Triathlon des Lacs d’Aube (Troyes) – L distance (2.7k/83k/21k) – June 4rd 2017
Race reporter: Benjamin
I signed up two weeks before the race with the thought of using it as a training session.
The course was 2.7km swim, 80km cycle and 21 run. Before arriving at the bike park I had imagined the level would be average or below average. Once inside the park, I saw that I was all wrong. The level was high with some excellent athletes on site.
But my friend was Chmou was there so no panic, stay zen.
We found David and the three of us were side-by-side in the bike park. Super! We started with a short warm-up run then put on the wet suits. We went to the edge of the lake to wait for the start of the 2.8km that were waiting for us, with their Australian exit. My heart was racing.
It was an impressive swim – a huge fight in the water for at least 500m from which I had a drink! The 1st loop seemed endless whereas the 2nd went by more quickly.
T1: I had a hard time getting my wet suit off because of lack of practice. I saw David changing and Chmou was still in the water.
Reassured that there were still a lot of bikes still in the park, I took off on the 3 loops of this fairly difficult hilly bike course. I had stomach cramps from the lake water which were manageable, but I couldn’t let that slow me down becuase rocket Chmou was behind me. Each bike that passed I would pray that it wasn’t him 🙂
And no it wasn’t, I held on until the end with an average speed of 29.5 kph. The bike went well but I was very thirsty and was ready to move on to the run.
T2: finally. The transition went great – no cramps and fairly quick.
As soon as I started the run I had unbelievable stomach cramps. My stomach was bloated and I had a hard time breathing. It was only after 5km that the pain become manageable. I overtook a good number of pepole which boosted my more and allowed me to maintain my pace. The finish line was just in front of me with only 1km to go and a guy I had passed, passed me at a good pace. Impossible for me to follow. I stayed behind him making making a face and passed him in the last 50m. YES! I finished in under 5h30 which was my goal time – 5h26. This is also my personal best.
Feeling victorious, I layed on the ground in pure joy.
