Ironman France
1117
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1087 days
Ironmom posted 17 weeks ago.
Wow, cool race report. Congrats on your Iron PR, especially on such a technically difficult course!
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
345
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592 days
SueR posted 17 weeks ago.
Wow! Sounds like an amazing experience and great time, way to go!
379
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220 days
prendergi posted 17 weeks ago.
Sounds pretty interesting! Great job on you PR!
"The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret" - Sarah Bombell
2766
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1445 days
tri-ac posted 17 weeks ago.
great PR! sounds like a nice trip!
did you stay extra to enjoy the area?
451
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718 days
Warrior posted 17 weeks ago.
Hey there, I must have seen you at some point. I was just cheering and wishing you all on. It was awesomely hot , much hotter by about 5 to 10 degrees Centigrade than normal, and the temp still hasn't got back to normal.
I will put you up for 50 bucks next time :-)
Oopps and of course, well done, nice report.
Dreams are the stars which charter the course of our lives. Happy the one who follows their dreams
351
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1054 days
Nobody posted 15 weeks ago.
Nice to know there's someone from Nice on Trifuel!
It's been over a month since 1) the finish of the race and 2) the declaration I made that I'd NEVER do another IM again. Of course, now I find myself checking to see which Int'l full distance races are open for 2010. >)
My girlfriend and I did a lot of hiking around the city the day after the race (seeing me walk up and down the stairs to the castle was a source of great amusement to her) and then we headed off to Paris. Took a few days before I didn't look like a zombie. Def. not the best way to recover, but France was awesome!
Greatness is only achieved by those who perpetually raise the expectations of themselves to the point where it ruins their life.
451
Member
718 days
Warrior posted 15 weeks ago.
Wow next time , I will show you the good restaurants, oh and the elevator for the Castle :-) .
Dreams are the stars which charter the course of our lives. Happy the one who follows their dreams
International race created a few add'l challenges. First of all--don't Fly Lufthansa unless you want to pay $200 each way for your bike. British Airways would have cost me $0.
Stayed at a Hotel Rex (think it used to be a hostel) right in the middle of Nice. $100 a night, roughly, and I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. Felt more like a small studio apt. Exceptional staff and though the place had thin walls I never heard a peep out of the other guests. Hotel was a 1 min. walk to the Expo/registration and about 5 min. from the race start.
Race registration was easy and not much different than any other IM event. Bike check in took a long time (they photograph you going in with your bike). Don't cut or even trim your bike race number, though. An official totally went berzerk on me for trimming about 1/4" off of mine. Be prepared to spend a lot of time waiting in line on your feet.
Race day: Same thing--long line to get in and pump the tires/drop off street gear.
Swim: They have a really weird course. You start out and circle counter clockwise for 2/3 of the distance, then after a short/rocky run you swim out clockwise on a shorter course for the remaining 1/3. Why they do this I have no idea. I saw exactly ONE bouy the entire swim....fortunately I think the pack followed a nice tight line, but the downside of that was at no time was I swimming with any space between the guy in front/back or side to side. Imagine race start at your last mass start and that was the ENTIRE race.
T1: no issues
Bike: Awesome course, but VERY difficult. KY and CdA are supposed to have the same elevation as Nice (almost). I've done both and Nice was FAR FAR FAR more difficult. I've never experienced any kind of climbing like it. Descending was dangerous....I got hit for the first time by some guy swerving for no apparent reason, saw a horrific single-bike accident into a stone wall (water bottle ejection) and saw two other guys who'd crashed hard enough to perhaps be life threatening....
Last 10 miles are mostly flat, but the 20 or so miles before that are a nice descent (as you can imagine with all that climbing). Ended up PRing my bike time by a few minutes w a 5:55.
T2: Nothing unusual
Run: 4 laps back and forth along the shadeless promenade. First lap felt great. Second lap died. Regained composure for a solid run, which lobbed an hour off my best run and an hour off my best Iron distance time. Great aid stations and lots of showers you can run through. Finally broke the 12 hour barrier by just over 10 min.
Lots of DQs for this for this event--not sure why, but A LOT of athletes are listed as DQs.
Other interesting facts: very few females compete in Europe it seems. Additionally, unlike the events I've done in the US, everyone looked like a pro and athlete for athlete everyone was fast compared to the events here.
Greatness is only achieved by those who perpetually raise the expectations of themselves to the point where it ruins their life.