So far this year I was fairly close to the podium if not on the podium at all my races. 300 yards into the Vineman Ironman 70.3 swim I knew this was going to be a different story. I was in 7th position already and the swim is by far my strength. This is no surprise of course. I did a study of all of the Ironman qualifiers to try to find the easiest to get a slot at. Vineman is one of the hardest. In this post I will give you a race report and I will give you some great news. Doing Vineman was to be a great way to find out were I stood Nationally. I was not able to do Texas and race Buffalo springs so this race is really important to me. California is just loaded with talent.
The swim is in a river and the current was against us. Not much of a current but apparently enough to make the trip up the river about 1 minute slower, we were told. It was a nice swim. I quickly got behind a group of guys. You can tell these guys knew what they were doing. Not much fighting or swimming on top of each other. Just a nice draft line and let’s try to get out of the water as soon as possible. I ended up 4th in 27:40, I think, and fairly close to the leader.
The first transition went smooth but we were forced to put all of our stuff in a bag which takes time. Vineman is a two transition race and they take all your swim stuff over to the finish line afterwards. If you do not put the stuff in the bag you may lose it.
The bike ride was an undulating ride almost the whole way. The idea was not to go too hard on all the uphill sections and waste the legs. The idea was to try to measure the efforts and keep the energy expenditure as even as possible. At about mile one of the bike a guy comes by and says “Hey you are Luis right? We raced almost side by side at Chicago back in 96, I am Keith.” Oh yes, I replied. That was a long time ago. I noticed he had put on some pounds just like I have. We seemed to be about the same strength on the bike even 10 years later. The difference now was other guys in our age group were trickling by. In 96 we both took and Ironman qualifying slot in the Chicago triathlon with 400 guys in the age group. The good old days.
There was a lot of comradery out there on the bike. Most guys were very nice and some were pointing at objects on the road etc. That was very cool. Unfortunately like in the old days there were plenty of guys drafting. I did not see one drafting marshal the entire day. I watch this one guy with funky red socks draft his way around for miles. He will draft or rest on the downhills and flats and then hammer the uphills to keep up. When I was young I would have said something, now I do not want to waste any energy on that. Overall I had fun on the ride. Riding these half Ironman races is way easier than hammering the short ones. I think so anyway. My split was something around a 2:46. Not bad I think. I'll take it for now plus the ride is a couple of miles longer. There was some rerouting of the standard course due to some flood damage.
The second transition was really good. I was well hydrated and felt great. I took it really easy for the last half mile of the bike and tried to stretch my legs while on the bike. I felt like I had to make a bathroom stop. At the pre-race meeting they told us that anyone caught relieving themselves in the bushes will be disqualified. That seems harsh I thought. The race set up two port-a-johns at every mile to help us out. Remember the name of this race, the Vineman? That is because this is winery country. Most of the bushes on these roads are grape vines. The wine folks do not want 2000 triathletes peeing on their grapes. I guess I can’t blame them. So off to the port-a-john I went at mile one of the run. This was really good. My hydration was spot on.
The day before the race I scouted the entire bike and run course. The Vineman web site makes a big deal about the bike course and some hill at mile 45. Yes it is steep and the bike course is tough but that is why we have gears. What the race web site does not say is that this run course is very hilly also. It is one hill after another and some of these are very steep. I was glad I drove it. The plan was to build the pace as the run went. Try to stay calm on the way out and see if I can pick it up on the way back. On the way out the up hills were tough and the down hills were a good thing. But on the way back that changed. My quads were getting hammered and I could not stand the heavy stress on them while going down. I did start picking it up but I hit a low at the mile 11 marker. The last two miles were tough and some of the people I passed earlier were passing me back. Had I stayed more conservative in the middle miles it would have worked better but I felt great and had to try to pick it up. I ended up paying the price but definitely not a big price. At best I would have been 2 minutes faster overall. I ran a 1:51. I am not happy with this split for sure. The bathroom stop and the last two mile strugle cost me the 140 something split I was looking for. Bummer! Now my run is my weakest sport. But I know what I need to do to change this.
Someone asked me the day before the race what my goals were. I said top 10 and/or a 5 hour race. I ended up 27th and raced a 5:10. With the level of competition at this race there was nothing I could have done to be in the top 10 but if you count that the bike course is a couple of miles longer my time goal was fairly close.
I went to the awards ceremony to check the guys that won this thing. A German guy won the 45-49 age group with a 4:30. Geez! All the other top 5 men were under 4:40 I think. That is almost as fast as I went 10 years ago when I was 35-39. I also noticed how fit these guys look. Keith, the buddy I reacquainted myself with on the bike course sat with me at the awards. We talked about the good old days and about a plan to be able to race these guys. I said, “I can not give these guys 15 pounds”. Neither Keith who finished 22nd nor I who finished 27th had a chance in hell to get a Kona slot. But we both got roll down slots to compete at the Ironman 70.3 Championships in Clearwater Florida. I will be there working at our booth so I might as well do the race.
So now about the good news; the good folks at the World Triahlon Corporation sent me an invitation to race in Kona October 21st. I already knew this before Vineman so it took that pressure out. Not that it would have made a difference. There was a rumor about this all year but it is official now. Although my slot does not take a slot from anyone else I had to finish Vineman to finalize the entry. I carried two spares just in case. In 1994 I qualified at Ironman Japan for Kona but got hit by a car in August while training for the race. I withdrew from the race. So maybe I am sort of getting that one back.
Finishing Vineman gives me a taste for the long distance stuff. I definitely feel that the distance will not be much trouble as long as I train well for the next 12 weeks. All things being equal and if the conditions are average I may be able to go just under 11 hours in Kona. But if I can put my head together and shed an additional 10 pounds or more I can race 10 hours and change. Of course time means nothing in Kona. The winds and the heat will dictate the time.
Before I end this post let me give you a couple of updates. One is on my my plantar fasciitis. It feels great so far. The heel lift, physical therapy and calf massages have worked. I am very thankful for that. Plantar fasciitis can really destroy one’s season if it becomes acute. The other is about Kurt the guy I met at the coffee shot here in Winter Park. We never connected on the race site or during the race but he must have passed me on the bike. He beat me fairly good on the bike and run. Nothing motivates me more than a good spanking. I have 12 weeks.