Pays d'Aix 70.3

May 1, 2016 

IRONMAN. 

What do you think about when you see that word?  A Marvel superhero?  A person with the strength of 1,000 horses?  Someone who's good at taking wrinkles out of shirts?  Personally, I think of the ultimate triathlon. Even though I love the Marvel movies (Captain America: Civil War was amazeballs), when someone says the word "Ironman" without any context, I think of Kona, not Tony Stark.  Maybe because I surround myself with people who like to do triathlons.  Or maybe it's the power of triathlon branding.  We even refer to races which have nothing to do with the Ironman brand by using the word Ironman. A race that is half the distance of an official Ironman race is a "Half Ironman" in my world. Not even the Ironman brand refers to such races in this manner.  Officially, they're called "Ironman 70.3", which refers to the total mileage of the race (which translates to 1.9 km swim, 90 km cycle, and 21.1 km run), half of the full Ironman. But somehow, their brand name has found it's way into our every day vernacular. 

Thus the strange title of this post:  Pays d'Aix 70.3.  It looks like the default password your new wireless router might come with, but in fact, it refers to the Ironman 70.3 race in the region of Aix en Provence.  

So to sum it up for people who don't speak triathlon: Ironman is the most famous brand that organizes triathlons, most notably the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Generally they have two distances: the full Ironman race (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, plus a marathon) and half of the distance in each discipline (aka a "70.3").  A "triathlon" is any race that includes any distance of swim, bike and run.  Often these triathlon distances are some fraction of the Ironman distance (for example 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 of the full Ironman distance - though as I mentioned, these are not Ironman branded).  Alternatively, a race could be an "Olympic" or "Sprint" (half of Olympic), which are based on the distances used in the Olympics, which are different than Ironman.  So an Ironman is a triathlon, but a triathlon isn't necessarily an Ironman (the brand), nor an Ironman (the distance).  

So now that it's perfectly clear, let's move on.  

Many (crazy) people dream about doing an Ironman race; not only because of the mental and physical challenge of doing the distance, but because the races specifically organized by Ironman are prestigious, well organized, and they give good loot in the start package. We do a lot of Garmin and Volvo sponsored races in Poland, which are great, but they're not "Ironman". People travel all over the world to participate in, and just watch these Ironman races. 

So when we heard Jay and Iza were planning to enter the IM 70.3 race in Aix, Zosia and I wanted to go with them; not to compete, but to support our friends and see what the hype was about. 

I hadn't been to France in about 15 years, since I went to Paris with Leta and Smelly when Smelly moved there for the first time. I honestly felt pretty neutral about Paris, and didn't have any strong feelings about French food either (though eating escargot was pretty fun).  Still, I was still excited to visit the south. Of course, I knew it was the south only after looking up Aix on a map. 

Baguette: my favorite French food (and word)

When we landed in Marseille, we could already feel the excitement for the coming race. There were packs of skinny guys with bike boxes and sports bags, with Ironman tattoos and earrings, and virtually everyone looked pretty fit (I didn't notice any Garmin or Volvo tattoos though).  As I watched people struggle to cram their bike boxes on the buses, I realized how nice it was to not have to worry about racing. No worries about what to eat and what to not drink, needing proper equipment or mental race preparation. I simply enjoyed the weekend.

We took an hour-long bus ride from the airport to Aix, which I spent trying to figure out how to pronounce "Aix".  I finally settled on something like "axe" but also a bit like "ix" at the same time.  En Provence simply means it's in the area of Provence. Clever French. Maybe it's similar to saying "Seattle in Washington".  

We rented an Airbnb apartment in Aix, which is a small-ish 2,000 year old former Roman city, filled with quaint streets, outdoor restaurants and French people. Besides the locals, it seemed that everyone else was there for the race. But even with all the athletes and families, it still felt uncrowded and comfortable. It reminded me how much I love visiting small towns without millions of tourists. Suddenly I started to really like France. 

A not-so-crowded square in Aix

Tourists

While Jay and Iza were preparing for the race and setting up in the transition zone, Z and I wandered around the city. We shopped in the Ironman village, a long street filled with gear, shirts and souvenirs, though I didn't deserve to buy any branded clothes without actually doing the race. We stumbled across a farmers market, where you could buy nice smelling breads, cheeses, meats and produce; I was surprised not to see baguettes with the IM stamp on it.  People were super friendly everywhere, not only the guys trying to sell us jams or raspberries. Other businesses were nice and helpful as well; the wine shop, waiters, even the taxi drivers. I almost didn't trust them because they were TOO nice. 

Jayza (Jay and Iza, for those not keeping track) were carb loading most of the weekend, while we found ourselves gorging like we also needed the calories (the lack of a big calorie burn is the downside of not racing). We did a couple short runs to feel better about all the wine and food.

Much-needed calories

Not-so-much-needed calories

On the morning of the race we were excited to watch, and even more excited not to have to wake up at 4am to head to the lake like Jayza had to. Unfortunately the lake was far from the city so we weren't able to watch the start.  There was no transportation provided for the spectators, and the public buses were also closed because it was a national holiday.  At first, we were bummed we wouldn't be able to watch the swim, but thanks to the power of social media, we found out that the organizers completely cancelled the swim due to the cold and windy weather. It sucked that part of the race was cancelled, but we felt better that we didn't miss anything!

This got me thinking...I usually dread the swim of my races, simply because it's so stressful and chaotic with the bodies and limbs flying everywhere for the first few hundred meters. You spend more energy avoiding being kicked in the face (or other parts) and preventing others from pulling you under water, rather than advancing towards the finish line. However, swimming is usually my best part of the race, relative to the other competitors.  Since I'm super slow on the bike, I need all the help I can get before the cycle starts, so the swim leg actually lets me get ahead of a lot of others. Plus, I would feel that the finisher's medal would come with an asterisk if one of the disciplines was cancelled; the t-shirt says you finished, but without having to swim. This has to be tough for people who were working so hard to do the full race. 

Anyway, after an extra hour of sleep, we headed down to watch the bike and running legs. Watching all the bikes zoom by and the hundreds of fans gathered everywhere, I got a shot of adrenaline that finally made me wish I was racing. There's always a lot of energy watching a race, and this was no different. Though Polish fans might be louder and more supportive than the people I was around in Aix. People in France were more polite and reserved.  After the race we saw a lot of happy and relieved (and tired) faces all over the city. Athletes walking slowly and gingerly, but eating tons of food and finally enjoying a beer or glass of wine.

Taking a selfie during Jay's run

Happy finishers

The day after the race we decided to go for a swim in the lake which was supposed to have been part of the race. The lake had a nice blue-green color, which hopefully meant it was clean. We touched the water and I couldn't believe it was actually wet...scientifically it should have been frozen because it felt so cold! I'm serious, somehow this water was less than 32 degrees!  I immediately understood why they cancelled the swim. The air was warm and people were sun bathing, but the water made my toes want to fall off.

This water will freeze your balls off

We threw on our wetsuits and tried to adjust. My teeth were chattering and my feet were numb. I tried to swim a few hundred meters but after about 5 minutes I had to literally run out of the water. But when I tried to get up, I stumbled back down because my feet lost all feeling and I couldn't stand!  Jay went on to swim for several minutes, but Iza was the smartest of all, and laid out comfortably in the sun, watching our bags. I guess someone's gotta do it.  

After a bit of walking and another evening watching Vikings by the fireplace, it was time to head back to Warsaw. At the Marseilles airport we saw a lot of the same bike boxes and IM tattoos that we saw on the way, but there was even more gear which was purchased during the weekend. 

Our dollhouse apartment

I was happy to watch, happy to see Jay and Iza do so well, and happier that I was able to relax the whole time. I still haven't done an "Ironman" branded race; maybe someday...I just hope I'm not tempted to get any Ironman tattoos or earrings.