Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Guerneville, California
United States
Vineman, Inc.
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 4h 35m 9s
Overall Rank = 55/1874
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 7/321
Pre-race routine:

Up at 4am, pack the car and grab some quick grub in the room before heading out to the tiny town of Guerneville where the swim and T1 is staged. They have no organized parking so it's good I was in an early start wave and had to be there before the crack of dawn. We parked down a side street and had a ~5min walk down to the river. Transition is kind of a mess - little gravel parking lot on the river bank with several 100 nasty dirty carpet runners strung together along both sides to serve as paths but nothing between the racks - just rocks and dirt - FAIL #1. I lightened the load a bit (if you know what I mean) about 30min before my 6:46am wave start and got suited up in the neoprene.
Event warmup:

Minimal - The river is so small that they were only allowing each wave in the water after the previous wave left so we had 8min to get in and do a little swimming around. We had a space maybe 30m wide and 30m long behind he starting line for everyone to warmup - FAIL #2.
Swim
  • 32m 15s
  • 1931 meters
  • 01m 40s / 100 meters
Comments:

Pretty average and unremarkable swim for me - my typical 70.3 swim is 30-32min and my best is 29:40. I did a good job of controlling the energy at the start and not digging myself into a hole and then just maintaining a nice steady comfortable effort. I caught a little draft here and there but it's usually better for me to just do my own thing and not waste energy trying to hold a tight draft position. After the turn there was a very shallow section where most people were walking along on knee deep water - it was basically impossible to swim. Only the pros and W40-44 started ahead of my wave and I was passing some of the women along the way but it got thick within about 400m of the swim exit.
Transition 1
  • 02m 11s
Comments:

The transition area leaves much to be desired. It's a gravel parking lot with little paths up both sides made from old carpet scraps. Because of so many races spread across so many waves they leave the transition open through the race so there are people showing up with their gear as others are exiting the swim and trying to make their transition - FAIL #4. I was surprised at how smoothly I was able to get in/out but I assume it was mostly due to my very early start - basically I got out of there before things got too ugly. I found my gear and calmly removed my wetsuit, put on my shoes and helmet, and ran my bike down the long carpet path with my glasses hanging from my teeth - it was still very foggy. The mount line is at the bottom of a steep little hill and if you didn't already have your bike in the right gear you were in for some trouble. Plenty of people simply fell over trying to get going and many ran their bikes to the top of the hill before mounting.
Bike
  • 2h 31m 44s
  • 56 miles
  • 22.14 mile/hr
Comments:

I rated my ride as "good" overall because I stayed within my abilities given my current fitness. It wasn't my fastest or most aggressive race ride but it is what I had to do if I didn't want to fall apart on the run. I knew my run training wasn't as complete as I would have liked and the prospect of a fast 13.1 off a tough bike wasn't realistic. Even with a conservative ride I didn't have a stellar run. I would typically want to ride about .85 IF if I had enough training and confidence in my running. I ended up at .81 which is probably where I needed to be to not crash and burn on the run.
Transition 2
  • 01m 56s
Comments:

Smooth transition overall. There is a long run from the dismount line and I was at the far end of transition so it was even longer. After about 50m my shoes/pedals began to bang the ground and kick my bike around so I just hoisted the bike on my shoulder and ran 200m with it. At the race I was calm and got my socks and shoes on, grabbed my hat, watch, and a gel and made my way to the exit.
Run
  • 1h 27m 3s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 06m 39s  min/mile
Comments:

I gave the run an overall "good" rating because I worked well within my abilities given the fitness I had. I've had faster run splits but I knew I didn't have enough long/hard training runs to really push it so I intentionally focused on holding back in the early miles even though I felt pretty good. I ended up running a bit of a negative split but I think that's mostly because of the net downhill on the return. The last 2 miles or so I didn't really have anything left. I wasn't struggling but the best I could do was simply hold steady and bring it home with a respectable run split.
What would you do differently?:

I needed to log more 15 mile training runs and a few more fast finish and progression runs.
Post race
Warm down:

Took my usual couple minutes to get my bearings and stabilize the legs then got the shoes off and walked around on the grass for about 10min. I paid the food tent a visit for some fluids and grabbed a couple slices of watermelon.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Life has been turned upside down the past 4 months since finding out my dad has terminal pancreatic cancer. He's been through a series of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and finally hospice and I've made about 6 trips to Colorado Springs to spend time with him and help him through the final stages of the fight. It's been really tough but luckily exercise is a way for me to clear my head and try to relax a little so I was able to continue training more or less, just not as consistently as I would have liked and I didn't get as many good quality long runs and bikes as I needed. All in all I'm satisfied with the day I had considering what I've been dealing with.

Event comments:

I don't have any major complaints about Vineman but I expected better coming fro a race that's been around for 20 years. I realize they can't really do anything about the size of the parking lot but by now they could have at least invested in some indoor/outdoor carpet to cover the swim/bike transition area. The bike course markings worked fine (I didn't get lost) but they could be improved for minimal investment. The road surface on the bike course sucks. I guess the race organizers can't change that but it's still a FAIL as far as my evaluation of the event goes. I had an early start wave but I can only imagine what the swim/bike transition area was like once things really got congested.

So I'm glad I took the opportunity to race Vineman 70.3 but I definitely wasn't impressed enough with the course or planning/organization to put it on my list to do again. Been there, done that.




Last updated: 2010-07-22 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:15 | 1931 meters | 01m 40s / 100meters
Age Group: 50/321
Overall: 0/1874
Performance: Average
Suit: 2XU Elite
Course: The course is a long up/back. The swim is staged out of a "beach" area in a dammed section of the Russian River. I expected a little bit more. The river ranged from 20-50m wide and at places was only 12-18" deep - FAIL #3. Aside from that it worked just fine with the relatively small starting waves. The fog was pretty thick in the morning and you could only see about 50m ahead but it wasn't a problem because you could always see the river bank to either side to help keep you heading in a relatively straight line.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 74F / 23C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:11
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
02:31:44 | 56 miles | 22.14 mile/hr
Age Group: 13/321
Overall: 0/1874
Performance: Good
Work: 1868 kJ TSS: 166.6 (intensity factor 0.814) Norm Power: 212 VI: 1.03 Elevation Gain: 1356 ft Elevation Loss: 1268 ft Min Max Avg Power: 0 579 206 watts Cadence: 18 131 98 rpm Speed: 3.9 38.2 21.8 mph Pace 1:34 15:34 2:45 min/mi Altitude: 27 459 163 ft Crank Torque: 0 677 178 lb-in
Wind: None
Course: While the scenery and course route was nice the majority of the roads were pretty damn crappy surfaces. I'd confidently say this was the worst overall road conditions I've raced on - FAIL #5. There is only 1 relatively long climb on the course about mile 45 but otherwise it's gently rolling. It was generally marked fine but there could have been more volunteers out directing at turns. There were at least 6 turns where you just had to assume you did the right thing. They marked many turns with just some flour on the road and didn't have any signs posted...that would have been easy and helpful - FAIL #6.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 98
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:56
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
01:27:03 | 13.1 miles | 06m 39s  min/mile
Age Group: 7/321
Overall: 0/1874
Performance: Good
rTSS: 140.8 (0.933) NGP: 6:36 (243.7 m/min) VI: n/a Elevation Gain: 391 ft Elevation Loss: 384 ft Min Max Avg Cadence: 67 105 100 rpm Speed: 0 21.1 8.9 mph Pace 2:51 0:00 6:44 min/mi Altitude: 60 141 100 ft
Course: Out/back on mostly rolling country roads with a couple loops around ponds at La Crema Winery before heading back to the finish. I think the out is net uphill and there is one short but steep section about mile 3.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5