I’m so excited to share this special vlog with you — we’re in beautiful France for the inaugural IRONMAN Les Sables-d’Olonne Vendée, and this one is truly something special.
This race wasn’t just another event — it marked a huge milestone, as it was my fiancé’s very first full-distance Ironman! Sorry, this one’s a bit longer than usual, but there was just so much amazing footage I couldn’t leave out!
Whether you’re training for your own Ironman or love following the race-day atmosphere, I hope you enjoy watching this video. Thanks for being here and sharing it with us — don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more triathlon adventures!
Please like and subscribe if you enjoy this video!!
Follow me on Instagram: @sofiafranek
hi welcome back to my channel this is a new vlog which is mainly focused on this guy and if the top hasn’t given away already we’re in Lasavves France for your first
Iron Man
and if you haven’t guessed from the shirt already we’re introing this vlog a little bit late because he’s already done it and he’s literally wearing the merchandise shop uh he’s already done the Iron Man so we’re going to backtrack a little bit where we’re going to start from Portugal home traveling all the way to Lasabs him doing the race and then also recapping it yeah we go through registration info because it was the f this is the inaugural race here
yeah first Iron Man race in the subs and they’re alternating it aren’t they doing 70.3 next year and then they’ll do the full
yeah the full again in 2027
it was the first full here yeah um
so you got all the tips and tricks from us because we know we’ve been here before uh your first French Iron Man event race as well so yeah so I hope you enjoy please subscribe if you haven’t already and like the video if you like it and yeah I hope you enjoy this video
are we going now we’re all packed up but the girl was worried about the suitcase being uh overweight and how much was it it’s just under just under
it was 18 kilos and we have 23 kilos and that’s exactly what I said didn’t I i said it was probably like 19 all the guys out there know exactly what’s going through my mind right now yep you’re right just keep it in there don’t let it come out
anyway I finished my cycle i woke up really early to do my cycle this morning didn’t I you slept in oh I was awake
wow yeah it was quite hot I guess last night wasn’t it but we are on our way to the airport the flight’s what an hour and 30 minutes
30
it’s a nice and short flight you got entertainment have you downloaded anything cuz I’m bloody not talking to you on the phone
i’ve got I’ve got inflight entertainment in the Anyho will you
we got the bike and the suitcase so Oh did we put my wets suit in
no
oh whose fault is that reverse quickly packing
reverse Terry put it in reverse Terry okay take two i have my wet suit though uh we got the bike box we got everything right
i think so
i That’s the thing when you’re racing abroad is that just racing in general you always feel like you’ve forgotten something i Have you ever forgotten something anyway on our way to the airport believe we have everything and yeah hopefully it’s going to be a good flight hopefully I don’t get sick i’m the worst traveler it’s hot
yeah is it good though
i don’t know yet all I taste is heat
fueling up before the flight plane looks busy very busy it’s nice and warm though today but race day is looking better now 24 right
24° overcast most of the day it’s perfectly of course flying easy jack oh it’s loud we’ll see you in Where are we going nantz not I don’t know how to say bonjour this one doesn’t matter it’s the bike we’re looking
look for the sign for oversized luggage where’s your bike
well it’s it’s it’s near us
it’s definitely here okay
so yeah
fingers crossed
oh no so we’ve just established that we’re here and we have to go all the way to here to get the luggage luckily we didn’t wait too long all about what 2 minutes cuz the belt stopped
i hope that logic’s clear on our way to hopefully find the girl’s bike otherwise somebody’s not racing the do a double run 180 run all right we’re looking for the bike oh it’s spotted spotted in XXL you’re happy aren’t you you can race tomorrow so for anyone who ever lands you have to ask the information desk cuz they have to open the door don’t they
yeah if you land in arrival 2 you have to walk to arrivals one ask the information desk they will open the door for you
that has like no entry on it
go the opposite way amazing
you can do it but we got it
we got it
now go and rent the car right europe car we are on the road to N
no no no we’re on the way we’re on the road out away from N
we’re on the road away from N we’re on the way on the road to Lasavs lasavs the name of the island
you want to do that take
no I don’t i think it’s important to get the facts uh it was we start what an hour and 20 minutes yeah 150 120 yeah okay it’s about an hour and 20 minutes and it’s literally the motorway the whole way isn’t it
basically
yeah so not bad mo motorway is nice here in France
people can drive pretty well
very good driving we But well we’ve driven through France before and it’s
Yeah we driven France before we went to the UK now that is a long drive do not recommend or or get get a a boyfriend who can drive for 20 hours
23
23 hours straight when I was too tired
passenger Princess passenger Princess so we’re planning on we’re going to arrive around 6 going to check into the hotel and then we’re going to walk down to the village aren’t we just see it all set up because it won’t be open till tomorrow and then check out the beach just see like transition and stuff sort of walk around the area because we’re only 10 minutes walk I think from everything right
if that um and then get some dinner hopefully not French food
esargo what did you look up did you find it
i got you reserved some esargo
what’s that we’ll find out okay logistics i just want to hear those directions you gave me a minute ago
all right you listening so from our current position straight then right then left then right left and it’s right there so it’ll be on your left
i mean how can you complain about about those directions i don’t know okay so we’re at transition checking it out it’s the same for the bike and the run this is just one transition which is nice it’s by the the marina it’s bad marina it’s quite big
that’s decently big do you know how many people are competing
i don’t know no idea um but it looks like you kind of come out the water over there you enter this side and I guess you’re going to exit over there aren’t you [Music] right but you’re not swimming this bit you You say it’s parallel
yeah we swim further down it will open up a bit it’s really pretty you can see the current can’t you what I want to see is I want to see the tide just pushing me in i just want to hold my hands up like this and like one and not have to swim at all
just being sent into into the transition zone that’s what I want okay
will it happen it’s hard it’s hard to know so we’re at the swim start well like the beach and you can see all the boys like they’re quite far but you can kind of see like the triangles here and then they’re turning somewhere you’re turning in between these lighouses right and then going back into the bay basically where the the boat with the uh where that little boat is
you like a right turn and go in between the lighouses
so it looks uh looks really nice today’s hot though isn’t it it’s like 30 but it’s looking to be 24 25 so we’ve walked to the lighthouse bit the turning point so you can see the the path a bit better all the yellow boys so you sort of swim out that way and then you wrap around and then they swim sort of on a diagonal all the way down here through the bay so you they’ll get the current won’t you
should get the tide that would be nice
you get the tide so it’s pretty nice swim i mean I think the water’s pretty clear
and it’s very calm today while you can see the wind brushing the top of it but I think it
it looks pretty calm it
gets really nice we were just over there can’t really see the lighthouse from this but we just walked along sort of the bay bridge and then we came across the Iron Man village everything’s a little bit all over the place i do admit that for this one um like everything’s pretty far away like transitions like a good 10-minute walk isn’t it um and then swim start village is separate so it is a little bit of a maze but at least we kind of know our orientation now this is why I feel like it is important to come kind of three days so you get two full days before your race to actually figure out where everything is no
it’s nice yeah you have no more stress well yeah i feel like it’s quite stressful if you don’t know where you’re going well also as a spectator who’s trying to vlog this whole race for you darling um it’s quite nice to uh to like know where I’m going though there it is iron Man Village that’s setting it all up so we found the last piece of the puzzle to an Iron Man event the finish line and like look how insane it’s like on the beach front what amazing finish line oh and you can see there’s a the eye with everyone’s name on so you’re definitely going to get a picture aren’t you oh that’s insane that’s insane finish line
you excited little bit so this is the other side of the the finish line so yeah I could sort of stand here but my aim is to try and get on one of those cuz then I can see him running in and pan through to when he finishes he’s very excited aren’t you
yeah just resting these legs before they run a 220 marathon you know
we’re going to try and find somewhere to eat aren’t we now because it’s 7:30 so if we try and eat something now we should hopefully try and go to sleep what around 10:00
that would be good around 10:00 but I mean everybody as far as I know most people don’t sleep the night before um but it’s Thursday today so we’ve got Friday and Saturday the whole day to do an open water swim shakeout run and then Sunday do you know what time it starts
uh seven
seven seven start and Miguel’s got to work out which swim pen he’s going to put himself in what are we going to have for dinner something carbo loading for
i told you let’s go go still haven’t figured out what that is
i don’t know what this is i hope it’s a burger cuz that’s what I want right now
esau is definitely not a burger i can guarantee you that
okay so we’ll see it’s all for you right
i did not choose this this is chosen by you
i know but it was a safe option
yeah it was
chicken strippers we got chicken mixed peppers and onion and there’s a cheese right and tomato base good old Domino’s classic what are we doing
um walking to registration
on our way to register someone’s excited
i’m straight out of a GCSE pencil case at the moment the yellow highlighter no one’s in Portugal yet
we’re going to change that merch merch required acquired
acquired and now we’re after CO2 canisters
oh yeah cuz you didn’t know if it was safe to bring them on the plane did you
well the guidelines were a bit iffy weren’t they
they were i guess I should otherwise I just hope So this is all the different course maps for the swim and we got the the bike which is two laps and we got the run which is four laps so I’ll see Miguel in loads did you get it you got your canisters yeah yeah look so we ended up not registering there it’s actually just the merchandise tent isn’t it
yep just merch there
so we’re going to have to walk we think we know where it is cuz we passed it yesterday thinking “Oh what’s that?”
Then we’ll need to come back here anyways to get the backpack
yeah you have to come back here to get the backpack so I think it forces people to basically go into the merchandise tent cuz they’re separate so well done Iron Man there but like annoying that it wasn’t very clear that this was the registration area oh just to whack it around
but it’s only like 5 minutes you can’t whack it in between put the camera back
no that’s the issue with using your iPhone to to vlog if I get over guys you need to subscribe if I get over 100 subscribers I’ll buy a proper vlogging camera and then I can give better footage so yeah there’s backpacks here
oh oh maybe you don’t have to then is that on the border of wets suits though
no 24 is I think
ah okay get a picture on the sign registration oh so there are backpacks here so my information there was wrong you can have backpacks i guess maybe it’s optional to pick up the backpacks looks like you get a tote as well exciting [Music] it’s good
yeah perfect so again misinformation we do pick up the bag over there [Music] okay now we’re going back to get your backpack there’s a lot of information there
oh yeah purely decoration to have all those finisher bags there but we have to go back so if you do the SABS recommendation register then go to merchandise 10 don’t do what we’ve done cuz we’re going back and forth
get all the merch first cuz sizes go fast especially like American sizing although the S was actually bang on
yeah the S fit you didn’t it so yeah so you put it on you like it
looks pretty nice
let’s see it
not bad it’s pretty decent
it’s way nicer than like the 70.3s but they deliberately do that don’t they over the top of Portugal
we’ve claimed it
europe’s hard though cuz it’s all so small [Music] if you know you know wet suits on after 25 minutes
just can you pan away i just need to warm up the ocean a little bit oh how was it my darling nice
nice
how long did you do
very nice very clear very nice
how long
um 1k
oh sweet do you want to do any more
no I think that’s good it’s enough for now
was it clear tell me about how this super clear and um I’d say up to just before the boy you can like make out a floor like a sea floor ocean floor and then it starts to get deeper
yeah and then you it’s just super clear and then just turned into nothing
any jellyfish
there was one only one on the way back it almost like inhaled it
just on the way back but like completely
by itself amazing
really nice very very nice i went up to
I think the third boy or the fourth yeah
I think I went to that that one over there but
okay
basically 500 m out
what are we going to do now
probably eat
eat and then you could do a bike little bike check
setting up the bike short bike check
and then um then we’ll see
tempted to come back in the water later but I’ll see how I feel i don’t want to overdo it but
I need to do one tomorrow
okay well then we’ll see tomorrow really nice like really nice temperature everything about it is great awesome we’re about to do an easy run i’ve got a 45minute easy run to do did you actually have one planned
30 minutes or something just to shake out the legs or something shake out the leg it’ be good as well
he won’t run with me though cuz I’ll be way too slow so but we’re going to walk walk we’re going to run along the beach which is basically what you’re doing tomorrow it’s literally what I’m doing tomorrow this is exactly where we’ll be running but it’s still bloody hot it’s still at 28°
good god it’s so tidy shake out run done well easy run
yep shake out easy run slash we stopped and cooled down by the finish line
it’s very hot it’s supposed to be 5° cooler for the run
it’s very hot
and quite overcast that is very very welcome because it was uh the heat was costing a lot more to run at like endurance pace I’d notice a lot higher obviously
coming but it wasn’t cooling me down
it just felt like a hair dryer but tomorrow should be tomorrow Sunday should be a lot different
be way nicer
should have um overcast
should be a better day for you to run
it’s grosser what we going to do now we’re going to get some water so I’m really thirsty
well I don’t know
i’m not really hungry
no I’m not too hungry water
you should probably eat
i had I ate a lot but we’ll see probably neck down like a tuna pasta or something anyway we’re going to sign off for today and we’ll see you tomorrow
or very beautiful
very just like you let’s see it come on turn it
there you go you happy
yeah pretty nice we brought something didn’t we
you brought
something overpriced as always an Iron Man shop
me to buy this
do a little do a little spin you look good though yeah yeah
feel bad wearing it iron Man
hello it is the next day Saturday t minus one day till race day is that how you say it
it’s about right yeah
so entering a bit late because I’ve already done an open water swim and I was scared
uh I managed to just do 1K but yeah I was scared so it’s making me nervous about Barcelona but this isn’t about me this is about you and what we went to the village again didn’t we and we got this I was made to purchase
this great bag
oh man and you got your tattoo which I’ve got some footage for um so now we’re on our way back to the hotel and you’re going to get your bike ready
yep
we can drop it off at transition between 2:00 and 7:00 right yeah so it opens in about an hour
but we’re probably going to head like in the middle hopefully it won’t be too busy um sort of around like 4 5:00
yeah exactly and then after that we’re going to chill and you’re going to eat
many nervous poos and nervous we going to car load
early night where you’re probably not going to sleep but I’m going to snore happily
sounds like a regular night then and yeah that’s pretty much all we’re doing today try and do not that many steps right
it’s all right bit active so Miguel’s just set off for transition on his bike and also just to check everything’s working uh so I’m going to meet him there it’s going to take me about 10 15 minutes to walk there seconds [Music] how’d it go i’m bagged and tagged like a everything’s in order
how is transition is it quite big
no it’s it’s really nice really nice yeah it’s uh like tight yeah I think it might be quite if you come out in a pack it’s going to be busy
yeah that’s always it isn’t it
but yeah it’s it’s really it’s actually very nice
okay but you’re happy with everything
yeah I think I’ve got everything
you always feel like you’re getting something but I feel like everything’s okay this time so Okay that’s good so you’ve done my transition now transition done we’re getting some uh grub it’s only 5:00 oh god I look like a teacher it’s a bit better
um getting some grub uh hotel is iffy for choices so we’ve got to play it safe um I’m I’m honestly thinking microwave rice and some tuna but
yeah it’s probably a safer bet cuz that’s what you’re used to in the UK having now
well apart apart from having fresh rice but yeah um but we got to keep it simple the worst thing you can get is a tomorrow and then your race is done for
and you you’ve ruined either your wets suit or your race or both
so that’s where we’re going trying not to get flattened
but um yeah once that’s done 5:00 by the time we get back I’d say eat around 6ish try and get an early night but there’s a couple of watts to be saved here oh he’s going to shave his legs or something
shave the legs properly okay
our legs and Philips One Blade need a uh need a nice date together and then we’re good to go
morning of the race yeah baby
how you feeling
oh so well rested genuinely one of the best nights sleep I can remember having in a long time funnily enough so we’re walking to transition got the bike pump
yep
you’ve already got your wet suit up so
yeah just going to go from there and then head to the beach afterwards official bag carrier with all the bottles and everything you can have an empty backpack on the beach
you will yeah this is just full with gear for transition at the moment but then it’ll be completely empty
yeah but it’s about 5:30 and all the swim starts around 7 right
yeah official set off around 7:00 i don’t know when my wave will be in the uh slow swimmers they’re not too bad he won’t be
I started from the back the back of the pack and I’ve worked my way into the middle of the pack now
he’s bang on average
yeah bang on average that’s a good summary for life bang average but uh yeah that’s the swim so uh
yeah it’s going to be a good day you got you physically feel good and mentally
really good mentally I feel really really strong
oh god jay you can hear the music aren’t we like 500 m out
yeah if not more yeah
or is that just the chap in his car i think it’s Don’t worry looks good see very nice looks really good the London looking forward to celebrating you today
how was it
i’m so excited
I’m so excited the water is lovely and I don’t know if it’s placebo or not but like when you turn around it’s cuz you’re in shallow water so you see the sand moving as you paddle stroke but um it feels well it will be tid coming in and it feels like you get a rush to be honest as soon as you cross that little lighthouse and you turn in the channel to me that’s like straight away looking forward to it [Music] [Applause] [Music] we go we go good luck [Music] miguel so I just saw Miguel finish his swim go through transition like 8 minutes so really not that bad and I saw him on the bike but he didn’t see me i got some footage but he didn’t see me bless him i I was near like where we said I’d be but I found slightly better place so I guess he just wasn’t looking for me so I feel really bad i shouted his name but he was too Yeah focused but anyway he’s on the bike this is his strongest one of the three so he’s going to be great so I’m going to go and try and meet him in like five five and a half hours in the transition so yeah Miguel [Music] Miguel miguel you okay anything for 100k
oh okay [Music] so I just saw Miguel uh I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear uh but he said he hasn’t eaten anything in like 100k i think his tummy is is just not happy um so I think he doesn’t feel great right now i managed to to him around a bit further up and I think he’s he’s a bit disheartened now because he’s usually he’s got fueling down the last few races so I’m hoping he’s going to be able to to get some food in otherwise I’m a bit worried that he’s not going to be able to do this marathon uh but we’ll see i’m going to try and meet him at the beach now uh for his first lap and then we’ll see how it goes fingers crossed you can do it baby you can be an iron man today come on [Music] [Applause] you can do it baby you don’t need an
Yes we are [Music] iron Man [Music] look who’s an Iron Man zoom in on the the medal
pow so how did it go in a quick summary quick summary was Swim went okay i had a mini panic stopped for 30 seconds just to gather my thoughts um a lot of people zigzagging a lot i thought I couldn’t swim straight but me i’m like above standard with what I saw today uh the end of the swim was chaotic it’s just everyone being funneled into like one marina deck and it it just doesn’t work people it only fits two people shoulderto-shoulder going up the ramp so it’s it’s super slow to get in and then everyone’s walking um what else bike started off really well um had a long time in transition cuz he’s just walking navigating um that can be improved on though but not the beginning bit bike first 80k moving first 30k 40k was just rapid i think I was averaging like 34 35
yeah you were kilm an hour i think overall it was 32 okay yeah that’s what I was going for 32 overall but I could have I could have averaged 34 overall but about 85k in
my stomach started to bloat i started to get cramps and I it was like I had like rabies it just couldn’t like water nothing nothing could come into my body it was just the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my stomach um like I’ve broken bones before but it was just like insane cramps in my stomach really bloated so for basically 90 plus 100kish I couldn’t have anything only towards the end I would say like the last 40k I was taking on um just pure water and like half a gel maybe so in the last 100k maybe half half a morton um and I just knew that I was going to have a super hard time on the run because I had no fuel um so I I set off um kind of like a zone 2 heart rate low heart rate see what I was going to get knowing that my heart rate was going to just eventually reduce cuz I was just too fatigued and everything um initially it was okay for 2K but it’s it’s actually cruel what they make you do you’re around the night house beautiful nice picture probably there yeah i can’t believe they made you run on the beach
you run on the beach for 400 meters something like that and then Yeah but then you get the sand in your shoes
you get sand in your shoes which I have done now I’ve got blisters and everything from just in my right shoe cuz my left shoe didn’t get sand and it is just cruel it’s uneven so you’re getting like pains in your in your calves when you’re stabilizing and all that kind of stuff that’s cruel and then it was quite hot on the run wasn’t it
it was quite hot but it was way cooler than what it’s been but I was running such low on heart rate i just wasn’t looking at my pace because I knew that I’d underfueled massively because of the stomach
that if I ran off pace my heart rate was going to spike and then I would mega bonk and risk not being able to finish the run so I just set a heart rate
you finished
and I just went and
I finished and you did sub 12
i went sub 12 my optimistic goal was sub 11
which you could have done i could have done with if I’d have just kept the first 2k pace which was
I was going faster than what I was aiming for for the first 2k so I think
had I not had the issues on the bike my bike would have been at least 33 average so I would have bought myself loads of margin for the run
mhm and transition two was just awful i just sat down i was just like popping pills or whatever just trying to survive
it still wasn’t bad i I think both of your transitions were 8 minutes
that’s not too bad for your first time man one was T1 was tough because it was limited by other people so there is room for improvement but I think I got unlucky and the time I went I was going out of the water it was just like like I was just trying not to get kicked in the face or something um I do want to say there was quite a big crash early on in the ride i don’t remember exactly where but it’s 20 people come out like telling everyone to slow down
and a guy was clearly falling off his bike and he’s just lying down by a blanket people were attending him but he’s in a pool of blood so
whatever that is I’m And whoever he is I really hope he’s okay cuz no one wants that and no one deserves that
but
but we’re at the end what’s the question are you going to do another one
a this shit’s type two fun isn’t it cuz during it I just wanted to pull my hair out and jump in the sea and then just die but now I do it all over again
it was kind of a trick question cuz you’ve already got another race haven’t you
yeah but we don’t talk about that
we don’t talk about that yet practicing i might just try and get a stomach replacement with a sheep or something i just eat whatever I want grass whatever and be okay but it’s absolutely beautiful day conditions were like 80% ideal towards the end cuz I was so slow it was a headwind on the way back and uh yeah but it’s a great race would you recommend the course
yeah the I mean they can make improvements i understand the idea and the reason behind the sand bit but it can really mess you up it’s only 400 m is what they’ll say which for a half is no problem cuz you just punch through
it’s a 70.3 next year isn’t it
so it’s alternating 70.3 and full but for the full it’s cruel um also on the bike it’s really nice like rolling there’s no climb longer than like 800 meters so if you’re strong on the bike uh you can just punch those climbs and really carry the speed into them which is what ended up happening a lot like I’ve just descending in the arrow bars and um carrying the speed up
and it was okay like you do half the climb anyway before your speed bleeds anywhere below 30 um that was when it was going well uh what else can I say the refs were very well in general they were good but there there’s like anything in life there were some serious bad apples and it’s it’s like completely uh like this should not happen if you’re going up like an 800 m climb and this is a climbing length because it’s like 27 m of actual climbing some people don’t understand that they need to stay to the right so there’s guys going for a breast and you’re stuck behind them whilst the ref comes up to you and starts screaming at you “No drafting no drafting.” Like “What the do you think what am I supposed to do if I cross the center line you’re going to give me a penalty.”
Yeah but that always happens i’ve never seen it happen because because I’ve seen I’ve literally been in similar situations in 70.3s where a ref will go and what they’ll do is they’ll tell the people that are for a breast to move to the right because they’re clearly holding people up
so that I mean it’s bad apple but I saw it happen with this specific ref multiple times and with another one they’re just like watching instead of saying anything to the guys that are for a breast so it’s a bit shitty but hey ho in general it’s it’s a very nice event um
and you’re very happy cuz you finished show the medal again
oh yeah it’s a nice medal
yeah so
so we’re going to sign off probably the end of this vlog
most likely maybe you get like a little tidbit of tomorrow
i feel all right
but he feels all right i mean as a spectator I’m a bit exhausted i have to say waiting looking at the app to check if you’re there elbowing out the way so I get to see you
about to get run over anyway
all right
signing off
orovoir [Music]