Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My swim warm-up was getting wet and swimming out to the start. As always I was thinking to myself “what the hell am I doing here.” I positioned myself about ½ in the field to the front on the side closest to the buoys. The gun went off and I started my Garmin and took off. Early on I was pretty calm and swam through the normal “combat” of the swim.

After the first couple 100, I got into my grove and continued to swim past the two bridges. As I sighted I saw that the course extended further than I thought that it would. Oh well. I continue to bump into the same swimmer for a while. As I hit the turn-around my hand dragged on the bottom of the river. As I headed back for “home” I continued to swim at a moderate pace. At about ¾ of the way through I over swam toward the neutral area and had to self correct. Other than that the sighting was much better than in the past.

My pace was 1:44, which is pretty close to my T-times—so I was happy. Especially since I’m sure that did some extra credit swimming back & forth.

I hit the beach and stripped my wet suit down to the waste and headed on. Overall a great start for the race.

I ran back to T1 and changed into bike gear. However, I did not lay my socks out. So I went digging into my bag. I grabbed my wet suit and jammed it into the bag they gave us for our stuff.


Put socks out! Get sun block on!

I was lucky and my rack was the second from the transition area. I had the first bike on that rack! As I was clipping on my bike and I saw TriAya (Yanti), who cheered me on. After watching two Cervello bike riders crash into each other, I had my bike in an easy gear.

I biked up the hill and out of town. The first four or five miles I bike out too hard. I was too excited. My mind kept telling me that I was going too hard, but my legs kept going. I was able to rein it in by mile five. Mile six had a hill right after a sharp turn, so the heart rate went back up. But, I was able to get back to my game plan after that. From that point until mile 25 was rolling hills. Generally, I was able to build speed on the downhill and shoot up the uphill. I did a decent job staying in the areo bars, but was not comfortable taking turns in the aeros—work for next time. During this time I was able to talk to quite a few athletes and what a great crowd!

At mile 25 was a couple mile climb just before Geyserville. I had kept the heart rate in check and the hills were not that problematic. Coming into Geyserville were a bunch of people cheering—which was great. I biked through town and headed toward the back part of the course. I began to pass rider after rider at this point. I kept the ride under control—tying not go too hard like my first HIM at Big Kahuna. About mile 37 the hill got larger—but not by much compared to my training. I was able to let the HR creep on the uphill and recover on the down hills. After a couple of miles on Chalk Hill Road (mile 39) we hit a tougher hill---but it was still not a problem. At mile 43 was the start of the largest hill on the course, the dreaded Chalk Hill. I had kept quite a lot left in the tank for this hill. I got into my climbing mode and one of the people next to me said, “You’re making this hill look too easy.” In the big scheme of things it really wasn’t that bad and it was great to pass about a dozen people in the last mile or so of the hill. Afterwards we continued downward toward the end of Chalk Hill road. Great place to recover. At the turn off of Chalk Hill road is a sharp turn and then another hill. On practice weekend, I dropped my chain on this hill. Today I was ready. I dropped into my middle ring and climbed hard. There were quite a few people on the hill cheering. It was my own personal TdF. The hill is only about 500 yards or so, but it is pretty steep. I got out of my saddle and climbed like a master! I went too hard, but it felt so good. The rest of the ride was pretty flat and on a slight decline. We headed across 101 and into Santa Rosa before heading back to Windsor. As I headed into the high school, I thought to myself two things:
1. You biked the ride you wanted to ride
2. I can’t wait to disconnect this bike from my butt.

Overall elevation change is +3,704 feet change. Cadence is 92.

Not much--I raced the race that I wanted to bike. I need more practice

I racked my bike and got changed into my fancy new running shoes with quick releases. I headed out, but I played with my Garmin and hit the lap button once too many.

Don't screw with my Garmin

As I left transition, I felt really good. My legs were underneath me. As I was leaving the last of the tapped off area, I kicked my chip off. As I bent over to pick it up and reattach it someone yelled at me. He yelled “What are you doing? Blocking the path! No lying down on the job.” ...or something like that. It was Brian Hoover from BT fame. He passed me while I was reattaching the &%$# thing. I yell “I’ll catch you later....” Frankly, I wasn’t sure because he is a seasoned marathon runner.

After this nap, I got up and continued onward. Interesting enough even with the issue with the chip my first mile was at 8:45 pace. However, my heart rate was lower than I expected. I continued at the same heat rate and pace for the next couple of mile, until the first hill on the run. The hill looks like it will end and then you go around a turn and it continues upwards. I love the false summits. On the hill Brian and I ran together for a while. He mentioned that he thought I was on track for a 6:00 race. Knowing that I blew up after the last 70.3, I knew I had a long way to go! My pace between mile 3 & 6 was right around 9:30. I saw Scott and Nick about this time heading back home. They were running back within 100 feet of each other. At each water station I would sip a little water and then dump the rest on my head.

During mile six, there was a large hill (which I had not scouted before the race). My pace dropped quite a bit on this hill. At the top of the hill my legs cramped up. I walked about 8 steps to release them and then started running again. About this time we ended into La Crème winery. They had misters out and we ran around trails at the winery. As I exited, I saw Joe of BT fame. He looked in good shape and we talked for a little before heading on. At this point, I walked through one of the water stations and then picked it back up (I think it was mile 9). Miles 7 to 9 were 10:00 to 10:30 pace.

At mile 11 and 12 the wheels fell off the bus. My speed dropped down and I walked up the final part of the two remaining hills. My pace had dropped to mile 12:00 and I walk/ran the last portion. For a while, I ran with a guy named Mike—who told I could not keep the pace at mile 13. I picked the pace up on the last portion of the run on Windsor road to the finish. I trugged through the finish (seeing Yanti again cheering). As I saw the finish line I heard Aaron yelling for me.

I had Brian’s wife (I did not know her at the time) put the finsher’s metal on me. I was completely wiped out. What a day. But I held onto the pole for a while watching other racers enter the finish area.


More volume and speed work before my next half.

I walked around for a while. I saw Brian get a hug from his family while I was getting food to eat. I got a chicken sandwich (dry) and pasta salad. Aaron hunted me down and we started to pack up (at 1/3 speed).


My lack of run volume due to my injury this year caused me problems. My nutrition was much better during this race, but I didn't eat anything other than a couple peach slices. I got to get the run nailed down for my next race.


This was a well run course. The volunteer were great (except for one bossy lady at the store). The race meeting was well done and started on time. The course is great and I will do this event again.