Anyone watching the Tour de France this year will be familiar with the Alpe d'Huez and its legendary verticality -not long after the bikers passed through one of our own was ascending the hairpins in the 'Alpe d'Huez Triathlon' (click here if you would like to join the madness next year). Below is her report on some serious high altitude training/ torture! Thanks to Caoimhe for the report, and for representing Sligo so well in the gruelling uphill adventure...
Alpe d’Huez 2011 race report
The seed was planted back in January. My brother told me he was heading away on holidays to France with friends and they were going to do a triathlon. The only words I heard were ‘holidays’, ‘suntan’, and ‘lots of craic’…. So due to my selective hearing I had signed up for the Alpe d’Huez long course triathlon before I had any idea what I was letting myself in for!
After a bit of googling and checking out some seriously terrifying Utube videos, I was starting to comprehend the challenge ahead and the ridiculous amount of training I was facing. The race consisted of a 2.2k swim in Lac Du Verny, a 115k cycle including 2 cols and finishing up the Alpe D’Huez and then a half marathon at the top of the mountain (i.e. above 1800m). But I do like training a I love a good challenge, so from January this year I was focusing on building up my strength and endurance – especially on the bike. I never worry too much about swimming, I might only swim once every two weeks, unless I’m injured and then I take to the pool as often as I can. And with a marathon completed in March, I knew that I could plod around the run course. So I concentrated mostly on the bike – my weakest discipline. I tried as much as possible to cycle on hills around Sligo/Leitrim but these were sadly poor preparation for the Alps!
I didn’t enter too many events – and again, focused on the bike. I did the Tour of Sligo, Ring of Kerry, Wicklow 200… and then a double Olympic in Athy, to get used to the distance. It all seemed to be going well. I certainly felt fitter and stronger than last year so as I packed my bag last Sunday night, I was feeling apprehensive but pretty positive….
The positivity all but vanished when our rental car stalled on the first switchback (of 21) of the Alpe d’Huez! It was beyond steep! It made Molls Gap in Kerry or the Shay Elliott Climb in Wicklow look like speedbumps! Silence fell over us all as we began the 14.7km climb up to the resort where we were staying. My brother had done the Etape last year, and he seemed to be the most shocked. I tentatively suggested that perhaps it looked worse through the car windscreen and surely it is doable – especially as there were so many cyclists struggling up it as we drove past. Now, none of them were making it look easy, and we were very aware that this was the last climb of the 115km cycle – after 2 other Category 1 climbs. (The Alpe d’Huez is uncategorised – its that bloody steep!)
On the Tuesday morning we decided to test the bikes and the legs, and try a few of the switchbacks…. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was breathtaking. I wasn’t admiring it much after we turned to climb the last 4 of the 21 hairpin bends of the Alpe d’Huez. I immediately realised I had run out of gears, and this was what I was facing for several long hours the following day. The altitude was really noticible. I was gasping for lungfuls of oxygen as my legs were spinning and looking down at my computer, I was travelling at just over a brisk walking pace!! The lads wanted to check out the run course, but I decided I’d keep that as a surprise for race day… I needed to lie down after our ‘warm-up’ spin that morning!!
Next day we woke up to a dark threatening sky. It was forecast to rain all day, and it was predicted that the temperatures would be much lower. So I packed my bag with raincoat, armwarmers, extra socks, and a couple of long sleeve tops. We had to cycle 20km to the lake – mostly downhill! – with all of our stuff. Arriving in transition the nerves were setting in. It seemed like we were the only Joe Slows amongst 900+ pro-elites! It was a mass start, which was a bit terrifying initially. I got caught in the middle – rookie error – even though I had planned to stay wide. Once we got to the first turn I had managed to move out and felt much more comfortable. It was a two lap swim. The lake is lovely. Surrounded by beautiful snow-peaked mountains. There’s a hydroelectric plant on the lake and you can hear the motors as you swim – which is different!
Once out of the water I realised it was raining hard. So I tried to cover up as I knew the desents were going to be really cold. I put on the armwarmers and my rain jacket. I was so glad I did, as there seemed to be a lot of hypothermic cyclists in trisuits later on in the day. It was cold, wet, windy… I’m sure a real shock for the mediterranean folk, but for us Irish, it was a typical June day! The weather made the descents so challenging – 2 very steep and winding descents that seriously put the brakes and your reflexes to the test, especially in the driving rain. I got braver as the day went on but half-way down the second descent, I rounded a sharp bend and came upon a part of the road that had literally fallen down the mountain – an avalanche!
Due to the weather there wasn’t much support on the cycle route, but there was a good bit of banter between cyclists. Our names and country flags were on our numbers, and it was very clear that the British and Irish didn’t have the Alps in our back yard as the French all powered their way past on the climbs. The organisers are terrific. There were plently of food and refreshment stops. You could even have your own food placed on the course – at the 64km mark on the bike I saw lots of people tucking into their home-prepared baguettes and sandwiches!
Approaching the Alpe d’Huez and the final climb, the atmosphere had started to build. Spectators had gathered in the village at the bottom Bourg Doisans. Shouts of ‘Allez Allez’, ‘Courage’, ‘Bravo’ gave me a much needed lift, and I hit the last climb ready to face the hardest 14.7km cycle of my life. After the 2nd switchback mentally I was composing my excuses to people back home as to how I had to drop out. I was hoping for a puncture, an accident, another avalanche… anything that might allow me to end the pain. I stopped to get my breath and had a gel, and I tried not to think about the 19 more switchbacks ahead. Then a spacewagon full of british supporters drove past and recognised me from earlier in the course and started whooping and shouting my name (yes they could pronounce it – go figure!). I got back on the bike, embarassed to be seen stopped after only about 800metres, and I grit my teeth and kept going. I was thinking I could stop every second bend. I’d get to the top, but it might take me till midnight. Up ahead I saw that they were all there waiting for me, pulled in on the road on the fourth hairpin bend. So, I couldn’t stop; I couldn’t possibly disappoint my my fan club, so I zoomed past (at 8km/hr) feeling like I was in the Tour de France. The Union Jacks passed me again as they drove on ahead, roaring my name again, and pulled in at the sixth bend…. You might have the picture now. They stopped every second bend right to the top. I wouldn’t have done it without them. I’m not sure why they picked me, but I was soooo grateful. I got a chance to thank them afterwards. They were incredible supporters, cheering on a total stranger, in the pouring rain. They also stood at transition for about three hours cheering on all the runners.
By the time I got off my bike I had decided I was going to leave it sitting there in transition and fly home without it. I never wanted to sit on it again! The run was a welcome relief. My legs felt relatively okay. But the course was tough. Some big hills and rocky terrain. It was so wet and getting colder. The surface was muddy and slippy. Here was the lovely surprise I had saved for race day!! As if the bike course was not tough enough, the race organisers decided to take us up every hill they could find with a suitable running surface, and some hills that did not. Luckily I didn’t seem to notice the high altitude anymore.
Getting to the finish line I felt relief more than elation. It was the slowest half marathon I’d ever run, but I was just so glad to be finished. There were a lot of DNFs that day. The conditions made it just that bit tougher, and you definitely need to take on more fuel in the cold. Getting enough food in is probably one of the main challenges of the bike course. In duration it's only slightly less than an IM bike but it's very hard to have a regular eating strategy as you are either working hard uphill or flying downhill on wet tarmac where taking a hand off the bars is not top of your list of priorities.
Would I recommend it? Definitely. You couldn’t have a more spectacular and iconic setting. Would I do it again? I said never ever ever last Thursday, but now I’m thinking problably not. Next week I’ll be considering it and the week after….
