Ironman 70.3 Vineman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I waded in with the next wave and they told me to get going because the race timer goes by the wave start. So I yelled out in a bit of a panic, "SHIT! Thanks guys, here I go!" I think I left about a minute before they started because the fast swimmers in that group started to swim close to me, bumping me and causing me to lose my focus for a bit that I had to pause for a few seconds to gather myself. After that I kept restarted my long smooth strokes. The turnaround wasn't as shallow as last year and I kept swimming following the swimmers who did not get up and stand. There may have been at least 10-15 triathletes walking at that point. I enjoyed the short bumps from fast swimmers after that by drafting off of them as long as I could.

There were parts of the swim where I felt comfortable enough to increase my effort and pace but there must be something about my wetsuit in the chest area that makes it feel like I'm hyperventilating along with increased pressure making it hard for me to keep the harder pace. This forced me to swim aerobically more times than I'd like. My race day plan was to match last year's swim or do slightly better and I met that goal. =)

Use a better fitting wetsuit?

Long way back to my transition area and the ground was wet so I decided to jog and walk cautiously. There were alot of triathletes around waiting for their wave as well. In fact, there was one triathlete sitting on the walk mats with a volunteer helping him get out of his wetsuit. It looked really stuck on him. Maybe his timing chip was strapped ontop of the ankle part of his wetsuit instead of underneath it.

Put some Belgium Budder where needed and some sunscreen on my face. Packed my stuff into the transition bag to be taken to T2 by the race. After putting my shoes on, I trotted as quickly as possible to the exit.

Spray some Trislide on toes (to be explained later) before putting socks on.

I walked up the small hill out of T1 and noticed a few bikers trying to bike up that hill and heard lots of really loud and scary sounding gear changes. I remember thinking, "Gosh, I hope their chains don't break." Once I reached the apex where it was flat, I mounted safely and I was on my way. I kept my pace and effort in Z2 to upper Z2 and low Z3 on some of the long ascents including Chaulk Hill. The rollers is where I crept up to upper Z3 but told myself, "I'll use the descents to compensate and recover wisely." My overall average power was about 15 watts higher than my planned upper end average power output range per Z2ish RPE.

I'm a super lucky guy seeing that Ironman Vineman 70.3 decided to go with Clif Bar minis this year because I was thinking, "Shit, my Clif Bars swam with me and most likely got all gross from the water. Should I risk it and eat one and see what happens??? NO!!!" I decided to wait until I reached the aid station at mile 18 where I needed to take a piss. After that, I asked the volunteers there what they had and they had what I needed! Whew!!! I only brought one pack of Clif Shot Bloks.

2014 time: 3:13:58
2015 time: 3:06:13

Plan was to bike at least 17.5mph and beat that nicely. =)

Try peeing while biking? Maybe I added 3-4 minutes to my bike split. Also felt some chafing above right hip a bit which worsened during the run. Should lube there next time.

They moved T2 to a different location this year due to construction. T2 was about 200-250 yards farther from dismount compared to last years.

Once I got to my area, changing was smooth but I had to pee. Once in the portapotty, I couldn't get my pee flowing right away, argh!

Remove shoes and run?

Set watch to alert me every 5 minutes (timer vs run/walk alerts) to hydrate and minimize walking. Had cola every 2 miles and had no GI problems. I started feeling some odd rubbing on my left big toe and toe to the left around the 3.5 to 4 mile mark and I tried wiggling my toes to make that go away but that didn't work. After 6 miles, it started feeling worse. I aimed to negative split so I amped up the pace a bit after reaching the vineyard but then the blisters became so painful I had to stop and check at about mile 7 and noticed some blood there. Decided to embrace the suck and keep going. Ran at least half a mile before having to walk to compensate for the pain a bit.

My training this year was much better than last year and it showed. No cramps, no heat distress, no griping about hills.

2014 time: 2:39:58
2015 time: 2:25:28

Spray Trislide on toes before heading out.

Walked around, lifted legs, and stretched a bit. Ate a chicken burger, recovery drink, water, fruit.


Blisters and peeing.


I feel interested in racing again next year, hehe!