Full Vineman Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 6)

Oh man, that's rough. Hopefully these next couple weeks will be better. And congrats on the marathon. Hopefully things will go better for you this year.

And perhaps we could trade weather, it'll hit 99/100 here every day with no rain or break in sight. My rides and runs have been slower as of late and it leaves me thinking it's going to be a long day next month. For now, I'm just hoping we won't have any wildfires nearby until after my last long ride. I started yesterday in some smoke haze and it definitely hurt my lungs.

Long wait in transition for my wife (doing Barb's Race)...she starts 1:35 after my VM wave.

Probably bears mentioning on the off chance anyone wasn't already aware of it, but you don't get 17 hours for this one...

Wow, we are less than 4 weeks away now!

June number time! Unfortunately, I was way under my plan for the month...yikes! I only hit 60% of my planned run hours, 64% of my planned swim hours and 79% of my planned bike hours....not good!

I did start the month big with huge day on Sunday, July 1....80 mile ride followed by a 13.1 mile run. Headed to Yosemite this week for a family vacation so my numbers will be very low this week.

Bike:  36h 33m 27s  - 576.88 Mi
Run:  17h 05m 44s  - 120.19 Mi
Swim:  5h 41m 18s  - 20362 Yd

Sunday, 7/1, was a 3 hour/20.5 mile run, followed by 6x400 yds in the pool.  If I add those to my June totals, I'm pretty much where I wanted to be for the month.

Doing a 2.1 mile ocean swim on Wednesday...couple more rides around 110 miles the next two Saturdays, but the running taper is beginning for me now.  I have a 17.5 miler planned for Sunday, but I'll cut it shorter if I have any issues.  Learned my lesson training for St George...did one long run too many (with one too many big descents) and injured rt ITB three weeks out...too close to the race to fully rehab.  If you aren't prepared to handle a marathon by 27 days out, IMO, there's potentially a lot more to lose than to gain by squeezing in really long runs within the last 3 weeks.

Time for the numbers....

I switched my long run and bike this past weekend, and that is skewing the numbers a bit.  Reverse them and I biked 600 and ran 150. 

I feel pretty good, but I wish I had more bike fitness.  Sounds like every other IM I've done. 

Pretty happy with where I'm at.

We have almost the exact same bike mileage - you'll be fine!

And, you're going to kill the run!  (We also know you'll be the first out of the water!)

FINALLY, I am back to 100 miles of running.  Heat set me back on the biking mileage this month, but except for lacking the 100 mile+ rides, I think I am doing OK.  It will be interesting to see if the shorter but harder bike works plan works as well as the "bike longer but easy" plan from last year.  Good thing I already know what happens if I overcook the bike because I'm out of time to do the big brick workout.

With temperatures averaging in the 90s in the Vineman area, all time goals may be out the window anyway. 

Hopefully I will be our good luck charm...when I've raced at Vineman before, the heat has been on the other race weekend:  When I did the 70.3 in '08, the high was in the low 80s and in the 90s the next weekend for the Full, then, when I did the Full in '09, it was the opposite, with scorching heat for the 70.3 and then moderate temps for my race. 

In all seriousness, though, when you also throw in the relay I was on with my wife for the Full last year, my experience has been that the heat generally doesn't really fire up until sometime during the run.  In 2008, people were actually complaining about never warming up on the bike during the 70.3.  It's all about how much of a marine layer there is in the morning and how long it sticks around.

The way to early to be accurate forecast for race day is low of 61 and a high of 95. 

So, I think your luck plus the odds are the weatherman is wrong equals a cool race day.

Lots of great numbers for June.  Wish I could say the same but much has conspired against me.  I am way ahead of my swim over last year and I am very confident my day will start well.  My running has also gone well and I've average over 100 miles/month since January and I've run three marathons recently.

But, I am so far behind on the bike that I'll have to change my race strategy to keep from having a disaster.  After my HIM last month, my plan was to ramp up the bike but the weather has been so poor that my road miles have suffered and I just haven't been able to put in the time on the trainer.  Had a pretty good ride last weekend but broke a spoke so have been with no bike this week awaiting repair.  I should be OK if I just plan on bringing my bike race goal back about 20 minutes and just get through the bike with as much as possible in the legs.

I am not looking forward to high temps as I'm more acclimated to the Arctic than California after the cold, wet year we've had so far.  

So this is my first Ironman distance race and thus my first race with a "special needs" bag.  What do I put in it?!  I train with Clif Bars and Gel Blocks for the most part.  Also I take 2 sodium capsules every hour to help stave off those pesky cramps.  I was thinking of a P&B sandwich, banana, and a couple of more bars for the rest of the ride.  Any suggestions?  Thanks

Michael

Extra tube and CO2 is a common staple of people's SN bag.

I don't plan on stopping at special needs, so my bags contain items I'll need something unexpected has happened. 

 Bike Special Needs Bag

1. CO2
2. tube
3. Wipes - Baby wipes or similar to clean up road rash, black gunk from tire change, etc.
   
4. Granola Bar Chomps
5. Oh Poop Baggie with tums, advil, biofreeze, bandaids, vaseline, and butt butter.

The "Oh Poop Baggie" is a ziploc with a small amount of the items listed.  I don't plan on using it, but if something goes bad I'll need them.

 Run Special Needs Bag

1. socks
2. old shoes
3. old shirt
4. Oh Poop Baggie
5. wipes

 A lot of this stuff is for if I've had something go wrong and I'm walking the marathon.  I figure clean/dry shoes, socks, and shirt will feel really nice at that point.   I don't bother to pick this bag up after the race.

Run taper on for me.  Maybe starting bike taper, also...got a bit of an unusual ache in rt knee during second half of 110 miler yesterday...seems mostly resolved today (thought it might be bursitis, but I think now it was quad-related), but not something I want to screw around with at this point.  One last 4000 yard swim planned, but I'm looking forward to starting to rest and heal up.

Last time I did the Full VM, this was the day I tripped in the wet sand on the beach after two mile swim and blew up my hamstring...very happy to get past this day without any significant injuries. 

Don't know if it will be needed this year given the current weather but last year the night before the race it got a little chilly. At the last minute I put a long sleeve pullover in case I went long on my run.  It was a life saver.

Also, make sure you know where the special needs bags are especailly on the bike course.  I almost missed mine because it was right after a water station and I was focused on my fluids and almost blew right past it.

What does "normal" water level mean?  I need some depth or my hands will be touching the bottom!

Are we really only two and a half weeks away?

After I asked I found a website that gives water depth near the bridge.  The depth is very close to where it was last year but can fluctuate slightly from day to day.  If anything it looked like it might be just a tad shallower than last year.

This means that there will be several places near the turnaround where your fingers can scrape the bottom while swimming.  Many chose to walk those sections.  There was one short stretch where it was actaully difficult to pull without bending my elbow more than usual. 

2012-07-10

Aid stations are at miles 18, 29, 40, 57, 75, 85, 96