Camille, Marine and Anne 1st Triathlon!

We (Camille, Marine and Anne) did our first triathlon this year in Choisy au Bac. Why Choisy au Bac? Because it’s close to Paris, at the beginning of the triathlon season and according to several ExpaTRIés members who had done it last year, the swim part was very easy.

We decided to register together for this one. Unfortunately the organization changed the route this year and the swim part is not in the river anymore but in a lake. So no stream… 🙂 No matter this one will be our first one!!

In the train to Compiègne, we were joined by Miguel, Rose and Claudio. Jessica, Luis and Guillaume were also taking part in this Triathlon. So we were well accompagnied by Expatriés crew for our 1st triathlon ! Even the sun was with us 🙂

Swim :

Anne – Swimming is not my favorite part and I couldn’t go to Cergy before the race. The idea of swimming 750m in a lake was stressing me a lot. I knew that I could not crawl the 750m but I thought I could switch between crawl and breaststroke. Unfortunately it was not the case. After 100m (or maybe less) I thought I was going to die… I could not breathe properly and tried to keep swimming the breaststroke. But even like that it was very difficult. I felt better on the second part when Marine arrived next to me and said “Coucou”. We got out of the water at the same time after 19 horrible minutes. In the transition zone trying to remove my wetsuit I was telling myself that I definitely have to go to Cergy as soon as possible!!

Camille – Swimming is not my favorite part too !! After 3 swimming sessions in open water before that race, I felt confident enough about the distance to make, but not about the “mass start” and the risk of being smashed by other people or to sink because people were swimming on me… Even with a lake at 20° so no wetsuit mandatory I was not hesitating at all to wear my wetsuit as a matter of safety ^^ For god’s sake, the women were starting 10 minutes before men which, I guess, avoided lots of fighting and struggling and enables me to start more relaxed. Fixing the buoys (quite hard with all that fog in my googles – does anti-fog works?) and focused on my respiration, I succeed in getting a good (at least for me) pace and I finally reached the edge, thinking “I am back on the earth and alive !! hourra!”

Marine – I swim like a dog, the less I have to swim the better, I am which is pretty paradoxical for someone who practices triathlons! 700m of swim was so long… to avoid being crushed, I tried to swim on the side and obviously I did all the distance in breaststroke. Anne was 10 meters in front of me and I was laughing and almost flowing seeing her trying different swim : crawl / breastroke / back swim (I didn’t see butterfly swim 🙂 ). Fortunately, this nightmare had an end and I succeeded to get out of the water after 20 minutes.

Bike :

Anne – I was really happy to take my bike. I bought it less than 3 months ago and I discovered that I really like biking. I enjoyed the ride and I found it easy after the 3 days training I did in Verdon with Sylvain at the end of April. It was nice to race with members of ExpaTRIés team. Of course the men (they started 10min after the women) overtook me on the bike but it was nice to have the encouragements of Luis, Miguel and Guillaume.

Camille – I felt much more confident in that 2nd discipline but the main challenge was to manage the effort. I had no idea of the maximum speed I could keep on during 20k. So I tried to be fast but to keep some resources for the running part. I saw (or rather heard) Luis overtaking me like a rocket and as we made several turns back, it was nice to see other Expartriés and say hello/allez !!

Marine – To pedal in Picardie after a weekend in the Verdon was such a pleasure! Time went so fast compared to the swim and it was quite encouraging to hear Luis or Miguel trying to coach us passing us.

Run :

Anne – The first kilometer was a bit difficult but I think it’s normal. Then I felt much better to run the last loop with a good pace and I am happy with my time. We had the chance to race under a beautiful weather in a good atmosphere. It’s a small triathlon with less than 300 competitors. I really recommend it to start the season and especially for those who want to race their first triathlon like us.

Camille – Jumping off my bike, I was happy to finish with the running which I felt better trained for. It was quite hard as the sun was shining strongly and the track around the lake was very dusty. When Miguel overtook me, I realized that my time would be not so bad and I reached the finish line with a big smile !! I was very happy with my 1st triathlon and my time, I strongly recommend Choisy au bac (good organization and very friendly) as a 1st one or to start the season easily ^^ Sharing that experience with other Expatriés was of course the best part of it.

Marine – Running is my favorite sport but it is quite different to run after swimming and biking! legs were quite painful but what a pleasure to cross the finish line.

And of course discipline N° 4 of the ExpaTRIés !!! 🙂