Guerneville, California United States Vineman, Inc. 65F / 18C Overcast

Total Time = 4h 17m 40s Overall Rank = 27/2094 Age Group = M40-44 Age Group Rank = 2/317

"If you have the hubris to book the hotel room at the race venue months before actually qualifying for the race, you better deliver."

That was that little nagging thing haunting the back of my mind over the last few months. Vineman 70.3 was to be my qualifying race for the new World Championship in Vegas and being a later season qualoifier, I wanted to make sure we had a room at the Lake Las Vegas host hotel as it was convenient and also accepted pets. We would be traveling with our dogs and the "plan" was do the race Sept 11th and then travel to Cambria, CA where we had rented a house on the coast for a weeks vacation. I am not the superstitous type, but it did feel a bit like tempting fate..and not in a good way. There are many things on race day you can't control. There is one thing, however, you can. Preperation.

My season this year has been in a word exceptional. My results have never been better and my times across the board have been improving. My coach, Nick Goodman of DURAPULSE Performance Co. has provided me with a training protocol which has applied the perfect balance of stress, recovery, intensity, and volume and leading into this race I have felt fantastic. No little aches and pains, no overwhelming fatigue, just a sense of confidence of being able to properly execute even the most challenging training days. Nick and I met the day before we left and I think we both knew Sunday could be something special. I told him I had never felt so well prepared for a race...ever. I wanted to try and win the AG.

We flew up to Oakland Friday morning and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle in their lovely home in Santa Rosa, just a few miles from the finsish, expo, and T2. I had done this race back in 2008 and had ridden on the bike course and run the run course again in 2009 when we stopped by on our summer vacation, so I was very familiar with the race. I used Tri Team Transport to deliver my bike and gear to Windsor and want to give them a big shout out of thanks, they were awesome, highly recomended.

Firday afternoon we headed over to the Russian River and I did a short swim in my amazing ZOOT Prophet wet suit to see what the temperature felt like and more improtantly where the shallow spots were. The river was comfortable, a little warm, and there were a lot of shallow parts which I wanted to avoid race morning. I felt great in the water and knowing how fast this swim can be, I was hoping for good things on Sunday in the water after a dissapointing swim at Deuce Man Half last month. On the way home, we also drove on West Rd. and Chalk Hill to see what the surface conditions were like as it can be a little rough.

Saturday I just went for a short ride and run early in the morning. I had recenntly purchased a visor for my LG aero helmet and wanted to see how it worked, especially in dark, overcast conditions. It was great but there was a lot of mist in the air from the marine layer fog and the visor became opaque when wet, so I had to push it up so I could see. I made a mental note of that. Otherwise, it was an easy day of registration, packet pick up, and setting up my T2. I scored an end spot of my rack and only had to leave my shoes, gel flask, visor, and sunglasse on the ground under a towel.

Sunday morning arrived and we headed out to the swim start in Geyserville, about a 25min drive. My wave start was at 7:02, the second wave of my AG 6min behind the first, so I knew it would be a challenge early to gauge where I was in relation to the field, but Jamie would be able to try an update me later on the bike. Transition at Vineman is very gig and very long. I knew the run out would be far and that the short, steep hill at the mount line would be carnage, so I was hoping for a good rack spot and would leave my shoes clipped into the pedals so I could not only run the length of T1 but also run up the hill away from the mount line crashes, of which there were many, I was told later.

I found my wave's rack and there was a ton of empty spots right at the swim exit. Score! I literally only had to run up from the beach and my bike would be right there and the carpet stretched to the run out. Perfect. We watched the pro sarts at 6:30 and then it was time to squeeze intot he Prophet and get this show on the road.