Normally Rob and I team up for ski courses ...
29th Aug 2013
Normally Rob Jarvis and I team up to run Chamonix Off-Piste and Ski Mountain Skills. However this weekend we teamed up for the Mont Blanc Triathlon at Lac Passy. The triathlon has become a highlight on many of our calendars giving a day of friendly competition both as teams and individuals.
Rob's Dad, Bernard, was over visiting when the event was on last year and that gave them the idea that they could compete as a team if they could find a swimmer. When they asked me to join them as a mixed team I jumped at the chance of this new challenge. I checked out the times of the previous winners of the mixed team category (wouldn't you?) and worked out that we needed to be pretty quick if we wanted to feature in the top 3.
I knew that Bernard would be training hard at the running element as would Rob be on the bike, so this year I needed to do more than "turn up and swim". In the spring time I had a sneaky training session with Dan Abel. It was great to be on the receiving end of some coaching. Like I keep telling my clients, once you have had the technical input you then need to go away and practice in order to get better. This message from Dan was loud and clear. It was now down to me...
After many trips down to the lake this summer, thinking about the things Dan had taught me, the big day arrived. Not without a last minute panic though; my wetsuit ripped 2 days beforehand. Luckily my friend Sauze came to the rescue and let me borrow hers. Competition between the locals was going to be tough. Team "Ecosse" were fielding a secret fast runner and we wanted to build up a lead to be ahead of them before the run. We managed to do that, and even better Bernard's running time was 6 minutes faster than he had predicted! We were delighted to finish as the 1st mixed team. The results can be found here.
I've really enjoyed the focus of training for open water swimming this summer. I enjoy the sport a lot more for getting better at it. I've also had a reminder that training isn't easy. There have been a few post swim snooze's and have often thought "if you're not sleeping than you're not training hard enough". I really enjoyed competing as a team. If there is something that will make you swim faster it's the thought that there are people on the bank waiting for you, looking anxiously as the others swimmers get out of the water...
Thanks to Rob and Bernard for letting me be part of their team, to Jonny for forming team "Ecosse" as close competition and to all those that came along to cheer us on.
