Emilio said I should post this. If you are looking for a report of a fast time you should probably move along.
RR: Full Vineman, 4 August 2007
In May I finished IM Brasil and posted my fastest time in seven finished, but wasn’t really happy with parts of the race, so I brought up the idea with the coach about doing the full Vineman in August. A few conditions were set and the training plan was written out with the Half Vineman and full Vineman as the goal. After a couple weeks of recovery and easy workouts, I started back training and felt pretty good. I threw in a 10K running race in the middle of training and ran a PR effort on a hot day, so everything was looking good. The Half VM race was a long training day and it went well until the run in the hot (+90F) weather, but I finished. The weather forecast for the full Vineman was for overcast mornings, up to mid-80s and sunny. That would be fine.
Friday I left SF after a stop at the bike shop (City Cycle—LOVE those guys!) and I got up to Santa Rosa and had lunch, then headed over to register and take the bike out for a very short ride just to run it through all the gears since I would be riding Dave’s disc wheel (soon to be my disc wheel—HED 3D). Got registered and I was heading over to drop off my T2 stuff when my phone rang. It was KP calling to let me know that our dear friend Scott/aka Scrote had collapsed on a hike out of the Colorado River and could not be resuscitated. Scott was early 50s and had done four Ironman races. There is a wonderful group of people, like family in fact, who all met pre–IM California 2000. Scrote and I were two of the three members of the group who were originally in the “16:50” club and he was one of the most giving and wonderful people you could meet. He definitely lived life to the fullest.
Me and Scott–Kona 2004
The remainder of Friday I felt very scattered, like I was forgetting something. Dinner with Leisha, Don and Ariel, then back to the B&B and off to bed before 10PM. Race morning I was awake just before the alarm, had breakfast and coffee and drove over to T2/finish to meet up with the Hinds57 family for a ride to the start. Thanks so much to Dave, Lexie and kids!
Some random dude, Lexie, Chris, Katy and me before the race.
Two weeks earlier for the Half VM, the water had been just wetsuit legal and I only have a full suit so it was too warm for the river. I think wearing the wetsuit that day had put me off on the start to overheating and dehydration, so when the river hadn’t cooled off much (if at all), I had a conversation with Emilio about options for the swim and ended up ordering his Speed Tube (wetsuit pants only!) I’d tried them on on Thursday when they arrived, but hadn’t swam in them, so race day would be the first time. Well, they are the BOMB! You get the leg flotation (which is where I need it), and you aren’t overheating. Best purchase I’ve made all year! I started the swim towards the back and the plan was to swim steady, but not push a lot. The river is pretty shallow, so there was a lot of dirt being churned, but the current wasn’t too bad. First loop felt good, but the second loop seemed to take forever. Got to the finish and came out of the water in 1:17, which was faster than my estimate. On the second loop I could see the sky when I took a breath and it was blue—no fog. Bad news! That meant it would likely be a hot day.
Off on the bike and the plan was to ride fairly easy for the first ten miles and get settled in. I’ve ridden this course hundreds of times over 15+ years, but never twice on the same day. My one big hope for the day would be…no flats or mechanicals! The first 20 miles went by fairly quickly and I stuck to my fueling plan. When I got over to Geyserville (about mile 30), I had to stop at the aid station since I started to have stomach/GI issues (which isn’t normal on the bike), plus, the jersey I had on had rubbed both of my inner upper arms RAW and it was extremely painful. There was only one porta and there was a line, so that was about a 10 minute stop. Back on the road and along highway 128 I felt like I was flying. I really had no idea of my time or speed as my computer is screwed up and wasn’t working. I got to the base of Chalk Hill and rode up and felt pretty good. Usually I hammer down the other side and then the last 8-10 miles which is basically flat, but since I had a second loop to do, I rode controlled instead.
I got back to the finish and stopped at the special needs stop to swap out bottles and spent probably another 5 minutes there. Headed out for the second loop and it was starting to get warm. During the first few miles after special needs, I passed a couple of people and the guy latches onto my wheel and just sits there for a good mile. I finally turn around and tell him to get off my wheel, but another mile goes by and he doesn’t! We then hit a hill and I slow down to a creeping 4 mph so he either has to pass me or tip over. He passes me and I mention some choice words about drafters and cheating. Later on I passed him back and dropped him for good.
About 20 miles into the second loop, it got pretty hot. I made a concentrated effort to keep up on my hydration, electrolytes and nutrition, but again, at the same aid station, I had to make another stop, though shorter this time (5 minutes?) Over in the Alexander Valley the wind had kicked up too, just like clockwork (and yes, mostly headwind), but I was still feeling good and moving along pretty well. The second time up Chalk Hill was pretty hard though since it was quite hot by this time. Also, along this stretch, I started to pass a few of the very late Barb’s Race gals. Good on them for sticking it out on a very tough day.
The last 10 miles flew by and I knew that I would be fairly close to my goal time and I still felt pretty good. I pulled in to T2 and racked my bike and headed to the change tent and all of a sudden I felt REALLY HOT. I got changed and headed out and tried to run, but it felt like my head was going to pop off and my face felt like it was on fire. Slow jog, walk, slow jog, walk, repeat. I got to run aid #1 where the Hinds57 family was working and Chris dumped cups of cold water on my head, though I had bent over for him to do so and I thought I might keel over when I stood up. I did not feel good at all, but I thought that once it cooled off, I might feel better and usually up there, it starts to cool off in the late afternoon and cools off fairly quickly. Well, not on Saturday! Lap 1 of the run was more walking than running and I wasn’t the only one walking—probably more walking going on than running actually.
I got back to the start/finish area and heading out on the second lap, I felt a little better, so started out running and got about half a mile then suddenly I had serious stabbing pains in my stomach and felt nauseous. So, it was back to walking. I’d feel better, then try to run and once I hit a certain point, the pain would come back. I got to run aid #3 and got some Tums from Tilden (thanks dude!) and about a mile later, I was able to throw up (after dry heaving and having my abs and obliques start to cramp) and once I did that, I felt better. Somewhere along lap 2, I suddenly had the thought of Kona 2004 and Scrote and I sitting at the bar at Cassandra’s the afternoon before the race while KP and Dave were off dropping off bags and bikes and we were laughing about how hot it was and while they boys would be racing in the heat, we were sitting in the shade drinking beer, and it suddenly hit me that Scrote was probably sitting around with our friend RRod and my mom and they were all tipping back a few, laughing as I was busting my ass in the heat. Kind of hard to run, breathe and cry at the same time.
By the start of the third lap it was getting dark and cooling off (though my skin was still radiating heat) and then, it got really dark. No street lights out there! So, I could run, but not fast as I couldn’t see a darned thing and with some holes in the road, I didn’t want to got flat on my face. I got to the last mile and it was back in town so I was able to see and run the last mile and I crossed the finish line at 15:32, well off my best time, but this was probably the most difficult finish of the eight. Right after I crossed the line, the announcers said that I’d come in top 10 in my AG. I told them no way! Well, they were right. I was 7th out of 11 finishers and 14 starters.
So, 8 Ironman finishes in the books and I’m still looking for that elusive “fast” race where everything falls together. A lot of work to do between now and May 2008 when I’m going back to Brasil.
A big thanks to the best coach in the world and to all my training partners (especially Leisha and Annette) and all the swim folks; and a huge thank you to the boys at City Cycle, especially Tyler, for keeping the PINK CERVELO on the road and putting up with my millions of questions and needs. You are the best.
What’s next? CYCLOCROSS!!!
