Race Report: Vineman Full 2011

The Vineman 140.6 was a great race event in very pretty wine country and while much harder than I ever expected, I enjoyed the experience. I do tend to be wordy in my race reports so will attempt to wrangle in my length. 

Pre Race activity. The whole family drove up with me for the race. Mistress figured if I was going to blow up out there, she wanted to at least see the hospital I would be staying out. Sonoma county is beautiful but the layout of the roads are horrible. Complete disaster. Even with GPS it is hard to drive someplace without being confused. And the roads themselves are a patch work of filled potholes. 

The expo shops were good, no complaints, but was a little put off by the whole structure of the pre race logistics. It took me, hustling, three hours to get through a small expo and waiting for the the first showing of the mandatory video, then stand in line for 30 minutes for the registration to open its doors (when they should have opened immediately after the viewing), then set up my bike/run transition. If this was a couple days before the race, no problem, when its the day before and I want to have my feet up as long a possible, a bit stressful. 

I tried to drive some of the course using the maps and address provided. The day before the race I saw nothing signalling to the public that a very large race was about to take place the following day at the beach or on the roads. For a first timer to the event that was a bit disconcerting. 

Race Day. I was really nervous about the race. I didn't know what it would do to me. I was comforted by the fact that the Russian River race course is only between 3-7 feet deep and very nice to swim through. I did in fact walk some of the first lap when it got too shallow but I realized I could swim faster than I could walk and tried to avoid that on the second lap. 

I am not a fast swimmer and newer swim waves kept coming up on me. I saw lots of different colored swim caps. Some friends later said they felt the washing machine effect of a triathlon swim start, but other than some brush ups, some rubbing of wet suits, I thought it was pretty well behaved considering the tight confines of the river. I got out of the water about what I expected. Had I not walked at all I think I would have had a personal best swim. 

It is never a good sign that when you immediately leave transition with your bike and allowed to mount that you decide to walk up the hill to the road. The hilly nature of the course keeps the rider constantly adjusting gears to take advantage of free speed going downhill and maintenance of that cadence and speed going uphill. While I admit that most people are much faster swimmers than I, there is great satisfaction passing those people on the bike and almost every time I do so I have to egotistically think, "you swim faster than me?"  It just goes to show never judge a swimmer by their build. Also never judge an iron distance athlete by their build, they are not all lean, single digit body fat whippets. 

I promised everybody that I would pee on the bike leg. Not pee while actually riding, but stop and use the port-a-john because I have never done that in a triathlon bike leg and needed to do a kidney check. After 5 hours of good race nutrition, I didn't feel I had to, be felt compelled to do so nevertheless. 

Well that added a total of ten minutes to my race, trying to urinate. In full disclosure, five hours is a long time to be balancing your whole body on a small seat between your legs, but it felt like fire trying to get the fluids out. The pain in no way made up for the few ounces of weight I lost. But I did it. 

There is a really step hill called Chalk Hill that is rode up two times on the course. The second time at mile 100, I got a serious cramp in my leg at the beginning of the steepest grade, (approx. 15%). I had to stop and rub it out. I had heard of people walking their bikes up this hill but I was determined to not be that person, so I started off again and immediately cramped again. Doubt crept in. I massaged again and through force of will rode my bike to the top and of course made it to the run transition. 

The bike leg is where I developed the internal organ failures in my last iron distance race, so I always held myself in check. I really felt I could have had a faster bike split by 30 minutes but my goal was to survive the bike not ride as fast as I could against the clock. I felt that if I could get off the bike I could finish the race and that was more important to me than overall time. That being said, in my personal race experience, that was the hardest bike course I have ever ridden. 

I racked my bike and decided to hit the port-a-john again. Another ten minutes of burning fire later, I was able to hit the run course. I knew this was a hilly course based on word of mouth, but it was, no hyperbole, the hilliest marathon course I have ever run, stand alone or part of a triathlon. Wow that was hard to get up and down. 

The scenery was very nice and over the course of the three 8+ mile loops you passed almost thirty aid stations over 26.2 miles. I have never witnessed a better stocked run course.  In fact I think I over drank myself on the first loop and my stomach was sloshing. 

The first loop I was having trouble breathing. My diaphragm and rib cage felt really tight and it was the hottest part of the day. I thought maybe I was cramping like I did the last race where I tore rib muscles trying to breath and all the muscles and organs in that area had cramped up. I decided maybe some forced dry heaves would help open the area up, which it did, and while the remaining two laps saw my average pace drop due to the pounding my legs were taking, above the waist I felt better with every passing hour. 

The best part of out and back runs is being able to see family, friends and team mates many times over. It is so motivating and inspirational when for several minutes you're inside your head just trying to get through the next mile and see a friend coming towards you from up ahead. A hand slap, a hug, a stop with comments, all pour energy into the soul and make the next few minutes pain free. 

Crossing the finish line was, as always, a momentous experience I won't forget. Mistress and family met me at the finish exit and they took me to the medical tent for vitals. She wanted to make sure in a few hours I wouldn't be puking myself silly. Everything was fine, I only lost four pound for the day. I however could not stop shivering.  It took several blankets in bed to resolve that issue. 

The final thoughts I had during the race took me back over all the endurance pursuits I put myself through in my life. The highs, the lows, all of it. Since my last triathlon three years ago, I didn't think I would ever do another, let alone a full iron distance. After the damage I lived through I considered each day a bonus. But really that is a selfish way to think, as if a bonus was something given to just me to appreciate. It really is not a bonus, but a blessing. A blessing is more of a shared experience, you feel blessed by what you recognize others do for you or a praising of action to/from others. I couldn't have got through this race, to this point in my life without all the support, all the blessings, I get from my family and friends. It has allowed me to live a life based on short affirmation, listed below. 

It is not enough to exist, I am going to live.