Job Done..

After a few weeks of a gradual increase in training, well, cycling and running, i stood on the start line of the division 2 qualifying race in Eguzon, middle of France somewhere. The president of the club decided it would be better to drive all the way on Friday night, arriving at about 1am, crashed in a quaint little hotel, again, one of those that seem to sprout up in the French countryside. The walls were paper thin, making the next door noctile sounds seem inside our own room?!!!Not to mention sleeping in the African bush would have been more comfortable. However, on waking we were greeted with the view in the attached pic.

We rode to the start, the last 20k of the cycle leg in the race, as warm up. Not sure whether seeing the course before the race is a good or bad thing as really, most of the course was uphill, with some solid 2k climbs (see attached profiles) and making for good mind games before the start. As my run is nowhere at the moment, plan was to swim and bike hard and just finish the run. As long as the team came in the first 5 teams we would qualify (top 3 finishers count in each team) so thats all i focussed on. I came out the swim in 3rd, on the feet of one of last week's international grand prix swimmers so that was encouraging. The bike leg was tough, thats all there was to it. Came off the bike and just focussed on form and technique on the run, still managing to finish in the first of our team. In the end the team qualified for the final sprint traithlon, thereby i was satisfied that my job was done! We then had to jump in the bus and drive back to Lorient, arriving at 2am, what a 24hrs!

Next leg is a 2 week training camp in the Alps, after racing the Alpe d'Huez triathlon..yes a triathlon up the mountain the Tour de France rides.. excellent!