Wednesday 2 October 2013

The Euro experience

It's been 2 and a half weeks since I arrived back in Australia from my 3 month stint racing and training overseas and I'm well over due for a blog update!

While in Europe I was based in Aix-les-Bains, a moderate sized town on le Lac du Bourget in Southern France. Being situated basically in the foot hills of the European Alps, there was no shortage of mountains around, including several that featured in this year's TdF - stunning scenery, hell for the legs!



France may be known for baguettes, croissants and crepes, but for me it is the hottest track around, the seemingly never ending climbs and the marathon swim from the end of the lake that stick in my mind! I knew I was in for a challenge coming to train with the QAS squad, and while it was hard I absolutely loved it. "That was my hardest session yet" fast became a theme for me in the first few weeks and I redefined what I thought it was to train hard. Just when I was starting to wonder if I'd ever stop feeling tired again though the track stopped feeling quite so hot, the climbs became rides not grinds, and the lake didn't seem quite so long. Training with some pretty top class athletes was exciting, inspirational and definitely eye-opening!

The life of a pro triathlete isn't all hard work though, and it definitely has its perks. Some highlights for me were:
  • The coffee shop rides along the lake to Chanaz


  • Seeing my first glacier at Chamonix, Mont Blanc


  • Making it to the top of le Revard with my lungs still intact and even getting a view (my first climb up le Revard on my second day in Aix just about killed me, and there wasn't even a view at the top thanks to cloud hugging the mountain top on an otherwise sunny day!)

Aix and Lac du Bourget from le Revard

  • Living 400m from the edge of a beautiful lake and being able to just jump in and cool down after a run or on a hot afternoon
  • 2 months of almost constant sunshine; we had only 4 rainy days the whole time I was there! Naturally 2 of those days were race days, one the day before I had to fly out...
  • Being able to say "Je voudrais ____" with correct enough pronunciation by the time I left that the person serving didn't respond in English. Sadly that's about as far as I got though!


By the end of my trip I was missing everyone back home and I was ready to come home. At the same time it was a little sad to say good bye to Aix which had started to feel like a second home. Looking back over photos I can only marvel at the places I've had the opportunity of visiting this year. It has been an absolutely amazing experience and I'm already looking forward to going back next year!

Salut

Gillian