Vineman Full Ironman - TriathlonFull Ironman

This was my best leg, even though it's my weakest sport. My goal was 1:40, and I beat that by over 5 minutes. When I checked my watch at the turn-around points, my splits were pretty even throughout.

Because the water was so warm, I didn't have any breathing problems. I hung towards the back as usual, to avoid the wrestling match that these swims usually are. I just took it easy and kept my stroke consistent. Although I might have gone a little faster, I decided to swim the entire course. I didn't even walk at the turn-around which was actually kind of difficult because it was so shallow. But as the announcer said at the pre-race meeting, it was a good opportunity to practice high elbows.

It's a beautiful swim course and a real pleasure to swim. Many trees line both banks of the river -- pine, redwoods, etc. The water was warm and clear.

Not much I would have done differently here. I know my swim needs work, but for where I'm at, I think I did really well.

Took my time a little bit in T1 because I had a lot to do. My goal was 10 mintues, so not too bad. I wanted to hand off all my stuff to my wife (as the RD's had recommended) so I didn't have to pick it up later. So I had to bag up everything, in addition to getting geared up for the bike.

I used the wetsuit strippers. It was great because it made it really easy, except that where they were doing it, the ground was not covered well and I got a lot of gravel on myself. I never got all of it off. Luckily this wasn't a problem for me down the road.

There were also people using the narrow strips of carpet as a place to stand while they changed, getting in the way of people making their way to the bike out.

Move quicker. I could have paid better attention at the wetsuit strippers and tried to make sure I didn't get gravel all over myself.

My goal for the bike was 7 hours, which was actually kinda optimistic to begin with. But I also had nutrition/stomach problems starting about mile 80 when I could no longer drink my sports drink mix and had to switch to just water and Clif Bloks (aka. Plan B). I probably ended the bike a bit dehydrated, but didn't cramp on the bike and didn't have to walk up Chalk Hill either time.

I had my usual long ride issues: seat, lower back, some neck stiffness. My feet were better than usual because I got new padded inserts for my bike shoes just before the race. My goal was to keep my HR up to, but not over, 140 bpm as much as possible, and I did a good job with that. I had to keep it down at first, but that set me up well for later in the ride.

Less breaks and time at aid stations.

The other thing that I didn't really figure into my plan is that starting out the bike, I was very hungry. I drank almost 2 bottles in the first hour as well as eating at least 3 bloks. I just need to factor this into my nutrition plan.

Not exactly sure why T2 took so long. I remember not being able to find my rack right away -- I was looking for 329 instead of 239. And I think part of it was that my nutrition plan had fallen apart, and I had to completely change things at T2 for the run. My goal was 5 minutes.

Move faster.

My goal for the run was 5:30. So much for that. Like I said, my nutrition went south a couple hours before the finish of the bike, so I was already having stomach problems and therefore dehydration issues before the run.

I actually felt great getting off the bike, as I usually do. My Garmin said < 10min/mi at the beginning and I wasn't even pushing it. But that didn't last long. At the 2nd aid station, my stomach said it was time to empty so I hit the porta-potty. As soon as I sat down, my left inner thigh started cramping and there was nothing I could do. I probably spent about 10 minutes in there (long enough for the volunteers to knock and ask if everything was OK), but my stomach felt a lot better afterwards.

Nausea and cramping threatened me for the rest of the run. When my effort went too high, I felt nauseous, and continually felt on the verge of cramping. I did what I could to drink water and take in calories. I actually tried some food and drink that I wouldn't normally take just to see how it would go. This included taking some Pepto Bismol tablets on lap 2, which I think helped for a little while. I never actually threw up or fully cramped because I held myself back. Maybe if I had pushed myself over the edge and vomited, I might have felt better, who knows.

I really liked that there were so many people around on the course through most of it. The 3-loop, out-and-back format is nice. It also made it easy for the spectators to see lots of action and it was great to go past them on every loop.

There was a 9pm cutoff for athletes to start the 3rd run loop, which I barely made. The third lap was pretty lonely, but there was one Athena woman from Spokane, and a couple TnT guys (an athlete and a support person) out there with me. The moon was almost full and help illuminate the road where there were no lights. When I couldn't see much, I would just try to follow the lines in the road or the yellow glowstick halos up ahead. It was kinda surreal at moments.

I'm disappointed that I didn't finish within the time limit, but I am very glad that I did finish. I considered dropping out after lap 2, not because I didn't think I could finish, but because I knew I wasn't going to finish in time and I also knew my wife was miserable out there waiting for me alone in the cold and dark. I had no doubt that I could finish the distance, regardless of how my stomach or my legs were feeling.

On the third lap, I started a strategy that I think helped me finish it sooner than I otherwise would have. I would grab one cup of water and one cup of Gatorade from the aid station and just keep going. This minimized my time at the aid station, and gave my stomach more time to assimilate the nutrition. It slowed down my power walk a little bit because I couldn't swing my arms as much, but I think it helped overall.

Given the situation, I think I did pretty good.

There were still a few spectators and finishers at the finish line area, but some of it had already been broken down. I did get my picture taken, along with my wife who I had brought down the finish line chute with me. I got to take a finisher's shirt and medal from the boxes on the tables -- there were no volunteers anymore. I believe the clock had stopped. There was no food anymore.

I kept walking and had something to drink. My wife brought my jacket and we slowly walked to the car. My wife had already packed all my T2 stuff (I had given her my T2 gear pick-up ticket). She worked so hard that day, I really owe her a lot. Next time I'll arrange for a whole crew to be there for me.


The biggest thing is the nutrition/stomach issues that I have. It is better than it used to be with this new nutrition, but still at some point it is an issue. Unfortunately, that point is pretty far into things. I had a couple experiences of these problems with the new nutrition while training, but only on the longest days. I thought it might have been the heat, but I guess it was the nutrition as well. So in order to figure this out, I may have to do some very long experiments.

My weight is also a factor, slowing me down. And longer times lead to more problems. Maybe if I get done sooner, I will have less time where I'm struggling. I think my weight is the only problem with my bike and my run.

My swim technique needs work. It's better, as well as my endurance getting better, but can always be improved.


There are a lot of really great things about this race. It's not terribly crowded. There are a lot of aid stations. The scenery is amazing. The bike course is challenging without being crazy difficult. It's a Team-In-Training race, so there is a lot of energy for the participants out there. The multiple loops on both the bike and run make it easy for your supporters to find you, and ensure that you have other participants around you all the time.

The only real downside would be the roughness of the bike course (I've read about some crashes ending peoples' days out there). There's also not much talk on the website about the hilliness of the run course. They provided an elevation profile of the run, but don't really say much about how hard it is. Make sure you preview it before the race so you know what to expect. The sooner the better so you can train on similar terrain.