Last weekend was vineman 70.3. Despite completing several vinemans I have never had a good race in Santa Rosa. However, I still really like the race. It normally draws a good field, the course is hard enough to break up the groups on the bike, it generally hot and the run in rolling. Best of all, a friend from grad school lives there and it gives me an excuse to visit her.
The only down side of vineman is there are a ton of waves and this year I was going off near the end. Over an hour and half after the first wave. It was a really strange feeling to be arriving in transition after the pro men had exited the water and I still had plenty of time.
The swim is a 1.2 miles out and back in the Russian river. I got out to a clean start and felt pretty strong. As the group thinned out, I didn’t see too many competitors in front and was swimming solo. The turn around at vineman is always interesting because the river gets so shallow I was touching the bottom. I exited the water in just over 30 min—about the same time as my other half IMs this season.
I got off onto the bike and settled in for what I knew was going to be an interesting bike ride. The early part of the bike course covers some winding narrow roads and there were a lot of competitors in front of me. I was maneuvering my way through the field when I saw I fire truck on the side of the road. Apparently, a tree branch had fallen and landed on a rider and taken 2 others down. The branch caused a bunch of chaos in the area but by the time I got there the road was clear and the athletes were off receiving medical care.
I road smooth for the first third and then gradually picked it up. About 1 mile later a truck pulled in front and slowed my down for mile and I was caught by another competitor. I road the middle segment going back and forth with Chris Geist. As we exited the hills, I cranked it up another notch. I dropped my riding partner and just before entering transition caught the one athlete who passed me in the first mile of the bike. I road 2hr 27 min and felt like I should have pushed more because I was really strong at the end.
The bike to run transition is at a different location from the swim. When I got off the bike, I felt great but as I entered the transition, somehow I got my handlebars caught on a flags guiding you into transition and it took my bike out from my hands. It crashed to the ground and took a couple chunks out of my hand. I gathered myself and ran into and tried to find my shoes. My cluelessness continued and I ran onto the wrong row. I ducked underneath the rack and found my shoes. By then my riding partner was in transition so I said nice bike and was off to the run.
As I exited the run, I was caught fellow tribuys.com athlete Jen Chalmers. She looked great and was on her way to winning her age-group. I felt great and ran out in control hoping to have a good run. While I didn’t feel hot, I knew the day before it was warm and might be later on the run so I took special care to pull in fluids/salt. I actually thought the weather was pretty comfortable but I enjoy warmer weather.
The unique part of the run was all the athletes are very spread out and I knew several competitors. The way out was a string of saying hi to several friends having great races—Ian 1st ag, Charisa 2nd ag and PR, Kevin 4th ag and PR, Susan PR..etc…
I rounded the winery and knew the course was predominately downhill from there and it was time to push hard. I felt great until mile 9 and then the next two miles were a little tough. At mile 11, a told myself, just 12 more hard min and you’re done and managed to get it rolling again. I knew I was doing well in my wave but with 2 other waves I didn’t know how I was doing overall so it was push all the way to the line. I crossed the line in 4:15:39 with a 1:15:54 run!
The prelim results had me listed as second in my age-group, I was nervous with two waves out on the course, but I was 4th amateur overall so I thought I could hold onto a podium finish. Fortunately, I maintained my position after all the 35-39 men had finished. After some food and conversation, I packed-up my stuff and road to Karen’s for a shower as Dave road back to the start to get the car. Dave conveniently forgot his backpack so I had to carry both our gear home. Nice cool down but man the backpack got heavy over the past few miles.
After a quick shower, I checked on the chickens and Charisa and other stopped by for a shower. Steven was kind enough to grab a burrito for me. We made it back to the finish line just in time for the awards ceremony. They started it early! When does that happen? We missed Ian getting his award and got Kevin there just after they announced his name. On the bright side, we got there just in time for Charisa to go up. Then another fun surprise happened. They announced the fastest time of the day at 4:11. Ian was saying how close he was and I was sure the original results had someone going 4:05 in my division. However, by the end, they must have had his time wrong because I won my age-group by over 6 min and was the 3rd amateur. It was a really nice surprise.
My goals going into the race were to get on the podium, 1st qualifies, and run under 1:20, 1:15:54 works. The race went well and everything seems to be progressing in time for Kona. I still need some serious help with my swim and to keep working on the bike but any time I win my age-group and finish in the top 5 overall I have no complaints.
I have a couple good Dave stories to tell in the coming days..
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
525,600 minutes
There are approximately 525,600 minutes in a year. I remember this number mainly because it was a song in the musical rent. While the song refers to how you measure the value of a life, I prefer to think what I was doing this time last year. More importantly, to be very thankful it isn’t last year.
On July 5th 2008, I crashed and broke my jaw in three places and my elbow in one. This year, I managed to survive several long rides over the July 4th weekend and even the week after. This weekend was great. I am racing vineman next weekend so it is time to start taking it easy. The group I run with, BSK, was hosting a cross country run to raise money for the Vista track/cc team.
I packed a backpack with some shoes and clothes and left my house just before dawn. I road my bike up the coast to Oceanside and along the way tossed in a couple tempo intervals. I made it to the race in time to toss my bike in Molly’s car and pick-up my registration. I ran the event as a solid tempo run in just over 18 minutes. More importantly I felt relaxed and comfortable the entire time. After a little cooldown, I watched the women’s race and then several of the BSK kids and myself went out made breakfast at a friend’s apartment. This was a way better weekend then last year when I couldn’t chew.
On Sun, it was Carlsbad triathlon and Steven was completing his second triathlon. Steven is always at the races supporting Charisa and myself so it was a must see event. I got a nice run in before the triathlon started and managed to make it back just in time to see the leaders coming out of the ocean. While Steven was the leader, he did have an amazing race. He sattered his time from last year and looked great all day. Once again, post race it was a nice breakfast and tour watching event so that makes for the perfect weekend. A little bit of training, a couple races and pancakes/waffles in back to back days. July 2009 is way better than 2008.
On July 5th 2008, I crashed and broke my jaw in three places and my elbow in one. This year, I managed to survive several long rides over the July 4th weekend and even the week after. This weekend was great. I am racing vineman next weekend so it is time to start taking it easy. The group I run with, BSK, was hosting a cross country run to raise money for the Vista track/cc team.
I packed a backpack with some shoes and clothes and left my house just before dawn. I road my bike up the coast to Oceanside and along the way tossed in a couple tempo intervals. I made it to the race in time to toss my bike in Molly’s car and pick-up my registration. I ran the event as a solid tempo run in just over 18 minutes. More importantly I felt relaxed and comfortable the entire time. After a little cooldown, I watched the women’s race and then several of the BSK kids and myself went out made breakfast at a friend’s apartment. This was a way better weekend then last year when I couldn’t chew.
On Sun, it was Carlsbad triathlon and Steven was completing his second triathlon. Steven is always at the races supporting Charisa and myself so it was a must see event. I got a nice run in before the triathlon started and managed to make it back just in time to see the leaders coming out of the ocean. While Steven was the leader, he did have an amazing race. He sattered his time from last year and looked great all day. Once again, post race it was a nice breakfast and tour watching event so that makes for the perfect weekend. A little bit of training, a couple races and pancakes/waffles in back to back days. July 2009 is way better than 2008.
Monday, July 6, 2009
SDIT
A couple weeks ago was the San Diego International triathlon. It consists of a 1km swim, a 30km bike and 10km run. In my book, I call this a short race. However, it’s local and nice course so always worth a race. Not to mention, it helps to break-up the training and racing a just fun.
The pre-race was great. I got to the race early, had a great warm-up and managed to talk to a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Many of my friends were racing elite but I chose to stay back with the masses and get some work in moving through other age-groups. That and knowing Chris Foster and Luke Bell would destroy me in the elites.
The gun went off for the swim and I managed to get out cleanly. I was just about to latch onto another competitor when I was pushed off his feet. Then gapped off by the other athlete. I hate when that happens. If you are going to take my tour guide please stay with them. So I spent most of the swim solo and managed to come out in 13 min 11 secs and judging by the bikes in the rack fairly close to the front..
After a smooth transition, I headed out on the bike. My hear rate and power were close to where I wanted them to be, so I settled down into a good pace. When you go off in the 4th wave, you have a lot people ahead and I was moving through without too many problems. With a couple loops up top, I managed to see a few of the elite racers I knew but somehow didn’t see any of the age-groupers I knew were racing. The bike went well, except for this strange feeling on the way down to T2. I was going down this hill in a gap in the competitors so I was all alone. I hate that because I start to wonder if I took a wrong turn or should have done another lap. I did everything OK and came off in 46 min and 21 sec.
Coming off my bike I saw 4 bikes in the rack so I knew I had run hard to get everyone. I headed out on a flat fast loop and felt really relaxed. It was my first run in my new Brooks racing flats and they felt great. I love the feel of racing flats! I ran strong for the 1st 5k and then the plan was to take off after that. I passed my first age-grouper at mile 1.5 and by the turn a little later had a huge gap on him. I didn’t see any one else until mile 3 when I caught Pablo. He said, “It’s about time” but I didn’t recognize him until I saw him after the race. Pablo is looking fit. I then pushed hard thinking there was someone else up the road. Last year, I ran with 10 sec of the guy who won my age-group and I didn’t want that to happen this year. The only down part was a 19 year old who I passed in the last half mile decided to kick like made and beat me to the line. No worries mate. I was 10 min up. I finished in 34 min flat. I was very happy with my run.
I ended-up winning my age-group in 1 hr 36 min and 6 sec. I was the fastest non-elite---first sand bagging age-grouper. I was 9th overall and only 20 sec behind Patrick. I good day for me. You never can complain when you win! Now it’s time for some training and Vineman.
The pre-race was great. I got to the race early, had a great warm-up and managed to talk to a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Many of my friends were racing elite but I chose to stay back with the masses and get some work in moving through other age-groups. That and knowing Chris Foster and Luke Bell would destroy me in the elites.
The gun went off for the swim and I managed to get out cleanly. I was just about to latch onto another competitor when I was pushed off his feet. Then gapped off by the other athlete. I hate when that happens. If you are going to take my tour guide please stay with them. So I spent most of the swim solo and managed to come out in 13 min 11 secs and judging by the bikes in the rack fairly close to the front..
After a smooth transition, I headed out on the bike. My hear rate and power were close to where I wanted them to be, so I settled down into a good pace. When you go off in the 4th wave, you have a lot people ahead and I was moving through without too many problems. With a couple loops up top, I managed to see a few of the elite racers I knew but somehow didn’t see any of the age-groupers I knew were racing. The bike went well, except for this strange feeling on the way down to T2. I was going down this hill in a gap in the competitors so I was all alone. I hate that because I start to wonder if I took a wrong turn or should have done another lap. I did everything OK and came off in 46 min and 21 sec.
Coming off my bike I saw 4 bikes in the rack so I knew I had run hard to get everyone. I headed out on a flat fast loop and felt really relaxed. It was my first run in my new Brooks racing flats and they felt great. I love the feel of racing flats! I ran strong for the 1st 5k and then the plan was to take off after that. I passed my first age-grouper at mile 1.5 and by the turn a little later had a huge gap on him. I didn’t see any one else until mile 3 when I caught Pablo. He said, “It’s about time” but I didn’t recognize him until I saw him after the race. Pablo is looking fit. I then pushed hard thinking there was someone else up the road. Last year, I ran with 10 sec of the guy who won my age-group and I didn’t want that to happen this year. The only down part was a 19 year old who I passed in the last half mile decided to kick like made and beat me to the line. No worries mate. I was 10 min up. I finished in 34 min flat. I was very happy with my run.
I ended-up winning my age-group in 1 hr 36 min and 6 sec. I was the fastest non-elite---first sand bagging age-grouper. I was 9th overall and only 20 sec behind Patrick. I good day for me. You never can complain when you win! Now it’s time for some training and Vineman.
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