Full Vineman Triathlon - Triathlon

I think the course may have been longer than 2.4 as the average per 100 for me posted on the timing site was 1:57 which is on the high side by a fair amount. Using correct course length put me at 1:46 which was a bit slower than I expected but I did get caught up behind clumps of swimmers multiple times and that may have slowed me.

Put the timing chip on in advance!

Had strippers so that went really fast. I got to the rack and the ground there is fine soil that was damp, so had a good layer of mud on my feet. Had to take a fair amount of time to clean that off, but that doesn't account for the long transition time.

Executed to plan in terms of pace, hydration and nutrition. Emptied my aerobottle just before each aid station and refilled with a 24 ounce cold one. This means that I took in 192 oz of water along with 48 oz of liquid nutrition (Infinit). Had to pee at the halfway point and finish. In addition to the Infinit ate a Payday bar and two Honey Stinger Waffles for a total calorie intake of about 2200 calories.

Pretty happy with this ride, so think I'd go with the same plan

Run in was LONG and narrow for the most part and I was trapped behind 3 other bikes who were walking, Took at least twice as long to get to the rack as a running as a result. Decided I was going to change out of the tri shorts and cycling top into a loose fitting pair of running shorts and singlet to try and stay cooler. On the way out of T2 visited the portapotty to get ride of some of the ride hydration.

Perhaps be more vocal during the run in to get the guys ahead of me to move or somehow let me by.

By the time I got off the bike the temp had made it into the 90's and I knew it was going to be tough, but holy crap. At each aid station I filled my carry bottle with ice and water, dumped a cup of ice down the front and back of my singlet (had a race belt on that trapped it), ice under the hat occasionally, and a cup or two of water down the gullet. I've never been in a race where I've seen pretty much everyone walking the hills and many the flats, but that was the case. I came over one hill and felt like I was in a zombie movie. I had at least 20 people shuffling up the hill, open-mouthed, glassy-eyed toward me, all breathing heavily. There were two over on the side, bent over puking, at the bottom of the hill were the paramedics tending to a guy laying off the side of the road. During my first lap at about the halfway point a guy on a bike comes up behind me and says, "just to let you know, there's a runner coming up." I'm thinking, "Dude there are runners everywhere here, what's the big deal?" Well as it turns out it was the race leader on his last lap. It took him at least 5 minutes to catch up with me and he was running just slightly faster than my pace, and he was hurting badly. He got about 25 yards ahead of me and stopped, bent over hands on knees and stayed that way until after I passed him. He passed me again about 5 minutes later, made the turnaround and headed back. I caught up with him about 4 miles later as he had pulled himself from the race with only 2 miles to go. It was brutal out there. First lap was the hardest but once I got it done I felt I understood what was going to be requires. Lap 2 was still a run/walk combo for more than I would have liked, but it was necessary. Lap 3 I ended up running most of, even some of the uphills, albeit at a slower pace.

Dig deeper earlier than I did to get back to a more consistent run

Walked for about 10 minutes


The heat and unfiltered sun.


This is a great race at a great venue. If it had been held the week before, temps would have been in the upper 70's/low 80's. This was my first IM distance Tri and I made the podium so feel pretty good about it, especially with the challenging conditions.