Nice was nice in September - Paul, Bill & Gary

The whole journey to the Ironman World Championships in Nice this year only really started in May! 

I had not been to an Ironman Slot Allocation session since 2017 when Danny qualified for Kona, so I only had anecdotal information about how far slots were rolling in recent years.  I had never really been that concerned, as I had held the personal opinion, that I would only take a slot if I finished in an automatic qualification slot.

A couple of things happened this year that changed my opinion on tis – firstly the cancer diagnosis, and as such having some doubt caste over how long I may either be around to do the sport or able to do the sport, and secondly Ironman’s decision to take the World Championships back to Kona.  We went to Kona with Danny in 2018, and whilst it was a wonderful experience, and something I think athletes that can afford to do, should do, I will not invest that amount of cash in going again.

In May, after Ironman Lanzarote, SEC friend Gary Ireland took a rolldown slot for Nice, and let me know that in some age groups they were rolling quite some way down….so I started thinking!!In a year where I planned only do 70.3s, suddenly 2 Ironman races entered my mind!  The only qualification race that was not sold out and was within easy reach was Vitoria Gastiez.  I had unfinished business there after last year’s event (see another race report for that!!).  Travel was easy, accommodation was available and I knew the course, so we took the plunge and entered on 25^th May, 7 weeks before the race……I also provisionally booked some accommodation in Nice, as I guessed most well located places would be getting full!  At this point, I still had Lakesman and Epicman 70.3s booked and needing ticking off…..so training had to be a bit “hybrid” to get in fast enough shape for those, but long enough shape for Gasteiz.

Lakesman and Epicman both went very well, and confidence was at a decent level heading to Spain.  The swim and bike went perfectly, as did the first 22km and last 10km of the run, I’m not gonna lie, there was 10km in the middle when the whole idea seemed crazy and I was questioning my life choices – but isn’t there always a bit of that in Ironman racing!!My plan was top 10 onto the run, top 20 at the end of the run.  10^th was secured, and a finishing place of 22^nd– so off we went to the slot allocation and took the last slot on my AG, which rolled from 8^th down to 22^nd!  The provisionally booked accommodation was hurriedly changed to something bigger as Dan and Rachel fancied a few days spectating in the sun.

I already knew that ex SEC athlete Louise Ireland (Gary’s husband), daughter Olivia, and current SEC athlete Rebecca Smith were heading out to support Gary, so this was starting to have quite a nice feel about it!On my return to the UK, long standing SEC athlete Bill Galvin informed me that he had decided that should he achieve a slot at Ironman Leeds later in July, then he would take it and he and wife Kate would head to Nice.  See Bill’s race report on that journey, but in short, he achieved 3^rd in his age group and took the second slot in his age group.

We (me and Ann) were due to leave the UK a couple of days after ironman Leeds for our annual extended summer holidays in Europe in the caravan, and I had hastily rearranged the campsites to go from Vichy (after racing IM 70.3 there) straight to Nice instead of heading to the Alps.  So were arrived at a campsite in Cagnes Sur Mer (15km from Nice) 2.5 weeks before race day. 

I spent a lot of time swimming in the sea (without a wetsuit), running up and down the promenade in the heat of the day and investigating the bike course in 3 *100kmish routes – seeing the first 60km with all of the climbing twice, and the last 60km with all of the technical descending once.  I had the intention of riding the full bike course 2 weeks before the race, but got somewhat side-tracked with a little event 20 miles the other way down the coast at Frejus – T100 French Riviera, which I spent that weekend doing instead!!

On the Wednesday before the race I did the official on course practice swim.  There was lots of chat about water temperature – it had been at least 25 degrees all the time we had been there, so fully expecting (and secretly quite excited about) a non-wetsuit swim, I did this swim again in just the trisuit.  I completed the swim at what I felt would be about Ironman pace in 34 mins, which I was happy with – the Med has a lot of salt in it, and helps keep you close to the surface! 

Bill arrived in town that morning – on his own, with changed logistical arrangements due to his wife’s untimely breast cancer diagnosis, and she was only a few days post operation.  We met Bill, did some bike assembly and went to explore registration and merch together.

Thursday morning saw the final recce of the start of the course (the 2 little kickers) and the last bit of the descent by way of a bike check for Bill.

Ann and myself then moved into the apartment in Nice on Thursday and Danny, Rachel and the Ireland possie joined us later that night.

Friday morning was the 5km fun run, which Danny and Rachel joined me and Bill for – most of us took it easy, Bill didn’t!!  The rest of the day was spent soaking up the sun’s rays at a beach club, with a short sea swim with Danny before lunch.  That evening we went for the best Italian meal that I have had for a long time at Di Piu, on the sea front – turns out that was location for the food for those that had paid up to $5000 for a spectator VIP ticket for race day!

Saturday passed by in a blur of kit organisation, nutrition prep and eventually racking, before turning in for a fairly early night.

Race start was just after 7, but as it was age group wave starts (still don’t understand why when the rest of the year you start with swimmers of equal ability not equal age!!), my start time was just before 08:00.  That did mean a fairly leisurely get up, breakfast and stroll down to the sea front from the apartment.  There were no race morning dramas, and I just spent my time keeping relaxed, watching the line that other swim waves were taking, and changing my mind several times about where to start from (it was a deep water start rather than the usual rolling from the shore start).  I did see Jan Fredono and Mark Cavendish before heading into the water!Now, it’s important to note here, that I had spent 2 months telling myself that I was not going to trouble the podium here, and the 2 objectives were “enjoyment” and most importantly getting round and bagging that big old medal – this was a one-off opportunity, don’t screw it up (and its cost you the thick end of £3,000!!!).  Funny how, no matter how much you tell yourself that, you still have thoughts about appropriate times, where to be “fast”, how to approach each discipline etc etc.  My “aspiration” following time on the course, was to finish in 12:30 (1:15 / 6:45 / 4:30 with some leeway for transitions).  I cared not a jot about AG position, but top 100 would be nice – there were 260 in my AG.

So, into the water and position on the left hand side (I don’t know why I ever think where to go, as I always go there – I breath to the right and like to see people, but have room to escape left if it all gets too chaotic!!).  I was quite bullish though and went on the front row – my thinking being that there are all abilities in here, and I am usually most competitive in the swim section, so get with the faster guys!  This worked perfectly and I got settled into a great group, swimming hard, but within myself and happy with the effort level.  Then as we hit the first turn bouy we caught up with the slower swimmers form the previous wave – blue hats that went off 3-4 minutes before us.  Carnage ensued as my group broke up as we had to navigate a lot of slower swimmers, and heading back into shore to complete the first out and back, all feet were lost and it became a solo swim.  The temptation was there often to sit in behind people, but they were all blue caps, and sometimes yellow – 2 waves prior to us, and I knew that would be too slow.  I was a touch irritated by that at the end of the first loop, and then I reminded myself, that this was not a “race” race, but an experience – so crack on, by yourself and enjoy it!!Swim finished in 1:12, happy days, and off into transition.  So, here’s the thing about non-wetsuit (and non-swim-skin) races in warm climates – there’s nothing to do!!  I had my swim cap and goggles in my hand, and my T1 bag had my helmet and fingerless gloves in (I found that you spend a lot of time sat up either climbing or descending and the padding on the gloves was helpful).  At Nice, you collect your bag, go into the tent and deposit you bag on the exit of the tent on the way to your bike.  By the time I had entered the tent, my helmet was on my head, my hat and my goggles were in my bag and my gloves were in my hand.  In the tent, the chairs were all occupied and folk were busying away doing god-only knows what……I walked straight through, dropped my bag and put my gloves on as a ran about 10 miles to my bike!!  Being in the last swim wave, also meant our bikes were racked furthest from the change tent and closest to the bike mount line.

40^th out of the swim, 30^th after T1 - smoothly onto the bike and away we went – the first 10kms being flat with a tailwind so just got on with it, to the base of the 2 kickers.  I knew the next 50kms pretty well now, knew what power I wanted for each of the climbs, where the recovery sections were and where the aid stations were.  I had an expectation that I should be at the top of the main 18km climb at about 60km in about 2:40, which turned out to be spot on.  Nothing much happened really, nutrition and hydration was spot on – I was amazed at the number of folk with bike drama almost from the first few KMs onwards – punctures and mechanicals mainly for now.  Just before the top of the main climb, I passed Bill at an aid station, as I expected I might as he had started about 30 mins before me and I expected to swim and bike faster than me….and maybe finish in a similar time (Bill can run some for an old man!!)

At the top of the main climb, you do get a little light relief – more undulations than pure climbs, but you’ve only done 1500m of the 2500m after 60km, and the last 40km is basically downhill….so there was still 1000m to do in the next 80km!!  I did have a brief dark spot about 4 hours in, when the much anticipated downhill still seemed a long way off, but I reminded myself of the goal, backed off the power for 10 mins and took on an extra (out of process gel) and normality returned!!I’d only done the full descent once, and the lower part for a second time, but I’d seen enough to know that as a “careful” descender, I needed to be awake and alert – lots of hairpins, lots of road furniture, lots of speed bumps especially though the villages, and surprisingly for France some crap road surfaces (although some had been fully resurfaced in the days prior to the event).  The descent started and I think it’s more challenging at the top.  There were a few European riders that can descend that flew passed, I left them to it, but did pick a wheel a couple of times that was quite helpful in terms of working your line through the corners out.  I remembered to take on hydration and nutrition which I often forget when descending.  There were many reminders of the potential treacherousness of this part of the course as I counted up into double figures the number of athletes lying on the side of the road, wrapped in foil blankets with very broken bikes somewhere near them, waiting for the many ambulances to get to them - sobering and a great reminder to stay awake and remember the goal!!

The road eventually levelled out and we hit the last 10km that had been the first 10km of flat, but now the wind had increased and it was an unnecessary headwind!  Anyhow after 6 hours 40 mins on the bike (the longest I’ve been on a bike for in a race) I saw Ann, Danny and Rachel just prior to the dismount line - a very welcome site!

Swiftly though T2, I have no idea what people do in there – again T2 bag had socks, trainers, cap, glasses, and a bit of nutrition.  Socks and shoes on, helmet and gloves in the bag, glasses and nutrition in cap and off we go – oh and race number, you only needed that for the run.  Out onto the run course in 40^th, loads of position to give away there to maintain my top 100 status 😊

Sadly, due to giving the pros an hours head start and them being a bit better than me, they had all finished by the time I jogged onto the run course, and to be fair there were a lot of age groupers on the course with me being a late starter.

Now – single grumble about this event – the race guide and briefing said aid stations every 1.6km – perfect for my 9/1 strategy, and no need to carry hydration for the usual gaps of 2.5-3km.  I was slighty surprised when the first aid station came at 1km, and I wasnt ready to walk, but I did – trust the process!!  I was even more surprised when the next one came 1km later - cue another walk!!  Soon after that I saw the support crew which was great, and I was feeling really good!  Next aid station after 1.5km, perfect, so we were 3.5km into the 10.5 km lap and had been through 3 aid stations, and you passed the same aid stations on the way back in, so in my mind they would be 1/2/3.5/5/7.5/8.5/9.5 which was OK.  So at the turnaround point I was a bit miffed to find no aid station, so that missing one meant we went from 3.5km to 7.5km with no aid station – not great at any time, but especially when you are not expecting it and not prepared for it!  Add to that the fact that all aid stations ran out of gels for lap 2 and half of lap 3, and that wasn’t helpful!  Whinge over, and on with the run!!At the start of the second lap, I had 4 support crews really – Ann, Dan & Rach, Louise and Olivia, Bex, and then a young German couple we had met on our campsite (new to triathlon and had arranged their holiday around spectating the World Champs!).I got word that Gary and Bill were both back on running, which I was delighted to hear after seeing an unhealthy amount of drama on the bike course.  I know Gary was in front of me, as he started earlier and is a faster biker and runner, and I knew Bill was behind me somewhere but would be making up ground.  At the end of the 2^nd lap, the grind became real and it was good when Gary caught up with me – I was 3km into my third lap, he was on his 4^th and final lap.  We ran together for a few 100m, then walked an aid station, and soon after that I let him get on his merry way!The support from my teams and many other large groups was excellent and much needed as we got to the end of the 3^rd lap.  Seeing your support crew on the last lap is great, as you know they will then head to the finish line which is the next time you will see them.  I’m not gonna lie, the last lap was as tough as ever, and I just tried to focus in latching on to someone that was running about the right pace and trying to zone out of the concept of running itself!!  About 2km from the finish Bill came passed me like a steam train….I considered it for a moment, then carried on walking 😊Soon enough, it was time to zip up and make sure I looked decent for the finish line photos.  This is the first time I’ve finished a race in the dark to, which was a bit strange, and I missed the family on the chute, just focusing on making sure there was a decent gap in front of me as I crossed the line to get a great photo!!  Run time 4:29, overall time 12:29 – super!!

I progressed into the athlete recovery area with Bill who had waited just after the finish line for me, and joined by Gary who had already been in once after finishing over an hour before us.  We saw Ann, Dan, Rachel, Bex, Louise and Olivia through the Heras fencing, but it was enough to celebrate and for us all to know we were all OK, then went and ploughed into a very decent buffet!