Last minute signup for IM Switzerland ! Well exactly, the Friday one weekend before 😎
First leg: driving to Alsace to drop the kids at my parents’, with the minivan & kids bikes holding the tri bike warm on the rack 😉
Then Arriving in Thun after a 3 hour drive across Germany and Switzerland. Old town bordering the lake on the opposite side of Interlaken. Race day forecast: pouring rain and freezing temperature !!! In July !!!
Stroll in the city to stretch the legs and grab some pasta in the waterfront. Rain on & off. Checking the weather forecast every 25 minutes… and it gets worse every time ! Athletes all flocks to stores to buy neoprene socks, gloves, etc. It’s going to be a tough race !
Bike checking takes place 3 kms outside the city, on the main beach area. The expo is tiny tiny. A bit disappointing.
Dinner in town under the sun, before the cold temperature of race day 🥶 — final forecast calls for light rain and 13c temperature until 10am.
Early morning … disaster ! Rain pouring, 10 degrees by the water – mentally very difficult.
In transition, I notice my rear wheel is touching the frame. Probably poorly adjusted by the mechanics who don’t know that the Ventum clearance is tight ! I adjust, but cannot test it unfortunately, more on that later.
Luckily I have neoprene socks and two swim caps. Despite the smile, I am really scared to enter the cold water. We wait for the judges to confirm if the swim is allowed to take place… well it is 0.2 degrees above the cancellation limit so we go !
As I enter the water, the cold water makes my heart pump super hard and I over ventilate. I decide to walk in the shallow water to get use to the temp.
After 200m, I am out of breath and have to stay on my back to regroup. I can do it. I can swim 1K in 15 minutes for god’s sake ! One breath at a time. I visualise hot water in Hawaii, tell myself stories to keep my mind busy. At the turn-around, I am confident I will do it. But after 3K, I start to get really numb in my hands. Can’t feel my fingers. Pace is so slow. Catastrophic.
1 hour 23 minutes. All things come to an end … and I extract myself with difficulty from the water, feet completely numb. I head towards the warming tents installed. My finger are so cold I cannot remove my wetsuit. I know that if I start the bike cold, wet, underdressed, I risk hypothermia. So I wait 10mns, then put on gloves, jacket, shoe covers, hat. Transition time 19mns !
Of course it is a bad day so in the first climb, my wheel starts running on the frame. One stop. Two stops. Ok, adjusted, but another 5mns lost. The rain is now light and the course, despite all the elevation change, is rolling. I make good progress.
Second loop is faster, and the sun gets out. I ride without my jacket but keep the gloves, we are still below 20 degrees and the swim takes its toll. I drop the bike at 6 hours, transition in 6mns, and tell myself: let’s make something out of this crappy day – ok, let’s run fast.
I shoot for a sub 3:30 marathon. I love running with a strong pace. First 10K are easy. Loop one. Flat and varied scenery.
As always, from 20K to 30K is a dark time, digging deep to clock 5 minutes at each kilometer. Having to increase the pace at each 800 meters to save those precious seconds. Seems stupid after all the time lost during the day; but runners will understand.
Last loop. Drinking coke every other station. Aid stations are a time sucker and you have to run through them. Thinking about all those runners in lap 1. I am glad it comes to end end. Picking up the pace. I realise going below 11hours could have been possible if Inhad not given up at T1 and on the bike, but that’s too late.
3h27 marathon
11hrs 11mns total
Rank 314 overall. I guess everyone struggled. See you next year !
