Natur’M – 6th Octobre 2018 (M)
Race Reporter: Anne
After 10 months of training with the ExpaTRIés, Natur’M was my objective of 2018. Encouraged by my “Triathlon trinôme”, Marine and Maud, to do an M distance together this year we finally decided to sign up for the Naturman M. I knew this triathlon is not the easiest but I thought I had enough time to train as it’s the last race of the season.
After a beautiful sunny and sporty summer we started this amazing October week-end on the TGV with 14 ExpaTRIés members. We were welcomed by Sylvain in Draguignan to spend 3 days in his beautiful house.
Sylvain organized everything; he picked us up with our bikes at the train station and prepared very good dinners (thanks to Louise as well :)). It was nice to spend the day before the race with this nice team of triathletes and learn from their experience in triathlon. I was stressed and even more so when we made the 48km bike race (with 800m D+) by car on Friday afternoon. As it was my first M distance I had no idea how to manage the race and was wondering if I was trained enough.
Despite the stress I slept very well the night before and felt good on Saturday morning to start with the 1 200m swim loop in the beautiful lake of Sainte-Croix.
I finished the loop in a reasonable 31min, a good time for me.
I joined Maud in the bike park area but she left when I arrived. My transition has been too long and I could not catch up with her.
When I look at my race times, the transitions are clearly where I can easily gain one or two minutes 🙂
When I finally was on my bike I tried to manage my effort and keep energy for the second bike loop. The uphill to the village of Aiguines was going well and I didn’t find it very difficult. I enjoyed the landscape and the view of the lake. Even the downhill went well and I realized that I gained confidence on my bike since the stage I did with Sylvain in May. Training paid!
I have seen the ExpaTRIés (Antoine, Gaël, Djil, Chmou) passing and encouraging me. I arrived to the bike park with Vincent and have seen Maud starting the run. Marine arrived when I left the park for the run and as I expected she passed me after 1 km.
I felt very good during the run and liked the loop of 9,5km a lot. It’s a trail along the lake, beautiful and not boring at all. I was surprised to see Marine in front of me after the 5th km. I could catch up with her and we crossed the finish line together.
I am very happy with my first M distance and I am even more motivated for the 2019 season.
I recommend it if you want to race in a beautiful landscape and enjoy a sporty and funny week-end with a group of amazing ExpaTRIés. I will probably sign up for next year.
