Race 8. 2nd July 2006 Triathlon Saint Jean de Monts. 1500/40/10
Yet another scorching hot day greeted us for the start of this race. The swim was a 2 lap triangle in the sea with a run out of the water between each lap. After the swim was a massive run up the beach (the tide being right out byrace start) to an enormous transition area on the esplanade of St Jean de Monts. The 40km bike was three laps of a pretty flat circuit, and the final10km run was four laps of 2.5km, including a 3-400m run through the soft beach sand, delightful! 
The organisers of the race had been happy to have two Australians race so gave us a few nights accommodation for Adam and I right on the course. We were the sole representatives of team TOC Cesson, so no team prize money today and also no 
bus. We rented a very nice station wagon and found our own way there. I feel the team from Saint Jean de Monts were too strong anyway as they had all hands on deck for the race, and even formed a group huddle and chanted before the race. Adam and I did the same but with just the two of us it didn’t quite have the same effect. 
On the crowded start line over 300 nervous athletes pushed and toed for some precious front row sand. As with all of the French races there is no wave starts, just one big start, and there is never enough room for everyone on the start line. I chose the extreme left of the start line so as to not get caught in the crush in the middle. Stretched between the two ends of the line was a rope to keep everyone back. It was tied to the pole I was starting next to and I remember thinking that when the start happens and the rope is lifted it will not go up high enough, still tied to the pole. I was still nutting this problem out when I heard a siren. Must be the start I thought, so without hesitation I ran around the pole, pushed through the arbitrators (race officials) and started running for the water. A few seconds later was the official start gun, but this meant nothing as the entire field had already started sprinting down the beach. Adam told me after he had been caught momentarily by the rope, putting stock in my round the pole decision. I have a video of this start for anyone who is interested. You can here the two starts quite distinctly.
I ran into the water towards the front of the field, swam as quick as I could and rounded the first buoy in about 7th right behind our French swim coach, Roman. I had seen him swim1:58 for a
200m the week before, so with that in mind was happy to be with him. I have conveniently excluded the fact he was not swimming in a wetsuit, but I was still happy with my position. I moved up a few positions over the course of the first lap and exited the water in 4th for the start of the second lap. Adam and St Jean de Monts number one guy Benoit Bouchard had got themselves a little gap off the front by about 15seconds then came Roman and myself. I passed Roman on the run back in and spent the remainder of the second lap on my own, unable to catch the two in front but pulling away from those behind. I got out of the water 53seconds behind Adam who had Benoit 9 seconds behind him. It was so hot that I may have already been dry by the time I reached my bike in the transition.
On the bike I felt pretty good and worked hard to get to the front two. I didn’t think I was so far behind so really pushed to get to them quickly. After about 10km I reached a straight section of road and could see them way off in the distance. Oh crap I thought they are getting further away from me. I persisted with the pace I had established, not because I thought it was effective but because it was all I had to offer
. Surprisingly, by the end of the first lap I had almost caught Adam and Benoit was not too far in front of him. This was better. This out and back section of the course allowed people to see exactly where others were. Then I passed the guys behind me, and saw a big bunch of around 10 guys. They were all sort of but sort of not drafting. Please note this was a non drafting race. I figured they would probably catch me within the next 5 km the way I was riding. I caught Adam and went off in search of the leader on the road, Benoit, but I couldn’t see him. At the cross over section of the second lap he had a very similar sized lead, and I, to my relief had extended my advantage to the chase pack.
I really pushed the last lap. Partially to get more time on the pursuers but predominantly to catch Benoit. My tactic was based solely on my own stupidity as I had no idea where the entry for the transition was or how to finish the last lap, so figured if I follow Benoit I could copy him. I did it. I caught him with about 3km to go in the bike leg. When I reached him he looked very very tired, and was not moving too quick. I yelled that he should lead as I didn’t know the way properly, but he told me afterwards he had know idea what I was saying. I soon realised I had to lead as the pace had dropped significantly. As I neared transition I took my feet out of my shoes and turned to see Benoit doing the same. That must be the right time I thought. Its his home race, he would know. Wrongo! We still had about 600m to ride, 300 past transition, a u-turn then 300 back to the dismount. We both had to do this section out of our shoes. At the u-turn I passed Bertrand, one of our team managers. He was yelling at me "well done" and "allez allez trez bien" (go go very good),
and I yelled back "I have got no idea where I am going". I didn’t. I rode at a slower pace back to what I thought was the bike dismount line. Benoit followed. I jumped off my bike and started to run it, but we had to run for a very long way. Benoit still followed. We ran a big square, first away from transition then back towards it. I looked across the square area to see the guy who was in third…..Still riding!! I jumped back on my bike but 10m later arrived at the actual dismount line. Benoit admitted to me after the race he also had no idea where to go, so just copied me. We both had a laugh at how much time we had squandered.
I exited transition on the run in second. Not behind Benoit but behind Nicolas Tharreau from Les Sables tri club. He had caught us in the end of the bike leg as we were running our bikes. He ran out of transition hard and sped over the soft sand section. Weary of the heat I ran out a bit easier, although I don’t think I could have gone as quick as he had over the soft sand. At the end of the first lap he was about 25 seconds in front of me, Benoit had retired with exhaustion 
and the next competitor was over 1:30 behind. Gaps didn’t really change a lot after that. I put I a big effort to reach the lead on the third lap, but Nicolas was too strong and crossed the line 17 seconds in front of me. Marc Lepetit, who finished second in Laval triathlon, was third 1:27 behind the winner.
Result from race 8 = 2nd
Yet another scorching hot day greeted us for the start of this race. The swim was a 2 lap triangle in the sea with a run out of the water between each lap. After the swim was a massive run up the beach (the tide being right out byrace start) to an enormous transition area on the esplanade of St Jean de Monts. The 40km bike was three laps of a pretty flat circuit, and the final10km run was four laps of 2.5km, including a 3-400m run through the soft beach sand, delightful! 
The organisers of the race had been happy to have two Australians race so gave us a few nights accommodation for Adam and I right on the course. We were the sole representatives of team TOC Cesson, so no team prize money today and also no 
bus. We rented a very nice station wagon and found our own way there. I feel the team from Saint Jean de Monts were too strong anyway as they had all hands on deck for the race, and even formed a group huddle and chanted before the race. Adam and I did the same but with just the two of us it didn’t quite have the same effect. 
On the crowded start line over 300 nervous athletes pushed and toed for some precious front row sand. As with all of the French races there is no wave starts, just one big start, and there is never enough room for everyone on the start line. I chose the extreme left of the start line so as to not get caught in the crush in the middle. Stretched between the two ends of the line was a rope to keep everyone back. It was tied to the pole I was starting next to and I remember thinking that when the start happens and the rope is lifted it will not go up high enough, still tied to the pole. I was still nutting this problem out when I heard a siren. Must be the start I thought, so without hesitation I ran around the pole, pushed through the arbitrators (race officials) and started running for the water. A few seconds later was the official start gun, but this meant nothing as the entire field had already started sprinting down the beach. Adam told me after he had been caught momentarily by the rope, putting stock in my round the pole decision. I have a video of this start for anyone who is interested. You can here the two starts quite distinctly.
I ran into the water towards the front of the field, swam as quick as I could and rounded the first buoy in about 7th right behind our French swim coach, Roman. I had seen him swim1:58 for a
200m the week before, so with that in mind was happy to be with him. I have conveniently excluded the fact he was not swimming in a wetsuit, but I was still happy with my position. I moved up a few positions over the course of the first lap and exited the water in 4th for the start of the second lap. Adam and St Jean de Monts number one guy Benoit Bouchard had got themselves a little gap off the front by about 15seconds then came Roman and myself. I passed Roman on the run back in and spent the remainder of the second lap on my own, unable to catch the two in front but pulling away from those behind. I got out of the water 53seconds behind Adam who had Benoit 9 seconds behind him. It was so hot that I may have already been dry by the time I reached my bike in the transition.
On the bike I felt pretty good and worked hard to get to the front two. I didn’t think I was so far behind so really pushed to get to them quickly. After about 10km I reached a straight section of road and could see them way off in the distance. Oh crap I thought they are getting further away from me. I persisted with the pace I had established, not because I thought it was effective but because it was all I had to offer
. Surprisingly, by the end of the first lap I had almost caught Adam and Benoit was not too far in front of him. This was better. This out and back section of the course allowed people to see exactly where others were. Then I passed the guys behind me, and saw a big bunch of around 10 guys. They were all sort of but sort of not drafting. Please note this was a non drafting race. I figured they would probably catch me within the next 5 km the way I was riding. I caught Adam and went off in search of the leader on the road, Benoit, but I couldn’t see him. At the cross over section of the second lap he had a very similar sized lead, and I, to my relief had extended my advantage to the chase pack.
I really pushed the last lap. Partially to get more time on the pursuers but predominantly to catch Benoit. My tactic was based solely on my own stupidity as I had no idea where the entry for the transition was or how to finish the last lap, so figured if I follow Benoit I could copy him. I did it. I caught him with about 3km to go in the bike leg. When I reached him he looked very very tired, and was not moving too quick. I yelled that he should lead as I didn’t know the way properly, but he told me afterwards he had know idea what I was saying. I soon realised I had to lead as the pace had dropped significantly. As I neared transition I took my feet out of my shoes and turned to see Benoit doing the same. That must be the right time I thought. Its his home race, he would know. Wrongo! We still had about 600m to ride, 300 past transition, a u-turn then 300 back to the dismount. We both had to do this section out of our shoes. At the u-turn I passed Bertrand, one of our team managers. He was yelling at me "well done" and "allez allez trez bien" (go go very good),
and I yelled back "I have got no idea where I am going". I didn’t. I rode at a slower pace back to what I thought was the bike dismount line. Benoit followed. I jumped off my bike and started to run it, but we had to run for a very long way. Benoit still followed. We ran a big square, first away from transition then back towards it. I looked across the square area to see the guy who was in third…..Still riding!! I jumped back on my bike but 10m later arrived at the actual dismount line. Benoit admitted to me after the race he also had no idea where to go, so just copied me. We both had a laugh at how much time we had squandered.
I exited transition on the run in second. Not behind Benoit but behind Nicolas Tharreau from Les Sables tri club. He had caught us in the end of the bike leg as we were running our bikes. He ran out of transition hard and sped over the soft sand section. Weary of the heat I ran out a bit easier, although I don’t think I could have gone as quick as he had over the soft sand. At the end of the first lap he was about 25 seconds in front of me, Benoit had retired with exhaustion 
and the next competitor was over 1:30 behind. Gaps didn’t really change a lot after that. I put I a big effort to reach the lead on the third lap, but Nicolas was too strong and crossed the line 17 seconds in front of me. Marc Lepetit, who finished second in Laval triathlon, was third 1:27 behind the winner.
Result from race 8 = 2nd
posted by Kristian at 8:13 AM
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