![]() Swim
Comments: Basically just tried to hammer this. Third time swimming this course (after VM 70.3 in 2008 and Full VM in 2009), so knew the conditions and where the shallows were. (Still managed to slam my hand into the back of huge guy who stood up abruptly in front of me in the middle of the upstream leg of the second loop.) Starting at the back and being in the top 25% of the field for swim time, I was passing a lot of people (and really was only passed by the elites lapping me)...got very congested on the second lap upstream. That was the low point: No clean water and getting tired. After standing up at the turnaround and diving back in to head for the finish, I became aware of the current for the first time. Then I got a lot of clean stretches of water. Then another relay guy caught and passed me, so I decided to try drafting for the first time ever...hung with him for awhile, which really made me work. Eventually I got separated from him when he went around a swimmer from another wave, but I got out of the water only a few seconds behind him. Hit the mat (which I love for being right at the water) in 1:09+...more than 3 minutes better than '09. First ever swim longer than 2 miles where I averaged under 1:40/100 yards (and sub-1:50/100m, for that matter). What would you do differently?: Nothing. Didn't train for this (as a last minute sub), but still beat my optimistic goal of 1:10. ![]() Transition 1
Comments: Handed off to my wife, Liz, for her relay leg, her first IM ride. ![]() Bike
Comments: Hung out in T1 (point-to-point course) for a bit. Got dressed. Walked back to hotel. Crossing the river on a footbridge, I look down and there...just past the start of the second lap...is much of the wave I started with (the BOP 40+ women). Wow...really put my swim into perspective: Started with them, swam for over an hour, farted around, walked well over a quarter of a mile to that point, and there was a big percentage of my wave just past halfway. Went for a two hour run on the VM bike course. Got back, cleaned up, and drove out on the bike course to Chalk Hill to cheer folks on for their second climb and wait for Liz. When she got there, she was miserable...sobbing and just trying to get the pedals to turn over. I trotted up the hill for a few yards beside her and told her to just keep breathing, then let her go and got in the car to get to T2. ![]() Transition 2
Comments: Liz came in about 2 minutes sooner than I predicted and we gave the timing chip to our marathon runner, Angela. Liz was a wreck, but I'd gotten her some chocolate chip cookies and we had a picnic blanket for her to lay down on, so that all helped. ![]() Run
Comments: Angela hoped to beat her 4:47 from LA Marathon in the spring, but blew up on the hills (as did her boyfriend, whose hopes for a sub-13 IM were cashed in for a 14:10, but was able to cross the finish line with her as a result). We were 2nd to last in our relay division, but had a great time. ![]() Post race
Last updated: 2011-07-09 12:00 AM
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United States
Vineman
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Coed Relay 120+
Age Group Rank = 0/
Well, apart from the near fiasco when we discovered when calling to see about early check-in that our hotel had left the Choice Hotels system and wouldn't honor our reservation, this was a nice trip to do the full distance relay over my wife's birthday weekend. Fortunately the runner on our team (also with a reservation at the same hotel, along with her boyfriend, who was doing the Full as his first IM) found a cancellation at a really amazing, reasonably priced, inn across the river from the swim start.
I was supposed to be spectating for my wife's first ever iron distance bike ride, but when the swimmer on her team of Disney employees was injured three weeks before the race, I volunteered to step in. Did one test pool swim of 2.05 miles and decided I would be fine. Made it my goal to better my swim from my Vineman race in 2009 (which was 1:13)...thought 1:10 was a possibility with no ride and run to worry about.
Felt like the biggest slacker on the planet hanging out in transition at a full iron distance race with only the swim to do.
I was in the last wave with the over-40 women and the other relay swimmers. Was treading water at the front of the wave and chatting with a couple people when the cannon went off...oops, we really weren't paying attention.