July 27 - July 31 inc. Vineman 70.3

July 27th

I left for Santa Rosa, CA this day. 10-11 drive solo! Good times! I'm tapering and doing quicker shorter workouts for the race on Sunday.

Swim: 30 minute swim, nothing special, felt good though.
Run: Ran after the swim for 30 minutes as well. Just easy.
Bike: Wasn't able to ride today. Had planned for 2 hours.

July 28th

Arrived in Santa Rosa, well Windsor where the race is, actually just the finish. The start is in Guerneville, 15 miles away. I settled into the hotel. Went to VW dealership to pick up some power steering fluid, since my mechanic failed to fill it up this week. They did fix the brakes. About 3pm I went for a run in Windsor. I had a AeT test to do. Run 2 miles @ 150 bpm and then 2 miles @ 160 bpm, record mile splits. I found a track, Los Lobos was the mascot of the school, forget the actual name.

150bpm - mile 1 @ 7:59, mile 2 @ 8:09
160bpm - mile 1 @ 7:37, mile 2 @ 7:50

Not bad.

Got back to Santa Rosa and went for a spin. I found a 15 mile route with a mile long climb @ 8.8%, good times! I was cold on most of the ride. The weather had cooled off considerably after the heat wave of the previous weeks. No more 112 degrees. It was 61 on the ride.

July 29th

I was supposed to go to a buddy's vineyard this weekend, but his sister-in-law was having a baby, so the wife had to leave, so he was stuck with 2 kids...oh well. Took my time, eat breakfast and headed back to Windsor to pick up my packet. I got really bored today. I also visted the swim start (Russian River). The water was not super warm, but i guess it was 75ish...just cold enough for wetsuits. At 78 degrees, wetsuits are no longer legal.

Ride: Rode several miles of the run course - 60 mins
Run: Ran the first bits of the run course - 20mins

Went to dinner in Santa Rosa with some friends down for the race. No drinks, left early, i was tired.

July 30th - Race Day!

Ironman Vineman 70.3

AG 30-34 42/231
OA 158/1800
Swim 00:28:47.0 PR
T1 00:02:36.3
Bike 02:39:42.1
T2 00:03:36.2
Run 01:44:23.8
Finish 04:59:05.5

Pre-race meal: At 5:30 (7:50 start) I had a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of yogurt. Didn’t finish the bagel (left a few bites). Drank about 32oz of water between then and the start. I had a half can of ROCKSTAR about a half hour before.

Warm-up: No warm up except the 50m swim as I got in the water

Set-up: Separate transitions (15 miles apart), so the run was already set-up with 2 6oz fuel belt bottles with about 4 scoops malto and 2 scoops endurolytes. I figure about 100-150calories each. Put a little Gatorade for flavor, didn’t help. I also had a rubber “coin purse” with endurolyte capsules, just incase. T2 set-up was bike, helmut, sunglasses, shoes, socks, towel, two water bottles (80 minutes of malto with 2 scoops endurolytes in each flavored with cran-apple juice) and a cliff bar.

Nerves: For some reason I was more nervous for this race than Pac Crest. Probably new venue, and I was by myself (no teammates around). My stomach was a little knotted. I was fine when I got in the water, which is usually the case.

Goals: Today was all about IM pacing and nutrition plan. 30min swim, 2:45 bike and 1:53 (8:30ish) was the goal.

Recon: I rode the first several miles of the run course and saw the few hills that it had. So, I knew there were some, but it never registered it would be a problem. There were obviously more than the ones I saw, but the dreaded looks on peoples faces in the early miles made me feel much better about where I was mentally and physically.

Swim: Out (upriver) and back (downriver) swim. The program says the accomplished swimmer will be 1 minute slower out than normal, and sure enough I hit the turnaround @ 16 minutes. I started second row, and with in the first 100m swam over two people, and settled in. I saw a group forming ahead as well as two guys to my right. I gradually got behind the two guys for a bit. The group didn’t get much further ahead so I decided to see if I could bridge up. I went, felt good, not too hard and caught the group. Stayed there for a bit until the turn around when it shattered. All alone again, but the two guys from earlier where back, jumped on their feet again. Stayed with them for most the return. It was weird to grab ground for a couple 100m after the turnaround. I altered my stroke a bit so not to go as deep. Went solo for the last couple 100m to kick it out and loosen up. Never felt stressed and I PR’d the swim too.

T1: I counted the rows prior, so I knew where I was (I didn’t do this for T2). I had trouble putting my wetsuit in the bag (for transportation to T2), it was small. There is a short steep hill just as you leave transition. I saw several people (a pro even) have trouble here – too big of gear. I spun up it no worries, actually on the sidewalk since there was too many people in the way. The wave starts are great for ego, but really annoying after several hours of passing people.

Bike: I tried and tried to get my HR down to <130 (IM pace), but to no avail. So after 45 minutes, I said screw it. On the flats I was able to, but there were very few of those. Constant rollers all day and really bad roads in parts. Water bottles were everywhere. I’ve also come to the conclusion that triathletes have the WORST bike handling skills and road etiquette! Everyone thought they were the only ones out there because they all road from the center to the yellow line. I was constantly crossing the yellow line and got tired of yelling “on your left.” I digress. I sampled the malto mixture every 10 minutes, so my nutrition was spot-on. I had a half cliff bar somewhere around halfway. It was abundantly clear, if not before, on Chalk Hill about triathletes bike skills and etiquette. Like no one is going to pass you ever? Towards the end of the bike leg my legs were feeling a bit fatigued, similar to the feeling at Pac Crest, which made me worry a bit. 2500’ of total climbing, lots of small hills and turns made for a slower bike than Pac Crest, albeit only 3 minutes and my HR was lower on average.

T2: Count rows and/or practice your run-in off the bike so you don’t get lost. I forgot to do this. I went too far and got lost for a “minute.” Found my stuff, changed socks and off I went. It was a long run after the dismount to my gear.

Run: My legs felt fantastic today. No need to be worried. I “jogged” out on the course trying for the life of me to slow down to 8:30’s (IM pace). Never worked, it felt really slow, so I stayed about 8:20’s for awhile. At the turn around, it started to get a bit harder, but still very doable. In the last 3 miles or so I picked it up and hit a couple 7:30’s. Finished strong and not labored at all. This was in stark contrast to my Pac Crest run where I suffered from mile 1. Ironically, I ran the same splits in each race. I’m making progress and stoked about that!

I’m very happy this race came together as it did. While I would have liked to go faster, especially on the run, it wasn’t in the plan. My run was very inspiring for my Canada goals!

Then I jumped in my car and drove straight home. I stopped in Redding on the way down, but not this time. Besides the liquor Barn in Redding was closed again anyway! I called just about everyone that i knew would be up to stay awake. The worst of it was from Salem to Portland! Crashed immediately!

July 31st
Sleept until noonish. Went for 1.5 hour ride to spin out. Unpacked, eat and slept some more.