, at the beginning of the third lap, she began to pull away from me. I think by this time, the hills really started to take their toll on my legs, even though I kept it very conservative. I do think everything worked out for me with respect to nutrition but I just couldn't hold the pace on the third lap.
During the last lap, I realized my bike split was going to be 6 hours or more. At the time, this was quite discouraging for me as I went into this race feeling more prepared and fit than I had for any other Ironman race. My first Ironman bike split at IMC 2002 was 5:46 and my second IMC bike split in 2003 was 5:39. Of course, I wasn't thinking at the time that everyone's bike split would be significantly slower, and comparing my times to IMC was irrelevant.
I felt pretty good going into the run with my first 14km all at about 4:40-4:50 pace. (although a couple of those km's were short). I managed to keep this pace for most of the first two laps of the run course. My pace did slow down on the 3rd lap, resulting in a marathon time of 3:24, which was my fastest marathon time yet in an Ironman race. The overall pace was 4:50/km. Afterwards, we determined that the actual run course was about 2-3 km short. With this information, my actual marathon time would have been anywhere from 3:34 to 3:40. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to look at the run course before race day; so on the day of the race, it took me by surprise. For some reason, I just assumed the run course would be flat. Big mistake to assume. It turns out, the run course had many hills. 1 gradual hill and 3 fairly long, steep hills per lap for a total of 12 hills over the course of the marathon. I think my body, especially my legs, took quite a beating from all those hills on the bike and run because I was feeling quite fatigued by the 3rd lap. My body just wasn't able to keep the pace that I had done on laps 1 and 2. My heart rate on the run was quite low throughout the entire run. In fact, it continued to decline as the run went on and just pretty much stopped responded by the time I got on to lap 3 (28km). Normally, this would be indicative of a need for more nutrition but I think in my case, it was a combination of dehydration, which led to an inability to stomach anything, which led to a lack of nutrition. Although I have some issues to sort out on my run, it was still a breakthrough marathon for me as it was my first Ironman Marathon I did without stopping or walking from beginning to end.
Overall, my race was good and I'm happy with it. My time of 10:34:34 was the same time I did at IMC last year (10:34:05), yet on a much more difficult course. My race in France has been an excellent learning opportunity. With this race behind me and what I have learned from it, I expect Ironman Canada to be a very good race in August with plans for Hawaii in October.
The race organizers did a wonderful job (except for the short marathon). They put on a spectacular race, carbo-load dinner and awards banquet. They sponsors even gave away a car. I don't think I have ever received so much value for a race. Our race packages included a backpack and black jacket with Ironman France logos.
If I decide to return to Ironman France, it will have to be in Nice as this year was the last year for Gerardmer to be the host city. Ironman has decided to move the race to Nice, France starting in 2005.
Post race
Yeah, the junk food pact is over! (for now). First meal after Ironman was pizza and I think I have eaten ice cream every other day since the race.
Once again, I have experienced a speedy recovery from my Ironman race. The day after the race, my legs were quite sore, of course. Claire, Barb, and I did an easy recover ride of 1 loop of the run course, aprox. 13km. It was now time for Barb and I to watch a race. We watched Claire take place in a team sprint triathlon. Her teammate was Bastille (sp?), who was the son of the family Barb was staying with. The distances of the race were 250m swim, 15km bike, and 2.5km run. Claire did the bike and Bastille did the swim and run. Claire kicked ass on the bike, finishing the 15km in under 30 minutes, averaging over 30km per hour. Splits weren't available in the end so I was glad I timed Claire's ride. Their team ended up taken 2nd place for the mixed category.
The second day after the race, my legs were feeling much better and by the 3rd day, the soreness was almost completely gone. My post race training has been all low intensity. It is now July 9, 13 days after the race and I have completed 2 easy rides, 1 easy swim (attempted in Paris again), and 4 easy run, plus a lot of walking as we vacationed in Florence and Venice, Italy.
We have one more week left of our vacation, which will probably be mostly rest and very little exercise. As I sit her and complete this race report, we are on a high-speed train on our way to Quimper, France to catch stage 8 of the Tour de France and visit Claire's uncle. I will take advantage of this last bit of rest time I have, as I am getting very anxious to get back to some serious training upon our return to Canada.
David Matheson