Vallée de Joux

Little update from last weekend: third triathlon this year and the shortest one to date - Vallée de Joux. Often called the "Geneva world championship" its short and sweet - 500m swim, 23km bike, less than 5km run, and all in the beautiful Jura. My old friend Alex came over from London for his first ever triathlon (another one hooked in the tentacles of triathlon, hehehe), so I joined him in the race.

La course aux gadgets: sport de triathlète

La course aux gadgets est un sport national chez le triathlète et mes collègues l'ont bien compris!
Pour me soutenir et me protéger d'une quelconque attaque d'abeille sur Francfort, ils m'ont tunné mon P3. A en faire palir d'enive plus d'un et a faire trembler tout OVNI ou pas!
Maya, gare à toi!
Merci les amis! Je me sens prêt!

Week 31 (W-2): Summary

2 weeks to go now. Tapering time.....

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	3	5
Distance	12.1km	15.8km
Time	3h20	4h10
Biking
Sessions	3	5
Distance	318km	322km
Time	9h40	9h45
Running
Sessions	4	4
Distance	38.1km	40.8km
Time	4h	3h02
Strength
Sessions	-	-
Time	-	-
Total
Sessions	10	14
Time	17h	16h57
TSS	-	1055
Other	69kg 1 massage, 1 osteo	83-85kg
Summary
Goal for the week	Un peu de repos puis une répétition générale en fin de semaine	Intensity to get to peak, race on Sunday
The good	Le travail est fait et bien fait! Il ne reste plus qu'à faire du jus.	Had fun in Vallée de Joux, and a decent result (6th)
The bad	Petits ennuis mécaniques avec un vélo qui n'en fait qu'à sa tête!	Too much work stress
Thoughts	Plus que jamais, je suis heureux de savoir que la course approche. J'adore cette période!	Only two more weeks!

#trainingcampinmartigny

Le résumé!

Crazy inspiration - RAAM

Last week I blogged about Matt's participation in RAAM. It was really bitter to learn this weekend that he had to pull out. He picked up a chest infection and fever on the second day and battled on for two days until he finally had to withdraw. A huge blow after a year of preparation.

This shows the cruel nature of long distance racing: the longer and harder the event, the greater the preparation and sacrifice to get there and the greater the risk that something goes wrong. And it's not like you can do another one quickly. I can only imagine what it feels like having to bury your dream of RAAM after a few days in. But I'm sure Matt will recover physically and get his enthusiasm back :-).

As much as I was hoping that I would be writing this about Matt, this year's RAAM is an amazingly dramatic story: the two leaders in the solo category, Reto Schoch and Christoph Strasser are fighting the closest of all battles. After 6 days and 17 hours of racing they are separated by only 8 minutes. That's insane! I cannot imagine how tough this is, not only physically, but mentally.

It is already insane to think that these guys are in the saddle for more than 20 hours a day and have been crossing the continent at an average speed of almost 25kph. That's 25kph including sleep and breaks. So they are riding fast - probably averaging above 30kph when they are in the saddle. But then there is also the mental dimension of having your competitor so close by. I cannot imagine the tension that puts on the riders.

Go and check out the leaderboard and RAAM site for the latest results.

I hope Alain's and my little duel will be fun and that we can take a leaf out of the ultra endurance boys' book: battle on till the end!

Peaking - definition and truth

An approaching race calls for a peak. What does that mean? I was curious and looked up the definition:

peak ¹  (pk)n.

1. A tapering, projecting point; a pointed extremity: the peak of a cap; the peak of a roof.

2. Abbr. Pk.

a. The pointed summit of a mountain.

b. The mountain itself.

3.

a. The point of a beard.

b. A widow's peak.

4. The point of greatest development, value, or intensity: a novel written at the peak of the writer's career

 Hmmm. The truth looks more like this:

peak ¹  (pk)n.

1. From the french piquer, "to sting"
2. Periods of great  intensity leading to even greater suffering, making subsequent suffering appear easier

Happy race preparations :-)

La Grande

 

 

Week 30 (W-3): Summary

3 weeks to go now. Taper will start soon...

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	5	4
Distance	21km	14.3km
Time	6h10	3h42
Biking
Sessions	4	4
Distance	432km	308km
Time	14h40	10h12
Running
Sessions	5	4
Distance	86km	59km
Time	6h55	4h41
Strength
Sessions	-	1
Time	-	45min
Total
Sessions	14	13
Time	27h45	19h21
TSS	-	1176
Other	68kg	84-85kg
Summary
Goal for the week	Faire du volume et finir séché	Last big volume, IM sim on Saturday
The good	Des séances à pied incroyables et un stage tout bonnement magnifique dans son ensemble	Good weather at the end of the week. Good cycling legs, running good too. Got through the run sim despite feeling lousy
The bad	La chaleur et les pollens ont exacerbés ma fatigue de la fin de semaine	Too much work stress. Suffered on the IM sim
Thoughts	Frankfort here I come!! :-) Merci Karen, David et Mike pour ces deux semaines et ces entrainements	Final stretch!

Francfort, ça se prépare!

Les entraînements s'enchaînent et le poil pousse...


La moustache fait son volume et ça, c'est important!
Je travaille fort et promets d'être au top!


N'est pas Semper Barbatus qui veut! 

Matt is doing RAAM - follow on Facebook!

Matt Warner-Smith is starting his second Race Across America (RAAM) today, a solo 5000km journey from the west coast to the east coast. Nonstop racing until you arrive. It's gruelling and tough, with the best riders getting there in about 9 days, riding about 20 hours per day - insane! Matt did amazingly last time when he came third on his rookie attempt, so we are hoping that he will do just as well again, or may be even better :-).

There is a Facebook group where is crew will post updates throughout the week. Go, sign up and show your support!

Cheers
Nicolas

Progressive overload

Having a little fun with the training statistics. Starting last September, when I did Wales IM and recovered afterwards, this campaign for Frankfurt has been a pretty nice build in terms of training volume and associated training load. In April and May I hit pretty high volume - 74 and 81 hours, of course aided by the training camp in Mallorca and the week in France.

Week 29 (W-4): Summary

Les dernières semaines où ça charge la mule:

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	4	3
Distance	20km	5.6km
Time	6h	1h33
Biking
Sessions	3	4
Distance	400km	160km
Time	13h40	6h33
Running
Sessions	3	6
Distance	61km	48km
Time	4h56	3h40
Strength
Sessions	-	1
Time	-	15min
Total
Sessions	10	14
Time	23h36	12h01
TSS	-	685
Other	68-69 kg	84-85kg 1 massage
Summary
Goal for the week	Volume sur 5 jours pour mieux me reposer le week-end! :-)	Recover! Get on top of work
The good	Tous les entrainements sont passés et le plaisir est au rendez-vous.	Feeling good at the end of the week
The bad	Quelques bobos, mais qui se gèrent.	A bit more stress at work than I would have liked
Thoughts	Les jambes reviennent, le plaisir est là. Magnifique stage chez Karen à Martigny avec Averell. Encore une semaine à ce rythme, que du bonheur!	Feeling great, can't wait for Frankfurt

Sunday DIY: improving the bike front end

A little bit of Sunday DIY to improve the front end of the bike: a holder for the bottle cage that sits between the arms. So far I had installed it straight on the aero bars and stem, but the bottle wasn't flush. Instead of buying a stupidly expensive Xlab holder I made a little home-made solution out of a plastic box I got from Nico at Bike Passion. A little summary in pictures:

The box

Sides cut off and the holes for the bottle cage:

Final version installed with cable binders:

Start numbers and times for Frankfurt

So it has been decided: Alain gets to start at 6:45 with the pros, I get to start at 7 with the humble amateurs. The "almost also duelers" from Tri Genève - Christophe, Steffen, and Seb will be starting at 7:00 (Christophe), 6:45 (Steffen) and 7:00 (Seb).

This will be a fun race to follow, since Steffen and Seb have thrown down the gauntlet at the recent Triathlon du Sud half Ironman by taking first and second. Overall. Not age group.

Start numbers and times:
Alain Boschung - 148 - 6:45
Nicolas Theopold - 2822 - 7:00
Steffen Doebert - 813 - 6:45
Sébastien Jossi - 1771 - 7:00
Christophe Kolly - 1866 - 7:00

Gear review: thoughts on the Lake TX312 triathlon shoe

The post man brought a nice shiny pair of tri shoes this morning. Although I have some very light, stiff, and well functioning Biomac shoes I could not resist ordering these to check them out. The TX312 is the new top of the line Lake shoe and has a funky heel-closure system that allows you to slip into the shoe from the back and to tighten it with a Boa cable system.

To put the answer first: although these shoes are very pretty and beautifully built I will be sending them back for a couple of reasons.

A new toy...

Great little addition to the gimmicks shed: a new holder for the Edge 800. The folks from racewaredirect.co.uk make this custom mount using 3d printing technology. Puts the Edge in a very nice position, a bit like an SRM Powercontrol. They also make a time trial version for aero bars, but unfortunately my aerobars are curved, so it's no good for that.

Week 28 (W-5): Summary

The race is beginning to rear its head - last ditch big training:

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	4	3
Distance	14.9km	10.8km
Time	4h30	3h07
Biking
Sessions	4	5
Distance	200km	616km
Time	6h10	19h30
Running
Sessions	3	4
Distance	42km	54km
Time	3h50	4h06
Strength
Sessions	-	-
Time	-	-
Total
Sessions	11	12
Time	14h30	26h43
TSS	-	1490
Other	69 kg 1 massage	85-86kg Training camp and holiday in France
Summary
Goal for the week	Un peu de repos avant le stage	Final training camp. Get good simulations in, bike lots, enjoy the time with the girl and the family :-)
The good	La fatigue disparait gentiment.	Got in a huge week but still felt really good. Breakthrough session on an Ironman simulation. If the race works like the simulation it will be scary.
The bad	La fatigue est toujours trop présente.	Did not complete the prescribed 2.5h challenge at the end of the week.
Thoughts	C'est la dernière ligne droite, il va falloir travailler, bien manger, se reposer mais surtout rigoler et prendre du plaisir...	Working hard and enjoying it!

Endurance Corner post

A blatant bit of self promotion today: a few days ago I had a blog post about managing your coaching relationship posted on Endurance Corner's site. Check it out here if you are interested.

Week 27 (W-6): Summary

C'est le début de la fin:

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	3	4
Distance	12.2km	14.2km
Time	4h	3h51
Biking
Sessions	2	2
Distance	135km + home trainer	175km
Time	5h05	5h27
Running
Sessions	3	5
Distance	54km	89km
Time	4h20	6h57
Strength
Sessions	-	1
Time	-	45min
Total
Sessions	8	12
Time	13h25	17h01
TSS	-	998
Other	69 kg 1 acupuncture, 2 osteo	85-86kg 1 massage
Summary
Goal for the week	Première semaine du dernier bloc. Du rythme de course et une longue sortie à pied	Get a good first simulation workout in
The good	La plus longue sortie à pied derrière moi.	Good running, nice weather, leaving for France
The bad	La plus longue sortie à pied derrière moi.	Simulation on Saturday didn't go too well - bad stomach!
Thoughts	La fatigue et les doutes m'envahissent. Je travaille à me focaliser sur le seul objectif important pour moi: passer la ligne d'arrivée après 2 années de travail.	Training camp! Time to put the finishing touches on a long campaign! Enjoying the feeling of being stroooong!