Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

started towards the back and to the outside. Water temp was perfect for the short sleeve wetsuit. Got into a good groove pretty quickly and was surprised to not be dropped by everyone within the 1st 100 yards. Kept up with guy and tried drafting off him but everytime I'd get close he start kicking like crazy so I thought whatever a hung off to the side of him. Had one guy backstroking that kept bumping into me on the way out. Made it to the turn around before the next wave caught up to me and at the same time I caught up to someone in the wave before me :) Got a bad leg cramp about 3/4 throught he swi but was able to kick it out without any help. Cruised into the finish tried to stand up but felt like a drunken sailor and it took me 3 attempts to get my feet under me.

Nothing had a much better than expected swim

Walked to my transition spot. most of the bikes on my rack were already gone so it was easy to find. Wetsuit came of easy. put socks and shoes on stuffed everything in the bag and tossed it over the fence. Saw Yanti on the way out of transition with her BT sign.

clean my feet better before putting my socks on

Having rode the course with Madkat (Karen) and Eric a month before made this a lot easier. Walked up the hill out of transition and then took it easy the 1st 5 miles to the turn on Sunset. Took a while to get the heart rate settled but finally did. Knew that most of the rollers on the front end would have a nice downhill on the other side. Took the 1st of the 2 climbs easy and remembered the cemetary was the end of it. Picked up the pace a little on the flat section before Chalk hill road. the climb on Chalk wasn't as bad as I remembered it and at the end thought "was that it?" Recovered on the downhill after and cruised into T2.

nothing went the effort level I trained for and got off the bike feeling good

Coming into transition saw Joey my trainer and Yanti cheering for me. :) Got to my rack and had almost no room to put my bike. Had to balance my bike while reaching dowm to get my shoe and then was able to rack the bike. Got shoes and helmet off and put the running shos on grabbed my hat with everything in it and took off.

Get to T2 sooner so I could have room for my bike.

Started off too fast but the heart rate felt good and the course was still flat so I went with it. Saw Dolores at the mile 1 aid station and we talked a bit. Took a little something at every aid station Gatorade water cookies, fig newtons, bananas gels, cola. Hit a porta potty a mile 3 and felt a little better after that. Started off by running the hills until my heart rate would hit 180 then walk the rest and walked all the aid stations. I'm not usually very talkative but I started chating with anyone who would listen and it seemed to make the time pass a lot faster. There were a lot of 1st timers out there. Had a rock in my shoe but for some stupid reason waited until mile 9 to do something about it. Once I stopped to take it out I was bleeding a little. Pushed through the pain, walked the hills, ran as much of the downhills and flats that I could. Once I got back to the school I ran the entire way and made sure I was clear to get a good finishers photo.

Get more run training in
more hill training
longer bricks

Grabbed some water, met up with Joey and my brother and sister, grabbed something to eat and relaxed with the other BT'ers, Todd and Verna waiting for everyone else to finish.



My weight
Not enough run volume
Not enough hills


Excellent volunteers very well run race. Will do this one again
Perfect weather this year