Lavandou Vert Triathlon – Saturday 27th September 2014

Insert from Var Matin on Saturday morning

I did my first triathlon yesterday after 7 years. The Lavandou Vert Triathlon which is a cross country triathlon with a 600m sea swim followed by a very hilly 15Km MTB and then a very hilly trail run.

The swim was in a wetsuit and I was knackered after that. This was followed by three circuits of a very hilly MTB ride. The first 3km uphill followed by a downhill stretch. After the first one because of the steep hill felt like giving up but carried on walking in places as it was 28-30C. After that I did a 4.5km trail run which was really interesting starting running down the busy sandy beach. Then climbing over a rocky section with the sea lapping up. Finally running through a nudist beach which was packed and got a lot of cheers, especially when I pulled my tri shorts down. Then to cap it all we climbed into the hills on a very rocky and steep trail run, eventually coming down to the finish line – whoopee I did it which was only goal for the first cross country or green triathlon! I won my age group but came last. Never mind it’s taking part that is important and all the people were more than 20 years younger and were experienced and this was a very hard Xterra type course!!! I was glad I completed it without a heart attack as it was 28 – 30C as they started the event at 13.30 which was a little silly. But saying that a great event , well organised and only wished I trained more on my sea/wetsuit swimming and steep MTB hill climbing more.

Next week, I am doing another Tri in the Verdon starting with a 500m swim in lake St Croix. This will be followed by a 25 km hilly road cycle and a 5km trail run, should be good event and is sponsored by Occitane and will let you know how it goes after the event, A bientot!