Tri en France: Stairmaster wanted

Today was race day and I was, as usual, nervous as hell.
At first I proceeded into the building for bib pick-up. Found myself on the list and standing out next to my name it said (USA). Great. Whatever.
Then I was incredibly amused by French etiquette. The men's toilets were porto-potties. The women's toilets were in the building, one-person bathrooms. BAHAHAHA That's right. Sucks to be a guy.

Then I panicked about two things the French don't really have under control: bib pins and a place to drop your stuff. First, I mustered up my courage to ask 3 people about bib pins in French. Then a women saw me standing around looking... alone, so she decided to interview me, in French, about why I was doing the race and how often I run. After that, I reluctantly hid my new rainproof/windbreaker/running jacket next to the stairs in the building and hoped no one would steal it. There simply was no way I was going to race with it, but I also didn't want to leave my electronics sitting behind in it (both good decisions).

The race started an I was 95% sure I REALLY had to pee, but I sucked it up. The first 2 miles were pretty uncomfortable due to that. It started like a normal race. The roads were kind of congested and a little too small for people. We twice ran into paths that they blocked off that we simply too small for us to run through, so we had to walk. It was a two-loop course, and I wasn't looking forward to experiencing that four times.

Around the 4k point, the course turned into a park, which included a run up-hill through muddy grass and navigating some paths over rocks/tree-roots that required a little hiking skill. My quads did not thank the people who planned the course for throwing this my way just after I'd walked in a huge pack of smelly French people. Speaking of smelly French people, if you think French guys smell bad already, you should not run races with them - learned that the hard way. BLEH. Anyway, I hated the leg through the park and thought, "well, how much worse can it get?" I thought too soon.

A lot of the course was already proving to be mostly uphill and I was excited to find that that was ACTUALLY to my advantage. I was passing people uphill! Then came the first set of stairs. Then the second. Then more uphill. Then the third, which led you immediately to the fourth - the pièce de resistance with spectators lining the other side and then FINALLY about 100m after - the 5th. I prayed I would not encounter these on the second loop, but I did. 10 sets of ascending stairs and 4 sets of descending stairs (which allow them to add the additional 6 sets of ascending stairs). Between that, the park, and the tiny trails that were too small to fit the group, I knew a PR wasn't happening today.

These are the epic stairs - on my second lap

My second lap was just about conquering it. Finishing the race strong....enough. It was rough and I knew I just needed to have fun and treat it like a hard workout and not worry about pace. So I took some pictures of the stairs - to commemorate the experience.

Then I asked someone to take this gross photo.

What I'm really thinking: Thank God it's over!

That was definitely one of the hardest races, workouts, PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES I've ever done! Now back to tri.

Tri en France: 2 degrees of separation

Remember that time my coach was the coach of the Sables Vendée Triathlon elite team? Remember that team Brad Kahlefeldt was on that team and was 3rd in the world? Also has the two junior champions of France?

You know. No big deal.
Hervé Delaunay. Look it up.

http://www.les-sables-vendee-triathlon.fr/

He must find me trivial.
"Who is this weird American girl who thinks she can be a triathlete?"

Tri en France: the American proves that she is not a complete imbecile

I'm a little sick. This whole weekend I had a sore throat and then woke up yesterday with a pretty bad cough (but thankfully no sore throat). I was feeling pretty crappy today, and it was cold and rainy but SOMEHOW I motivated myself to go to tri practice.

I ran there in the rain/cold. It really wasn't all that bad especially compared to what I have to deal with in Chicago, but it kind of sucks to be sick and wet and cold. I got there 10 minutes before practice is supposed to start and as I suspected - the French are fair weather athletes. We've had nearly 30 people at practice before... today we had MAYBE 10. The track team, which usually has upwards of 60, had about 20.


Based on our performances on the test last week, our coach figured out our paces and had specific charts for each of us. The workout, as I understood it, was 1000m followed by 5x200m. My coach told me to take the 1000m at 6:40 or better and my 200s between 1-1:03... so I ran the 1000m in 5:04. Whoops. So then my coach was like "WHOA TOO FAST!" and I tried to explain to him that I didn't understand the test last week and that my stats were inaccurate. To which he responded by telling me to try my 200s between 49-52 sec. Yeah, that didn't happen. I couldn't break 53, but by the end I was so glad it was over. Or at least I thought it was over until he said "ok, 3 minute break then do it again."

That second 1000m wasn't too awful, but was 16 sec slower. Then I took all my 200s at 57 sec. I didn't think I could finish all of them, but the coach was there... waiting for me to finish. It was rough and one of the hardest workouts I've EVER done, but thankfully it also resulted in a change in my test results. Now my workouts will be based around a max of 12.5 km/h (7:43 min/mile). Apparently I'm a LOT better at 1000s than 200s - which is not surprising. I literally have no ability for sprinting and no experience in short distance.

Then I ran home and looked at my garmin. I did a total of 2.9 miles at an average of 8 min pace! EEEEK And the run itself was just under 7.4 miles - longest in France yet.

Je suis crevé. I'm gonna go collapse now.

Tri en France: Lost in Translation

Last week our coach told us we would be completing a running test, which I figured would suck about as much as any normal running test and I spent the whole week mentally preparing for a hard run.

When I got to practice, I was my usual freaked out self, but surprised to find that the whole team said hi to me, gave me bises (those little french hello kisses) and basically made it known that they were comfortable with/acknowledging me now. WIN OF THE DAY.

However, the female head count is back down. There is only the weird girl from the first day (who has at least started wearing slightly more athletic clothing...and who actually talks to me and who, I found out, is named Agnes) and the super fast girl from the week before, and, well me.

Our coach explained the run test to everyone and I didn't understand a word of it, something about cones and 8,5 km. I was lost and confused why we had such a LONG run test. 5-ish miles would take me around 45 min. Eek

After everyone headed out around the track to stand next to a cone, I asked him to re-explain it. Something about speeding up every time he blew the whistle and again... something about 8,5 km and paying attention to the people around you. We were staying in for as long as we could...? I can run for a really long time... What? As I usually do, I decided I would just go with the flow and follow everyone else after asking Agnes a few questions. She clarified that the distance was not set and that she didn't really understand the test either.

Agnes and I started at the same cone at a very very slow pace and I was super worried. HOW IS THIS A RUN TEST? But I looked ahead and the elite guys in front of me were barely jogging. Okay...so we make it around the first lap and I'm thinking, so should I go run with them? Then the coach sees me and yells "you're between two groups, slow down, wait up..." But... it's a run test? Ok so I slow down. Then Agnes says "oh, I get it!" after catching me and TAKES OFF. Now I understand that the point is to stay with Agnes but she has dropped me hard core and I am working to catch her. I finish my second lap and still haven't caught Agnes, so the coach tells me I'm done and pulls me off the track.

I walked off, not feeling the least bit like I had just done a running test, or even worked that hard for that matter and he looks at me and says "You've never done a test like this before, have you?" I, of course, say no, that I usually do 30 min tests for distance. He tells me I didn't do poorly, but I simply don't believe him. Then I spend around 17 minutes waiting for the rest of the team to finish and after another lap, I begin to understand the test:

There are cones assembled around the track at every 50m. Each pair started at a cone and you start at a speed of roughly 8,5 kmh (which is very slow - for all you Americans -which is probably all of you- that's an 11:20 mile). Each time he blows the whistle, the team increases their speed as a whole around the track. The objective is to maintain that 50m distance between the group in front and behind you/stay with your partner (if you had one). Mind you, we're increasing speed about every 50m - so each cone. Just by a touch, but nevertheless increasing. Once you get your speed up high, the challenge is well, the pace, but also that you have a few miles (well, km) on your legs and it's harder to keep pushing faster. The longer you can stay in, the higher the speed you were able to maintain.

At the end he figured out some calculations. I'm not sure if it was our max speed in the test, our estimated race pace for an hour, or our estimated max capability, but what I DO know is that mine was an 8:33 mile. WHICH if it is my estimated race pace for an hour... would be pretty accurate, BUT I'm thinking that it was my estimated top pace in the test, which is actually a joke. So, that practice was an overall failure, and I only ended up running for a total of 26 minutes (of which the first and last 10 were warm-up/cool-down) so I decided to run home, which pleasantly was mostly uphill and was a nice hard run.

Yesterday I finally got my distance up above 6 miles (woo hoo!) and tested out a new route. It was a slow run, but it was my longest yet in this country to prepare for that race. Speaking of which, got an email from the directors that said I need a doctor's note. Seriously France? I promise I won't die running 8-ish miles. Well, guess I'm going to have to figure out that one now...

After being disappointed with my slow run yesterday, I decided to seek out the pool and finally get some swimming in, only to find it's closed for cleaning. Not my week for athletics.

Tri en France: HR malfunctions and (NOT)Men's Track Practice

Good news: My ankle is generally doing better, which is pretty sweet and I'm excited about that. A few days ago I went out for a run and that didn't go so well because I was having this pretty bad chest pain that I've gotten a few times this summer. My coach is a little freaked out by that so... we'll see where that goes. More good news though, today with the French triathlon team I didn't experience any pain at all and I was working at some pretty crazy HRs (I looked down once and was at 181) so I'm feeling less scared about that.

The nice thing about this practice is that there were 5 more girls there!!! One was really good and I got the idea she was dating one of the guys on the team. She looked very legit and then proceeded to keep pace with the b-level boys for the workout. The middle 4 of us are all pretty close in pace and we were pretty much together for most of the workout. The other seems completely new to exercise and didn't finish much of the workout. We're a motley crew we are, but at least we're a crew!

The workout wasn't the best of my life, but I can't expect to come back fast off a week of misery and rest.