Getting There

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" -- who knew Stienbeck had done a lot of international air travel.

The trip to France started off with lines in Austin. Bad weather in Dallas canceled all American flights for the rest of the day to Dallas. At the American counter, we waited an hour while the airline ticket agent worked on finding a new set of flights. Our Austin-Dallas-London-Nice trip had changed to Austin-Chicago-London-Nice and the connection to Nice was oversold, so we were only confirmed for a day later. The flights to Chicago and London were uneventful, but long. Arriving in London, the fun started. Since our connection to Nice was unconfirmed we had to get our checked baggage (including my bike box) and carry it across the airport. After trekking across the airport with the bike and all our other luggage, British Airways informs us that there was really no chance of making any of the connections to Nice on Wednesday. The flights where oversold and the stand-by list had 15 people ahead of us. So with a flight confirmed the next day at 9, we headed back across the airport to get a hotel voucher from American Airlines.

Resigned to spending the night in London, we stopped to drop of the bike and a large suitcase at luggage storage shop. Back at the American desk to get our hotel room, the guy behind the desk assured us that he could get us to Nice. He booked us on new flight from London to Paris with an Air France connection from Paris to Nice. So... we turn around and go back pick up and pay for our luggage storage. Finally, we check in for a flight to Paris at leaves at 4. Originally, we had supposed to arrive in Nice at 1 and we have been in the London airport since 10. Mostly standing in lines and walking back and forth between airline desks. Finally, we board the plane to Paris. It pushed back for departure, and we proceed to go no where. After traveling for 24 hours, your sense of time gets a little poor. Eventually, we actually take off.

Carbo-loading at Heathrow

About 24 hours after leaving our house we finally land in France. Unfortunately, we are in Paris not Nice. In the Paris airport, we head through customs/immigration and start to look for our gate. We literally run through the airport trying to get to the Air France terminal. Arriving there the Air France attendant politely informs us our flight is leaving and there is no way we can get on. Of all our flights, this one actually leaves on time. And sorry Air France has no more flights to Nice tonight. Spurred on by unreasonable optimism, I run back across the airport to the British Airways desk to see if they can find us another flight. Nope. They do book us a room with meal vouchers at the Paris Hilton (insert joke here).

By this point of the trip, we just want a shower, change clothes, and to go to bed. However, our luggage is somewhere in the checked luggage dungeon not possible to access by mere mortals. It is now almost 9 at night in Paris (on Wednesday we think...). Now we have a confirmed flight first thing in the morning to Nice, our luggage already checked, and even two boarding passes.

We head over to the Paris Hilton via the shuttle bus. I check in and ask for basically anything they can give us: bath robe, shave kit, tooth brush, etc. The hotel personnel were very nice. Our airline vouchers get us a ridiculously expensive Italian buffet of mediocre quality (50 EUR per person). Thankfully, the next day is much smoother and we are in the Nice-nice sun by midday Thursday -- only one day late.

If getting there was half the fun, this race would be quite the saga. At least we made it safely with all of our luggage. My bike made it unscathed and unlost!

Recovering

I am recovering nicely in Paris. When, I get back I will write up a detailed account of the race. It only took a few days to start feeling normal physically. I hear the first run afterwards always sucks no matter how long you wait. I am also surprised how fast you forget about the rough spots. I catch myself thinking about what I would do better next time -- then I the rational part argues "what do you mean next time?"... I guess we will see which side wins.

For know, I am wandering about Paris.

Finished!

I made it. It is now late afternoon the next day and I am recoverying. The race was harder than I had imagined, but it seems to be a common experience. All the races at the hotel, talked about it was the hardest race they had done. The weather was hot, the wind was in the wrong direction, and the French apparently outlawed ice. One racer from the UK was on his third Ironman and he did not make it inside the cut-off time.

I will post details later, but the swim and bike went well. The bike course was a killer. The climbs were very long and the descents were a little crazy. A lot of people did not finish the bike. Once I got to the run, I could not keep any fluids down. I ended walking most of the marathon just to finish with going to the medical tent.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Everytime, I crossed a timing mat I thought about everyone watching back home. It was great to have the virtual and real support here (thanks honey ;)). I do not know if I would have made it without them.

I packed my bike to be shipped bck to the US this morning. I think it will be a while before I miss it. Tomorrow, we leave for Paris. I will post details about the race and racing in France when I get back.

Ironman Eve

The big day is almost here. I can not really believe it. It is like the night before Christmas with more restrictions. I do not have much to do today -- just drop off the bike along with my bags of equipment for the bike and run. That way at 5 in the morning you just show up with your goggles and swimsuit and you are good. What sucks about today is that you have free time, but you can't use it! I am in a cool new city, but I do not want to eat new things or walk around too much. It is like my life is on pause until tomorrow morning -- no new experiences until then.

This morning, I finally rode my bike. It survived the trip and reassembly. Riding in Nice was interesting. Normally I would have embraced the challenge, but today I just wanted to test my bike and loosen my legs. I got up at 7 and just went for short ride down the run course with a guy I met at the hotel. This morning the streets where wet and mostly empty. The main street has trams running through the center of the road along with broad walking and parking areas. In Nice, the parking/driving/walking areas are not always clearly separated. As we rolled down Avenue Jean Medecin, the other guy found the seperation between the road and walkway as he crashed only about a minute into the ride! I just heard the clatter behind me -- that helps wake you up in the morning. The avenue was lined with a different rock that created a small lip (1"). He was just moving over and did not see the lip. Luckily, he and his bike were fine -- a small bit of road rash on his knee and hand. The rest of the ride went with out incident, but we were both glad to finish without getting taken out by a car or pedestrian. It was not that it was dangerous, but this close to the race you become paranoid about doing something stupid. A guy I ran with this winter, said this time before a race is when you need to wrap yourself in bubble wrap.

After the bike, I walked back to the sea with my goggles and wetsuit. One of the sponsors, had booth done by the water for people to test their wetsuits, so there was a bunch of races in a that spot swimming. I wrestled my wetsuit on an tenderly picked my way to the water. (The beach in Nice is made of rocks.) The water is clear and bright blue. The waves lap at the shore quietly but with strength. There are no big breakers, but the swells are there and you can hear the rocks getting sucked back out to sea with each wave. I am not complaining about the water temperature. It is a little cold on your face, but nothing compared to what my friends are going to face tomorrow. My swim felt good and strong. The salt water and wetsuit make you float on the surface for a fast swim. I do not think tomorrow will be quite as calm with 2499 others trying get to the same place as me!

Time to go relax before dropping of my bags and bike at 5 tonight. Then tomorrow it starts early. A 3:30 wakeup with breakfast at 4 am. Stroll over to the race site by 5. Drop off your food for the run and bike in the morning. At 6am, hop in the water for a brief warmup. Then at 6:30 it is showtime! You can follow along in the fun at Ironman Live. (Make sure you are looking at Ironman France -- there are two other races tomorrow!) Nice is 7 hours ahead of Austin, so I suspect I will be well on my way before most of you wake up.

Made it!

One day late and too many airport lines to mention, we are in Nice. My bike and luggage made it as well. The race can not be as hard as getting here!

French keyboards are very hard to type on.

Time to go!

My flight for France leaves in a few hours! The last few days have been a flurry of packing and finishing todo lists. I think the race will be much less stressful than getting ready for the trip. Less than 4 days to go!

Yesterday, I got a very kind offer from someone offering me a place to stay in France. They had also lost someone to a brain tumor and happened to be staying in a town near Nice over the next month. Hopefully, our schedules will allow us to meet in France.

A bientôt

Race Briefing

Wow! I just got my race briefing. It is a 74 slide and 7.5 MB power point presentation. I wonder if they expect me to remember any of that after racing for 14 hours?


I love the question/answer that comes with the Power Point brief:

Question
I do not have PowerPoint, I cannot see the file, nothing happens, I am irritated because I miss important info!
Answer
We are sorry that you cannot watch the presentation correctly. Please get the Briefing in PDF format (without animations):

http://www.ironmanfrance.com/IMFR2008_Briefing/IMFR2008_Briefing_PDF_en.pdf

Race Number 722

Cher Scott

Ton numéro porte-bonheur sera le 722 pour l’Ironman France, et c’est aussi ton numéro de dossard !

Or for those of you that do not read French (like me):

Your lucky number for Ironman France will be 722 and it will also be your race number!

8 days to go!

Final "Tuneup"

Saturday was my big transition workout (bike and run). It was chance to practice nutrition and my race plan. Keeping fueled for Ironman is often called to the fourth sport because it is so critical. The idea was to ride for 3 hours with intervals of race pace followed by a long run (70 minutes) . I rode from Pure Austin, and headed out to 360 to do the "dam loop".

20 minutes into the ride, I headed up the hill at Courtyard Drive. This is one of the toughest hills in Austin. While only about 1/2 a mile long it has three steep sections (15%, 10% and 19% grade). Earlier this spring, I could not make it up the last section on my tri bike, and I wanted to try it again to see how I had progressed. As I started up the hill, I noticed the sign and the graded pavement to help cars get up the hill -- if cars need help getting up the hill it is not going to be easy!

The first section is short and steep. I pedal up it with a good cadence and fresh legs. The second section is not as steep, but my heart is pounding with effort and my muscles start to tire. My quick cadence has slowed to a labored climb. I try to focus on form -- pulling and pushing to keep moving. Slowly upward I go. The steepest section of the climb is here. Two months ago - I stopped here. I keep pushing. My heart rate has spike at close to 190. My heart is pounding in my ears, my breath ragged and my legs slow to a painful-slow motion cadence. Climbing is a full body effort. My arms strain against the handle bars and my legs fight to keep going forward. I am barely going forward as the grade eventually relents and slowly ease my way to the top. At the summit, I unclip, check out the view of the lake, and catch my breath!

Satisfied, I roll down the hill for the rest of my ride. At the bottom of the hill as I turn on to 360, my back tire goes flat. I had been wondering, if it was time to replace my tires before the race -- question answered. I quickly change the tube, only to realize the valve stem on my spare tube is too short. The new bike has deeper rims and my spare was from my old bike. Back off comes the tire... I patch the first tube and I am off again. Unfortunately, it was one of those days as an hour later I apparently ran over some glass and my back tire goes flat again. After a bit of struggle to find the hole, I patch it and use my last CO2 cartridge. With an all too familiar sound, the air rushes out of a previously undiscovered 3rd hole. As I ponder WTF to do now, a couple of Texas Iron riders happen by. I bum a new tube and CO2 cartridge from them. While working on that flat two more Texas Iron folks stop by. They offer me a spare cartridge and tube , so I can make it home with some confidence. (Many thanks Joe, Ali, Michelle, and Michael!)

The rest of the ride was uneventful. I opted for the boredom and relative cool of the treadmill for my transition run. I took it easy for the first 30 min and slowly built to a comfortable race pace. The race pace was still conservative and felt easy, but I had only biked for 3 hours not 6+! Running inside made a huge difference. I felt strong and the pace seemed too slow. It was a mental battle not to tap the speed dial up on the treadmill. My heart rate was solid throughout and I kept up with my nutrition. I am sure the people around me, were wondering why I needed several gels and 2 bottles for a run on the treadmill!

The taper is in full swing. Now it time for logistics and more mental preparation. I dropped my bike at Jack & Adam's for its final tune up (including new tires) on Saturday. Time to tackle the rest of the list(s)...

2500 meters, 77 miles, and 30 kilometers

The weekend was a blur of distances in the final preparation for IM France.

Friday afternoon found me in the quarry at Pure Austin. My schedule called for 20 x 75m. I opted to do the workout in the open water of the quarry instead the pool. All in all, an afternoon at the quarry in sunshine is nice way to wash the work week away.

The Real Ale ride was 77+ miles of hill country fun starting out in Blanco, Texas. The country is beautiful, hilly, and hot. The ride pulled out of the brewery parking lot into an immediate headwind and through a series of hills. I kept waiting for the hills to stop, so I could get in rhythm. They never stopped. The course snake up and down through the metropolitan areas of Sisterdale (population 63) and Luckenback with decent roads and no traffic.

Early in the ride, I tagged along with a group fast riders from Texas Iron. They were going too fast for me too hang on long, but it was fun. I noticed that were eating a drinking all the time and keep spinning while grabbing food and drink. My legs tend to stop going when, I grab for food or a bottle. I guess I have trouble doing more than one thing at a time... The 30 minute run after the bike in the high-noon sun along blacktop -- no fun, but I finished.

It turned out to be a great ride despite a few minor logistical issues -- I will definitely do the Real Ale ride again.

Early Sunday, brought the 30km trail run called the Loop. I am not a big trail runner, but I needed to get in a long run and the idea of support, shade, and company the run was much better than running in little circles by myself. The first two of the 10km loops were fun. The terrain was challenging and interesting. It would be fun to really race a trail run someday. The 3rd loop was rough for me. I was dumb and did not drink or eat near enough. Oops. The support was a stop about 5 km apart and I did not think about how long it would take between stops. I ended up drinking about 50% of what I should in that heat. I should have run with 2 bottles instead of one. The terrain definitely builds strength and I am glad I did it. Hopefully, the painful lesson will make me smarter for France.

After the run, the I headed back to the quarry for recovery swim. After some eating, it was nap time. I took several days for my legs to recover from the Loop and I think a few toe nails may never recover, but I made it through my longest run in Ironman training without serious injury.

It is all downhill from here.