Ironman 70.3 Tours Metropole – Race week

My first Ironman 70.3 in Tours, Loire Valley, France.

What an amazing experience, I’ll definitely be back.

We’re out in L Valley in the heart of France with my dad. And on Sunday, we’re competing in Iron Man 70.3 Tour Metropol. Right then, it’s Monday 26th of May. Only 6 days until my first Iron Man 70.3 in tours in central France. But first, let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Sam. I’m 25. I got a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. I live just outside of Bath in the southwest of England. During my 9 to5, I work with structural engineers and architects to design buildings worth hundreds of millions of pounds. When I’m not working, spend most of my time swimming, cycling, or running training for triathlon. So, this week, I’m tapering down and reducing my training load in order to get my body up to peak performance on Sunday. That being said, this morning I’ve got an easy 1,800 m swim down at my local pool. Let’s get on with it. So, I’ve just finished my swim. It went all right. I average 1 minute 45 per 100 meters. Swim is definitely the weakest of the three disciplines and for some reason I’m about 35 seconds per 100 meters slower in open water than I am in the pool. I knew I’d be a bit slower but not that much. Hopefully my bike and my run will make up for it. Yeah, let’s get on with the day. It’s bank holiday Monday today. I’ve got work tomorrow and leaving Wednesday morning. So I’m trying to get as much packed as possible. And I’ve just realized how much kit is actually required for triathlon. This is what I’ve got so far. And I still reckon I’ve got bumping. Right, they’re pretty much packed. All sorted. Dad’s actually doing the vent with me, so him and mom are taking my bike over on the back of their car. It’s quite helpful. Turns out there’s a lot of stuff needed for 9 month. Yeah, I’ll probably be stressing about it for the next 48 hours. Yeah, all sorted. It’s cool. Right, working from home today, which is ideal with the race coming up. The legs are feeling decent after yesterday’s swim and I’ve got a short threshold run lined up after work just to keep up some fitness. Later tonight, my sister and her boyfriend are coming over. They’re joining us for the trip to France. So, it’s going to be dinner, a bit of a packing mission, and then an early night because we’re getting up early about 3:30 in the morning. So, yeah, let’s go work. Right, I finished work. Now going out for a 30-minute threshold run just to keep the tempo up during tape week. Let’s give it a go. [Music] Finished my run. Felt surprisingly good. It’s always good to get a strong session in the week leading up to the event. Yeah, time to have some dinner. Pack the car up, get to bed for nearly start tomorrow. [Music] [Music] Right, it’s 3:30 in the morning. We’re about to head over to Fstone for the Euro Tunnel. And yeah, everyone’s in the car all packed up. This is Hannah. This is my sister Kate and a boyfriend Max. The only people who take wine to France. [Music] Yeah. I’m following this. [Music] Right, we’ve arrived at tours. The Airbnb is looking amazing. All of the dogs come to greet us. Time to unpack and then we’re going to go for a walk in town. Mom and dad are arriving tomorrow and we’ll unpack the bikes then and go for a bit of a cycle. Weather’s nice, air is lovely. Yeah, let’s go on with it. Right then, it’s Thursday morning. 3 days out for my event on Sunday. Looking forward to it. We’re just heading down to the bakery for breakfast. I think mom and dad are arriving in the next hour or so. And then I think the plan is that dad and I go out for a cycle. Yeah. Let’s go get some breakfast. Right, [Laughter] [Music] we’re showing the course out on the bike. Lovely flat route. It’s a bit gray, but yeah, nice conditions for it. [Music] So, we’re just doing the course racky. We found where we start the swim and then we got a 400 m run out of transition to the bike. Nice and still. All right, it’s Thursday evening. Hannah and I are just out for a bit of a stroll in the local town. Hannah, my sister, M and sister’s boyfriend have been out drinking wine all day at the local shadows. Dad and I went for a 60 km cycle. There’s a lot to do still. Going to go for a swim tomorrow out in the river. The course looks very flat. Enjoyed the cycle today. I think we did a 200 m incline over 60 km, which is ideal. Should be a fast course. That’s Thursday. Three days to go. And keep you updated tomorrow. Let’s get on with it. Right then. It’s Friday morning. We’re heading down to the bakery to get some breakfast. And then afterwards, I think we’re going into tours to see what the town’s like, bit walk around. And then after lunch, dad and I, we’re going to go register, get our number and transition bags. Should be exciting. Then I think I’m going to go for a swim in the river, see what it’s like. But yeah, it’s lovely day at the minute. more excited. Also more nervous for my race. Two days to go. Let’s go get some breakfast. [Music] Wait. [Music] I think we’re going to go get some lunch and then we’ll go and sort out registration for the Iron Man, grab the transition bags, go for a swim, and head back. Beautiful city. I’ll have a crack while you swim. Complain. We’re at the Iron Man Village. We’re just registering. Yeah, it’s massive. well set up for lots of people. [Music] So on Sunday, we’ll finish the run. We’ll come running in from that corner and run round, run down here, and then up there to finish. [Music] Oh, nice. Come on. Yeah. Right. How’d you find that? All right. Friday afternoon. We’re just going to wine tasting. Got my orange and sit down. Well, these lot get bladed by lots of things. Yeah, lovely temperature. Went for a swim. My swim speed was actually quite good. Very happy with it. About 2 minute pace. I’ve done about 210 before. Right. I think I’m done sorting out my transition bags, but yeah, it’s a bit confusing. I think I’m there. It’s Saturday morning. Just doing the regular bakery run. Got the pan shakala and the baguette. 24 hours until race day. Getting a bit nervous now. also more excited. I think the plan for today is we’re going to head over to the local town, do some exploring this morning and then this afternoon, dad and I are going to go to the race briefing and drop off our bikes and transition bags. Be a easy day today. Not going to do too much walking. Let everyone else do a bit more exploring while I sit on a bench somewhere and relax the legs. Let’s go get some breakfast. Is that it? start in your own adventure. Now is just mindblowing. There’s 900 kilometers of right been to the briefing now. I’m just checking my bike off in transition. Massive haul for it. 2,600 bikes in here at some point, right? Bikes all racked up towards the end. Not bad. We dropped our bikes off. They’re all racked up. It’s there between E and F. And now we’re just going to drop our transition bags off on the hooks. 2,600 people. And on the day, we exit over there. It’s hot. Very hot in here. Hopefully, we won’t be in here for long. Oh, 9:50. 9:30, but Good luck. Thank you very much, Kate. Love you. Oh, yeah. Right. Pound dinner. Kate cooked up a banging fish pasta. had my electrolytes, played some cards. Now it’s time to settle down and go to bed. I think the plan is to get up about 4:30, have my porridge, and then sort out everything. Ready to get going, and I think we’ll leave at about 5:45. Going to get there about 6:00, and then we’ll get on with it. Going to have a quick shave and then shower, then go to bed. Right then, it’s race day. It’s currently 4:41 in the morning. We got the porridge in the microwave. Got the tea brew in. And I think we’re pretty much ready. We got the drinks all ready. Carbs, electrolytes in there, the gels and everything are packed. And yeah, we’re just going to have some breakfast and then go to the L and head over. I think the plan is to head over about 5:45, so an hour or so. and then sort ourselves out, put some bits on the bike and then head down to the swim. So, yeah, let’s get some breakfast now. How you feeling? Bit nervous. Bit more excited as well. Need a poop. It’s all real now. Before the event, we were allowed into transition. So, about an hour before the race started, I went to the transition area to put my bike computer, gels, and drinks on my bike and check on my transition bags. I then went over to the swim start to put my swimsuit on and get ready. About 15 minutes before my wave, I had a caffeine gel and made my way to the starting area. At this point, I was getting quite nervous. The start was organized by predicted swim time. I expected to finish the 1.9 km swim in around 40 to 45 minutes. So, I slotted myself in the 35minute group, hoping some faster swimmers might drag me along. First, the pros went off in a mass start. Then, the rest of us followed in groups of six with the fastest swimmers going first. When I got to the front, I was feeling good and ready to get going. I’d seen a few people dive in before me and it looked quite cool. I gave it a go, but ended up belly flopping face first, which wasn’t the plan. Once I got swimming, I completely forgot to sight. I was zigzagging all over the place and bumping into everyone around me. But after a few minutes, I calmed down, found my rhythm, and got on with it. Swimming’s always been my weakest of the three sports, and everyone I’d start off with shot off way ahead of me. But I managed to get around the loop in about 40 minutes and 8 seconds. Pretty much bang on my target time, which I was quite happy with. As I got out of the water, I was a bit dazed, but I knew I had a 400 m run into T1. I peeled down the top of my wets suit and had a gel in my back pocket of the triuit. 3 minutes later, I was in transition. Wets suit off, helmet, and bike shoes on. Heading out onto the 90 km ride, I was excited to get going. I started the bike leg faster than planned, averaging about 37 km an hour over the first 10 km. But I felt great, so I kept it going. I wanted to keep my nutrition plan simple, but I knew I had to keep on top of my carb and electrolyte intake to avoid bonking and cramping. So, for the first 2 hours, I had one bottle an hour, each with a Stirka 90 g carb pouch with added electrolytes. In the third hour, I planned to grab a water bottle with electrolytes from the aid station and take three 30 gels. It felt like a lot of carbs, but it worked. By the 50 km mark, I was averaging over 38 km an hour. I really enjoyed the bike leg. Unlike English roads, they were smooth with very few potholes. The countryside was beautiful and the support was amazing. Definitely want to go back. I slowed a bit in the final 40 km, but I still finished the bike in 2 hours 22 minutes, which is about 30 minutes quicker than I expected. We’re working really hard to support you out here. Cheers. Cheers. Heading into T2, I took my helmet and bike shoes off and got my running shoes on. I was desperate for a pee, so I made a quick stop before getting on with the half marathon. The weather was starting to heat up and the fatigue was setting in. But honestly, I was having a great time. I started the run with a bottle of Lucasade as it’s easy to drink on the move. Plus, it had carbs and electrolytes in. The plan was to sit that and then take an electrolyte pill and gel every 20 minutes and it actually worked. I held about 5inut per km pace for the first 13 km. But after that, the heat caught up with me. I started to feel rough from all the gels and my legs were getting heavy. I started to slow down, but the support from the crowd was unreal and kept me going. I managed to speed up for the final kilometer and ran to the finish line inside the massive warehouse to complete my first Iron Man 70.3 in 5 hours, 2 minutes, and 16 seconds. 45 minutes faster than my original goal. Mission accomplished. As I crossed the line, I couldn’t quite believe the time that I had done. My legs were done and I had nothing left in the tank. Feel I went through to the finishes area to grab some food and get a quick massage before seeing dad crossed the finish line in a time of 5 hours and 42 minutes which was really impressive. It did almost stack on the finish line though, but we’ll forgive him for that. The whole event was just awesome. A really welldesigned course, amazing support and perfect weather. I guess next I better do a full Iron Man. [Music]