A Letter to the Expatriés Team

a_pint_of_nils" width="169" height="300" />Dear expaTRIés members, It took me a while to summarise all my thoughts about the club into this short document. To be honest, Nick should have received this email almost one month ago. As I was afraid he might think I forgot about the team, I spent the whole afternoon trying to thoughtfully evaluate and analyse  the best adequate plausible excuse. Such a logical examination process came to several possibilities, the first one being “I got stuck in the wetsuit and they took me at the hospital”. Another option would be to say “An alligator got one of my fingers during last training”, and my favorite one: “I got a pass to Kona and I am very busy with Chrissie Wellington!”. Okay these would be lies, so I will just send the email to your local “Tri-suit shepherd” ;-) without any particular excuse. Besides, I was almost going to send this email to you all, but then I recalled I had a nightmare some time ago, involving Nick being angry for my improper usage of the team mailing list. Even if I don’t remember exactly what the punishment was, I prefer not to challenge this premonitory dream. When I recall how my first impact with Triathlon was, I remember It all started out quite easily, and without too much thinking. It felt to me like the most natural thing to do.  Well, okay, except the first time I tried to wear a trisuit it was the wrong way round. All of a sudden I found myself embarked in this journey, finishing my first Super Sprint. Very recently, Karen and I talked about the importance of keeping things simple. Enjoying the moment. Just being. Well, I don’t remember if we talked about it, or if I’ve read that on her Facebook wall ;-) but as she is not here I can’t ask her. Take it easy and have fun, might be the triathlon philosophy. We embraced It as a team, and it was what I enjoyed the most (with the picnics being the bonus) Even if somehow there is a science and a obscure training knowledge out there, nothing replace the simple importance of doing, the easygoing “get out and sweat… and SMILE too!” attitude, you folks gave me.  Everything seems possible and reachable training with you guys. I can still remember Nick explaining us why the rain was not a reason not to get a workout done. “You know what happen? You get wet.” And that’s it. Just do it (Advisory: This email is not intended to be Nike-advertisement, so I will say “go Mizuno” to balance it) Now, whenever I take my bike for a spin, or whenever I enter into the local lake and get into the water I recall all different things. These all get stuck in a special transition area set in my mind. A very Proustian experience… I can almost smell the barbecue smell around Cergy, when Nick would explain us how to stay on course during the run, keeping the water on our right until the bridge, or I can remember Louise explaining the “accelerator” technique at Montherland or holding the plank and mimicking the kick, not to mention barefoot Christelle while explaining drills… or barefoot myself when we all followed Nick around the woods while scouting the SuperSprint course! Or I can recall those sweating and hot morning, when I was hurrying to reach Paul at the Drigny Pool! Early morning run toward the subway escalator: the perfect start for a certified “Parisian brick-session”. Well, a lot of memories go through my mind. Truth is I am missing it all: awesome people in the team, amazing training location & facilities, outstanding organization and knowledge from the team directors. And steady drivers. Thanks for giving me so much guidance, and PLEASE keep the same magical atmosphere among the club. how much time should I wait before an official “expatried expaTRIés” subsidiary of the club here in America? ;-) With goggles and pull buoys! Nils Sent from the local pool… (or maybe from Kona, with Chrissie Wellington)