Brett getting ready to complete his first Ironman!
This past weekend I went out to Sonoma to race the Full Vineman Ironman. The whole build up to the race was a disaster and caused a bit of stress and "wishy washy" feelings in regards to what I should do. A little over three weeks prior to the race I broke my rib and it put a halt to training. I did what I could and waited for the damn thing to stop hurting enough to train. Long story short I was really under baked for this race and the week before tried to microwave myself and salvage something and hope for the best.
JZ always felt I should just have done the Aqua Bike division due to what happened and I suppose she gets an "I told you so" added to her credit. I had nothing on race day. The swim wasn't "hard" as I totally hopped on David Glovers feet and did as little work as possible. You're a good man David Glover! We came out just under an hour which is my worst Ironman swim to date. It still really took it out of me and I had a hard time pulling it together to get on the bike. Glover put a min on me just in transition. I never saw him again.
The bike was really cold for the first few hours. I didn't have a power meter and really didn't know how I was riding. It felt bad from the start and I never really got in a groove. The rib was bugging me on a very minimal level. But everything else just felt flat. I came through the 1/2 way point in 2:35 and was in the hurt locker big time. That is pretty slow so I knew things were off. I tried to stay positive as I knew the conditions were hard that day. Head winds all day and the air felt very "thick" to me. Lots of moisture so it was hard to move through it. I gave myself some credit and said "Well you are a good rider so maybe the guys up front are going to blow up???"
I started having inner leg cramps on the bike towards the end and my neck was burning for the last 30 miles. It just sucked. I still figured I would try and run. A training buddy of mine from a while back once said that he got off the bike in an Ironman feeling like pure ass and still ran really well. I was banking on that. I forgot that banks close early on Saturday and when I got to the run my legs were really feeling like crap. I shuffled along and when I got to the turn around I realized that I wasn't running that slow. I was still on about 3:01 marathon pace and after a huge session of slamming about a litter of coke at an aid station, my energy levels felt the best they had all day. It makes me wonder if something was off nutritionally on the bike, but I was taking plenty in so who knows?
Around mile 7 my left leg started twinging near the lower calf when I went up hills. I stopped and stretched it out for a second but it just kept bugging. I walked for a bit to see if it would go away but it didn't. I stopped again and saw a goat looking at me through a fence. "Should I pull out little goat?" He totally nodded! That was enough for me. When animals start communicating with you it is time to pull the plug!
I have never dropped out of a triathlon before and prided myself a bit on it but since I was considering doing the Aqua Bike I had less issue with it. And, I don't run through "that" kind of pain that I was having. I have two crippled parents who smashed their bodies up from years of running marathons. I am not looking to be like that. So I walked it in and enjoyed seeing the other competitors out there and encouraged those that were having a tough time too. I wasn't upset about the situation at all. In fact I thought "Wow! I really did get my Pro card, I'm dropping out of an Ironman!" Pro's drop out all the time! I laughed at that a bit.
One of the forces that made me want to go to Vineman and try was the fact that I had several people racing that I wanted to support. My dad decided to do the Full Aqua Bike but pull out at the 1/2 way. He wasn't ready for the full ride but wanted to do the entire swim. He had a rough day too from getting really cold after the swim and then having some horrible allergic reaction on his lip. It swelled up so bad that he looked like Angelina Jolie after a visit to the plastic surgeon. Good on him for still finishing his plan. Apparently I passed him on the bike but I never saw him. He just said I barked "On your left".
Grant, a guy I coach and whose real name is Sprinkles, is just getting into the sport. He did the Full Aqua Bike and won his age with a really good ride just under 5 hours. The course was so hard that day that a 5 hour ride was really impressive! Now if we can just get him to swim a bit faster he will be set. The guy runs really well even though he thinks otherwise. There will be more to report on Grant after he does his first IM in Cozumel this November. I'm excited for him.
Wadley of course had to sign up and do the Full Ironman because he has a disease that makes him sign up for all of the hardest events that he can find. I passed him on the bike at about mile 50 and all he said was "MAAAAAN. This sucks!" I agreed! Wadley won the swim portion....duh!....and actually looked really good on that first run loop. Ran into some issues later in the day but he got that shit done! More than I can say.
Jake Taylor did his first Full Aqua bike in preparation for Ironman Cozumel too. He just added to the list of people that thought all that head wind was some serious BULL SHIT!!! ALLLLLLLLL DAY! I think I had maybe 2 min of coasting time during my 5 hours and 17 min of torture. Oh man, I need to take a break here and not think about it. I am having Vineman PTSD!
Last but not least of our group comes Brett Johnson. Brett is the ultimate trooper in sport. I have never met someone who can take on challenges with such a positive and calm attitude! I met Brett about 5 years ago and he did his first tri with a group of us and really got into training for all kinds of races. He wanted to run a fast marathon and we worked on taking him from a 4:30 PR to a 3:11 PR in his 40's! Then he took on the challenge of doing the AIDS LIfe Cycle several times and somehow got bit bye the Ironman bug after doing the Vineman 70.3 . I knew he was very nervous and intimidated about the distance and concerned that he wasn't going to get it done on the day. Considering how hard that bike was on the day, I started to get concerned for him! But of course, Brett is able to just put his head down and get it done. The highlight of my day was seeing Brett finish this thing! I was really impressed with his effort and excited that he can check this of his list and never ever has to do it again!!!! But I suppose there is always Ultraman in Hawaii to think about!
As for me, I came back to Boulder early instead of driving back to LA with Wadley for a week visit. I want to keep the ball rolling and get myself in a better position for the REV 3 Ironman which is September 12th. Vineman was a good prep for that and if I can make sure the ribs are all healed up and everything else feels good I do look forward to stepping up to another Ironman start line this year.
Thanks to everyone who came out to support and to my mother for making some kick ass biscotti for all of us. It's world famous! Congrats to everyone who finished and a major thanks as always to Dave and Amy Latourette for putting on such a great event!
Cheers,
bdc
