Vineman Triathlon - TriathlonFull Ironman

This was a really good swim for me, I started near to the back to make sure I was comfortable and I ended up passing quite a few people. Felt nice and relaxed the whole way and navigation was easy as the river was nice and narrow to swim in. The only problem was that it was quite shallow in places there were people standing up in certain points, so I just kept on swimming as it seemed the quicker thing to do.

I would push harder on the swim, I think I could have done this quicker as I felt really good coming out of the water.

Pretty good Transition, I guess they could always be faster, ut I wanted to make sure I had everything, we also had to bag up our swim stuff as it was 2 seperate transition areas.

Remember sunscreen!!!

This course killed me... plain and simple. I don't know why or how, but it destroyed me. I started out with the plan that I would take the first loop relatively easy and pick up the pace after the halfway point. The first lap was quite good actually, I was through the halfway point and special needs in 3:05ish. I was thinking this is great, and then I just died. My legs and back gave out on me and the whole last lap was a struggle. I couldn't push harder on the bike then I was but I was still only cruising at around 25kmph which is well below my average in training of 28.5ish. Any little hill that I hit was like riding the alps. And then the mental aspect came into play, I started to get really negative which drained me even more. I did not pass one person on the bike, and was getting passed left and right. I thought that if I quit at least I had tried, and that was better than nothing, and then it was weird, after focusing on such negative things for so long I hit the hardest hill on the course and told myself to bust my but up the hill and see how I felt after. I smoked the hill, and started to feel better about myself and after that it was only about 10 miles into transition... I couldn't get off the bike soon enough.

More training. This cannot be emphasised enough. Also my nutrtion was not as I had planned due to the fact that they didn't serve gels on the bike course.

Took some time to regroup and make sure I had everything I needed. I took more time than I wanted to but it was worth it at that point. All I wanted to do was finish and my goal time of 13 hours was still realistic at this point.

Maybe speed up more, but I think I needed the time I took mentally.

I was worried about the run before the event, but it turns out that I really enjoyed it. My plan was to walk the aid stations and the big hills and run the rest. This as it turns out was a great idea. At first I was feeling pretty crappy, so I started experimenting at the aid stations with fruit cookies and pretzels all to no effect. Finally I took a gel( I had been holding off doing this as I was starting to get sick of them) and it was like instant revitilization!!! I felt great!!! I took off and picked up my pace and started passing a good bunch of the people who smoked me on the bike. This motivated me even more, and then the best thing happened, as I finished the 2nd lap of 3, I saw my girlfriend and she was yelling and screaming for me to keep going, that really motivated me. My third lap flew by, I was making sure to thank all the voluteers at the aid stations and there were a couple of super energetic ladies with a cow bell that were awesome so I thanked them for the support and then all of a sudden I was back at the finish. I got pumped knowing that this was it and the announcer yelled out my name as I crossed the line, what a great moment in my life!!! I finished an ironman distance race!!!

Not much on the run, it went better than I had expected, especially after feeling the way that I did on the bike!!!

Crossed the line and my girlfriend met me, gave her a big hug, and then grabbed a bottle of water and my hoodie from my girlfriend and sat down to contemplate the day...


Poor training over the last month and a half, I was sick a lot and not training to my full potential. I think if I had not slacked on the training, I could have broken 12 hours, but that may just be me dreaming, as all in all I am very satisfied despite the poor bike leg.


The volunteers made this race. They were absolutely fantastic. not very many things to do after the race, but at that point I didn't really care. Crowds were very good as well.