Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Race results do not provide ranks for each of the sports and the official time of 1:03:07 includes T1 time. The 55:37 is from my swim watch. When I came out of the water, the racks for all bikes in waves previous to mine and up to my bike were already dismantled and it was very easy to find my bike. There were perhaps two or three other "white cap" bikes in our corral, but otherwise I was essentially the last out of the water for my wave, as usual. Except for being really slow and getting run over by three waves of swimmers (blue, red and yellow caps), I really enjoyed the swim. Stood up in the shallow river a couple of times to clear my goggles, and also at the buoy it was so shallow that it was easier to run the turn than to swim it.

Learn how to swim efficiently. That's all I can do.

Tried compression socks for this race. Knew they were going to take a long time to put on over wet legs and feet, but I didn't think they would take THAT long. Bike racks were being dismantled all around me as I struggled to get the socks on. I've been doing all my long rides and runs in compression socks, and I know some pros wear them, but I'm not sure they helped in this race. I don't think I would do it again. On the other hand, my calves feel great the day after the race, so maybe they did help.

Practice with the compression socks or find out what the pros who wear compression socks do to speed up the T1 time.

Very hilly, rough road. Passed a lot of athletes on the hills, but they sometimes passed me back on flat areas. I know now that by hitting my bike goal, I trashed myself for the run. Rookie mistake. Also, low avg cadence meant I did too much mashing on the hills, which also burned too much glycogen and left me with nothing for the hot run. What I did do right: took the salt tablets every half hour or so, ate Fig Newtons and Powerbar balls, refilled water bottle with cold water at aid station 2.

Pace better on the bike to leave more fuel for the run. Get the hill training and long rides in before the race to be better prepared.

Since I don't do things like riding with feet on top of the shoes or jumping off a moving bike, I can't expect a super fast T2 time. But I was surprised it was that slow. There was a long run from the dismount line to the bike rack. I had a little bit of a hard time finding my shoes since EVERYONE's bike was already racked. Had to move three bikes out of the way to make room for my bike by my running shoes. I think a good chunk of the T2 time was when I was stopped at the aid station just inside T2 to get sprayed with additional sunscreen. I was VERY glad I did this because it cut down on the amount of sunburn.

Run a little more with the bike (ran some, walked some).

Didn't have anything in me. It was hot and I just melt in the heat. Was walking before the end of mile 1. Walked a little of every mile (but ran a little of every mile, too). Got into a 90-second run to 30-second walk rhythm. Upped to 3 minutes of running at a time during the second half of the race. Ran (jogged?) the last 1.5 miles of the race just to get off of the course. Aid stations were wonderful! Ate lots of grapes and peaches. Took advantage of hoses and misters where available.

I screwed up this run by not carrying a water bottle with me. Because we had to set up T2 the day before, I figured any water in a bottle would get too hot, so I would just use the water on the course. Now I know to ALWAYS take a water bottle with me, and if the water is too hot, just dump it out and fill it with water at the first aid station.

Walked around a bit, stretched when I got back to the hotel.


Heat, mental toughness. I think I could have run more of the half mary, but others were walking and I was hurting, so I didn't force myself to do better.


PROS: Beautiful venue, lots of aid stations and plenty of good stuff at the aid stations. Loved the fruit and cola. Great swim venue. CONS: Bike course on narrow, hilly, winding roads open to traffic. Lack of finisher's gear (no finisher's hat, no finisher's shirt unless you ordered an embroidered one, and they ran out of the finisher's water bottles by the time I got there). Even the purchasable merchandise doesn't have the year on it and gets recycled from year to year. No post-race activities. Two different transitions areas were a pain and the shuttles to get back to the cars at Johnson's Beach were slow and crowded. Not planning to do this one again.