Half Vineman Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

An average swim for me. I still haven't learned how to swim over the summer, but it is on the schedule for the off season. The waves went 8 minutes apart so it was strange not coming up to many stragglers in previous waves or getting past by the sharks behind me. I always liked to try to hop on to the feet of one of the faster swimmers from the wave behind me for the home stretch, it helps me when my concentration is starting to wander. Since no one was around I just went on my merry way. I sighted good except for the one time I looked up and I was basically swimming straight to shore (at a time I shouldn't have been). That pretty much follows my rule of always try to make a break for Hawaii during each Tri.

roll on to side, reach, glide, repeat......

There was a chute from the swim end to transition and it was just littered with 100's of swim caps. I never saw that before so I added mine to the pile.

The main part of the transition was on a muddy, pea gravel type beach. The more I tried to get gravel off my feet the more mud and gravel I wound up covering me with. You also had to shove everything in a plastic bag so they could cart it to the finish line 15 or so miles away. Yeah, that was nice, a wet wetsuit, my clean dry warmups and flip flops all simmering in stinky river water all day in a plastic bag.

I don't know but I'm guessing Reid and Deboom didn't get mud and gravel on them. I'm sure the sponsors took care of them.

This was where I needed to show great restraint. I know I could have hammered this course and dropped about 20 minutes from my time but my real goal in this race was to run every step of the 1/2 marathon. I started out using real easy gears and passed a couple of people but many more passed me. Damn that was hard. I would watch these people pass knowing I could fly by them if I wanted. Oh well, those were the rules set forth by yours truly. Hopefully I'll see you later on the run.

I use a little bracket with 2 CO2 cartridges and pump on the frame behind my seat. It's been there for a year now. Never had any problems with it - well until today. It kept slipping to the side and I would then hit it with my hamstrings. It slip, I move it back, It slip, I move it back... We played that game for about 10 minutes when I decided I needed to take it off and then either, put it in my pocket or crush it into oblivion with a rock and the tree stump I stopped next to. Common sense somehow won and I put it into my pocket. Within 5 seconds of pulling over to make this little adjustment 2 racers asked if I needed help. I love this sport! I put the pump and such into my pocket where my endurolytes where, when I went to take my second hour dose of Endurolytes they were gone. Luckily I had more waiting at T2.

I felt very comfortable in the aero position the entire time. I attribute that to taking Pilates the last few months. Works wonders.

Nothing

You set your T2 transition up the night before and then don't see it again until you race into it. As I was running in I was trying to remember what exactly I left there. As with the Florida Half, as soon as I sat down to put socks and shoes on I peed, and peed, and peed. I guess that's my thing. Luckily neither of these transitions were on pavement, that could have been gross. You might not want to set up next to me if you have the option though.

Ok, here it was, the run. Spent the last two months thinking about this part. I'm not planning on being fast but I'm planning on running the whole thing. Yeah, whatever. I started running and I was next to a lady for the first mile, looked at each other and said, "Hi, I guess we are going to be with each other for the next 2 hours." It actually was nice to have someone going the same pace. Then we passed mile marker 1 and I was at a 9 min/mile. Blazing I know, but too fast for me at that point. I slowed down a little and apparently she did to. The next few miles we ran at 9:30 ish. Much better. After mile 3 I suddenly realized I needed to go to the bathroom REALLY BAD. And unfortunately not what you could just do in your shorts. Running the next 3/4 of a mile to the aid station and porta potties was not pleasant. Can you hurt yourself from squeezing your, uh, cheeks together that hard? So, I took care of business but lost my partner.

After that I tried to take some endurolytes but as soon as they hit my stomach I wanted to throw up. After gagging I settled into just being nauseous for the rest of the day.

The turnaround was in La Crema Winery. I pulled in and ran through the water misters. Ok, that's just a bad idea. Now the one little area of my sunglasses I could still see through the sweat was trashed with water droplets. Heck, I'm running 10 min/mile by now, I'm not going to be running into anything fast enough to hurt it or get hurt. But now came the highlight of the day (week,month). My family was there, wife, 3 YO boy and 4 YO girl. "GO DADDY GO!!" That was soo cool. I ran over and got some high fives and went on my way. Everyone around me patted me on the back and said "Way to go Daddy." I didn't even feel my feet hitting the pavement for the next few minutes. I did make the horrible realization that my daughter was naked though. Why the heck is my daughter standing naked in a winery? I thought that I'm going to have to remember to ask about that one. Turns out she had to go to the bathroom and didn't want to miss anything so she took off her clothes and ran into the bushes. I raise them right don't I?!

Ok, now the good part. At about mile 7 I was still on track, run every step, but it was getting harder, real hard. I looked up and saw a long hill. NO FLipping way I have to walk up that or I'll be toast. So I gave into my demons and started walking. When I got mostly up the hill I tried running again. My legs had pretty much seized up and the I got a cramp in one hamstring and the other calf. The calf cramp forced my foot straight down like I was a ballerina. I had to gently ease it back and try to run. From then on it was the run/walk/stretch death march back to town. I did the first 7 miles in about 64 minutes and the following 6 in about 90. It is an awful feeling to watch teh time just keep sliding by and you can't do anything about it.

Be a better runner. Do much more overdistance training on the run.

Used the remaining energy to fend death off.


Not enough long training days.


I did worse than my previous 1/2 Ironman as far as time and ranking but I feel I had a better race. I was so happy through mile 7 of the run. After the Florida Half I was very disappointed and let down. I didn't have that at all this time. I'm anxious to start training for an October marathon, take a break and hit the IM training plan. I'll think about my goal of running every step and decide if it will make sense for the IM. Maybe I'm a good Galloway candidate.