Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This is very hard for me to write, I experienced something very new to me this day and it was quite humbling.

My wave was one of the last to start, but it was a big wave. Everyone spread out waiting for the start. My plan was to stay halfway between the marker buoys and the shoreline. I wasn't used to wearing my wetsuit and it felt a little constricting, but nothing I hadn't experienced before. When the gun went off I started out smooth. About 100 meters into the swim my heart rate started climbing fast, too fast, but I wasn't working that hard. Then I kept running into a guy who wanted the same line I did but he couldn't swim straight and kept jostling me. This really started to frustrate me, way more than it should. I just couldn't get away from this guy and it was driving me nuts. My heart rate started to go thru the roof. All of the sudden I was struggling to breathe. My chest was pounding and my HR was about 250 bpm (not really but it felt like it). I was having a full fledged panic attack and I seemed to be powerless to stop it.

I was treading water trying desperately to calm down. This was not my first time at the rodeo; it was my 6th half ironman. Not to mention a full and countless Oly’s and sprints, there was no reason that I should be panicking. After what seemed like 5 minutes I still couldn’t breathe, I unfastened the zipper of my wetsuit and looked towards shore. I could see T1 and all the spectators watching me. I tried to HTFU but to no avail, I was hyperventilating and I couldn’t stop it. All my options ran thru my mind but it kept coming back to me drowning if I went on. I started heading for shore with the intention of pulling out.

As I was dog paddling inland, thoughts of humiliation and shame started flooding my head. I grew angry with myself. I couldn’t believe I was going to pull out. But I still couldn’t breathe! As the shame grew, so did my anger. The madder I got the slower I headed in. Finally I got to the point where I said “F#%@ it! Die before DNF!” Not really sure where that came from, but in this case it might come true. Despite my fear, I turned back to the course and started swimming. I still couldn’t breathe and my HR was still pegged, but I was damned if I was going to stop!
Eventually, after what seemed an eternity, I started to calm down and fall into my normal rhythm. The rest of the swim was without incident. I even had a pretty decent time considering I lost about 4 minutes with my internal battle. I was never so elated to finish a swim.


Not really sure what happened, my only guess is that I wasn't used to the wetsuit. So maybe get some more practice in it?

I cut my wetsuit another 2 inches at the ankles before the race and it worked out well. Once I found my bike I stepped out of it with no problem. Usually I end up on the ground struggling to pull it over my ankles, but not this time. The transition area was a mess, it was crowded and unorganized. At the race brief, they told us we had to rack out bikes by the seat. Problem was that the racks were too short to pull my bike thru or push it back. I had to tilt it sideways to clear the bar, knocking over my neighbors helmet in the process. Once I picked everything up, I headed to the mount line. The uphill at the line forced a lot of people to run/walk up the hill. But I had my bike in low gear, so I just put my feet on top of my shoes and climb right out of transition.

Talk the RD out of making racking by the seat mandatory.

Once I got out of transition and up to speed I got my feet in my shoes and settled in for the ride. I looked at my Garmin and tried to switch it to bike mode. But it had other ideas. For some reason I still don't understand, the keypad and display locked up. No matter what I tried I couldn't unlock any keys, including the power keys. It had effectively turned into a brick and was completely useless. I was riding naked, but oddly enough, it didn't bother me. I was so happy that I didn't drop out of the race that nothing was going to bother me.

I buckled down and just started riding. Since I was in one of the last start waves, I had plenty of people to pick off. I tried to keep a steady effort and not blow up. The route was rolling hills but pretty tame overall. I made sure I was taking in nutrition and water too. I popped electrolytes every hour for good measure too. Although I wasn’t drenched in sweat like back home, I knew I was sweating. The dryer climate was just sucking it up.

Anyways, all was going well. The view thru the vineyards was fantastic. The fog blocked the sun most of the time and the roads were dry. Once I got to Chalk Hill, I was pleased to see that it wasn’t really that bad and I had no issue getting up it. I maintained a steady effort all the way into Windsor High School with little incident. After the race I was able to see my time and realized that I PR’d the bike!


Nothing, great ride.

T2 was not as crowded as T1 and I had no problem finding my shoes. I racked my bike, dropped my helmet and grabbed my T2 bag. I opted to wear my fuel belt for this run because I suspected it was going to get hot and I wanted to have water with me at all times. Socks, shoes and visor on and off I went.

Nothing

Since my Garmin was a brick, I really had no idea what my times was. I decided to just run as hard and even paced as I could. I started out at what felt like a 7:20 pace and it felt pretty good. But about mile 2, on a slight downhill, my left hamstring rebelled. It sent a jolt of pain to my brain that forced me to stop. I managed to stretch it out after a couple of minutes and start again. I managed to keep a decent pace for the first 4-5 miles, but I had to temper my pace because I could feel my legs on the verge of cramping again. I decided to walk the up hills and shuffle the down hills so I didn’t cramp again. It worked for the most part but my legs never felt right.

A little after mile 9, during one of my walking breaks, I asked another walker what the time of day was. From that I was able to figure out the math and realized that I was at about 4:30 into the race. That meant that if I could make it 4 miles in 30 minutes I could break my 5 hour goal! That’s a 7:30 pace, which should be doable I thought. I picked up my paced and vowed not to walk anymore hills. But after a mile or so my legs rebelled again. There was no way they were going to let me keep that effort. Back to the Run/Walk. I managed to run the entire last mile without stopping and was very glad to see the finish.


Although not a PR for me I had a good race. Especially considering I almost didn't make it thru the water.

Not much. Maybe struggling to get thru all the non-racers to the watere coolers.


For the most part this race was fantastic. I didn't like the way they organized transitions though. They should asign rack space rather than have a free for all. The lack of beer at the finish was a bit of a downer too.