What a great event! This being my second Ironman I thought I was prepared for what is advertised as one of the toughest courses in the Ironman circuit, I was wrong. Historically, the Nice triathlon as it was previously called was along with Hawaii the place where the elite athletes like Mark Allen participated and won 10 times. I was intrigued and after Couer d'Alene last July decided to sign up. Here is a rundown of the event as I experienced it in 2011.
We arrived on an overnight flight from El Paso on Thursday before the race. Unfortunately, the plane arrived to Paris delayed and we missed the connection to Nice. Next, we find out that 1 of the 4 suitcases did not arrive and the one missing had all the triathlon gear, everything! After finally arriving at 4:30 pm instead of 08:30 am, I went to pick up my bike at the expo. I had shipped the bike with Darrin with http://www.trisportexpress.com/. This is Tampa company that provided excellent service and more reliable than the airlines. After much fretting, on Friday AM I happily received my last suitcase at the apartment. That AM, I did an easy run as I looked for a phone charger around Nice as I was running out of juice. After sightseeing, went to pick up the registration packet. Since I do not have a USAT license I needed a one day permit to race which required a medical release from a doctor, plus 30 Euros. The expo was expansive with a lots of cool bikes, gear, etc. I bought two CO2 cartridges since I could not ship the bike with them. Later that night was the pasta dinner, which I don't recommend as I found it a waste of time and no new info was given that was provided in the athlete guides that were provided at registration. The food was also not very good.
Sat am, went for a swim at the Med. I was nervous as all my prior swims were in lakes and pools. Found the water temp to be a nice 72F and after 300 meters to the buoy and back that I was much more at ease. Sat afternoon rested a bit and took the bike and T1 and T2 bags to get checked in plus got a timing chip and body marked. They took a picture of me with the bike so that when I picked up the bike after the race they could verify it was mine, very secure. I didn't have to worry about my bike being taken as there were some very nice bikes there. Ate a light dinner and got ready for early bedtime for the big day Sunday. Woke up at Midnight and couldn't sleep. As it was 4 pm in El Paso my circadian rythm was still all out of wack plus you never really sleep the night before an Ironman. I passed the time looking over the race info on the Internet and killing time until 2 AM when I was finally sleepy again. Ate some powerbars, Gatorade and water to stay hydrated. At 0400, alarm went off so I got dressed and headed out to transition to get ready. Pumped up the tires, got the water bottles on the cages, and made a last check of the bike. I turned in my two special needs bags, one for the run and one for the bike. Put on the wetsuit and headed over the beach with all the other 2500 athletes. Got the beach around 6:15AM and an Italian guy who looked like the statue of Michelangelo's David explained the swim course to me. I was intimidated by him and all the other guys (very few women there) and how fit everyone looked. A lot of eye candy for the ladies, I must say. The beach was very rocky and uncomfortable on the feet. It was marked with different areas indicating the anticipated swim times so that you could be positioned accordingly. I talked to a guy from San Francisco who said the water was much better here as he had done Escape from Alcatraz triathlon and another from Dallas. As I was talking I realized how many people had lined up behind me. I was in the middle of this huge group. I had intended to get in towards the end but had lined up to early. I was committed and figured I would just stay there. At 0630, I did not hear a gun go off, I just saw everyone jump in the water. It had begun.
The Swim 2.4 miles 1:31:20
We arrived on an overnight flight from El Paso on Thursday before the race. Unfortunately, the plane arrived to Paris delayed and we missed the connection to Nice. Next, we find out that 1 of the 4 suitcases did not arrive and the one missing had all the triathlon gear, everything! After finally arriving at 4:30 pm instead of 08:30 am, I went to pick up my bike at the expo. I had shipped the bike with Darrin with http://www.trisportexpress.com/. This is Tampa company that provided excellent service and more reliable than the airlines. After much fretting, on Friday AM I happily received my last suitcase at the apartment. That AM, I did an easy run as I looked for a phone charger around Nice as I was running out of juice. After sightseeing, went to pick up the registration packet. Since I do not have a USAT license I needed a one day permit to race which required a medical release from a doctor, plus 30 Euros. The expo was expansive with a lots of cool bikes, gear, etc. I bought two CO2 cartridges since I could not ship the bike with them. Later that night was the pasta dinner, which I don't recommend as I found it a waste of time and no new info was given that was provided in the athlete guides that were provided at registration. The food was also not very good.
Sat am, went for a swim at the Med. I was nervous as all my prior swims were in lakes and pools. Found the water temp to be a nice 72F and after 300 meters to the buoy and back that I was much more at ease. Sat afternoon rested a bit and took the bike and T1 and T2 bags to get checked in plus got a timing chip and body marked. They took a picture of me with the bike so that when I picked up the bike after the race they could verify it was mine, very secure. I didn't have to worry about my bike being taken as there were some very nice bikes there. Ate a light dinner and got ready for early bedtime for the big day Sunday. Woke up at Midnight and couldn't sleep. As it was 4 pm in El Paso my circadian rythm was still all out of wack plus you never really sleep the night before an Ironman. I passed the time looking over the race info on the Internet and killing time until 2 AM when I was finally sleepy again. Ate some powerbars, Gatorade and water to stay hydrated. At 0400, alarm went off so I got dressed and headed out to transition to get ready. Pumped up the tires, got the water bottles on the cages, and made a last check of the bike. I turned in my two special needs bags, one for the run and one for the bike. Put on the wetsuit and headed over the beach with all the other 2500 athletes. Got the beach around 6:15AM and an Italian guy who looked like the statue of Michelangelo's David explained the swim course to me. I was intimidated by him and all the other guys (very few women there) and how fit everyone looked. A lot of eye candy for the ladies, I must say. The beach was very rocky and uncomfortable on the feet. It was marked with different areas indicating the anticipated swim times so that you could be positioned accordingly. I talked to a guy from San Francisco who said the water was much better here as he had done Escape from Alcatraz triathlon and another from Dallas. As I was talking I realized how many people had lined up behind me. I was in the middle of this huge group. I had intended to get in towards the end but had lined up to early. I was committed and figured I would just stay there. At 0630, I did not hear a gun go off, I just saw everyone jump in the water. It had begun.
The Swim 2.4 miles 1:31:20
Felt good and did not have the usual panic I have experienced in the past with all the people around me. There was the usual kicking from people in front and those trying to pass. It was a pretty crowded field for a while until the first turn at 1100 meters then back to the beach for a total of 2400 meters (1.5 miles). The second loop is a different course of 1400 meters (0.9 miles). I had a little trouble sighting due to the waves and swallowed a bit of sea water. All to be expected. My first loop was right at 60 min. and then I did my second loop at a good pace to finish better that last year by nearly 10 minutes.
T1 7:15
After getting out of the water, there was a long run up a ramp to the transition area where the swim to bike bags were arraigned numerically. I had to peel off my own wet suit as there were no wet suit strippers like in CDA . Put on some sunblock and headed out to get my bike and out to the mounting area.
The Bike 112 miles 7:52:51
The bike course starts out flat and easy down the Promenade des Anglais towards the airport. It felt good to be out of the water but my heart rate was really fast and I had to slow down to get it around 130 bpm. After about 3 miles we turned inland towards the mountains, the Alps Maritimes. The next stretch was slight uphill until we got to the first real climb, the Cotte de Condamine at roughly mile 12. It is only 500 meters but it's steep! My I-bike and Garmin read out 17% grade in some portions. I passed a few people who were walking but was able to get through it while standing on the pedals for most of it. Next we passed by the town of St. Jeannete, the first of the beautiful little villages and towns we passed on the course.
St Jeannette
Next, more up hill around 5-6% to the Town of Vence and then rode by the town of Tourrettes sur loup, a mideval village set upon a hillside. These pictures really can't capture the beuty of this region in France, and made for a very enjoyable ride.
Gourdon
Next, between mile 25 to 30 there was downhill to Gourdon. The roads are really well maintained so I was able to make up some time going up to 30 miles an hour in this section. After Gourdon comes the hardest part of the bike course and that is the Col d'Ecre. Its 13 miles of uphill at 6-7% grade. Like Transmountain over the Franklin mountains but 3 times the distance from Resler to the top. By this time, it was really getting hot and there is no shade in this mountain. No nice tree canopy and not a cloud in the sky. I was among a bunch of riders, and we were all complaining about how tough the course was. Throughout, I was mindful to drink plenty of energy drinks, water, salt tablets, and poured extra water on my head and body to try to stay hydrated.
After the Col de L'Ecre we arrive a valley on top of the mountains. It is about 3740 feet, the highest elevation we achieve coming from sea level. A brief fast downhill is followed by yet another hill, the Col de Sine. A couple of more climbs followed but at mile 75 the downhill started and we headed back to Nice. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of headwind and there is always a headwind and it gets worse in the afternoons. Also, there are a lot of dangerous curves which require you to slow down. There are volunteers who warn you with yellow flags to slow down in the more dangerous sections. I saw two people who had fallen and were getting taken away by ambulance, as seems to happen every year on this course. Lastly we passed by Carros on the way back to Nice.
Carros
We passed through the middle of these little towns and there were always crowds cheering and encouraging us. The would yell "Courage!" "Bravo" and "Allez (go)". Really made for a great, albeit hot ride of nearly 8 hours. Then, it was back to the Promenade des Anglais where by this time most people were running along the same course. I had to be careful with people crossing the street as I arrived for transition.
T2 8:58
I arrived to transition and found out that I had to walk the bike back to the rack myself. In the previous Ironman, I had handed the bike to a volunteer who put it away for me. The transition area was full of bikes and I had a long way to go to turn it in. Also, my toes were hurting from "hot toe" and it was hard to even walk at first as I got off the bike. Once I got settled, I got my Spira XLTs on, my hat, and more sunblock as I headed out to the timing mat for the Marathon.
The Run 26.2 miles 5:35:29
The Ironman France run course is basically 4 loops of approximately 6 miles each. From transition its out the Promenade des Anglais along the beach to the airport and back. On my first loop I ran into a friend, Bill, an American who lives in Italy. He was on his second loop and we briefly talked about what a tough bike course we had just completed. I was running a little faster at that point going 11:20 min/miles so I passed him. I felt good at first but then started to have GI issues. Looking back, I think the salt tablets which I was taking every 45 minutes had a little too much Magnesium, a natural laxative. I had to wait in line at a porto potty as there didn't seem to be enough on the run course. (there were none on the bike course, it was en naturale) After that I was afraid to eat or drink much so I just drank water. I felt dehydrated and hot throughout the run. There is no shade as the palm trees are few and in the median of the street whereas we ran closer to the ocean. There were showers about every mile marker and I ran through those liberally. I would take walk breaks every mile and tried to keep my pace around 11:30 min/mile. After every loop, we got a cloth bracelet. The first was black, then white for the second loop, and blue for the 3rd loop. After the 2nd loop, I realized it had taken me 3 hours to run 13.1 miles. Normally the Ironman cutoff is 17 hours but in France its 16 hours (10:30pm instead of MN). I had less than 3 hours until the cutoff so I had no choice but to negative split the run. All I kept thinking was that I did not come all this way to be a DNFr. I really had to push myself to increase the tempo. I did the 3rd loop (approx 6 miles) in 1 hour and 15 minutes and started the 4th and final loop. Luckily, there was shade for a change as the sun was setting behind the hotels on the Promenade. At the turnaround next to the airport it was 9:30 pm. That was the last timing mat and cutoff before the finish. I was able to run the last 3 miles at a 10:30 pace passing a lot of people who were walking. One guy was on the floor and they were calling for assistance with a stretcher. You could see on their wrists their armbands to see how many loops they had done and they were many with just 1 or 2 to my 3. They were not going to finish in time... As I arrived to the finish line, the crowd support was incredible. The MC was yelling in French and English, there were cheerleaders, and the crowd was pretty enthusiastic. I crossed the finish line greatly relieved to have made it. I took 15:15:23 to complete the course, what a day it had been.
Post Race.
I received a finishers medal, and was offered to go to medical tent if I needed. As I passed, several people were getting IV fluids, all wrapped up in warming blankets, and some even going by ambulance to hospital. I drank water, power aide and 2 chocolate eclairs which were delicious. Looking over the results, incredibly, out of 2590 participants, 2058 people finished the "race". A much higher DNF rate than many other events. I was ranked 1944 overall and 252 of 259 finishers in my age group (45-49).
Post Script
Overall, it was a really good "destination race" which is what I was looking for for my second Ironman. Blanca and I spent the next week in France and got to visit Paris, Normandy, and caught the first two stages of the Tour de France. It is a really hard event and the heat is oppressing. The payoff is the spectacular bike course and the beautiful blue ocean you get to swim and run next to.
