This is my third season of triathlon. The first, my A race as an olympic, the second, a half and now this year a full iron-distance. I didn’t plan on signing up for this race, but fate gave me a little extra training time this summer and I figured it was my last chance for a while. Even so, I didn’t really make the decision to do the race until after Wildflower. That gave me 3 months to get ready, or really about 9 weeks of good training after recovering from WF and given a 2 week taper.
The thread title is a bit misleading since I did hit about 15 hours in 4 of those 9 weeks. In those 9 weeks I did five rides over 70 miles including two centuries (my first) and about 6 runs longer than 13 miles, the two longest were about 18 miles. Prior to Saturday, the year my total 229 hours of training (and racing) were:
112,000 yards swimming (3700 / wk)
1700 miles biking (57 / wk, about half commuting)
600 miles running (20 / wk)
Breaking down in hours per month:
Jan 33
Feb 18
Mar 26
Apr 31
May 38.5
Jun 46.5
Jul 35.5
The overall race plan was to keep a steady easier pace and slowly build effort as the day went on.
Pre-race
Woke up at about 4:15. Had 1.5 beagles with light cream cheese, a banana and 300 calories of infinite for breakfast. Ended up parking pretty far which meant that I barley had enough time to get my tires filled, bike racked and bathroom needs taken care of. I was just getting into the wetsuit when the previous wave was getting into the water, so had only about a minute once I was all ready to try to relax before our wave got into the water.
Swim
Goal: 1:00. The swim is a two loop out and back on a wonderful section of the Russian River in a forested valley. I started in the front and a bit to the right of the pack. The horn went off and away we went. It wasn’t crowed at all. I swam to the outside for a few minutes and then tried to find good feet to follow. The first ones I picked were a little slow and I saw a gap opening up between him and the front group. So I put on a bit of speed to pass him and close the gap. About 10 minutes into the race we started to hit the earlier wave and it became harder to stay in the draft. I got gapped again when one of the earlier wave swimmers stopped and stood up right in front of me. The river was probably about 4 feet deep in that section. I was never able to find a good draft again and spent the rest of the swim either in clear water or dodging slower swimmers. Keeping with the strategy of going easy and steady, the first lap took about 30:30 and the second was about two minutes slower. Part of that was a bit of pause in the end to make sure I started on the bike with an empty bladder. Time: 1:02:30
T1
Ran up the ramp to the wetsuit strippers. I wasn’t expecting them, but that was a lot of fun and helpful. My rack was right at the swim exit, so no problem finding the bike. I was very glad I had brought a towel to sit on while I cleaned my feet and got my shoes on. Packed my stuff into the bag they provided and ran to the fence to give it to my wife. Then the long run out in the bike shoes. Half way to the exit I felt a rock in my shoe and, not wanting it to annoy me for the next 6 hours, stopped and cleared the shoe. I am glad that I took the advice I read here and ran up the small hill at the bike start before I mounted. I passed one guy who looked he was on this forth mounting attempt on the hill. Time 4:40
Bike
Goal 6:00 Again the goal was to ride easy and steady while building the effort through the day. The steady didn’t quite happen due to more than planned stopping. One block into the race I stopped and fixed my speed sensor, must have gotten bumped earlier. I guess I was over hydrating and have a bladder the size of walnut because I had to stop to go pee 4 times. Sure, maybe I could have dirtied my shorts, but I knew I wasn’t going to a podium spot. The only nutrition I had was Infinit, so maybe that was the culprit. My stomach felt great, but I think Infinit makes me pee more than other things.
The beauty of the course lived up to expectations and the weather was perfect. The only complaint was the rough road at about mile 14 and again after the Chalk Hill descent (mile 50?). I only saw one guy really blatantly drafting (it looked like a two man team time trial) and saw what looked like a female being (barley) legally pulled by a male competitor. I saw one crash when I was waiting in line for the prota-potty when someone swerved taking a water bottle into someone else. Saw one almost crash when one of those huge pickups was passing a bike a little close and the bike had to swerve to avoid a pothole. Passed one unfortunate sole who flatted with about 3 miles to go. He said it was third of the day, maybe he was the same guy I saw flat two blocks into the race.
The bike is a two loop course and the first half of the first loop I took things really easy. This is when the slow swimmers and people from the later waves passed me. After the first half loop, I think I only really got passed when I was using the porta-potties. The second loop I actually passed a number of people (even some Barb’s race competitors walking their bikes up Chalk Hill). Broken into half loops my average speeds were 18.7, 19.3, 19.1 and 18.3. The wind was starting to pick up toward the end which partly explains the slow final half lap, but I should have probably picked things up a bit toward the end. The computer recorded a time of 5:53:30 so I sort of met my goal time. Chip time: 6:05
T2
Nothing too exciting, although somehow every bike rack was near empty except mine. I think I was the ninth of ten bikes for that rack. Put on my shoes, grabbed some gu packets and covered myself with sunscreen. I ended up forgetting my sunglasses and came back for them after the first run loop. I think the longer than expect time was both due to the sunscreen and the LONG run from the bike dismount to my rack in my shoes. Time 4:00
Run
Goal Time 4:00. The run is three out and back loops which made things seem to go fast toward the end. Somehow, time goes faster when you are running somewhere you have already been. Each length was about 4 and a third miles which leads to some really fun math to try to do in your head. At the end of each loop you pass close enough to the finish line you can touch it, so I did. Due to the Barb’s race going on at the same time and the out and back loops there were always people around. That gave me plenty of opportunities to give little bits of encouragement. Maybe too many, as I wasn’t as focused on my own run as I could have been.
Again the plan was a steady build. I wanted to try to hold 9 minute miles for the first half and then see what I could do in the second. I think when I was actually running I held a 9 minute pace, but I ended up walking the aide stations (one per mile). Toward the end, I noticed that I was losing a lot of time to those that hurried through the aide stations. I figure for future races, I’ll still walk when I am actually taking fluid, but will try to minimize all the other dawdling that I did. Loop times were 1:19, 1:25 and 1:25, but that third loop felt faster than the second.
Each loop I got to see my family which was great. Running back on the second loop I started to look for my training partner Denise. It was her first iron-distance race as well. We figured that she would finish around 14 hours and the crazy math in my head told me that I should see her about half way back on the second loop. I didn’t see her until I was less than a mile the end of the loop. I caught up to her half way through the final lap. She was in a lot of pain and said that her stomach had been upset since before the swim. Apparently she stopped at even more porta-potties than I had. I ran with her for about half a mile to try to take her mind off the pain. She looked horrible and kept clutching her gut. When we made it to the next toilet, she ran inside. I shouted words of encouragement and ran on. She was definitely the more hardcore of the two of us that day. My run time was 4:09
Total time was 11:25, 22nd out of the 98 in the AG that started the race and 61st overall (out of something like 600 starters). Any other age group and I would have been in the top 10, darn that age of the end of year rule.
Post Race
After I got my medal, went back and waited to cheer Denise through her loop. Partook of the post race food. Cleaned up my gear and waited for Denise to make it through the second loop. Went to the hotel, took a shower and changed and came back to watch Denise finish sometime after 10 with a final time of 15:36. Went to bed at around 11:30. Got up at 5:00 on Sunday to take my wife on a balloon ride for her birth day. Got back to the hotel just in time to check out by noon. We drove back and got home around 9 finally collapsed at about 10:30, had to get up at 6 for work.
Advice for future Vineman first timers:
Read all the other advice you can find on the site, it is invaluable.
Register after the pre-race meeting, not before. Line was much shorter.
Have a towel to sit/stand on in T1. There are mats laid down to run on, but the rest of the area is rocky beach.
Hide your food from the sun when you set up T2.
Try to avoid using the porta-potty at the 4th/special needs aide station on the bike, it had only one john and by far the longest line.
Learn to get out of your bike shoes before dismounting, the run into T2 is long.
Unless you are real good about getting started on a hill, run to the top of the hill out of T1, even some of the pros do it.
Book your spouse/support crew a message for when you are on the bike.
Don’t bring your dog to registration and have him walk into the gym during the pre-race meeting just after the topic of no dogs allowed is covered.
Cut your toenails. I guess my gait was altered enough in the run that I ended up with a bruised toenail.
On the off chance one of the race organizers reads this, your race gets a good A in my book, well run, the course and the volunteers were great. Two suggestions though. My wife said that there was a lot of confusion at the end of the bike and not enough room for multiple finishers at the same time. She said signs to tell the aqua-bike people where to go would have made a huge difference. Second suggestion is to repave the roads, but I won’t hold that against you.
