2006 Half Vineman Race Report
Howdy all - I wrote up a (long) race recap for the UCD tri team (so there might be some unfamiliar names in there), but thought I'd share it with the Mad Cows too, since I know I saw a bunch of you out there, and at least tried to mumble a "Go Mad Cows" greeting as I suffered through the run (I was wearing my UCD uniform, so I was an "undercover" bovine).
My last big race of the year, and, as usual, I had a couple of goals, some accomplished, some not.
- Goal: Feel good on the swim and bike, not suffer tremendously on the run. (2/3 accomplished)
- Goal: Run the whole run, except walk the rest stops (accomplished, barely)
- Goal: Beat Paul (not even close)
- Goal: Finish before Sinclair (with an hour head start due to wave times - accomplished)
- Goal: 9:00 pace on the run (HA, HA, HA!!!)
I had a good feeling about this race, since, for the first time in a while, my full support crew would be on site. For the last few races, either Super-Fan Mike (title officially re-earned) or Carrie (or both, in the case of San Jose) were absent, but this weekend neither of them were off visiting family or learning how to track down bats, so I knew I'd have some solid support, and I figured I'd need it.
Juan, Mike, Carrie and I drove up Saturday afternoon - we got word from Paul, who had left an hour and a half earlier with Kensuke and Sinclair, that traffic was really bad on I-80, so we took the back way, via 128 - I think this is a better way to go anyway, since it's much more scenic, if a bit slower. In this case though, it was probably faster, and since Paul and company were nice enough to stop and get a campsite for us all, we ended up getting to the check-in site before them. They showed up shortly after us and we all stood in the (hour long!) line for registration. This is a HUGE race, with tons of participants, and all the official Ironman rigamarole. I'm not a big fan of the Ironman corporation - I think they overcharge for their races and squeeze too many people in the larger races (not a problem at Vineman, though) and I also think that they shouldn't be calling a 70.3 distance race an "Ironman," but they own the brand name, so they can do what they want with it... Having said all that, I will say that they run a pretty damn nice race - everything was well organized and official - this is basically the opposite end of the spectrum from a laid-back collegiate race - everything is very "by the book."
So, after we checked in a cruised around the "expo" area, we headed off to our campsite by the river, about 10 minutes away from the race start (this race has two different transition areas, about 15 miles apart). The campground was very nice, except that it's pretty close to the surprisingly heavily traveled and noisy road. We cooked up a nice pasta dinner and then went to bed pretty early. Some time after bed-time, Zipp and Amy S. showed up, but I didn't get to see them except for a brief moment before the swim start and just as I exited the water, I'm pretty sure I heard them both cheering... after that, they mysteriously disappeared...
We got to the race start nice and early, the transition area wasn't even opened when we got there, but opened up shortly thereafter. I scored a relatively good spot on the end of the rack, but since the T-area was so huge, and the racks were assigned by age group, I was actually REALLY far away from the bike out (about 100 yards), so I'd be running a long way with my bike, over plenty of gravel, which didn't look too fun. Oh well.
Before I knew it, it was time to put my wetsuit on and get in the water. I was standing around chatting with Mike, Carrie, Zipp and Amy when all of a sudden I realized I only had 10 minutes to get ready. So I ran to my bike, threw my wetsuit on and ran over to the swim start with my bag, which I needed to give to Carrie so she could take it with her to the finish line. After a frantic search for my support crew, I saw them all waving to me from the swim start and handed off my bag and jumped in the water. The water was warm, but not as hot as I'd feared it would be, and I figured I wouldn't overheat too badly.
The swim went very well - I was surprised to find myself more or less in the middle of my age group, as far as I could tell, which was the second age group to start (third wave, after the pros and one female AG). The swim is an out an back in the river, which has very little current (none that you can really feel, although it did make me think about the fact that, compared to Auburn, this race has less climbing on the run and the bike, but more on the swim!). Since this was the first swim race where I was really "in the pack" - I quickly realized the pros and cons - on the one hand, you swim faster since there are more people to draft off of. On the other hand, you're much more likely to get kicked, punched, swam over, etc. My new pet peeve is swimmers who haven't learned how to site properly, and need to switch to breaststroke to take a look around, thereby flailing their legs in to your ribs, kidneys, or external gonads. Not a pleasant experience.
The swim was over pretty quickly, and then it was, predictably, on to the bike. The bike course is beautiful and fast - just some small rolling hills to keep things interesting, with some nice flat sections as well. You roll past lots and lots of vineyards, and the temperature was perfect. I settled in to a nice pace and began trading spots back and forth with a few guys - they'd pass me, then a few minutes later I'd pass them, etc., etc... I really needed to pee, and since I haven't mastered the art of peeing while swimming or biking, I was hoping it would go away... but it didn't, so I finally had to pull over. After I got back on my bike, on of the guys I was swapping places with pulled up and yelled "You've got a twig!!" - I had no idea what this meant, but then he started pointing towards my rear hub, where a foot-long piece of scrub brush had lodged itself during my pee-break. I managed to kick it off, and had a brief moment where I thought it would get caught in my wheel, but it didn't. I felt really good until the last couple of miles of the bike course, when I started to get tired. I was telling myself to save something for the run, so I tried not to push too hard, but cycling is just so much fun, and I knew it was the only place where I had any chance of making up any time on Paul, so I had to push it a bit. Unfortunately, due to the large number of waves, Paul was starting an hour and twenty minutes after me, so I'd never know how I was doing until the race was almost over...
I started the run feeling pretty good. I was shooting for a 9:00 pace, which I thought would be enough to hold off Paul, who said he'd be aiming for about 8:10. My first mile went by at about 8:30, which I knew was too fast, but I was also suprised that I felt good at that pace. I slowed it down a little to conserve energy and settled into my strategy of running between rest stops, stopping for a short walk break at the aid stations to hydrate and refuel my body and legs. During the Auburn race, I really fell apart on the run, and only ran about 1/2-2/3 of it. I really wanted to run the whole time this time (except for aid stations) but I knew I hadn't done nearly enough run training (my longest pre-Auburn run was about 9 miles, and my longest pre-Vineman run was probably only 7.5 or so - uh-oh). Sure enough, right around mile 7, things started really falling apart. My pace had been slowly decreasing, but after the turnaround point, I was in serious trouble. I felt like I had worn away any cushioning that might exist between my joints, and was just rubbing bone on bone... each step hurt, and I just had to convince myself to "run" to the next aid station and take a nice walk break. "Run" might be a generous term - shuffle is probably more appropriate, since my pace by this point had dropped to about 11:00. The low point came around mile 10, when a 65 year old woman running the other way said "Wow - you look like you're really hurting..." She was right, of course, but I was hoping it didn't look that obvious. I tried to wipe the grimace of agony off my face and hobbled onward.
Around mile 11, I saw Paul, which, according to my calculations, meant that he would beat me pretty easily. A mile or so later I saw a smiling Juan - who let out a resounding "Who's your Daddy??" (if you don't get the reference, ask Juan, cause I'm not telling...) I'm not sure if I sneered or growled at Juan, but I don't think I greeted his enthusiasm in a cheerful manner... But luckily, the finish line wasn't too far away, and I managed to pick it up to a blistering 10:30 pace for the last mile. I was just barely managing to outrun the spectators walking towards the finish line, so that was nice. There may have been a lady using a walker, and I was definitely moving faster than she was.
Finally it was over, and Mike and Carrie were there to greet me and hear my tales of anguish and woe. I was happy to be finished, and wandered off in a daze to change. Before long, Paul came running in, with a great time of around 5:16 (my final time was 5:36). I was sad to not have accomplished one of my goals, but glad that my training partner and "target" was back in good form - Paul was one of my earliest team targets from last year, when he was actually training and racing. This year, he slacked off and I had to find other suitable teammates to chase, but Paul kicked it into gear big time while training for his one big race of the season, and it paid off.
Juan finished before too long, and we went to collect the stuff that they had brought up from T1, and then packed up the bikes. We still had to go back to the campground to pack up and pick up Paul's truck which we had left at the race start, so we grabbed Sinclair, left Juan to find Paul and Kensuke, and then took off in the van to get the truck and pack up. When we got back, Paul and Kensuke weren't around, so Sinclair went off to find them. Carrie, Mike, Juan and I headed for home. Before too long, Sinclair calls us to say "I can't find Paul and Kensuke!" - it turned out that Juan had never found them after we left for the campground, so they didn't know we had gone to get Paul's truck, and might have taken the shuttle there themselves... just as we were trying to figure out what might have happened, Sinclair tells us "Oh - there they are..." and hangs up. It turns out that Paul and Kensuke DID take the shuttle to get the truck, and almost ended up stranded in Windsor, 15 miles from the race start, with no truck, no money, wearing just their skinsuits (cue the Deliverance theme music...) Luckily, they saw that the truck wasn't there and were able to get a ride back on the shuttle where they met up with Sinclair. They weren't very happy - sorry guys!
So, all in all, it was a pretty good race. During last year's Donner race, I was swimming so poorly that one of the kayakers asked me "Are you OK?" - I vowed then and there that I would become a better swimmer, and by the end of this season, I have, finally getting a middle of the pack finish in the swim. Now, after being told how horrible my running looks by a 65 year old woman, I know what I need to work on next season - the "year of the run".
Thanks for reading, and thanks, as always, to the support crew, my fellow racers and "targets" and the rest of the Aggie crew.