Napa Valley Vintage Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The water was unseasonably cold. I doubled up on swim caps and that made a big difference. The wind kicked up a big chop. On the second leg of the swim we headed right into the waves. This made it tough to get into a stroke rhythm. I did not take too many gulps of water but I could see this being a frightening course for swimmers without much open water experience. Also, the second buoy was still being set in place after we rounded the first buoy. It is very frustrating to have to swim after a moving target.
I tried to let a good number of people enter the water first. Then I took it easy at the beginning and drafted when I could. After rounding the first buoy, it got much tougher. Drafting didn't really break the waves but at least the sighting was easy on this leg. Heading back to the beach, a big group went way over to the left away from the shoreline. They must have mistaken the first buoy for the finish. The finish was hard to sight because the shoreline isn't smooth and I was not sure what it looked like from far away.

I want to say practice sighting on the actual course but it wasn't set up until 15 minutes into the race.

Went ok but I am not transitions expert for sure.

Change gears before I rack my bike.

Wind blew out of the north, some parts of the course were protected somewhat, lots of it was wide open. Only the Pope Valley section was flat, the rest was rolling small hills, inclines, declines. But, there was no major climbing section where it is uphill for miles on end. The road surfaces ranged from ok to downright dangerous. Lots of seems running parallel to the road which made cornering hard.
Hammering the downwind sections was the most fun part of any tri I have done. You can be down in your aero bars, sitting, or standing and it barely makes a difference. The Y shape course makes it easy to see the rest of the field and is safer than a multi-loop course as far as lap traffic. Beautiful scenery. Enough people so you aren't racing alone but not so many you can't move around like most bike races and tris. That was really refreshing. But aid stations give out water in bottles that aren't cage compatible. The first one had no Gatorade. The second one gave out Gatorade in screw top bottles. These are tough for a klutz like me to handle.


Not lose my bike computer at the first aid station, pus just a little harder the section upwind section on the second leg of the Y. I try to depend on the course for as much as possible but this might not be the best strategy for events like this one.

Speed bumps heading into T2 are annoying but not avoidable.

Rack bike to give the guy next to me more space. Oops.

Found running legs somewhat quickly. But, I took in 250 calories per hour on the bike which I didn't do a good job training for. I had a side ache for the first 5 miles which prevented me from taking in any calories. That settled down and I planned to push the second half but as I attempted to change my stride my hamstrings and calves started to cramp. So, I settled into my pace and took each step as close to the last one as possible. Didn't walk through aid stations which saves time and changes the game mentally to know you have to keep going until you actually finish.

Train with the same nutrition plan I expect to race with. This is in every tri book and blog but I still didn' do it strictly enough.

Walk back into water.


Call of nature brakes, lack of technical ability on bike


This is a small backwater race. I get that. The volunteers were great people but they didn't have the instructions and supplies to do a good job. Drink stations ran out of water on the run, course was not clearly marked (mile marker on run, T2 entrance, finish line location). The top prize was a wetsuit. I think if you are fast enough to win a race like this one you already own a pretty awesome wetsuit. How about giving the wetsuit to the top person in a rental or better yet to the top finisher who braves the 63 degree water without one. Give the top male and female a case of wine instead.