MY LOCKDOWN TRIATHLON CHALLENGE

I’ll start with some facts: In a normal year, we have 75+ cyclists visiting Allons y Pyrenees for a catered cycling break. This is not a normal year. This year, the year 2020, we have had 3 cyclists staying with us.

So we’ve had to find other ways of keeping ourselves busy, which has not always been easy as there have been, as for everyone, a lot of restrictions. During the first lockdown in France, we could not leave our home except for to shop, or to exercise within a 1km radius. 1km on a bike does not work. A 1km run is not worth putting the running shoes on for. We walked each day around our lake (technically breaking the rules as it’s a 3km walk) but without this, both the dog and ourselves would have begun to lose sanity. We set the turbo up in the garden so we could at least see the Pyrenean mountains even if we couldn’t physically cycle there. We dreamt up stupid lockdown challenges to keep ourselves occupied – Chris undertook the building of a squat machine from whatever leftover pieces of wood and screws we had hanging around from previous jobs and with a lack of weights available, used me to test his strength each day. It helped that I was doing a lot of baking and eating at the time and as he got stronger, I got heavier!

We were under strict lockdown from the beginning of March. Unlike some other countries, we were not allowed to go out on our bikes to exercise and so watched in envy as our friends back in the UK clocked up the miles each day... We were though, rather lucky as we had plenty of outside space, a decent turbo and, after quite a struggle, finally got the pool up and running for the Summer without the aid of the usual chemicals we could no longer drive to the shop to collect.

At the start of March though, the pool was too cold to contemplate and although the weather was warm, the thought of jumping in, even with a wet suit was not appealing! Instead, we focussed on turbo sessions on the bike, under the shade of the umbrella and gazing at the Pyrenees. Added to that was our daily 1 hour walk with the dog around the local lake, where we watched baby otters playing in the water and ducklings learning to dive...

As the weeks under lockdown progressed, I began to get restless and, inspired by some of the great lockdown challenges that I’d been following via social media, (and now that the pool had warmed up), I set myself the challenge of completing my first ever triathlon... Of course, there were lockdown logistics to consider: it would have to take place on site at Allons y Pyrenees, and of course, without any training it could not be a full distance triathlon, just an entry level supersprint, but even so, I felt it was a pretty big challenge, especially as, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I don’t do running, (they will also tell you that my fast walk overtakes joggers on a

regular basis)!

The plan was to complete the triathlon on May 10th, the day before the first easing of lockdown in France, and after lots of planning, we decided upon the following:

34 lengths of the pool would be followed by a 10km ride on the turbo, set up in the garden. Finally, I would complete 20 laps of the grounds at a fast walk or jog, or maybe, (but no promises), a run. I was aiming for sub 1 hour and we decided, despite my social media reluctance, to put photos and videos out on Facebook throughout the challenge and afterwards to keep friends and guests (both former and potential) entertained.

The Super Sprint Triathlon consists of a 400m swim, a 10km bike ride and a 2.5km run. I used to swim competitively so I knew this part would not be a problem. Owning a cycling business meant that the cycling side of things was also not a major issue, and although it is Chris who is the main cyclist, taking our guests out for supported rides on their stay here, my cycling is definitely improving, and thanks to Spirit Cycling Club and a few beers, I started my first challenge of ticking off the cols of the Pyrenees a few years ago.

Training progressed well and I had, as anticipated both the swim and bike under control. The run though was problematic... there were too many corners, steps and gates slowing my pace. One 2.5km run (and it was a run) took 30 minutes and was slower than my normal walking pace! A new lockdown route was needed! As we were allowed up to 1km from home, I decided that I could perhaps run around the village. I would have to complete the circuit 4 times, but it was a circular route with less obstacles to slow me down.

The downside to this route was the slight incline leading out of the village and on the track back up to our gate, but hills are kind of a thing in the Pyrenees!

Race day arrived at it was hot! 28 degrees by 10am and a stupidly high pollen count. I began the day with a walk around the lake with the dog as my warm-up, sneezing every 10 seconds or so. I’ll admit, I was not feeling confident and was not looking forward to sharing my failure on Facebook, but I was also strangely motivated to do something beyond what I would usually push myself to do, and to do it during a lockdown seemed like quite an achievement, if I managed it. Messages of support were coming in from Facebook and Chris was ready with the stopwatch and camera. The time had come.

I was aiming for 9 minutes for the 400m

swim so when I came in at 8m44, I kind of suspected I had gone a little too fast, but the Supersprint triathlon was off to a good start and that was a PB. Leaving the pool, I had to run across to the garden where the bike was set up on the turbo ready to go. With the dog barking in encouragement and licking me as I tried to put on my cycling shoes, the transition was a little slow, and when I attempted to properly dry off before getting onto the bike, Chris patiently explained that this was a race, it was being timed, and I needed to GET ON THE BIKE!

I can do a 10km turbo session in around 27m30 if it’s not being combined with a swim and run, so I was targeting around the 28 minute mark. My towel, water and harribos were ready next to me as was Chris, shouting my pace, keeping me motivated, but even so, the 10km came in slower than I hoped at 28m56. Feeling frustrated, but still on track for under an hour, I got off the bike and sat down to change my shoes ready for the run. The run… The unknown… I hadn’t actually ran this route yet, only walked it to measure distance, so anything could happen here.

4 laps of the village, 2.5km, the final stage of my challenge. The temperature was rising steadily, but as I began to run, I felt surprisingly good, until I came to the incline! 4 laps remember, 4 inclines. These were taken at a fast walking pace but I did actually run the rest and as my watch beeped to remind me I had reached the final lap, it seemed as though I was still on track for that sub 1 hour. As I ran the last few metres back to the pool where all of this nonsense had begun, Chris stopped the clock with a time of 17m08. I was too hot to do anything except jump in the pool and so it was down to Chris to work out overall timings and transitions, but I’m sure you’ve worked it out by now… Swim: 8m44. Bike: 28m56. Run: 17m08. That’s 54m48 for the 3 disciplines. So far so good! Then add on the transitions, bringing the total time to 58m25. Nearly 4 minutes for transitions… Maybe Chris was right after all and I did need to hurry along a little! But, it was under 1 hour still and I was happy with that.

My Lockdown Triathlon Challenge motivated me to keep exercising even as the Covid-19 situation continued to develop around us. Lockdown was extended, then partially lifted, but going anywhere felt strange and the long days out on the bike no longer seemed feasible. Rules consistently changed, no one was sure what they could or couldn’t do. We continued to train on the turbo and swim in the pool. We continued to find random challenges to complete to help the days go by.

And we gardened. We chopped trees and bushes, dug out brambles and ivy, replanted anything looking as though it could be salvaged. We became big fans of salt and vinegar as a replacement for weed killer.

September arrived, and the rescheduled TDF hit the Pyrenees bringing with it our first and only 3 guests of the season and it was fantastic. We were back doing what we loved, 14 hour days, serving home-cooked food each evening, out and about on the bikes or in the minibus to watch the Tour each day and for a few days, we forgot the struggles and threw ourselves into the hard work, enjoying every moment.

Lockdown number 2 came into force at the start of November. As before, the 1km rule applied, but unlike in the last lockdown, the pool was too cold to swim in. The first deep snow fell in the high mountains, and it was beautiful to look at, but look was all we could do. We closed the pool for the season and set up the turbo indoors and we set ourselves more new challenges.

And we gardened... This time new steps, a complete remodel of one section of the garden, and of course, the endless weeding of brambles and cutting back of ivy. We walked every day, and as restrictions lifted we were allowed to walk further afield, 5+km around the lake and tracks leading from it but still no further than 20km from home.

Today is the 16th December, lockdown restrictions have been lifted, replaced with a nighttime curfew and we woke up to a beautiful mist lying low in the valley, the mountains above in clear view. Today we cycled. Today we rode the furthest we’ve ridden for some time. Today we rode to the top of the world, or it felt like it after so many rides inside on the turbo. The view from the col de Palombieres did not disappoint, even though our favourite restaurant was not open to welcome tired, hungry cyclists.

Nobody knows what next year will bring, but we’ve already got our challenges lined up. Chris is riding a festive 500 – 500km over the holiday period and I plan on conquering the cols I was supposed to tackle this year, the Tourmalet and Aubisque perhaps. But I have many, many more hours of training on the turbo to complete if I’m to get anywhere near this. Maybe I’ll opt for a Sprint Triathlon instead!

If you want to join us here a Allons y Pyrenees for a training week, or cycling holiday, get in touch today and we’ll help you to plan your perfect break.