Vineman Full Ironman : Official Thread (Page 3)

My main advice for a first IM at Vineman is to not hit the first lap on the bike too hard.  You will be coming out of the water feeling fine, be a bit cool and happy to be on the bike, get up to speed, drop slow for the mean corner and then open it up, passing people, smiling feeling good, crush the mean hill thinking that wasn't bad, what was all the concern about... and then around mile 75 those small rollers start feeling harder,  you start going up them in easier and easier gears, coasting down the far side and now you are thiniking maybe that big hill was not so easy after all, the wind comes up, you are out of aero position more and dreading the big hill.....   you go up a bigger roller and think this must be it... nope it lets up and flattens, no this must be it... nope just another roller... where is that thing it has to be any mile now..... finally there it is you are going up slowly, finally crest the hill at mile 100 ish and think yay now I can just coast down to the finish line... but those last 12 miles seem much longer than they should, especially with that 2-3 mile down hill.  But your back is aching and your neck is aching and you kind of limp the bike in over the very long 12 miles.. 

Woot off the bike Finally thank GOD!  Now on the run, dead legs for 1 mile then feeling fine, picking up the pace, wow I could really nail this marathon, look at those mile splits, I could go sub 3:45 on this puppy..... then the first small hill, hrm this isn't too bad, and then the bigger  hill, this sucks but not undoable, then you get to mile 6 and think... wow my legs are starting to feel like they do at mile 18 on an open mary.  This is really gona suck!  Don't let panic set in just stay with it aches and pains will come and go, just keep going and it will all work its way out.  Just hold steady until mile 20 and then slowly increase your pace/effort from mile 20 on and see what you end up with. 


Well that was my race anyway, prepare well, and then just stay within yourself for the day pacing well and it may well be the experience of your life.  Good times. 

Nice Baowolf!  I'm getting excited!!  My 1st IM (second Triathlon) and all this advice and these inspirations are helping tremendously.

Starting to kick it up a bit in training.  A long way to go on the swim and bike for me.

Is anyone going to ship their bike?  My husband and I are debating whether or not to fly with them (we already have 2 cases so finding a case isn't an issue) or ship them.  Flying with them is a pain and gets really expensive since we'll have 2 bikes.  I know Southwest has the cheapest bike fees but the don't have the best flight options for us.

Anyways, if anyone has experience shipping a bike to this race please let me know.  And if anyone can recommend where I can ship it to (perhaps a bike shop, tri shop, etc) please let me know.  I see that the race website recommends this bike shop- does anyone know anything about them?  Are they good to use?   http://www.norcalcycling.com//>
Thanks!

Edited by runnergirl 2011-02-08 12:32 PM

I just made reservations at the West Sonoma Inn which is about .5 miles from the swim start. I would offer up my place for pre-race BT breakfast if y'all are interested!

I'm reposting photos I took in years past on a training ride and had posted in previous Vineman threads.  Enjoy.

Thanks so much for all the awesome information.  It's really, really helpful to get some insider information regarding course conditions.  This will be my first Iron-distance race since 1988 so I am pretty much a newbie again.  I did a 70.3 in Austin last October and it was great to be back in the fold of so many supportive athletes and family/fans.  I've ridden near the area of the Vineman course during a couple of recent Davis Double centuries and I expect the temps to kick this Oregon boy's butt!  I'm still looking forward to it!
I'm hoping to get in on a 3-for-2 entry if anyone here is interested.
 

Steve/Baowolf already given a lot of good info on the race.  The only other bits I'd add are:

- If you are a weak swimmer, the water is very shallow and you can stop and stand so you're not going to drown.  I believe they actually amended the rules so you can walk (i.e. make forward progress w/o swimming).
- It's typically hot.  Hot as the sun comes up on the bike, if you're fairly quick, hot on the run until the sun goes down.
- read previous year race reports.  There's a lot of good info in them and I learn bits from reading other reports prior to doing a race and I always try to include a lot of info in mine. 
- I'd say the vineman bike course is pretty mild compared to most IMs, but as Steve described, it's definitely not flat.
- The run is hillier than most.  There was a ranking of 70.3 run courses somewhere and vineman 70.3 was listed in top 3 toughest runs for that distance and the full IM is obviously more of the same.
- For the firstimers, I'd underscore what steve said about pacing...I think in Friel's book Going Long he says the number one mistake people make on the long distances is going out too fast on the bike.

Thanks for the advice and bike route photos.  There's a similar bike route in Moor Park but much harder.  It's in Balcom Canyon and if you go straight to Ronald Reagan Library, there's an 18% grade hill that lasts for about a mile. 

I also tried to venture on similar IM swim today.  I swam 4500 yards in 1:20 in the pool.  It was looooong but felt ok after.  9x500 yards with 30 sec rest in between.

Hey Monty - sent you a message regarding signing up for the 3 for 2 deal.


Edited by drgary 2011-02-19 10:47 PM

We booked our flights yesterday- so excited for this race!

Very exciting runnergirl!  We just turned in our registration so there's no turning  back now!  Loved the 3 for 2 deal, saved some much needed money.

How's everyone's training going?  My first IM so I'm trying to stay on track.  My log is public so if anyone want's to chime in feel free.  I do need to get in the water much more!  Monthly totals feel pretty good so far.

I'm trying to be consistent as well.  I just got back into the pool a few weeks ago after a 3 or 4 month hiatus.  My feet are cramping up... I'm so out of swim shape    Bike and Run are fine though.  Keep up the good work.  It's my 1st IM distance also.

My training has been going okay. I just had a weird flu last week with the body aches and fever but nothing else. I'm also dealing with some anterior right calf pain while running. The facia seems to be tight and won't let up, so running has been difficult to train for. That's my worst sport too :-( This will be my first IM, so it makes me anxious but I still can't wait!

My training is going well.  I only have 2 more weeks of base building on the Be IronFit plan until I start the "build" phase.  Swimming is good, biking is coming along now that it's warm to do long rides outside. My running is non-existent though.  I have a bad case of PF and peroneal tendonitis and haven't run for nearly 2 months.  It's getting better and I'm going on week #4 of PT so hopefully I'll be ready in July

Are you going to adjust the build for running then?  I've been wondering how to do that for the same reason.

I hit the build phase in 2 more weeks and I'm getting nervous about my lack of running.

As of now, I've been making up all my missed run with bikes sessions and one extra swim session.  I decided that doing more biking will help me more than substituting my missed run with the elliptical.

I'm going to have to scale back my running from what the plan has but I don't know how exactly what to do with it yet.  I'm not sure how much I'll be able to run in a few weeks- really hoping I don't miss too much but I want to make to the race healthy.  I think I'll play each week by ear and adjust the runs based on how I'm feeling.

Being injured is not fun   I'm not doing any races before Vineman so I'll avoid re-injury.

Have you tried kinesio taping?  I have found that it has really helped my injuries!

My training is screwy because of running Boston in April.  So February was 183 miles run, 250 miles biked and 18,600 ish yards swum.  The bike is really low, swim is meh not so good, but coming off the broken collar bone, it is what it is for now.  I don't feel I can do too much more on the bike with 2 more 20 mile runs coming up, but meh maybe 300 miles this month and then some serious building in May and June on the bike and swim.  I think I have 2 more weeks before starting an official IM plan, but will have to taper and recover from the Mary...not ideal.  

What sort of volume and time are you looking at leading up to Vineman once Boston is done and recovered from?

My training is going well although travel really ate up my February. Most weeks should be in the 8-12 hour range for me at this time. My run volume weekly should be in the 30-40 mile range with bike in near 75-100 miles, and swim in the 7,500-10,000 yards range. I'm swimming 3 days a week, running 4-5, and biking 3-4.

If you get a chance, could you look at my logs and let me know what you think. I'm 39 years old and shooting for under 12 hours. My long set pace is 1:40 per hard and my typical long run pace (13-17 miles) is a bit under 7:30. I really don't have an accurate bike pace at this time because I've been indoors too long and have a new bike. Past races have been in the 17 - 19 range.

Cbrave, you look a bit faster than me and I went 12:16:xx at Vineman, so I think 12:00:00 is real duable for you if you can train smart and get the training in.  I'm shooting for 12:00:00 this year also, but I don't think I will be able to get the bike vollume in to pull it off. 
My bike should go something like this Feb 255, March 300, April 350, May 500-550, Jun 550 to 650 miles.  Run will go something like this Jan 183, Feb 183, March 200ish, April 120, May 120, June 135.  Swim Feb 18,000, March 22,000, April 27,000, May 35,000, June 40-45,000 yards. 

My training has completely lacked consistency....ugggg....darn work!

That's a great goal. I have no idea what I'm capable of. Sub-14 perhaps?BTW... All, in about a month or so I plan to do 1 loop of the bike course if anyone is interested in joining me.

Edited by ecpasos 2011-03-04 10:33 AM

Hi all!! I'm signed up, too. This will be my first Ironman distance race and I've been looking forward to it for a long time. I'm happy to have found you guys. I was starting to get a little down.... dealing with kids, snow on the ground, working too much, etc.... but to know I'm definitely not alone in that helps tons.
I've done Barb's race a couple times and I loved it. The swim is great and the bike course is beautiful. Can't wait to get there. Good luck to everyone and I hope to see some of you out there. Are any of you bringing kids/families with you? How are you dealing with the logistics? Right now I feel like that's the toughest part. Getting a good nights sleep with the kids in the same room, waking them ridiculously early, etc.