Vineman 70.3 Race Report

This past weekend I raced Ironman 70.3 Vineman. My last half IM distance race in Switzerland did not go as planned as my tire flatted during the bike portion, essentially ruining my chances of making the podium.  I was hoping to bounce back from that disappointment at Vineman.

For those of you who don't know, there is a lot of preparation in the hours leading up to the race.  Luckily for you, I have some pictures to illustrate some of the most important items that I have to tend to on race day.

First, I make sure my GPS watch is working properly so that I can waste time analyzing a bunch of data in the days following the race...

I next seek out someone to zip up my wetsuit. Luckily, Team TriSports.com teammate Craig Pansing was around to assist with that task...

It's also very important to make time to pose for pictures with fans...

...and pose for more fan pictures...

Once the fan photos are done, I put on my tough guy face...

Finally, I can saunter into the river to get ready for the swim...

So, here's a recap of how it all went.

Swim (24:03):
I like the Vineman swim because it is flat water and warm.  My strategy as usual was to go out with the lead pack and seek some feet to follow. I did just that and ended up behind another swimmer who was going just about the right pace for me to draft.  Within a couple hundred meters, the two of us pulled away from the rest of the wave.  I ended up following him throughout the whole swim while we weaved through swimmers from previous waves (a lot of them walking during parts where the river was really shallow).  I figured my drafting strategy was a good one as I did not want to expend too much energy trying to pull away on my own. There was still a lot of racing left.  I exited the swim 2nd in my wave, a couple seconds behind first.

Bike (2:24:34):
I had a pretty fast T1 and ended up starting the bike leg in the lead of my wave. It was a little chilly when I first got on my bike, but it did not bother me too much and I hoped that the air would remain cool throughout the morning.  A few miles into the ride I got into a rhythm and focused on maintaining my lead. Around mile 15 I got  passed by someone in my division. He did not pull away, so I decided to just stay with him without re-passing.  About 10 miles later, the two of us were passed by another guy our division (the eventual division winner, Reilly Smith).  He was trucking and started to pull away.  It seemed like the guy I was originally following was starting to fade, so I passed him and went after Reilly.  I figured I could not catch or stay with him, but I did not want him to put too much of a gap on me, so I started to push a little harder.

The bike leg did not feel strong overall.  I felt like there was a headwind the whole way.  I mentioned that to others following the race, but was not able to get anyone to convincingly agree.  Maybe the headwind was just on me?  Or maybe I need a faster bike.  That's the easy out...blame it on the equipment, right? Regardless, my bike split was not bad, but I think I could have done a little better. On the bright side, I did not get a flat! :)

When I reached T2, there was one bike on the rack a couple spots down from mine.  I knew I had some work to do on the run.

Run (1:24:46):

I have been plagued by stomach cramps during the run of the last three half IMs I have raced and my fear going into the run was that I would get them again.  About three miles into the run, I was pleasantly surprised that I had not developed any cramps and was quite confident I was going to be cramp-free. Yay! I generally don't continuously monitor watch my watch and try to maintain a certain pace.  I just run at the pace that feels well.  I did check and see my pace for the first 5 miles was about 6:15 min/mile, which was a little faster than I thought I could keep up.  I was feeling fine though, so I thought what the hell, and kept going.

Around mile 3, I passed my sister and her husband and they snapped a picture of me.  Looks like I was all alone at that point.

I did not think my run conditioning was as good as it could have been going into the race and it showed as my pace eventually dropped to the 6:50 min/mile range towards the end of the run.  I did not bonk and let my pace drop off a cliff, but towards the end of the run I definitely did not have any gas left in the tank.

Overall, I was super happy with my run split.  I dropped about 6 minutes from my previous year split, largely due to the lack of stomach cramps.  It wasn't quite enough to catch the lead, but enough to hold on to second place in my division.

Mug shot. I need a hair cut...

Final Tally:  4:17:39 - 2nd AG, 6th Overall Amateur


Thanks to TriSports.com for their continued support and to my family and friends for traveling to the race with me.


Next race is the 70.3 World Championship, September 9th in Las Vegas.