Full Vineman 2014 Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 2)

Jose, below is the elevation map from my run of the 70.3 last year.  The full is basically the same course, just two laps.

So the hills are not big per se, but there is actually very little that is flat - so you are constantly on an uphill or downhill which does have a significant cumulative effect.  If you are looking for training terrain, I'd look for the rolling hills and run a lot of them, not really worrying about any long sustained climbs. 

Just for fun, I looked back at the elevation profile for my first marathon, the Big Sur International.  This was the worst of both worlds - big hills and never ending rollers.  Not the best choice for a rookie's debut!

I did the Full Vineman last year, and of course they were running Barb's Race (the women's half) at the same time.  It's actually not exactly the same course x2.  For the half, they did 2 laps, while for the full, we did 3 longer laps.  The bigger hills are past where the half course turns around.

There was one hill that was pretty much un-runable, or at least not worth the toll it would take on the rest of your run to try to maintain a run going up the short climb.  Plan to powerwalk it, use it for refueling or giving your gait a switch-up, whatever works for you, and save that energy for the other 98% of the course.  I don't think I saw anyone who was on a second or third lap actually running it (and you can tell based off the bracelets they give you at the end of each lap).

I think Shannon's comment's about the one hill is pretty well demonstrated by this graphic, no?

Aaaah that's more like what it felt like

LockNLoad, NO SOUP at the run aid stations. My only complaint on the run.

Jose, I think we should be OK.  I had similar concerns so contacted the coach who wrote my plan.  He lives up there (his sister is on the race org team) and says that if the authorities release any water at all, the dam right below the starting line will allow it to fill enough to let us swim.  He did say that the only possible impact is that the lower flow may result in a higher water temp, and it only has to go up 5-8 degrees to make wet suits not legal.

I ended up going with the training plan from the same coach who did the 70.3 plan last year as I really liked the structure and the results I got by doing it.  So I've spent the last couple of days modifying the spreadsheet to move my off day to a Saturday (gotta get my golf in!) and to put it into a format I can upload into my BT training log.  I've got a couple of outstanding questions I'm clarifying with the coach before I finalize that and pull the trigger on the upload.  It'll be really nice to be able to access it on BT and track plan against actuals, see it on my phone, etc.

With all this plan work, this race is now becoming real.  I mean really real!  As in "Wow, this is a lot of training I'm signing up for!"  Looking at my peak workout days of 6-6.5 hours is kind of daunting, but I remember when I looked at the hours in my 70.3 plan it felt the same.  I'm hoping I can manage as well here.  Now the challenge is to structure the weeks between the today and the plan start to make sure I'm at the right level and ready to go. 

The obsessing has officially begun.  How are things with everyone else?

Jose, I've been a fan of Maffetone for years.  When training for my 3rd marathon I first integrated his methodology and ended up with a 24 minute PR and a significant negative split.  I've been using it thus far for my base training and have already seen some good results, so will be continuing down that path for another 5 or 6 weeks at least.  It seems to me that as important as it was for the marathon training, it would be even more effective used for IM training.

IM nutrition is new to me, so I can't give you a lot of guidance there.  Thus far I've done quite a bit of reading up on it and have a lot of disparate data bouncing around inside my skull along with the beginning of the outline of a plan.  So what am I thinking?  I really like using Infinit on the bike and used it exclusively in my HIM.  For that, I got a custom mix with the weakest possible flavor content and mixed up 6 scoops in a single bottle. That bottle got me through the bike really well but I was craving something solid and salty so had a Mojo peanut butter pretzel bar in the last 10 miles.  This combination worked great and got me into the run feeling good.  So my current thinking is to mix up two bottles of the concentrated mix (one on the downtube, one behind the saddle) with water in the aerobottle between the bars.  Am going to experiment with bars during training to see what I like best and take a couple of them (right now Paydays are sounding pretty good!).  May also throw some pretzels or some such in the jersey pocket.  The run seems to be pretty well stocked with gels, cookies, chips, pretzels, fruit, cola and Gatorade Endurance.  They are using Clif Shot gels and I'm trying those out right now (and like them a lot) to see if I can just survive off the course.  I may strap on a belt to carry a bottle of water as I found in the marathons if I had it available at all times I hydrated better than if I just used the aid stations.  But I fully intend to walk through the aid stations on the IM, so may be easier to make sure I get enough H20 from there.  I expect these ideas to move around and morph into alternatives a few times between now and then, but that's part of the fun, no?

Jose, I'd really recommend you check out the Infinit product (http://www.infinitnutrition.us/) as you can adjust how much you want in the way of electrolytes, protein, carbs, caffeine, calories to suit your needs.  I'd suggest you call them for the free consult as I thought they did a really good job of trying to understand my needs and formulate a mix for me (I actually have 2, one standard for shorter training rides and then the concentrate/low flavor mix I use 6 scoops in a bottle for longer rides).

X

Jill, Jose nailed it - a LOT of good reasons!  I hope you are ready for some great riding and running through vineyards that will be hanging heavy with grapes at race time.  That'll just whet your appetite for the wine tasting the day after the race - a great source of refueling a body that gave it's all for you .

Thought I'd take a minute and produce a summary of who has joined the thread to date along with a link to their profile.  Let me know if I miss anyone!