Garmin Triathlon de Paris, June 26th, 2022 (M)
Race Reporter: Pieke
Expats participated; Olympic distance : Julien, John, François, Dorota, Pierre-Olivier, Sebastien, Benoit, Juliette, Yves, Alex, Ana-Maria and Sprint distance : Tobias, Ludovic, Rebecca
Preparation
Not being very sportive most of my life I decided about a year ago that it was time for a change. So, I started running in April 2021. As I found it boring and didn’t really see myself doing (semi-)marathons any time soon, I also added Swimming in my weekly exercise routine. Being Dutch and having used bicycles all my life (purely as a mode of transport) it was a logical step to add biking in to my routine as well and that’s when I started looking for a club to ride with in the weekends.
I still remember the first club training that I joined, it was a Saturday brick session early January in the freezing cold, close to zero degrees, but I enjoyed it a lot!
From here onwards I had set my objective for the year to do the Paris Olympic distance with two sprint distances as preparation (Cepoy and Chemin des dames). 6 months of hard training averaging 5-6 hours per week, with ups and downs (COVID, injuries…). So now it’s time to perform!
Pre-race day
Saturday, pick up Bib and drop off bike in transition area was mandatory as an early start at 8AM was announced. For the rest the focus was on final mental preparation by going through the plan again with target times, average heartrate targets and average speed, pacing and nutrition strategy. I am a strategist and enjoy being well prepared with smart, measurable, and realistic targets throughout the race. To be fully energized for the race day, I followed a carb-loading plan found on triathlete.com magazine which basically focusses on intake of high glycemic foods throughout day with 3 meals and snacks in between them. Last step for motivation was watching YouTube video of the sub7/sub8 records set earlier this month.
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