Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My group got into the water and we were all floating around. My nerves calmed and I thought to myself, later today you will be a "Half-Ironman". Suddenly the bull-horn goes off and we are looking at each-other is, "is that the start?" They did not do 10 or 5 second count-down, so no one knew if that was the start. Everyone assumed so, and just started swimming. Since there was no count-down I did not have my watch on the Chron mode, but did not realize this until the turn-around, damn! This swim for me was a disaster. No idea why, but my stroke would not come together for me. I had already done this swim in the river 3 times, my best swim was 38 minutes. Of course I pick race down to have a crap swim, oh well. I would think about my stroke and it dd not seem to help, then I just thought about the bike and that was not helping either. Goggles filled with water more time than I could count, of course that never happened when I was training with them! Ugg!! Tried to draft, but kept getting passed. Figured I would be the last one in my wave out of the water and was shocked to see quite a few bikes still in T1.

Got out of the water and saw my parents right away which was cool! I knew my time sucked so I sprinted up to my bike and bumped into another girl getting out of the water. The announcer yells, "if you can't beat your competition, knock 'em down". That was kinda funny.

No idea what happened to my swim, guess it was an off day in the water

Came out of the water and ran passed my bike rack. Thankfully Matt (hubby) was right there and yelled, "Ab 2 rows back!" Had a good T1, came in 34th in that in my AG!! Yippee! Took of the goggles and swim cap, bagged them up and handed it over the fance to Matt. (2 different transitions in this race). Threw on my bike shoes, no socks. Carried my bike to the carpet and ran/walked it up the hill. One guy in front of me was riding up the hill and got flat immediately, ugg!

Good transition for me, so no issues

The bike start is 5 miles of flat and I kept thinkng to myself as tons of people passed me "ride your race, don't blow-up". Also thought, "Am I the only person without race wheels?"

The course is lots of rollers and not exactly a smooth surface. Kept eating my gels, sport beans and sipping my Nuuns in the aero-bottle. Had great water bottle hand-ups! Although I kept focusing on not falling, crashing into a volunteer or dropping the bottles during the aid stations that I would forget that I had to pee. Porta-potties were at the 3 aid stations.

Ok, I have not told my hubby or anyone in my family this, but I peed while on the bike. Of course I can admit this here on BT :) I was impressed and disgusted with myself at the same time. Oh well, when you gotta go, you gotta go! I sprayed the water all over me and felt ok about it.

The course if flat for a bit after the second aid station. I pass a girl and yell where are those down-hills, I'm tired of the flats" She said, "yea I can;t wait to coast". Got passed by more people and got some compliments on my Guru, loved that!

Saw a few people with flats and road rash. At mile 41-42 I launch my water bottle, sh-t! No water left in aero-bottle and no more aid stations on the course. This mean no more Nuun and I can't eat my gels without any water. Seriously thought about stopping to grab one on the road, but thought I might wind up with some disease. Yep, this coming from the girl who just peed herself!

Made it up Chalk Hill and saw 2 guys walking their bikes up-hill. said to myself, "you did not come here to walk your bike". Thing went ok until mile 48 and suddenly got sharp pains in my right knee that I have never had before. everyone down stroke was torture. WTF, this has never happened before!! Peddled with my left and let my right leg kinda go along for the ride. I was in pain and wanted to cry. I kept telling myself you almost there, just relax.

Then at mile 50 or 51 a guy 20 yards or so behind me gets hit by a car!! I freak out and don;t know if I should turn around and help or not. I see others behind me and the cop is about 50 yards behind the biker, so I continue on. Now I really want off the bike! My knee is throbbing and I feel guilty about the guy who got hit by the car. I yell at my knee and repeat to myself, "no pain, no pain". Finally see the turn in point for the bike and dismount.

I walk my bike through transition, legs don't feel like jello, but the knee is not looking good. I see Matt standing by my row for the bike transition and he yells, You're doing great sweety!" I yell back, "my knee is f-ed!" and everyone around him starts laughing. I tell him, I'll have to walk the half-mary and that it'll be about 3 hours. He says, "i'll be here, you are going to finish!"



Don't launch my water bottle. Pick up a random water bottle that someone else has dropped, since having biked so many miles without hydration/electrolytes/gus, I cramped on the run.

Got to my bike, got socks and shoes on and headed to the porta-potty. Took my time and tried to will the pain away. Hobbled out of T2 and just kept saying, "you will be a half-ironman in a few hours".

Not much, did the best I could with what was happening to me.

This was a sunny, hilly course. It was hot and not much shade. I was really upset with my knee and my lack of fluids I was not able to have on the bike. At mile 1 discovered my electrolyte pills had fallen out of my pocket! Ugg, can anything else go wrong? Shuffled on some of the down-hills and walked a ton. Kept drinking gatorade and water all of the aid stations and had a 3 banana halves. I had my gels with me, but was only able to eat one. The thought of eating another one made me gag.

Started to cramp and just kept thinking in my head, "you will finish" and cursed those who were passing me on the way back to finish...green with envy. On one of the hills I was walking next to a guy in a wheelchair and I said, "looking good" and he said the same thing back to me, I kinda laughed and said, "yea, right..ha ha" He laughed and another runner said to him, "shit, I would love to offer you a push" The guy in the wheelchair replied, "thanks for the offer".

I hit the turn-around at La Crema and was excited to see an arch of sprinklers...so refreshing! got to pass through that twice, thankfully!

On my way back I saw one of the women who I had met at a training swim and she said, "geez I'm a runner and this course/heat is killing me" I said, "me too. I'm walking but they'll still give me a medal when I cross the finish line!"

Eventually got within a few hundred yards of the finish line and was able to jog/shuffle. Saw Matt as I crossed the finish line and he yelled, "you did it, I am so proud of you!"



More hydration on the bike. I'm going to look into Infinit as I don;t think I can do gels in the heat while on the run portion...gag! Firgure out what happened with my knee as I have never had that pain in all of my training.

Got my medal and volunteers sponged me down...God bless 'em! Got my picture taken and hugged the family. Got some ice for my knee and sat down. Tried to eat a bit, but was not hungry, it was just too hot to eat.


Knee issues and losing my h2o on the bike.


I wish there had been 1 more water station on the bike, but I was far from being the only person to launch a water bottle. I was hoping to finish between 6:45 and 7 hours, but was not planning on having the issues that came up. I nedd to work on speed on the bike and more bricks.

I did have a lot of self-talk and cursing, but it got me to the finish line!!! My next HIM will be better and there will be a next HIM!!!