Ironman 70.3 Vineman - Triathlon

Current is negligible so no real benefit as staying near shore. Water gets really shallow when you move away from the centerline buoys. I got a bit off course on the return leg just a bit and ended up in knee to mid-thigh deep water and had to walk it back to the deeper portion.

Sight more often on the return leg when I got a bit tired to avoid the shallows.

The transition area racks are well marked so no problem finding my bike. Took my time to get everything done right, but not slowly. You have to stuff everything into a plastic bag they transport to the finish line, so that takes a bit of extra time. Happy with the result

Nothing

Without the HR data I blew it on my strategy to keep some in the bank on the first half, but it actually worked out great. All practice rides had a faster back half and I still wonder how it would have worked out if I'd executed to plan, but I cannot argue with the result as I came in 13 minutes under target. My concern at that point was the run - would I completely melt down?

Remember the HR strap :-)

Again, a well marked transition area. Switched to a white running singlet as the sun was out in full and applied spray sunscreen liberally. Had a little 8 oz water bottle I took out onto the run.

nothing

Goal was for a 2 hour run and came within 9 seconds, so can't complain about that. Plan was to start out at a 9:00 pace to try and maintain for the run. Fast bike legs betrayed me though, and first few miles were in the 8:20's which, after the too fast bike leg, I feared would do me in on the back half. Pace stayed under 9:00 until mile 7 where it started creeping up with the last full mile being at a 10:17. Took full focus to keep the pace as high as I could in the last couple and felt the nausea building. I saw recently that if you puke before the finish line, you went too hard, if you puke after the finish line you didn't go hard enough, and if you puke at the finish line, you left it all on the course. Well, I didn't quite puke on the nice volunteer who was removing my timing chip, but as soon as she was done . . .

Slow down on the start. I just cannot figure out how to do that.

Flat on the back for 10 minutes rediscovering oxygen and having a medic bring me ice water. Nausea persisted such that I could not eat anything for an hour and half after I finished.


I'm not sure. I exceeded my stretch goal time by 19 minutes so not sure if I had raced to plan I'd have done any better.


Highly recommend. Well organized with 1000 volunteers - they were everywhere. Course was well marked and staffed with law enforcement for traffic control.