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6000d, La Plagne, France, Juillet 2013

Economy

Signed up following numerous reminders from a friend who had already done it twice, I tell myself that it is time to start … my longest trail is the saintexpress 2012 (45Km with 1500D +) so from the beginning of 2013 I continue training with a trail of at least 30Km each month …

Assessment of 1 st January to 26 July 2013:
Running 80 outlets, 745Km, 20 663mD +
Bike (MTB + Road): 31 outputs, 1 276km, 23 500® +
Plus 3 pool workouts / week (almost regular)

I’m pretty confident, the 6000d does not impress me more than that, I tell myself that it will be long and difficult but no particular negative thoughts on my ability to achieve this challenge. I feel ready! My entourage who accompanies me during this event is more worried than me about this!

With the family for a week in La Plagne we arrive on Thursday July 25th, the weather is fine (a little too hot, even 35 ° C in the village of Aime).

Bibs collection on Friday 26th (I even take my girlfriend’s bib who is doing the 2 lakes trail but she only arrives on Friday evening) no one asks any questions and I leave with her bib.

Lots of people beautiful atmosphere, the terraces are full. I pick up my girlfriend at 8 p.m. at the station and head for the apartment, big meal of pasta Friday evening preparation of the bib, bag, clothes and sports cake then sleep around 11 p.m. to get up at 4.50 a.m. I gulp down quickly without chewing all the cake, get dressed and jump in the car leaving the apartment at 5:10 am!

Arrived on Aime around 5.30 am, a little pre-departure photo, I found my friend JF who was running his third 6000d!

At the sight of my training I say to myself « objective less than 10 hours » !!

We stand on the starting line, little speech and the start is given by the mayor of the city.

The first 3 km are fairly fast but the peloton (1200 runners) remains compact. Here we are in a wide path and on a false flat uphill (but already a good number of participants walk and take out the poles) With my buddy we zig zag avoiding the blows of poles as best they can to overtake the hikers who occupy the entire width of the however rolling trail.

A single track follows with a higher percentage, there is no possibility of overtaking but the slope means that walking does not bother me. My colleague is a few participants behind me, he slowed down a bit in the last few meters before the single-track.

And we go up quietly, we start again as soon as it becomes less steep again. The sun is rising gently on the mountain, it is not yet too hot.

In each village crossed, the atmosphere is superb, the spectators are numerous and encourage all the participants.

We enter the bobsleig track, the experience is unique! It’s very atypical, but it’s true that we are happy to come out! 1.5km of concrete is a bit long!

The ascent continues, 1st ravito I pass without stopping, I take a gel every hour (I took a dozen gels with me).

We arrive at the intersection where the routes coincide between the 6000d and the trail of the 2 lakes. I tell myself that with a little luck I will see my girlfriend, so I double the last of the « little trail ». I go up the peloton at a good pace and see the cardio get carried away (170/180) ouch ouch ouch have to be careful there is still 43km left with 2500 / 3000mD +

Arrived at the top of the Mio rock, always at a good pace (for me) we descend to the foot of the Chiaupe pass. But what’s going on ???? Big pain in the abdominal belt !!! NOOOOOOON: ‘(

My stomach must be rubbing on the ribs! Didn’t I digest the overloaded meal last night? Eat too much this morning? In short, a bit of everything and my stomach is too loaded … « Well done champion, what a big draw, 6 months of preparation to have to walk / jog downhill » …

Good from now on I stop eating until my stomach is empty!

The descent goes by contracting the abs so that the stomach does not move too much and by gritting your teeth, but you go up quickly to the chiaupe collar, in the climbs my stomach is fine because it is not too shaken!

At the Col de Chiaupe I see my parents, they tell me that my girlfriend came by 20min ago! We branch off to the top of the glacier, the climb is long, long, long and hard !!!! The climate is great, not too hot and not cold!

On the other hand, this demotivating slope for running! Each peak reveals the following to climb!

Then after long minutes we finally see the summit! Arrived at the top in 5h09min, I fill my camelback which is just empty! the weather is magnificent, here at 3070m altitude at 11:09 am it’s good to run, neither hot nor cold, just impeccable.

I empty my shoes of small gravel just to get off well. But from the first strides at normal pace I feel the stomach rubbing… the irritation is there. Not much to do, I press on it, I contract, not much improvement… I don’t go down quickly…

I have the impression that all the competitors that I passed during the climb redouble me!

Signed up following numerous reminders from a friend who had already done it twice, I tell myself that it is time to start … my longest trail is the saintexpress 2012 (45Km with 1500D +) so from the beginning of 2013 I continue training with a trail of at least 30Km each month …

Assessment of 1 st January to 26 July 2013:
Running 80 outlets, 745Km, 20 663mD +
Bike (MTB + Road): 31 outputs, 1 276km, 23 500® +
Plus 3 pool workouts / week (almost regular)

I’m pretty confident, the 6000d does not impress me more than that, I tell myself that it will be long and difficult but no particular negative thoughts on my ability to achieve this challenge. I feel ready! My entourage who accompanies me during this event is more worried than me about this!

With the family for a week in La Plagne we arrive on Thursday July 25th, the weather is fine (a little too hot, even 35 ° C in the village of Aime).

Bibs collection on Friday 26th (I even take my girlfriend’s bib who is doing the 2 lakes trail but she only arrives on Friday evening) no one asks any questions and I leave with her bib.

Lots of people beautiful atmosphere, the terraces are full. I pick up my girlfriend at 8 p.m. at the station and head for the apartment, big meal of pasta Friday evening preparation of the bib, bag, clothes and sports cake then sleep around 11 p.m. to get up at 4.50 a.m. I gulp down quickly without chewing all the cake, get dressed and jump in the car leaving the apartment at 5:10 am!

Arrived on Aime around 5.30 am, a little pre-departure photo, I found my friend JF who was running his third 6000d!

At the sight of my training I say to myself « objective less than 10 hours » !!

We stand on the starting line, little speech and the start is given by the mayor of the city.

The first 3 km are fairly fast but the peloton (1200 runners) remains compact. Here we are in a wide path and on a false flat uphill (but already a good number of participants walk and take out the poles) With my buddy we zig zag avoiding the blows of poles as best they can to overtake the hikers who occupy the entire width of the however rolling trail.

A single track follows with a higher percentage, there is no possibility of overtaking but the slope means that walking does not bother me. My colleague is a few participants behind me, he slowed down a bit in the last few meters before the single-track.

And we go up quietly, we start again as soon as it becomes less steep again. The sun is rising gently on the mountain, it is not yet too hot.

In each village crossed, the atmosphere is superb, the spectators are numerous and encourage all the participants.

We enter the bobsleig track, the experience is unique! It’s very atypical, but it’s true that we are happy to come out! 1.5km of concrete is a bit long!

The ascent continues, 1st ravito I pass without stopping, I take a gel every hour (I took a dozen gels with me).

We arrive at the intersection where the routes coincide between the 6000d and the trail of the 2 lakes. I tell myself that with a little luck I will see my girlfriend, so I double the last of the « little trail ». I go up the peloton at a good pace and see the cardio get carried away (170/180) ouch ouch ouch have to be careful there is still 43km left with 2500 / 3000mD +

Arrived at the top of the Mio rock, always at a good pace (for me) we descend to the foot of the Chiaupe pass. But what’s going on ???? Big pain in the abdominal belt !!! NOOOOOOON: ‘(

My stomach must be rubbing on the ribs! Didn’t I digest the overloaded meal last night? Eat too much this morning? In short, a bit of everything and my stomach is too loaded … « Well done champion, what a big draw, 6 months of preparation to have to walk / jog downhill » …

Good from now on I stop eating until my stomach is empty!

The descent goes by contracting the abs so that the stomach does not move too much and by gritting your teeth, but you go up quickly to the chiaupe collar, in the climbs my stomach is fine because it is not too shaken!

At the Col de Chiaupe I see my parents, they tell me that my girlfriend came by 20min ago! We branch off to the top of the glacier, the climb is long, long, long and hard !!!! The climate is great, not too hot and not cold!

On the other hand, this demotivating slope for running! Each peak reveals the following to climb!

Then after long minutes we finally see the summit! Arrived at the top in 5h09min, I fill my camelback which is just empty! the weather is magnificent, here at 3070m altitude at 11:09 am it’s good to run, neither hot nor cold, just impeccable.

I empty my shoes of small gravel just to get off well. But from the first strides at normal pace I feel the stomach rubbing… the irritation is there. Not much to do, I press on it, I contract, not much improvement… I don’t go down quickly…

I have the impression that all the competitors that I passed during the climb redouble me!

Arrived at the foot of the col de l’Arpette it is very hot and this climb calms me down! There I do not double any more and I am starting not to be at the top in the head while the legs are well … it might be time to eat because it has been about 4 hours since I ate anything … but no desire to eat … I force myself to take a gel, I have trouble eating it completely and finally the arpète passes,

I sit down for 1 minute to empty my shoes a second time, then on the descent to Bellecote I have difficulty eating a cereal bar, I want to vomit it up as I eat it. But a few minutes later, things are better! The head does not turn any more, and I join the village where I find my parents and my girlfriend! My stomach still hurts but morale and legs are in good shape!

There is still 17Km with mostly downhill and the clock tells me 7:44 racing. So I have to finish 2:16! It seems quite simple to me (well there you just have to manage my stomach pain which is more and more disabling)!

So I unwind as best I can, but I still don’t eat or so when I start to see cloudiness.

The descent is very painful for me, I run on the flat and in the false flat rising / falling as well as in the climbs.

I skip all the refreshments (optimization of the smallest second) I just take a 30-second break to empty my shoes of gravel a third time.

Km 53, 8:45 of racing !! 1H14 to do 10Km !! allllllller we believe it. Normally I turn in 42 / 44min at 10km

But the heat flattened everyone, I double a lot, many are fed up, they ask me if it’s normal all these little bumps, some stretch and others limp!

Km 58 (more than 5Km) in 9:22, I have 38min left to do these last 5 Km !!!! We still believe in it, and I know that the last three are on a flat bike path !! 😀

There I will be quick, because the legs are painful but not as much as the stomach!

But when does this cycle path arrive ???? I can smell the camelback emptying, I haven’t refueled from the top of the glacier. We announce a water point and there is indeed a tap but 5/6 participants are lining up to fill their bottles / camel so at the sight of the stopwatch I tell myself that in the state I am in, it can hardly be worst !

The cycle path still does not arrive !!! arrffff and the minutes that scroll and finally the bike path !!! I watch the 9:50 o_O stopwatch

But what happened? I do not understand… I say to myself 9min59 for 3km… fresh and rested it is done but in the state where I am it is lost in advance, I explode! « BAM » I am losing my hearing, I just hear an echo, I can’t hear my own footsteps or the Isère flowing on my right. I walk and I’m cold and thirsty …

My camel is empty, no more a drop! I force myself to eat a cereal bar, I will take more than 10 minutes to eat it without throwing it up, the walkers overtake me, a competitor holds onto my pace, puts his hand on my shoulder and speaks to me, I can’t hear his words, I just see his lips moving I wave my hand to him that it’s okay, he’ll probably think I’m deaf or dumb!

These last 3 km will be done in 29min !!! Having eaten the cereal bar would have done me good because I will find part of the hearing in the last 500m (even if an echo will follow me until the next day). My parents are close to the line, I finish the last 200 meters with my girlfriend.

They try to put me under the doctors’ tent because they are very afraid of my condition, I do not understand what they say to me and they do not hear my voice. In fact I think to speak but no sound comes out… I manage to make them understand that I just want to lie down and especially DRINK !! After 1L of water swallowed and sitting in the grass I start to get better.

They all want me to see a doctor, but I quickly come to my senses, I cry a little (my nerves and a little disappointment) but also joy, I still had a good race, and each are revised downwards (a lot of dropouts).

Total time 10:19 am, very disappointed to have had his stomach pains, because my goal was well within my reach!

A very well organized and magnificent race but I blame myself for missing my goal for a too full stomach and poor management with a big hunger at the end. Because 5:09 am to go up and 5:10 am to descend….

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