Vineman - TriathlonFull Ironman

I was very pleased with this. Easily my best swim in a long-distance race. This felt easy and relaxed. Great scenery along the way, with gigantic trees and some cool bridges to swim under. Lots of people sitting and standing on their docks to watch the Vineman crazies swim. One guy was chain smoking--first time I've ever smelled cigarette smoke in a tri swim.

Easy to swim straight, though this was a complete puzzle to me: The line of buoys was curved along the whole middle of the course. I swam the straight line (which was within the legal course) but lots of people dutifully followed the line. Why?

Not a thing.

Longer than I wanted but OK. HR 137

I knew this was going to be slow and it was. Temperature began to rise and by the middle of the 2nd loop it was in the upper 90s, which I found really draining. I lost concentration by the end. Chalk Hill was not hard compared to riding at home; my weakness (besides being generally slow) is still handling: descents, corners, rough roads.

Only good feature is that overhead time for pit stops, special needs, water refills (except where they ran out!) was only 6 minutes.

I was very glad to get off the bike but back, neck and shoulders felt fine--I was drained from the heat and my butt was sore but legs felt OK.

Slow, but I desperately needed sunscreen--good thing I took the time.

This was a crazy parody of an iron-distance run. Started out OK (slow but steady IM run pace) trying to keep HR down. But in the 96-degree heat I guess my gut shut down after a mile or two--terrible cramping pain. So I would run as far as I could then walk until it passed. Did this stupid run walk at 12-15min pace for the first two of the three loops. Tried eating more, eating less, drinking more, drinking less, using the facilities. No luck.

But by the third loop the pain finally went away, probably because the temperature sank as the sun went down. I was then able to run the last loop and felt as though I was flying for the last 9 miles or so. Very surreal to run in the dark and quiet, watching the glow sticks of others in the distance.

Finished feeling fast and strong (this is relative, of course) and very frustrated about the first part of the run. I had the fitness and enough in my legs (who wouldn't after such a slow ride) but my GI system just wouldn't respond. A real lesson in not quitting even though I fell short of my time goal.

BUT . . . 30% of my age group did not finish at all in the heat.

Heat, heat and heat.


A beautiful course; the race organizers must have been as surprised by the heat as we were (forecast was for low 80s, not high 90s) and ran out of water and ice at the back of the pack.

Definitely a race worth doing; logistics of 2 transition areas made for some complications but it works. Nice to be free of the M-dot hype.

These are challenging bike and run courses in any conditions. My two iron distance races have now been in the low 50s with rain and upper 90s. I wonder what it's like in between?