Almost as planned

Usually, it spells trouble when you stop sweating. Luckily, I was only five kilometers from the goal line at that point. 
I might just have forgotten how much it can hurt to do an ironman. Maybe that's what they call it an ironman. If it would be easy, it might be called tennis.  Or football.
The Ironman France is of course not your ordinary ironman. Just check out the profile. That would be ok for a bike race, but something extra when you are supposed to run a marathon on top of it.

It was my third time in Nice. The first time I was really worried about the climbs and the heat and took it really easy. The second time I had a fresh hip stress fracture going into the race and knew I wasn't going to be able to run. So I had some unfinished business in Nice.
My plan: swim something like 1.05-1.10, go out hard on the bike, knowing that the second half of the bike leg is quite easy, come into transition #2 with a total time of 6.30, then do the run in something like 4 hours.
How it went down: the swim was chaotic, with 2 600 competitors all starting at once, and none of them with a clear idea of how the swim course was drawn. According to the race briefing, there were supposed to be three buoys during the first 2.4K lap. There was two. And they were so small that you couldn't use them for navigating, so everybody was just swimming in the general, assumed direction of the next buoy. The race officials were waving and blowing whistlepipes from their canoes, trying to get people in the right direction. The second lap was a bit easier, measuring just 1.4K. But still, the swim took me 1.13. Might have been 4.5K though.
I went out hard on the bike and hit the climbs selfconfident as Mr T. I was overtaking, like, everyone, and felt strong as ever even as I went into the red zone. Nearing the top of Cote de Gattieres, the pace and the heat was getting to me and I was already doubting whether I would make it through the day.
The course is really easy after that, with only one 7K climb, flats, and mostly downhill. But I was totally drained. But, just as I had planned, I was able to use the descents to recover, drink and eat before the run.The bike split was 5.27, just as I had planned. Didn't feel exactly fresh, coming into T2, though.

The run almost came to an end before it even had started, because I fell at a loose rug in the transistion area and hurt my ankle. I thought that was it, but the pain went away as I headed out for the run along the Promenade d'Anglaise.
What a promenade. The run isn't the best part of ironman Nice. I mean, it's great with lot of spectators, and you can't really complain about the scenery either. It's just that when you run back and forth along the beach promenade four time, without the slightest shade, sooner or later you will wish it was a loop course. Or wish it was all over.
The heat was killing me. And not only me, I heard some 450 competitors DNF. I kept the pace for some 15-20K, but then the sun started taking its toll. My head was spinning and my legs felt like I was wearing shoes made out of concrete. But I decided: never gonna stop, never gonna quit. During the last lap, I was so trashed I couldn't even nod to any of my friends. I wasn't sweating anymore, a clear sign of dehydration. Usually, during the last 5K, you feel like you're flying because you know it'll be over soon. Now, it felt like even the last kilometre was one klick too much. Crossing the goal line, I wasn't celebrating much. I was more like, moaning out of pain. The run took me something like 4.25. Amazing that I'm able to run that slowly, because I didn't walk. For some reason, I didn't have to stop for peeing either, after drinking some ten litres during the day. Finished 100th among some 550 in my category, M35. Have to live with that, being among the top fifth in a highly contested age category. 
After the race, I was shivering despite it still being hot. Another sign of dehydration. But I was able to drink and eat (they had some good pizza slices and soup in the finisher area, which wasn't bad at all after going an entire day on cola, sports drinks and energy bars) and soon felt fresher.
Now, two days after the race, my right ankle is the size of a tennis ball, and my thighs hurt so much I wouldn't dream of running. Went out for a supereasy spin on the bike after assembling it, just to get moving. Life goes on.
This year I have been doing a lot of long bike rides, which, instead of the usual ironman steady pace all the way, have been partially in the upper aerobic zone and lower anaerobic zone, with the Nice bike course in mind. It seems to have paid off.
But I had a brief layoff with my run training due to the accident in march, and never quite got back to it again. Mostly, it was the lack of long aerobic runs that came back to haunt me during the run in Nice.
Next up, if there are no setbacks with my recovery and the ankle, I will race on half distance in Joroinen 15th July. Sheesh, the distance will feel easy. Then, I am planning to race the ironman distance in Kalmar in southern Sweden. It's a flat course, and I doubt the heat can be as bad as in Nice. Somehow, I don't think I will be back for a fourth time in Nice. But you never know.

New way of thinking

It might have been reflective of a new approach to training, when I skipped the our club Helsinki Triathlons traditional cup sprint and opted for a long, intense workout last tuesday. In my opinion, that kind of 4-6 hour workout at or close to ironman race pace is the single most important workout to improve in long distance triathlon. Note the difference: at or close to ironman pace means fast, not long and slow. I never like to do long and slow. Waste of time.
That said, sprints are important as well in order to improve the speed reserve and feel more comfortable at ironman pace. On thursday I did a 20K flat out bike on my own, and friday I ran 3K on the track.
But last year, I was like doing anaerobic training every other day, cycling tempo rides, running stairs, running intervals. This year, I have been doing more aerobic work, and done about one anaerobic workout per discipline a week.
I have also been riding more in the zone slightly above the aerobic threshold, between ironman pace and half ironman pace. That's a pace where my body burns a lot of stored glycogen and some lactic acid is produced in my muscles. But it is still a quite comfortable pace, which I, for example, can maintain on the bike for some two hours.
This is a typical, great workout for improving your ironman bike speed: 4h bike, beginning with a heart rate of 135 for 1h, increasing speed to a heart rate of 140 for 1h, then 145, and, finally, a heart rate of 150 for 1h. That is based on the assumption that your ironman race pace is around 145 bpm. But BEWARE. The increase in heart rate should not be due to increased fatigue or loss of liquid, so make sure you actually increase your speed. Ok, sorry, I know. This is totally paleolithic. In 2011, everyone should have a power meter, not some silly, unreliable heart rate monitor. I usually trust my speed gauge more. But then you have to take into account wind and other weather conditions as well. 

Return to competition

I should have had a flock of humming birds in my stomach, but instead, heading for the start in Calella (that's 60 km north of Barcelona, all of thee geographically uneducated) I was calm as nerves-of-steel-hockey goalie Tim Thomas running on tranquilizers.  In fact, so calm I was worried being too calm.
After all, it was less than two months after the crash that sent me in an ambulance to hospital. I had been cycling since mid-March, but running and swimming much less.
Maybe it was a good thing we arrived three days ahead of the Barcelona Half Challenge, a rare luxury as long as the location is within the same time zone, plus or minus 1 hour. I was fearing boredom, but we used the spare time with Henrika Malmstroem (note the international spelling) for familiarizing ourselves with the bike course and getting used to the sea. I did a solid preparation 20K race-paced ride on friday, two days ahead of the race.
We were lucky as well in getting our bikes and luggage without delays, as some of our friends leaving Finland on friday didn't get their stuff due to an unannounced strike on the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.  In fact, I tried to get tickets for Finnair's friday afternoon flight, which we took last year, travelling with senior citizen Peter Groenholm (note the international spelling), but, since it was fully booked, opted for Lufthansa's thursday flight.
I had no idea what to expect before the swim, but the sea was calm at the 8.25 a.m. wave start and I could find a good lane and felt strong throughout. 33 mins exiting the water.
Felt strong as ever on the bike. Last year, the route was a little bit too short, some 85K, but this year it was a full 90K. I finished with a bike split of 2.22, which translates to close to 38kph on the average. The course, of course, was totally flat. Highest point 25 meters above sea level.
Only two guys overtook me on the bike – Finnish native Pablo Erat, and some other guy on a Cervelo P3 just like mine, except painted in world champion rainbow colours. No problems there.
It seems the 1/2-IM-specific bike workouts which I have been doing have been working well. I have done lots of, for example, 3-4 h rides where I do the last 1h at a forced, half ironman pace. 
On the run, on the other hand, at least two dozen guys ran past me during the first kilometers. Tells me something about my strengths/weaknesses. Haven't been running much fast tempo runs this year, whichs shows during a distance as short as 21K. The upside: I didn't get fatigued, and could pick up my pace towards the end, catching quite a few of those backs which I saw disappearing on the horizon during the first 5K. Two guys surprised me by sneaking up on me right before the finish line (I would like to see a shot of the finish camera, because I would like to contest them being ranked before me in the final results). Anyway, I finished 38th among a field of 226 contestants.
Next up is Ironman Nice. A little different bike course, but otherwise this was good rehearsal. Sea swim, and some Mediterranean heat during the run as well.