Antoine runs his fastest half ironman

It’s sometimes claimed that there’s no substitute for experience and Antoine Jolicouer Desroches’ new personal best seems to be the result of a measured approach (and some good food).

26 May 2019

The half ironman finish in 3 hours 53 minutes and 48 seconds put him in fourth in a tough field at the Chatanooga triathlon, under five minutes behind the winner.

“I think it went well because I raced a smart race” Antoine told us afterwards.  “I didn’t go too fast on the bike so I still had energy for the run and I fuelled well on the bike. On the run I didn’t start too fast so I still had some energy in the tank to finish strong.”

Antoine also swam well, finishing 1900 metres in the water in first place.  He’s also noted the role nutrition plays in helping him succeed.

“I think the key in training was consistency and being able to train a lot of hours (with lots of quality training) week after week without getting injured or too tired. I believe that fuelling properly and eating lots of fruits, vegetables, grains and beans and not much processed foods has helped me stay healthy during those big training weeks.”

“In my training camp I trained up to 39 hours and ran up to 130 km which I would have never been able to do before. I recover a lot better from big trainings and races and I believe that what I eat (as well as sleep) is a big factor.”

Never one to rest on his successes, the Canadian is aiming for two higher profile races at the half ironman distance before taking on a competitive ironman: 2.4 miles of swimming and 124 miles on the bike before running a marathon.

“My goal for the Ironman is to finish on the podium but I want to be able to battle for the win and try to qualify for the world championship” he says.

You can be sure he’ll eat what he needs to do this.

Antoine’s profile

Race results

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