Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Someone said to me several nights before the race, "Come back with stories." And I thought to myself "If I come back with stories that means something didn't go well...." Here's the story. I'm running into T1 area fighting the crowd of people wandering in and out, attempting to find a spot in the rows of racks marked for my AG. I pull up to the first rack I see, and realize that people are taking up a good bit of room. I say to a girl who has half a beach towel worth of stuff laid out in an empty space, "I'm going to put my bike here, just wanted to let you know incase you need to slide something over." She replies, "Here??? There are OTHER spots you know." And I say "Yes, and there is a spot right HERE." She gives me a look, and running out of time, I say "I see how you are," in a joking manner (sort of). To which she replies "Yes, that's how I am." Fabulous. I now have competition :) Meanwhile, the clock is ticking away and I still have to set up my gear, get into my wetsuit, put the cap on, and pee. I parked the bike on the next rack over and put on the cap, sunblock and body glide, set up my stuff for the bike, and put on my wetsuit more quickly than I thought humanly possible because I just heard the announcer calling for my AG to prepare to get in the water. That left me with minutes to get in. I have not mentioned up to this point that I was being nice to my father by carring his transition bag to the area while he tended to his bike back at the car. I realized at the last minute that my dad would never find his gear if I left it at my bike, so I started hunting for him. Unfortunately there was no designated spot for your bike, so it was first come, first serve, and he had not arrived in the T-area. Finally he comes waltzing up and I throw his bag at him and say "Bye!" Just as I step over the timing mat on the rocky beach the air horn goes off for my wave. So I yell an explitive or two and run like hell into the water. After managing to swim into the middle of the field, I took it easy the rest of the way. Since I had never done this distance or course before, I wasn't sure how much energy I could spare on the swim.

Ummm... get in the water before my wave starts... yeh, that'd be key. And get to Transition earlier, no matter what time my wave start is.

I felt good about my transition, but I probably should've taken the time to reapply sunscreen. There were 2 downsides to this race set up T1: (1) The bike rows seemed to be filled with people because the racks were too close together, making it difficult to manuver to the BikeOut; (2) After the swim you had to put your wetsuit, ect into a bag if you ever wanted to see your gear again since the race ended somewhere else, which took a few extra seconds.

Not much.

I held back a little on the bike so that I'd have some legs left for the run. But I felt well prepared for the course. It was extremely challenging, but well worth the ride. The weather was perfect for biking and the scenery was awesome. Got some confused looks from cows and goats, which made it even better.

Nothing. I ate every 30-40 minutes and drank regularly. Happy with the time considering the course and that I'm relatively new to cycling.

T2 began with an extremely long run down a carpet over gravel which lead to the T-area. I estimate there was a football field between the dismount line and my bike. Once in T-area, I still had to run past 20 rows of racks to get to my row. Good lord! Thankfully my run gear was where I had left it the day before. Bike racked, helmet off, wiped the salt out of my eyes, shoes and hat on, and left. Keep in mind that I still had not used the bathroom at this point. I finally decided to make a pit stop at the end of the T-area just before the run out. Yey me.

Bring a segway! And Bring sunscreen and take the time to use it. I debated if I should grab it out of my dad's bag 8 rows back, but decided it would take too much time.

I felt good going into the run, intentionally kept a slow pace, and remained okay until mile 5 where I made a deal with myself to only walk the aid stations AND all hills. I quickly broke the deal I had made and started walking a lot on mile 6 with some intermittent jogging. By mile 7 I had reduced myself to a full walk. Somewhere between 6 and 7 I ended up with strong stomach cramps, which made the left arthritic hip seem minor. Cramps got worse when I'd run so I caved and decided the hell with time and to try to enjoy the race. Turns out walking hurt the hip more than running. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Got a little dizzy around mile 8. Wasn't sure what to do about that since I had never experienced it before. Suffered through miles 9 - 13.1 all the while berating myself for not being mentally strong enough to run. I was completely deplited physically and emotionally at the end. Not even cowbell was going to revive me at this point.

I read in Runner's World on the flight home that 60% of runners report GI distress on runs, and that avoiding dairy the day before and sipping a little gel during the run instead of downing the whole packet might help deter symptoms. Guess I should've read Runner's World on the flight out instead of sleeping.... I went into this race with less than optimal run mileage behind me. The 2 things to work on are more miles and nutrition before and during the run. You'd think I would have learned this lesson by now after doing 3 1/2 marathons, but it took 7 hours of racing for me to pick up on this.

Found Ken, crawled into car, cried for a minute or two out of pain, frustration, and the whole emotional aspect of the race, slept 30 minutes, and then waited for my dad to round the corner towards the finish.


Vineman 70.3 is a very well organized event, with beautiful scenery. The course is challenging, but doable. There seemed to be a lack of spectators, which surprised me, but the volunteers made up for it.