Le Triathlon de Thonon-les-Bains (Sprint)

Well, turns out it was a weekend of crashes by, or in, Lac Léman!

After some more gorgeous weather out here in the Alps, the storms hit last night resulting in a slightly damp start to the day. Normally, having to cycle in the rain fills me with dread, but as Thonon is fairly flat I knew there would be no steep scary bits and shoudn’t be too slippery.

I got that wrong, didn’t I?!

The swim was choppy. I found the first half pretty hard. Waves were lopping us about, I was struggling to breathe and could feel my heart rate soaring through my wetsuit – it was tight! I’m so glad I had it on though (improvement to previous years!) Amelia at Buzz has helped me with my technique and as soon as I calmed down and started focusing on good strokes, keeping my arms moving like a watermill, I got into a rhythm I felt myself speed up for the last couple of buoys.

 

The bike was good. I’m generally feeling a lot more comfortable on my bike this year. My legs were heavy up the Joux Plane on Friday, so I was concerned they would die on me quite easily. My aim was to keep them spinning and not try and push too high a gear and burn them out. The first 10km took us up and away from Thonon, and second 10km back were down, roughly! It was all going rather well, until the descent. Man, do some of those boys cycle FAST! Oh, and there’s a girl I overtook on the up…
Just as I got to a roundabout, I’m not really sure what happened, but the bike skidded and slid under me leaving me to go SMACK. Down I went on to my hip and shoulder. One of the, very helpful, bénévoles/volunteers said I’d slipped on a white line. Yes, I had been told they get very slippy in the rain. Oops.

“Just give me 30s.”

Breathe Rach, breathe. You’re ok.

Check the damage – yep, that’s fine.

Mr nice volunteer helped put my chain on, and off I went. Left behind and overtaken, but I’m genuinely chuffed with my little bike-petrified self that I carried on. If those Tour de France boys can do it, then I will, too! 😀 Although after catching up on today’s tour, they are way more hardcore and I hope Richie Porte is ok.

Even now, back at home, I’m not particularly phased about the crash (although sore!). I hadn’t been travelling too fast as we were approaching the roundabout, and the crash wasn’t scary. I’m making progress… What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, oui?

Into the transition area, quick flash to mum and a French lady “oh putain!” and out on the run.

Ouch! Just keep running. I’ve got new Superfeet insoles and they are great. However, not so much when running without socks. I now have some raw blisters on the arches of my feet (FYI, Germolene new skin is amazing!). They, along with the throbbing hip, meant my run was a little bit painful. The first lap wasn’t fast. Nor was the second or the third, but I was getting faster with each lap and I did manage to catch a couple of girls, as well as be overtaken by one or two. The bénévoles gave you little pink bands so you didn’t lose count of your laps. Like I was going to forget. I spotted a girl I’d over taken fairly early on during the bike ride, and who went past me whilst I was pulling myself together after my crash. I decided I was going to beat her! I upped my pace a little, and towards the end, with 200m to go, gave it my all and nearly vommed over the finish line.

The lovely ladies in the First Aid tent cleaned me a up and one guy made me smile when he noticed other scars and commented that he didn’t think this was the first time…

 

A great event with a lovely atmosphere. I knew where I was going, the volunteers did a great job, and everyone was supporting everyone!

I now feel a little sore. My hip is one big lumpy, swollen bloody haematoma, my shoulder is a little bruised, and the blisters on my feet sting somewhat – but I’ve had worse, and Nurse Mum has taken care of me. Sorry for, yet again, more parenting stress.

Thank you to Esther, mum and Olive (despite having to carry you back to the car, you lazy lump) for coming to support me and taking the photographs.

So, active rest is on the agenda this week (we’ll see how long that lasts…) to get myself healed for next Sunday and the Olympic distance in Geneva. Let’s hope for refreshed legs, drier weather, and I will wear socks.

 

Result: 15th Female overall. 2nd female in SF2. 9th swim, 19th bike, 34th run.