Vineman race report

Vineman post-race report

This definitely was my toughest 70.3 mile race…my heel injury has prevented me from running for the past couple months. I’ve been trying to run in the pool a couple hours a week but it is a mediocre substitute at best. It’s really a shame, because this race had the potential to be one of my better ones (early wave start, potential lower temperatures).

PRE-RACE

The following is a list of “new’ things I would be doing today (with apologies to Coach Gurujan, who says “Nothing new on race day!!)

* New brand of sunscreen (the brand I was using was giving me rashes)
* New nutrition (carbo-pro, since I ran out of Infinit)
* Painkillers-I usually don’t take anything, but with my injured heel my doctor advised me to take 2 Extra Strength Excedrin with breakfast, 2 in T1, and 2 in T2.
* “Yanks” on my shoes…I haven’t used those in a couple years so I considered them “new”
* New nutrition delivery system on the bike-I squirted 5 Gu packs into a plastic mini bottle so I wouldn’t have to fumble around with opening up the packs while riding



My race wave was to start at 6:46am (wave 3). As our cabin was about 3 miles from the start line, I was able to “sleep in” until 4:45. After a quick breakfast of peanut butter on a bagel and a banana, it was a short bike ride to the start line. I had enough time to get body marked and set up my transition area with about 5 minutes to spare, then I jumped into the water for the start of the swim. I noticed that the sky was clear blue; the usual fog and marine layer that stuck around until 8:30am or so was already burned off by 6:30am. That means it’ll get hotter faster…not a good sign.

One guy jumped in the water and didn’t realize he was still wearing his glasses. Someone told him and he had to rush out and put them back in the transition area, I’m not sure if he made it back before the gun went off.

SWIM-2100 yards/1.2 miles

I think my swim “peaked” about 2 weeks before the race, and my last few swims weren’t that great. This swim was no different; I think I started getting my rhythm after about 1900 yards and by that time the swim was almost over. One positive note was that since this was my 5th 70.3 event I was pretty familiar with how long the swim would take and how fast to pace myself (in prior races I would have that “where the hell is the turnaround point” mentality).

My goal was to break 40 minutes on the swim-which was a stupid goal to have considering I wasn’t wearing a watch and therefore had no idea if I should speed up, slow down or continue on the same pace at the turnaround.

At this writing my swim time + T1 add up to 0:45:48, and since I usually have a 5 minute T1 I think I was pretty close to that goal.

T1:Swim-to bike-transition

I took my salt tabs and Excedrin and headed off on the bike

BIKE-56 miles

My goal was to finish the bike in about 3:40 or less, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it because I was undertrained. So my main goal was to “enjoy the day”.

I headed off on the bike feeling better then last year. I paced myself and didn’t get bored like I usually do; even looking at my watch constantly to make sure I took in some nutrition every 10 minutes didn’t compel me to start mentally ticking off the miles.

At mile 7 a tree had fallen and hit 2 riders; a 3rd rider was close behind and skidded into the tree. One of the riders had his back broken. Several riders were stopped and giving aid so the remaining riders were maneuvering under the tree as best they could as to continue the race. Details of the accident are here http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090719/ARTICLES/907199983/1031/SPORTS07?Title=Freak-crash-during-Vineman-when-tree-falls-on-cyclists

Around mile 30 my inner quads started feeling a little tight. At mile 39 I stood to stretch a bit and both my quads seized up. I tried to ‘baby” my legs and not make the cramps worse because I was approaching Chalk Hill (about 300 foot climb, not too bad but I knew my legs would protest). I pedaled up the hill as slowly as I could without falling over, but I could still feel my quads tightening so instead of risking falling over I pulled off to the side and dismounted. As soon as my feet touched the pavement both quads cramped up. I ended up walking up the rest of the hill 1) to save time, and 2) to stretch out my legs so I could finish this thing. I also tried to determine why I was cramping up…up to that point I had taken 1200mg of sodium, which should have been plenty even on a hot day, and I had been drinking plenty. I concluded that it was probably the lack of training, and going too fast for my current ability.

I reached the top of Chalk Hill and cheered on riders reaching the top for awhile. My legs started to feel better and so I continued on without incident. Bike time-3:53:50 P.S. bike split last year was 3:56:53 so I ended up beating that at least.

T2:Bike-to-run transition

Nothing too interesting to report here, except I couldn’t find my transition area even though I had placed a bright yellow shirt over my things so I could spot it easily. More salt tabs, more Excedrin, and I was off on the “run”. T2 time: 0:05:15.

RUN-13.1 miles

The run was brutal, as usual. Even though the temperature was supposed to be around 90, actual temps ranged from 97 to 102 (yes there is a big difference). Also, the lack of marine/fog layer made the temperature rise quicker than normal. I was hoping that I would be able to run 5-6 miles, but looking back I think I only ran 1-2 miles. My heel injury and my quads were making it too painful to run. So I walked. Brian Gunn walked with me for a bit, and I saw/cheered on lots of people. It was fun but by mile 10 I had enough and just wanted the day to be over. I can only take so much of the sun.

By the end my feet were burning and killing me, and I had blisters. The last 3 miles took 25 minutes per mile to walk. I was trying to dig deep and make the last mile in under 23 minutes so I could break 9 hours for the race but I couldn’t do it. Total run time-4:17:32. Too long!
Overall, I'm glad I finished the race...I've been having motivational issues lately and hopefully this is the kick in the butt I need to start training better and more often.

24 hours until Vineman

The Vineman half-ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) is tomorrow and it should be interesting, to say the least. I use the term "interesting" in the literal sense in that I have no idea what is going to happen, even though I've done this race twice before. I'll break down the unknowns for you:

START TIME: In years past I've been in one of the last waves, starting at around 8:30. This is usually detrimental because the afternoon temperature climbs to around 95-100, so earlier starting waves get an advantage of not having to bike and run in as much heat. This year my wave starts at 6:46am, which means I avoid a lot of the heat and theoretically should have a faster time.

SWIM: I think I am faster then last year, but lack the base to complete the 1.2 mile swim as easily as I have in years past. I just need to remember to keep good form and finish strong. In prior years my times were around 44 and 39 minutes. Projected time this year = 39-41 minutes.

T1: Earlier swim wave means I have to run 10 yards out of the swim to my bike, not 100. 90 less yards to run in bare feet on gravel slightly covered with astro-turf should make T1 quicker. I usually don't care about T1 times and take about 5 minutes, but since I have this early wave start maybe I'll shoot for 3:30 or so.

Bike: Ugh. I've been training with Team in Training for Pac Grove (olympic distance) and haven't gotten in enough long rides. I think my longest ride in the last year has been 35 miles. Hopefully I can stay focused enough to notice my legs breaking down. If I can break 3:40 on the bike I'll be happy.

T2: nothing to say

Run: Ugh. I've had a heel injury for the last 5 months or so, and about a month ago I quit running entirely to try to get it to heal. It didn't. I've been running in the pool for the past couple weeks (I think for an hour, 5 times total). So how will I do on the run? Unknowns:
--Will I be stopped by the heal injury? Or did my month off from running allow it to heal enough so that I can finish this thing?
---Is pool running so incredibly beneficial that I'll be able to run the whole 13.1 miles? OR is it only marginally beneficial and I only have a 2-3 mile running base at this point?

So in the spirit of keeping focused on goals, here's what I hope to accomplish...each goal is superseded by the previous one:
1) Don't injure myself
2) have fun, plus goal #1
3) finish the race, plus #1 and #2
4) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 8 hours
5) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 7:50 (personal record for course)
6) Accomplish 1-3, and finish in under 7:35 (personal record for a half-ironman)

Goals 1-2 should be easily attainable, 3-6 might be a tad harder

Why do I like to wear a wetsuit?

300 yard time trial in the pool a couple weeks ago with no wetsuit = 5:24
300 yard time trial in the pool last night while wearing a wetsuit = 4:40

That's a 44 second benefit, or 13.5%.
BUT...the % benefit is actually greater when you consider the following:

1) these TT's were done in a pool, and when I'm in a wetsuit I can't aggressively flip-turn like I can while not in a wetsuit. So in open water the lack of walls to push off of would make my "no wetsuit" time slower and my "wetsuit" time faster

2) Last night I was coming off a 10-day head cold and could have gone faster

My body is awesome

Every time I ramp up the training my body responds with injury or sickness.
The latest debacle was an hour-long episode of pool running last Friday. It was at LA Fitness at their indoor pool and it was very humid. My body's response? I've had a head cold/sinus infection since Saturday.
And Vineman is in 17 days...

Another first!

I went up Scripps Poway Parkway twice last Saturday. Total climb was 3,060 feet. IT was extra tough because I did a hard climbing ride that Wednesday also.
I am still injured on the run...I need to start running in the pool.
Totals for last week:
swim 2.5 miles
bike 64.5 miles with 5,850' of climb
run 3.0 miles

First time up Torrey Pines hill (inside)

Yesterday I did Torrey Pines hill repeats-Sandra and I decided that since we'd never rode up the inside that we should do it! (see 3rd hill repeat...it doesn't look any steeper then the outside ones :( ). On the 4th repeat I pretty much hit the wall and decided I'd had enough for the day. Thanks Sandra...

Tried a zone 2 ride at Lake Miramar...

and I think I went too hard. The level of effort seemed too high. Next time I need to shoot for a HR of 110-115.
However I AM pleased with the HR distribution, I was able to stay in a relatively tight range.
34.2 miles in 2:15:47
Average mph = 15.1
Average HR = 118bpm
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8261399

Ok tax season is over...

And HAS been over for a month now, so I have no excuses to not blog anymore.
To recap the last couple months, I've been trying to heal up, I skipped Oceanside 70.3 and Wildflower, and I've been doing lots of short easy rides to get back into things. Last week I did 4 rides ranging from 60-90 minutes, and so far this week I've done 3 rides of 75-105 minutes.

I signed up to mentor the Team in Training Pac Grove team, and that starts Saturday. I'll keep everyone posted as to how that goes.

San Diego Tri Club = #1!!

Despite the fact that I only got in 138 miles on the bike in January, TCSD came in 1st place for the month in both biking miles and total miles (click chart at left to zoom in). Luckily there was a lot of people to take up my slack.

My personal miles for the month came out to be:

swim-8.9 miles

bike-138.3 miles

run-40.5 miles

As of today I am getting over a cold and numerous ankle/knee issues, hopefully I can start training to get my run base back up. Oceanside is in 10 weeks!

Paul's thought for the day

I think the most important aspect of working out is being able to maintain good form even when your body starts to crap out.

I remember what pain feels like now

Today I decided I needed to quit screwing around and get back on the bike no matter how I felt, so I joined Breakaway in their Sunday morning workout. It turns out that today was "do Torrey Pines repeats for 2 hours" day. So: 1st real ride in months, on my tri bike with no climbing gears, I cranked out 6 repeats which isn't that great but I'm glad I did it, and hopefully I'll start getting back into it. Here is the motion based data http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=7438257

Happy New Year!

It looks like I'm becoming one of those "once a month" bloggers. See the chart at left for my swim, bike and run totals for the year. I feel like I have my swim base back, more or less.

Anyways, for the triathlon challenge the San Diego Triathlon Club came in 3rd for the month of December (swim month) with 856 total miles (75 participants). We got beat by 2 Alaskan clubs, go figure. I guess they have nothing to do up there then swim indoors.

January is bike month, each club is racing to get to 10,000 miles first so I need to put more time in on the bike. I also need to get my bike base back, the Oceanside 70.3 is in a few months and I am not prepared.

I hope everyone out there had a safe and happy new year!