Race Report - Ironman Nice France

We had a great two weeks in France. It is a vacation that the family will remember and who knows if or when we will ever get the opportunity to go back - with the cost of the trip due to the weak US dollar. It was expensive, but a great trip and I come back feeling like I am living in the wrong country. The people there are very passionate about cycling and with the Alps - I don't have to explain that these guys are great cyclists. There is a reason that Lance Armstrong lived there while racing the Tour.

The traveling part went okay - no lost or damaged bike. I did not get much sleep leading up into the race and had to move all our gear into the villa the night before the race, which was crazy. Nice is beautiful, but a city and the increased traffic with the transition area in the middle of the Promenade des Anglais made getting around difficult. Also, Nice is party town, with beautiful beaches (wink, wink) and that guy playing his guitar and yelling into the amp at 11:00 the night before the race! I thought he was going to ruin my race, but it was only just another six hours of sleep again.

This would be my third Ironman (LP '06 & '07) and the first with an ocean swim. In summary, I though I had a real good race, although the time doesn't reflect it. Conditions and the climate in Nice present a challenge as it was very hot there. I never expected 94 degrees in the Alps (I guess I didn't need those arm warmers I packed in my suitcase) and mid-80s with that blazing hot sun.

Here's the report. I will try not to go on forever:

The Swim:

64:50

I was very comfortable swimming in the Mediterranean the few days leading up to the race. Although on race day, it turned into a washing machine of blue water. All of these mass start swims are the same. I can't sprint fast enough to get ahead and end up right in the mass of bodies converging for the first buoy. I had a smart swim and stayed just wide enough so that I avoided the mosh-pit. No real issues. I got my goggles punched off once and got some sea-water, which immediately turned my stomach, but pretty much the same as all of the other IMs. Running off the rocks into the water on the start hurts a little more than starting in the water.

Anyway, my first sub-65 minute swim - a PR. No one can take that away. I thought I had a dynamite swim and came out of the water fresh and ready to take on the Alps. My swimming has really come a long way (now in my 5th year of swimming - I could not swim freestyle more than 50yds before then).

The bike:

5:40

Who told me I could just show up in France and bike in the Alps? I knew that the climbing would be extremely difficult. I can summarize the climb; my legs were starting to burn just as I passed the 10K to go mark to the top of the mountain. I managed the climb well though, never really had any problem, just kept cranking away. The descents however were something I have never experienced before. The MOST technical descents I have ever done, somewhere between psychotic and suicidal; switchbacks, sharp turns, hair-pins turns. I can only compare it to a motorcycle video game, but if you crash, you go off a 1000 ft. cliff and die! and there were Danger signs. Trying to make that sharp turn and coming one foot from the wall and looking a thousand feet down was very intimidating! and I let the bike fly! Just like everyone else because we are all doing it in the same interest! With all that climbing comes miles of technical descents at high speed. I watched the Tour de France this morning with a special appreciation of the chances those guys take. And I watched a guy almost hit the wall! He went into the rubble right next to the wall slamming on the brake. He had a big smile on his face because he knew he just got out of one easy, only 500ft down over that wall, but I told him "you don't want to be doing that". Post-race rumor has it that one person was seen climbing back over the wall.

One shaky moment; in the first third of the race on the first decent. We bunched up toward the bottom because no one can pass on those crazy turns. We came down into a village with a narrow road and I never saw it and wasn't ready for it; I hit a speed bump which I would have tried to jump. I hit it hard and my rear wheel came way up off the ground, but I hung on to it - all that mtn biking last year paid off. I hit it real hard at about 35mph and luckily hung on - maybe part nerve and part skill, but it was a scary moment. Unfortunately, about 4 seconds later I heard a crash behind and Croix-Rouge ambulance came by as we were once again climbing.

All in all a well managed bike. I was losing lots of liquids as seat poured dwon my face (oh my it was hot) and noticed that guys looked like they rolled their shorts in Margarita salt. Only to look down and see that my shorts were also caked. I had the enduralite tabs though and started taking them because I knew it was going to be a long day. A little bit of a breeze at the top of the mountain as I huffed and puffed due to altitude (How high? I'll post next time), but that would be the only breeze I would feel all day. Another thing I'm not used to La Moto everywhere, weaving in and out bewteen the riders to avoid oncoming traffic, one missing my knuckles by inches!

The run:

4:08

Okay, so I was there for three full days before the race, so I knew that the run would be a problem. I just don't run in the heat well, and that sun is so powerful. I felt pretty good coming out of T2. I had a cramp in my leg with about 8 miles to go on the bike, but I worked it out and it seemed that there would be no issue on the run and there wasn't. I knew that the marathon had to be paced or I would bonk due to the heat. I figured right out of the shoot that it was going to be in the 3:45 to 3:50 range and started out at that pace. In summary; at two miles I was hot and at three miles I wasn't sure I would finish the race. I suffered and I think a lot of people suffered. There were bodies strewn about the sidewalk in total carnage. Criox-rouge was non-stop and I really just took one mile at a time. The last two loops (total of four) was just crisis management. I have never had to walk aid stations before. Let me rephrase that; I ran from aid station to aid station the last two loops. They were well prepared with hoses and sponges. Thank god my Asics have drains in the bottom! Never noticed before until I dried the insole outside of the shoe after the race. They really saved my feet, as I yelled "la tete" and they proceeded to spray my shoes directly with the hose.

Anyway, I finished:

333rd overall
4th American
61st AG
11:02:50

I think I will stick to Lake Placid for next year. The top racers were all from that area - Nice, Spain, Italy, etc. Those guys had incredible bike time and were still able to run in that heat. I guess that's their playground and it is a great one! I could move there tomorrow! Sorry for the long post. I will post again later with some details about other parts of the trip.

Cheers!

-Kyle