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5 Random Things I Did This Weekend

May 23, 2016 by |Blog|Comments (24)

While the weather was almost totally crap for much of the weekend, we still made the most of it here within the pockets it stopped raining.  Or in some cases, we just dove right into the water…literally.  Here’s what the last few days entailed.

1) Pre-Race Workouts

Leading into a race on Sunday, I got in a few different short workouts.  These generally lasted 30-45 minutes and tended to ramp-up intensity for short periods of time.  In the case of Saturday for example it started with a short trainer ride for about half an hour.

In this case, I used the Tacx NEO, simply because I have the same cassette (10-speed) on it as the road bike I’d be using.  Whereas if I was on my tri bike, I’d have put it on the KICKR (11-speed cassette).

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Then from there it’s out outside for a short 15 minute run at increasing intensities in 5-minute chunks.

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Quick and fun!  I always enjoy the pre-race brick workouts.  Nothing complicated, nor long.

2) Crepes & Picnics

We had a bunch of friends in town from the states over this past weekend.  Two different groups actually.  The first of our friends arrived on Thursday, and we got right into the swing of things and headed to the fromagerie behind the house to pickup some cheese.

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From there we packed up picnic baskets and headed down to the Champ de Mars, where the Eiffel Tower sits.  We may have stopped along the way for a few photos.

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It was a beautiful night out, and the lawn was still fairly quiet.

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And yes, Little Lucy was around too.

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Later in the weekend with the second group also in town, we hit up a local spot for crepes.  We tend to go to different spots for both sit-down crepes and take-away crepes.  And in this case, it was just a quick crepe craving!

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Can’t beat a well made Nutella-Banana crepe!

3) A Baby Shower

With the Little Peanut almost here, a bunch of our local friends put together an amazing baby shower for us (or, the baby?).

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They took over the apartment and setup an amazing spread of homemade food, drinks, and even macaroons and a cake!

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There were two games to be played.  One longer-term game involving predicting the baby’s actual arrival/delivery date.  The person who is closest to the actual arrival date has a bottle of wine set aside for them as a prize.

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And another to test people’s knowledge of baby-related terms in French (i.e. how to say bottle, midwife, diapers, etc…).

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Thanks again to all our friends – you’re awesome!

4) Riding Boats & Bikes

With friends in town we jumped on the Bateaux Mouches tour boats.  An hour tour/ride of the city costs about 13EUR, and is super cheesy.  But it’s neat at night as the boats light up all the buildings as they go by, and well worth the trip.  Plus, just grab yourself a 5EUR bottle of wine at a grocery store and it makes it all the better.

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Afterwards some of us biked homed via Velib.  The rain had temporarily stopped, making it a great way to see the city late at night.  Our route from Pont Alma took us down the Champs-Élysées, then through Concorde and eventually to the Louvre for quick photo stop.

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From there we continued on back through Notre Dame and walked home.  Not too shabby a way to end the night!

5) Raced the Versailles Triathlon

Finally, up Sunday was lots of rain.  And more rain.  Oh, and a triathlon.  The Versailles Triathlon. I last did this a few years ago, and it’s a great local sprint race.  But, that day was rather sunny.

This year?  Umm…this was the run course:

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I think it might have been dryer during the swim than the rest of the race.  Plus, it’s draft-legal on the bike.  So that adds a whole new element to things.  This was not a race of aerobic capacity or strength.  Instead, it was mostly a race of balance and staying upright.

But…more on that festivus in tomorrow’s Race Report.

With that – thanks for reading!

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24 Comments

  1. Chris
    May 23, 2016 at 9:53 am #1

    Due right on Bastille Day huh? Very appropriate!

    Reply
  2. Antoine
    May 23, 2016 at 10:28 am #3

    Hi Ray,

    are you running the Garmin triathlon this Sunday??
    if yes, it is necessary to bring the bike on Saterday or can it be done stress-free(crowd-wise) on Sunday?

    and looking forward meeting (drafting behind) you!

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      May 23, 2016 at 10:37 am #4

      Yup, doing the Paris Triathlon on Sunday! Hopefully it won’t rain again too (though, not looking positive on that front).

      Last year we took our bikes with us in the morning (Sunday) to the race start. Just took the RER train to the nearby station and then rode the short distance over to the race start. Looking at the info page, you can still do that (they just word it such that it makes it confusing).

      Just remember that you do still need to drop-off your T2 running bag though before Sunday near the Eiffel Tower.

      Reply
    • Chmouel
      May 23, 2016 at 5:25 pm #5

      FYI the bike drop on sunday morning close at 8h30

      Reply
    • antoine
      May 24, 2016 at 8:38 am #6

      Tkx to both of you guys.
      and see you on sunday!

      Reply
  3. Ken
    May 23, 2016 at 10:30 am #7

    I expecting that one of the pictures in the race report is of water on an upward trajectory from the splash as you jump into one of the puddles; embrace your little kid because you’ll need it in the near future. :-)

    Reply
  4. James
    May 23, 2016 at 11:33 am #8

    The watch that you are holding of your left hand in image number 2 on this page – it looks like the Garmin 920, but why would you hold that watch like that – unless it is the 930 :)))

    Reply
  5. David
    May 23, 2016 at 11:41 am #10

    I presume the night shots are the new D500? You can see the difference, fantastic shots.

    Reply
  6. Mike Richie
    May 23, 2016 at 11:50 am #12

    Sort of a combined Sprint – Tough Mudder ?

    Reply
  7. Ola
    May 23, 2016 at 1:09 pm #13

    What?! You’re expecting the baby on my birthday? And as shown in the calender, on France national day. But since first time mothers usually go over the date, you probably won’t have all the hullaballoo that accompanies that day. Anyway, best of luck for the summer activities!! ;-)

    Reply
  8. Steve
    May 23, 2016 at 1:13 pm #14

    “Versailles Triathlon”

    No. You confused events. This was the mud-man! ;-)

    Reply
  9. tedder
    May 23, 2016 at 3:24 pm #15

    doh, muddy course! Looking forward to the writeup. I think I cycled on that path last year.

    Reply
  10. Larry S.
    May 23, 2016 at 4:16 pm #16

    Both my daughters arrived 6 weeks early. You have been warned :-)

    Reply
  11. Mike
    May 23, 2016 at 4:20 pm #17

    Mmmm – Homer Simpson donuts!

    Really appreciate your reviews. Helped me decide which running watches and activity trackers to purchase the last few years.

    Reply
  12. Nicholas
    May 23, 2016 at 4:25 pm #18

    I know people sometimes resume more traditional roles once children are involved but does “The Girl” literally have to be barefoot and pregnant? Lol

    Reply
  13. Nigel P.
    May 23, 2016 at 7:13 pm #19

    The Girl looks positively radiant!

    Reply
  14. James
    May 24, 2016 at 12:13 am #20

    Typo on first line…

    While the weather was almost totally crap the much of the weekend

    Was it supposed to be:
    While the weather was almost totally crap for much of the weekend,

    Reply
  15. Felicia
    May 27, 2016 at 10:26 am #21

    Following your blog from San Diego. I found your blog when I googled “Paris marathon” as I did that race last year. I love all your race reports. This muddy triathlon in Versailles sounds fantastic. What a great experience.

    Reply
  16. Harrison Zucker
    May 28, 2016 at 8:14 am #22

    Wow! Congrats on the baby!

    Reply
  17. Mike
    May 29, 2016 at 9:44 am #23

    Haha, I was just at that Crepe place on Saturday during a layover. Although I recommend the Nutella and strawberry crepes :)

    I saw they were setting up for the Garmin triathlon by the Eiffel tower. Did you make it over to that?

    -MG

    Reply