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Race Reports for Full Vineman Triathlon 2011

[1]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: My coach (the guy in the Speedo in those posters on the bike course) said that I should be able to do the race in under 13 1/2 hours, so I made that my "best" goal, with finishing before sunset my "good" goal, and just finishing my "at the very least" goal. Glad to have met the best goal. I'm sure if I did the race next year I could do it in under 13 hours, but I'm just gonna focus on half iron races next season. It's too much of a time commitment to train for full. I was walking like a cowboy for a couple days after the race. A 7 hour drive back down to Los Angeles the day after the race isn't the best way to get the blood flowing. I was really sore despite (or because of?) the massage. So the first "iron man" is in the books. I'm taking a break from that distance for a year and only doing half iron races. Then I'm going to come back for another one, probably an M-dot "official" Iron Man.
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[2]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Vineman is a good race -- it makes a great first 140.6. It's getting bigger, which gives it a nice feel -- I had worried it would feel homey for being so small, but it never did. It's still family and novice friendly though. And of course, it's in an amazing location. I shipped my bike and flew across the country to make this my first IM, and I would do it again. After the race, I spent a couple days in Sonoma and a week in Yosemite with my family -- hard to beat that.
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[3]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: For anyone looking to do an Iron-distance race, this is one to consider *IF* they resurface the roads. Both the bike and the run give idle minds plenty to work with.
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[4]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: 1st Ironman, but over 25 bike races, tri's, run races, etc and this race was great! Will probably do again next year.
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[5]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great race - the pre and post race is good. Organized. Fun expo and it was nice for my family. Would do it again.
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[6]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability:

  • Comments: This is actually a really well organized and well supported race. It was really challenging but not overwhelming. The only thing I didn't like was that the bike racks in T1 & T2 weren't numbered.
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[7]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: First of all, thank you to all the volunteers! I sincerely appreciate all your help and motivation during the race. Second, on my race plan, my Dream Day was to have a finish time of 14:50:00. Amazingly, I crushed that by finishing in 14:25:04. So even though there were tough times during the race, I can honestly say I had my Dream Day at the 2011 Full Vineman! I hope you too had or will have your Dream Day at this race! Good luck!
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[8]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?No
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: First off, the volunteers were outstanding. They were very helpful and enthusiastic and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The organizational aspect wasn't as good as I thought it would be. From the prerace meeting to packet pickup to weigh-in and getting things into T2 took nearly 3 hours! After the meeting there was a massive line to get into packet pickup which wasn't even open yet. Packet pickup was a cramped madhouse. It really seemed to take forever, with vast amounts of the pre-race meeting agenda repeated to you by the volunteers. Don't get me wrong, the volunteers were friendly and helpful, but they should've been instructed a little differently. Hopefully in the future the packet pickup will a bit more streamlined, and open immediately upon the conclusion of the noon meeting. I still plan on coming back next year. It's a damn good race, warts and all!
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[9]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I say it every time because it's true. My wife is the best. She supported me through this dream of mine. She spent large portions of weekends alone or watching me nap. She listened to me go on and on about Iron this and Tri that. Thank you baby, I love you.
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[10]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: It is truly a wonderful event. I great place to become an Ironman. I never thought I would be able to do this after going through cancer treatment a year and a half ago but by the grace of God and a supportive wife and family all is possible. I have so many to thank for their prayers, encouragement, and well wishes.
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[11]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I had so much going against me before this race that I decided to just participate and have fun, and even though I DNF that's exactly what I did! I fly for the Air Force Reserve and in April got hired at an airline and started training for that job. Having to spend 18 hours a day studying and training for my new job and fitting in flying for the Air Force meant I had no time to train. I was on the road 20-25 days a month and managing any kind of consistency was impossible. I was battling ITBS and sciatica through physical therapy so I knew going into it that I wasn't going to be able to run so I set out to do the swim and bike and see what happened after that.
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[12]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Vineman was an awesome venue. The volunteers were awesome and the course was BEAUTIFUL. Other observations: T1 was very croweded and made it harder than other races I've done to really get out fast if that was a goal. It was also sandy/muddy so it's easy to get sand, dirt, or little rocks in shows or socks. Changing tents were small and got crowded. The river is very shallow in a couple of areas preventing full, normal strokes. Because of the two loops you end up going through shallow spots 4 times. Bike course is on roads with a lot of potholes, cracks, and rough areas. Great care should be taken on that road. Only a few porta potties at the aid stations so there was almost always a line. T2 was quite a distance from the bike dismount line. Getting out of bike shoes might have been a better option for the long walk. Run course is HILLY with hardly any long stretch of flats. Plenty of aid stations (seemed like 1 per mile). Not too many lines at porta potties that I noticed.
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[13]
Reported by:
Race rating (4)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Well run race, never any confusion about where to go, plenty of aid stations on bike and run. This race would be so awsome if they ever fix the roads. I saw maybe 30 flats, I am sure there were more.
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[14]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?No
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: I had three goals coming into this race. 1- Finish 2- Learn about the experience and what it feels like 3- Have the desire to do another one Mission accomplished on all three fronts. I am extremely satisfied with how things turned out, and will be able to plan and train better for the next one.
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[15]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?No
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: It was a good day, even though I didn’t hit any of my goals. I was just a bit shy of all of them but I PR’ed by over an hour. I gave it the best I could and had a good time doing it, which is all that really matters. I had a fantastic week with my mom and I am so glad she was there. She is the best mom in the world. J I also owe a huge thank you to Matt for not only talking Mom through the race, but also putting up with me and my early Saturday and Sunday mornings, making me food when I come back from a long ride and generally being supportive of this very dumb thing I decided to do. J Thanks to Jon for letting me call him Skippy… and for riding with me, even though he is a complete disaster (I mean that in the nicest way possible.. he has a thing for flatting on the long rides). And to all of my pals for cheering me on (Matt G, Derek L, Iron Donkai Phil, Ben H, Jen S, Chase B, Dan A, Alaina, Ryan and Cody Bear, Holly and Dogbone and Spencer and Kelsey, Acadia, Ray D, Steve M, Susan,
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[16]
Reported by:
Race rating (5)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Triathlon is a life style. At times, it has consumed my life at the expense of other areas of my life. I still manage to do well at my job, keep up with laundry and errands, and even lay on the couch and watch a little TV, but my attitude towards life often times suffers. On the run course, I had a spiritual experience in which I saw just how full my life is. Specifically, my thoughts focused in on what an amazing, patient, and supportive wife that I have. I have missed her, even thought I have seen her every day. She is my best friend, and biggest supporter/fan. I couldn't have trained and raced two Ironmen over the past year without her in my life! In time (I imagine it will be a very short time), the memories of the pain will fade and the insanity will once again set in. When this happens, I will probably find myself signing up for IMAZ 2012?! A final thought...there are some who say that anyone can train and race an Ironman. Some even go as far to say that it is easy. My personal
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[17]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Great race, great location, great people, however this are was just too small to host such an event
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[18]
Reported by:
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Good
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: This is a fantastic race to do, awesome course, v tough run course but just great atmosphere. I found it much tough than IM Switzerland which I did last year. It was worth the trip over from London and a great way to finish off my vacation. My wife did Barbs race and loved that too. Thanks to all the Vinenman team.
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[19]
Reported by:
Race rating (3)
User photo
  • Organised?Yes
  • Events on time?Yes

  • Lots of volunteers to help?Yes
  • Plenty of drink stations?Yes

  • Post race activities? Below average
  • Overall course based on my ability: Just right

  • Comments: Plenty of food, ran out of milar blankets by the time I finished. Needed better signage for bike course close to the finish area. Wasn't sure if I took the correct turn for the second loop and had to ask a volunteer.
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