Vineman Full Ironman : Official Thread (Page 13)

So at Vineman do you have bike and run gear bags like you would at an M-Dot IM?  Or is all your gear at your bike like a normal tri and then if you need to get naked then you head to the change tent?

I'm not racing, but I'm asking all these questions to help the hubby have speedier transitions.  I will be his logisitics coordinator.  I told him he had to beat my IM CDA T1 and T2 times- no pressure

Gear is at your bike like a normal tri and you only go to the changing tent if you need to get naked.  Since T1 and T2 are separate locations, you have to pack up all your swim gear into your bag at T1 before leaving T1 (this is the same at m-dot IM races with 2 transition areas like IM SG).

Also, T2 is in a parking lot, which if it is sunny, will get very hot (i.e. not good for cold or melty things).  Can also be windy so make sure you've stashed your stuff accordingly.

All good info- thanks.

So for T2- when you come in to rack your bike are the racks already assigned with numbers or can you rack your bike anywhere?  Also, where will the gear bags be for the run stuff- at the rack labeled with your bike number or in an area where athletes have to go through to find theirs? 

Sorry for all the questions- this is our first experience with an independent iron distance.

I don't recall the racks in T2 being explicitly numbered (T1 might be), but are assigned to a range of numbers so your exact spot will depend on where you originally set up T2 before the race.  Remember, you'll need to set up T2 presumably the day before (e.g. after registration although I do believe they also open it up early in the morning on the day of the race), but T1 is set up the morning of the race.

I thought I remembered specific numbers for bike setup in t1 and run setup in t2 so you canfind your run bag easier.  Your run stuff is dropped off the day before, so I think the numbering helps you find it in t2. 

Bah fried my shoulder in a swim yesterday.  Not very pleased about that.  It was a little irritated in the swim so I took it easy ended a bit early and then stiffed yesterday and lastnight.  Bah.  Wish I were 20 again.  I'm not sure if I can bike today or not. 

Wetsuit stripper gets your wetsuit off in like 3 seconds or less.  I could never do that on my own.  You get the wetsuit down to your bum, you sit down and roll onto your back (getting your bum off the ground) roll back up they hand you your wetsuit and you are on your way.  It is really fast, no time to get a phone number or anything.

All of my experience with leg muscle issues is... walk a lot instead of running if there is pain running.  I mean like 20 to 25 miles a week walking.  If you get in 4 miles a day for 4-5 days a week and an 8 miler on the weekend you will be amazed how much run fitness you will maintain simply by walking at a 15 mpm pace.  This has helped me with calf and hamstring issues over the past couple of years.  Last year I pulled a calf muscle 9 ish weeks before CDA.  I walked for a month then walked jogged and worked up in mileage.  The longest I was able to build to was 10 miles continuous jog prior to CDA but was able to jog the whole thing, not fast, but no walking.  So not to contradict your PT, but I find walking lots to be massively helpful in the healing process.  I would be leary of stretching a pulled muscle... ouche.  Ice yes, heat yes, gentle massage maybe, walking yes.  My non medical advice, but based on a what a sprots med doc told me prior to my last 2 IMs.  Luck and I hope you hold together. 

Oh and 80 mile bike ride 20 mph winds pace 18.1 (fast for me).  If I could do that during the race I would be very pleased.  I followed it with a 3 mile brick at a 7:07 mpm pace.  Ya fast, but I was feeling good after being bumbed yesterday.  No swim on Monday though.  Shoulder feeling a bit better this afternoon.  Not gona press my luck though.  Hopefuly it was an itty overuse issue that will clear up in a week.  Otherwise it will be breastroke time and watch your goggles!!!

also, you won't have built up any additional fitness in the next 2 weeks, so you primarily want to hang on to the fitness you already have and not make anything worse.  Walking is very common at IMs and I've done my share of it.

Injury management IS a big part of training for an IM.  Most people are pushing their physical boundaries multiple times to build up the endurance they need to be able to do an IM and overuse injuries are far too common.  All the hard work is done getting to the starting line ready to race.

HUGE thanks to you Vineman and IM veterans for all the information. I think I would feel pretty anxious going into this were it not for your help. 

My first week of taper was pretty crappy. Just felt low energy and depressive all week, in workouts and elsewhere. I know tapers make lots of people all kinds of crazy, and I've felt this before, but never to this extent. I'd expect and prefer to feel excited and full of energy. Weird to feel so beaten down with "so little" time training. Hoping that by race time I'll at least feel like SBRing at higher intensity. For now, zone 2 requires a focused effort. Bah. On a side note, on my transition run yesterday, I had a powerful experience of "runner's high." I've never felt anything like it, but after 4 hours of cycling, I ran up a hill to see views of the surrounding valleys as the sun was setting and just felt deeply happy and content. Smiled through most of the rest of the run. Makes me wonder if what I had been experiencing earlier in the week was really something similar to withdrawl! I am highly addiction prone... I'm not worried about it, more just intrigued. And wondering if I'm going to end up running across the country or something just to get my fix.

On the injury front, mine are minor compared to some of yours (hoping for an accelerated healing and good race for all of you), but my saddle sores are not resolving. I've been washing myself and my shorts frequently, rotating through baby powder and antibiotic ointment and applied some hemroid creme (thanks for the tip, Abbie) before my long ride, and even tried switching back from my Adamo saddle to the Fizik that came with my bike (sucks as much as I remembered it sucking), but they're not going away. I'm thinking I should probably just quit riding until that area is all the way healed up. At this point, I can't imagine that could cost me much race time, and if they don't heal, that could make for a pretty miserable race day.

Oh, for any of you who are traveling to the race -- I found out that Fedex will ground ship a bike coast to coast in four days for around $35, with $2500 worth of coverage for another $18. That's by far the best option I've found, especially since they'll pick it up from your house. So much easier, cheaper, and less risky than trying to check it onto a United flight.

I get in Thursday AM and will probably spend the early part of the day getting settled in, bike ready, driving the course, etc. Anyone want to do a brief on-site swim Thursday afternoon followed by an early dinner? Any recommendations for good pre-race fare in the area?

Don't worry- usually the first week of taper is always the worst.  You think you should feel really good due to decreased volume, but honestly your body still hasn't caught up with the rest and you just feel very tired and off- don't freak out.  You should feel better this week- you'll feel more rested and by next week you will be rearing to go. Make sure to stay hydrated, eat healthy foods to keep your body "fueled", increase your protein intake and get a lot of sleep. 

As for saddle sores- I've had them before and the only thing that really got rid of them was to stop riding for a little bit. I would think that with your taper it would be perfect time to let them heal up.  You can always try putting some iodine on them. I've found that letting them dry up as opposed to keeping them moist helped them heal up quicker.

BTW- sounds like you got a great deal to ship your bike.  My hubby shipped his through UPS through our local tri shop.  Since this is our first time dealing with bike shipping we had our tri shop disassemble and pack it up to ship.  We are using one of our soft bike cases that we used to fly down to IM Cozumel with and they work awesome, so it was good to be able to use one of them again.  Anyways, I think he paid around $100 for all of that plus additional insurance.  Kinda pricey but less of a headache for us since we didn't have to fiddle with taking it apart and packing io.  It's being shipped to the bike shop that is on the Vineman website and they will put it together for him so we don't have to worry about that.  On the way back we will take the bike apart and pack it up and have the LBS ship it back to our tri shop to save some money.  But even with all the extra fees for disassembly and assembly, it's still cheaper and easier for us to ship his bike than fly with it on delta, which is $175 bike fee ONE WAY!!

Mike, I feel your pain!  Look at my log for last week.  Both my body and my mind completely shut down.  It's the weirdest thing I've ever felt as this is my 1st IM training.  I could barely get in 2 workouts last week and I was freaking out. Starting to feel better this week and it seems like this is the norm.  Keep it going and we'll see you out there.

Jim and I will be arriving Thursday afternoon and will be around for dinner if anyone wants to meet up.

I'll be arriving around noon.  I'd like to get a brief on-site swim in too.  Let's plan to hook up. 

We arrive at SFO late Wednesday night so are staying near the airport that night.  Plan to hit Muir Woods on our way to Santa Rosa Thursday and otherwise enjoy some sights with the car.  Would be up for jointly driving the bike course either Thursday evening or Friday morning.  I figure we can distract ourselves while the sherpas meet each other. 

Yep all regular feelings emotionally and physically.  If you can't run get in a short walk.  If you can't bike 20 z2 do 10 z1, just keep moving a bit.  Things should improve this week and by next week you should be downright squirly wanting to do something, anything.   We get in Thursday late afternoon early evening and will be tenting. 

I was happy to actually be able to get through my 80 mile bike Sat and 12 mile run Sun without any dropoff in speed.  It actually feels good to have the haze of fatigue load lifting.  Emotionally it is hard to start the workouts, but once in them I am alright.  I am going to skip the swim today and go reallly short and lite on wed to feel thigns out. 

I do recommend driving the course, there are a couple of turns to be aware of, one like 5 miles into the ride and the other a couple miles past the big hill.  Nothing super technical, just need to not carry too much speed into them.  They say on the first turn where you go right and then down under the road to the left that someone crashes every year.  It is good to not be that person.  Also do not ever cross the double yellow as there is separation between the two paved lanes between the yellow lines between miles 8 and 15, forget exactly where.   

For first timers you will be amazed at how your body will put all the training and rest together on race day.  Just stay slow enough to keep going. 

Yes, at about mile 15 on the bike, this is where I crashed and broke my shoulder, rib, T8 vertebrae in 2009, but there are several stretches like this with a groove in the road like that in the double yellow and it still hasn't changed when I rode it a few weeks ago.

Downright dangerous... I did one loop and didn't even notice it.  I just was fortunate not to cross that spot where you crashed.  Thanks for the heads up.  I know I'll be much more alert because of this information.

Not more acceptable (still a violation of the rules), probably just a matter of being harder to police over a 112 mile course, IMO.  I can't say that I noticed much (any, really) of that at VM, personally.

Countdown!  I just raced the 70.3 yesterday, and it's a beautiful course.  Thought I'd chime in with some observations- with the caveat that free advice is worth what you pay for it!

1.  Loved the swim!  Water was 70 degrees, so wetsuit legal.  Slight current, not really noticeable.  Was shallow in places - I scraped a knuckle on the bottom once.  People were walking near the turnaround.

2.  T1 was really gravelly - take a second to get the rocks off your feet if that'll be an issue for you.  It's also a small, but there, climb out right past the mount line....many people ran their bikes up a bit further to mount.

3.  Bike course was gorgeous, and fast, with some very fast downhills...but the roads aren't in great shape.  LOTS of bike debris...bottles, cages, tubes, mesh, etc.  I stopped counting when I passed the 20th flat being changed, and I wasn't at mile 25 yet.  Hy hubby saw 1 crash, and I saw 1 ambulance picking up a rider.  They mean it when they tell you about the trouble zones at the pre-race meeting.  Be careful.

4.  T2 was a bit convoluted, it was set up in the school quad because they were re-seeding the fields.  Don't know if it'll be same in 2 weeks, but take a minute to check it out.  It's a pretty good distance run from the dismount line to the racks.

5.  I thought the run course was tough.  It wasn't steep hills, but there were lots of rollers - you were always going up or down.  It was pretty steeply sloped, too....hard to get a flat place to run.  Not a lot of shade, either.

6.  I didn't see many marshalls on the bike....and I had my first experiance at being drafted upon - annoying as heck.  The run course, however, they WERE marshalling.  Really enforcing people staying on the left side of the road (that's the going out left, and runners split that lane, traffic had the other) and monitoring for outside assistance.  I watched a 61 year old lady getting talked to by a marshall, who was holding her number.  Another runner told me it was for outside assistance.  I also observed a marshall make a guy go back for a gu wrapper (that I saw him throw - tacky) between aid stations.  Don't know if he got tagged for that or not.  I'd be careful about the outside assistance through the run - and there are lots of aid stations that really took care of us.

7.  The volunteers were supportive, helpful and friendly.  Mine was the half, so there weren't strippers or a changing tent.

Have a blast!  All of this is based upon me looking at the maps, and seeing that the courses aren't  identical, but very similar.

A question for the folks familiar with this course.  I was planning on racing with my race wheels... and they are tubulars.  I am really worried about flatting since I only carry pit stop and CO2.  

Tubulars don't typically get pinch flats, just punctures.  How do you guys feel about riding tubulars on this course?  Wise or no?

My race wheels are Zipp clinchers.....because I don't want to deal with a tubulars, at all.  I think it has everything to do with how comfortable you are with changing them!