T100 FRENCH RIVIERA – Race Debrief

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Welcome back to another video, guys. This is going to be my T100 French Riviera race review. Now, I’ve got to say, first of all, thanks so much to T100 for giving me another incredible opportunity. The location was spectacular. The course was really good. Um, yeah, I thought it was fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone who was there supporting in person. I had a lot of support from people, so I really do appreciate it. And of course, you guys on social media as well. So, thank you very, very much. Um, of course, if you know the result, you’ll know it wasn’t that good. I was fighting Peter Hemrich for last place and it was a close it was a close fight. Um, yeah, just things did not go well. So, we’ll dive into that in this video. This week’s YouTube video is sponsored by the running algorithm, the only place that you can get adaptive run coaching for less than £10 per month. Now, this is perfect for triathletes because if your plans change, the plan changes. 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Um and the way that the kind of angle towards the first boy obviously favored towards the right hand side but obviously the higher ranked athletes they get the first choice which is obviously fair enough. Um so all of us lower ranked athletes were on the left hand side and it did require that you have then quite a good start. I did think I would be able to have a good start because I was right next to Sam Dicko who as everyone knows is an incredible swimmer. I mean, incredible triathlete all round, but I know he’s a fantastic swimmer. And I was near Jack Hutchkins as well, and I know he’s a great swimmer. So, I was like, well, I’ve got good company, so I feel like I should be able to get out and have, you know, as long as I’ve got good arms, then then I should I should be able to sit on these guys’ feet. They’ll drag me around and it’ll be incredible. That was what I thought anyway and it just didn’t happen. So, as soon as I as Yeah. soon as I dived in, I was like, I feel flat. I went straight onto Sam’s feet. He dropped me within probably 10 m. Jack then moved across onto his feet. So, I was like, “Right, I’ve got another opportunity here. Let’s get on Jack’s feet.” He dropped me very quickly as well. So, I was like, “Oh, okay. Things are not feeling good. I’m feeling completely flat here.” I then found Gregory Barnaby, sat on his feet for a little bit, got spat, found Peter Heck, got spat. Essentially, I just kept getting dropped and I felt like I was swimming as hard as I could, but the speed just was nowhere. Like, I felt like I was swimming through custard. It was the weirdest sensation. I felt like I was sprinting. I was trying so hard and nothing was happening. And I just saw everyone. It it looked like just one big group just disappeared in front of me and I was just on my own essentially after about 200 300 meters maybe a bit more. Let’s be kind to me. No. Okay. It was probably 300 m. Um everyone just disappeared and I was on my own. I was like, “Okay, here we go. This is not going well.” But I tried to think positively and I thought, well, okay, terrible swim, but just try and minimize the damage as much as possible. You never know. Your bike and run legs could be great and you could get back in the race. Like Sam Long has proved that it can it can happen. It can work and I reckon I can do it. So, it’ll be fine. Um, do the Aussie exit, get back in still. Sensations are terrible. I feel like I’m swimming so hard for like the most pathetic speed ever. Anyway, come into T1 and the only three bikes that are left are um mine, Sam Longs, and Colin. I am gonna mispronounce his surname. I actually I’m not going to I’m going to put it on screen now because I’m not even going to attempt it um because it’ll be embarrassing. But yeah, I knew those guys were great bikers. I was like, well, if I can just stay away from them, then then great. If they ride through, then I can sit on and hope hope for the best. So, I get to work and immediately like the power is okay. Like it’s it’s not great. Um, and it feels like I’m really working, but I had a similar sort of sensation um this year in Swansea where it felt hard, but I just I needed to work hard for that first 10 15k and then it sort of felt more manageable. Uh, so I was like, “Right, just believe that you can do it.” Um, and it just got harder and harder and worse and worse, and the legs just did not show up, and I started getting some really bad lower back pain. Now, if you’re a long-term supporter of the channel, you will know that I had back pain for a while, a few years back. Uh, this is back when I was actually originally trying to get my pro license, and I had seasons of really bad lower back, like nerve pain. Now, I’ve had that since leads. Leads, I think, in hindsight, has hurt me a lot more than I thought it would. Um, I don’t think I’ve given myself the res the respect that my body needs and the the recovery that my body needs. Um, and this back pain has just been really crippling. Um, I have been seeing a physio. I’ve also booked to see another physio out here in France before world champs because I’m really hoping I can yeah figure that out because it is really crippling on the bike. It’s not just the fact that my legs were dead and I’m not saying that if I didn’t have back pain my legs would be great because they wouldn’t but it was the mix of the both. It was my legs feeling completely shot um but also my back just absolutely screaming at me. Can’t sit in position properly. Can’t get comfortable. Um and just can’t push on. It feels like a kind of stabbing pain in my lower left back. So, that wasn’t good. And I just sort of committed to knowing that I was going to come last. I know. And I know that’s like it’s just a kind of defeist mentality, but you know, when Sam Long and and Colin came past me, there was nothing I could do. And I’d be like, normally I’d be able to jump on I think and just ride with them. I know they’re epic riders, but I feel like normally, you know, if I was in my normal situation, I’d be able to do that. But um I just had nothing to respond with and it was it was terrible and I I just did what I could and I just said to myself, you know, don’t DNF. Like I genuinely thought I wanted to DNF. I really wanted to quit because it’s part of you thinks, oh, this is embarrassing. You know, I’m coming in last and like I’m a professional athlete. I should be better than this. And I’ve had results that show that I’m good and now I’m on this bigger stage and I can’t even I can’t even push 300 watts. It’s like what the hell’s going on? It’s that you do get those negative emotions going through your head, but I just thought I have to finish. Um, one because like I said in my Instagram reel, you get paid just for finishing, so you’d be stupid not to. Um, but two, um, just out of the respect, you know, for other athletes and the supporters, my parents came out to support. I wasn’t going to pull out just because I felt really Uh, it was it was, you know, it just needed I needed to get to the finish. So anyway, I come into T2. terrible bike. Um, feel absolutely useless and I just thought, well, let’s start the run and see what happens. And the red legs came good. And I actually ran really, really well. And it was quite frustrating actually because I was overtaking people that were, you know, further up the field because it was a multiple lap run course. Um, you know, I was running with Kyle Smith, Nick Man. Um, and I was running really well and I was like, “Oh man, if only I’d uh, you know, had better bike legs so I could keep up with them and actually not be a lap behind.” But, um, it is what it is. I finished uh, yeah, and that’s all that matters. And I and I think there are multiple there are multiple reasons why I had a not so good result here. Um, number one I think is for me I think the Iron Man training just has completely deadened my legs. I know some people are actually fairly good at, you know, going from Iron Man to 70.3 to T100. Like Sam Long seems to do a pretty good job of it. Um, but I it’s just mullering my legs and I just I don’t have any zing in my legs anymore. Um, so yeah, I think I think that’s partly to to a part to play. Um, ultimately my my goal is to prep for the Iron Man World Champs in two weeks time. I knew that going to London obviously after leads was a big kind of ambitious goal. I knew that coming here and doing T100 French Riviera was a big ambitious goal because it’s not the distance I’m training for. I’m training for world champs. Obviously, I hope that I get a good result at World Champs. Um, that’s what I’ve prepped for. The T100s are just like a bit of a bonus and I’d be stupid not to take the opportunity. Obviously, in hindsight, you could say, well, maybe you shouldn’t have done London and then you could have prepped for um French Riviera a bit better. Yes, but also I would hate to not take an opportunity and then in years time just think, oh man, what if, you know, what if? Um, so and it was just a home race. I kind of I needed to do it. So, yeah, it’s lots of racing I think is is partly to play. And then the other big thing, and I know I’ve mentioned it on the last video, but I had no idea how stressful buying a house was. Um, and then I sort of thought, very naively, that as soon as I get the keys, um, all the stress will just go away. It’ be great. And uh I’ve I’ve I think I’m very good at suppressing my negative emotions to a degree. Um uh and then I get to like a boiling point and it just erupts and I have like a mental breakdown and it’s uh not so good. And so obviously while I was racing you know doing well like I Swansea obviously had a great race in leads I had a great race and um you know in the background I was obviously going through the process of buying the house but I was managing to suppress all the stress quite well and then in the last month or so it’s just like stress levels have been at an all-time high and um I guess I didn’t give that the respect that it needed. Uh yeah, buying a house has been probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. Um and I feel somewhat guilty as well because Militia and I got the keys not long ago, like a week ago, and now I’ve buggered off to the south of France. Um the house is not set up to be lived in yet. Uh it’s, you know, it’s I like I want to be back there. I want to be settling into our new home and I’m away racing and trying to be a professional athlete. And so I’m kind of like my my mental state is just like I’m sort of constantly thinking about back home and the house, but I need to be present. I need to be thinking about right now. And obviously the result in French Riviera wasn’t good, but I need to get myself out of this um mental negativity before World Champs because I really want obviously a really good result at world champs or I want to um prove my potential at world champs I guess or um race to my ability. I think I would say uh because I know that it’s unlikely I’m gonna have an amazing result. I could have a good result, but I want to race to my ability and that will make me happy if I do. Um so I just need to get myself out of this negative like mental uh position that I’m in now because of yeah all the stress and stuff from from buying the house. But essentially those are kind of I think the reasons why um I I had not such a good result at French Riviera. Um, I have booked to see a physio because this back pain could be a potential well a serious problem for um for world champs. Uh, obviously with it being a very demanding bike course, I I cannot uh I cannot afford to have not good legs. I cannot afford to give anything away. I can’t afford to have really bad lower back pain because if it was bad for 80k, you can imagine how bad it would be for 180k. Uh, it will be catastrophic. So, I’m trying to stay positive, trying to figure out a few things. I wonder if my bike position has changed slightly. Um whether my seat uh seat post has dropped a little bit without me knowing. So, I’m chatting with Callum Hughes, my bike fitter, to see if we can chat through a few things. Um and just make sure we’re doing we’re doing things right. But, um yeah, obviously French Riviera didn’t go well. bit negative, but the ultimate goal for this season now is Iron Man World Champs. Um, and then after that, I am due a very big break physically and mentally. I think it’s it’s been an amazing year. Um, but I don’t know. I feel like I’m really ready to have a break. So, I need to stay mentally focused um for the next week and a half. I obviously can’t get any fitter. Um, so it’s about staying sharp, uh, prepping correctly, getting my eye in on the course, making sure I know where I’m going. Um, and yeah, just trying to stay as positive as I possibly can. So, um, yeah, thanks so much again to everyone who’s supporting on the channel. Really, really appreciate it. I look forward to seeing as many of you in Nice as possible. So, please, if you do see me around, please shout. Um, please come and say hi. I would really, really appreciate it. Best of luck to everyone who is racing. Um, and I wish you very good luck with your final bits of preparation. Um, and I hope you really enjoy the race day. I’ll um, I’ll be doing some course wrecky videos, doing some other videos as well. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. And I will see you guys in the next