Vineman Race Day

Wow, this turned into a really long post, so you might want to get a glass of wine or a cup of tea and something to snack on before you sit to read :)

Race morning started at 3:58am for me. I rolled over in bed to look at the alarm clock and watched the remaining two minutes tick away before the alarm buzzed. Here we go. I got up and showered, dressed in my race garb and headed out to the kitchen to eat breakfast. I pulled out my water bottles from the freezer and ran them under hot water to get the thawing process started. I froze two bottles, one with Cytomax mix and the other with Hydralyte mix. My other two bottles were chilled in the fridge, one with Cytomax and one with plain water. The roommates were just starting to rustle and get themselves put together while I ate a bowl of oatmeal, half a bagel with peanut butter and two bananas. I washed it all down with a glass of water and a cup of hot green tea.

I was in one of the earlier race waves, starting at 6:38am, so I was anxious to get to the race site. While I waited for my roommates, I stretched and then double and triple checked my tri bag, ensuring that I had everything needed for the swim and the bike. We had set up T2 the previous day, so my run gear was already waiting for me at the transition area at Windsor high school. This was my first race with two separate transition areas. Can't say that I'm a fan of the double transition areas...I like having everything in front of me just in case I need it. I must have spent about 1 hour setting up my transition area in Windsor...well, 10 minutes setting up my shoes, hat and run bottles...then 50 minutes trying to go through a mental inventory and visualization of every possible scenario that could occur when leaving the bike to head out on the run. All of us were expecting hot temperatures on race day, and Paul A was kind enough to loan me a small thermos which I filled with ice and left at T2. My equipment was ready, I had eaten plenty, I was ready, my roommates were ready, and so at 5:15am, with just a hint of light in the sky, Paul, MoMo and I biked the 3/4-mile distance from the cabin to the race start at Johnson's Beach.

Within a couple blocks of the race start, the roads became crowded with excited and friendly triathletes, greeting one another with race wishes and clacking bike shoes on the street. We headed down the hill to the beach where we were body marked as we entered the transition area. At this point, I needed to separate myself from everyone. It was that time before the race when I limit the distractions and just mentally run through the course and my preparations. I also take time to pray...I always pray before a race, and no, its not about my race speed :) I recognize that not everyone believes in God, and I'm pretty certain that my idea of God is unique to many who do believe. In the midst of life's peak experiences, I become most in tune with my faith, and I think of these times and the people I meet along the way as gifts. I ask for a safe race for me and my fellow triathletes, and I express thanks for these opportunities, awareness that not everyone has the physical ability, and enjoyment of the incredible beauty of the course location. During all of this, I also set up my T1 area, said hello to my transition area neighbors, and stretched out a bit. Then, I ran through a final check before seeking out my teammates, coaches and friends...and a final trip to the porter pot.

I put on my wetsuit, cap and goggles and entered the swim corral with my fellow lavender-capped wave...its the first time I had a pretty colored race cap instead of neon green, white or red. I swam to the first couple buoys to warm up a bit, stretching my arms and shoulders...also worked to ease the race jitters. The water temp was warm at about 74 degrees. The current was mild, and there was a light mist rising from the river. The sun was just starting to make its way over the redwood trees that lined the river. It was gorgeous, and I felt so lucky to be there. At some point, we settled down, lined up behind the starting kayak, and just waited out there in the water for the horn to sound. We could hear the race announcers talking, yet out in the water you couldn't understand what they were saying...it was like the adult mumble sound that was featured in the Charlie Brown cartoons...mwaaah, mwaaah, mwah, mwah, mwah...HONK! That's the sudden start sound, and so I began to swim through the bodies that aggressively kicked and stroked with all four appendages. Someone hit or kicked me in the eye...I winced, yet it only motivated me to swim harder and break away from the pack. I found my stroke pace about 10 minutes into the swim. From that point on, the swim was all about the rhythm. This out-and-back 1.2-mile swim course in the narrow Russian River was easy on navigation...I'm one of those navigation-challenged swimmers, and I usually cover extra milage in an open water swim. This day, my swim seemed to be relatively efficient and right on target. I hit the beach in just under 40 minutes, and ran into the first transition area.

One of my key challenges on the bike was nutrition, and I had a mass of food waiting at T1 for me to load into my shirt pockets...3 plain gu's, 2 halves of a PBJ sandwich, a tick-tac box filled with salt tabs, and two Powerbars. I sort of just jammed everything into my back pockets without any kind of order and I fumbled around as things fell out of my overloaded pockets each time I bent over or moved suddenly. I ran my bike out of the transition area and decided to continue running my bike up the short hill to avoid the bike jam that was building at the mount line. My bike start was pretty smooth, and soon I was comfortably maintaining a high cadence and speed around 20 mph, while keeping my heat rate below 155.

The bike course headed out of Guerneville along the roads that travel between the vineyards. The roads were rolling hills with a great deal of redwood shade. One concern to watch out for was poor road conditions, cracks that could perfectly catch a tire in a groove and cause a pinch flat. Another concern were several sharp turns, which seemed to only occur at the bottom of the hills, just as you were gaining speed. Overall though, it was one of the best bike courses I have experienced. Beauty, speed, some challenge, and the rising sun.

My nutrition plan was to consume most of my solid calories before I crossed the half-way mark of the bike course, so in these initial minutes, I started sipping the cold Cytomax in my aero bottle and consuming bite-size pieces of a Powerbar. The first aid station was at mile 13 on the course, and by that time, I had emptied two-thirds of my aero bottle, so I snagged a Gatorade Endurance, and without thinking I poured it into the aero bottle. That next sip was an eye opener and mouth twister...grape flavored Cytomax and orange Gatorade Endurance is about the most disgusting mix ever...so after a few sips, I decided to water it down with some water, yet instead of my water bottle, I must have grabbed the bottle containing the Hydralyte, so I found a way to make a bad mix even worse. Well, I went on ahead and sipped on the suicide brew...it was all I had for liquid electrolyte and calorie replacement. I also finished that Powerbar, and that's about the time that I became aware that I wasn't really digesting any of the calories I had consumed...it was all just sitting uncomfortably in my stomach. I decided to slow down my heart rate and pace for 20 -30 minutes, hoping that would allow my digestive track to kick in and clear out my belly full of liquids. That worked like a charm, and it also gave me some recovery time. I was able to pick up my pace for the remainder of the ride, yet I only could consume two gu's and half of the PBJ. I just couldn't force myself to eat more in addition to consuming the necessary liquids. BTW, freezing the Cytomax and water bottles worked like a charm. About half-way into the bike, with the day heating up, it was really refreshing to drink my Cytomax slushy and pour ice cold water on my head and down my back.

While biking, I did see a few of my friends on the course. Paul J was the first to ride up behind me and greet me with a "Hello, gorgeous!" Thanks, Paul! Then, Ryan D zoomed up shortly after that with a bold, "Is that Ms. Reha?" Go gettem, Denner! After that, an official passed me on the back of a motorcycle, and he waived a penalty flag. "Crimony!" I couldn't figure what I had done to deserve a penalty...no one was around me, so I wasn't drafting. I was all the way over on the right side of the road, so I don't think I had interfered with anyone or passed on the wrong side. As I was running through these possible penalty worthy actions, the official turned his head and smiled. It was Coach Gurujan officiating at this race, and it wasn't a penalty flag but his notepad that he was waiving at me. I laughed (totally relieved), and acknowledged Coach G's waive, then he sped off to give penalties to someone in my age group I hoped.

The 56-mile bike course winds its way 40 miles inland from Guerneville and finishes at Windsor high school. It was significantly warmer in Windsor, and I was so looking forward to that cooler filled with ice water waiting at T2. As I approached Windsor high school, I saw people heading out on the run. At the dismount line, the race volunteers ushered us into a narrow walkway that circled half-the perimeter of the transition area...it seemed like a rather long distance to get from the dismount to the T2 area; however, once I found my things, I racked my bike and opened that cooler and dumped the entire thing on the top of head. It was shocking, yet soooo good! Then I changed my shoes, hat and grabbed my water bottles. I decided to make a stop at the porter pot in the transition area...there's just no good reason to be uncomfortable out there on the run. I also stopped at the aid station to fill my water bottles with ice cold water. One of my bottles had Cytomax mix, while the other had just cold water. Now, these extra stops extended my time in the transition area to roughly 6 minutes, way beyond my norm, yet I think it was worth taking the extra time. I sipped the Cytomax throughout the run course, and I continually poured the ice cold water on my head and down my back, refilling with ice water at the aid stations along the course. I maintained a comfortable pace, running roughly 9-minute miles, and besides the aid stations, I didn't have to make any additional stops along the course.

On the way out, not even 1 mile into the run, I passed Michellie Jones as she was heading towards the finish...she started about 10 minutes ahead of my wave, and now she was finishing about 2 hours ahead of me...wow! The 13.1-mile run wasn't flat as promoted on the Vineman course description. It was rolling hills, not severe, yet I was keenly aware of every incline. However, the toughest part about the run was that it was hot. I heard others say that the temp reached 101 degrees out in the vineyards along the run. However, I kept myself pretty comfortable with ice water. I also took advantage of every volunteer's offer to spray me with water. My shoes made a "squishy" sound as I headed back towards the finish. After I made the turn-around, I started seeing my teammates who were either passing me or heading out on the run....the run was getting really warm, and I was so fortunate to have that early race start. I yelled and cheered for them, and they yelled and cheered for me. The night before the race, Coach Jon encouraged us to give while we're out on the race course. When you give and share your enthusiasm with others, it only returns greater enthusiasm and energy for you...its one of those amazing life equations.

Coming into the finish, I saw ahead of me a purple clad triathlete walking. It was my teammate Walter. He must have hammered that bike ride...I didn't even see him pass me. I ran up alongside of him. He was having some stomach issues. I tried to encourage him to run it in, a strong finish and all of that...after all, we can stand just about anything for 1-2 minutes, and that's about all we had left of the race. At that moment, my buddy Damian blew past us, and Walter got his second wind and picked up his pace, faster than I could go :) I was about 30 feet from the finish line when a lady in the crowd yelled, "Hey, you can beat him!" I looked around, and there to my left about 10 feet ahead was this guy comfortably making his way to the finish line. I responded, "Yeah, I think I can!" I pushed hard into a sprint, and the guy must of seen and/or heard me, cause he picked up his pace, too. I crossed the finish line just barely in front of him. We laughed and high-fived as we tried to catch our breath, waiting in the line for our finisher's medals. That's totally the way to finish a half-ironman race ;)

After the pictures and the cold wet sponges, they encourage the competitors to go to the food tent. I couldn't force myself to eat at all. I nibbled on some watermelon and pineapple, yet I couldn't swallow anything. It was hot, I was tired, and all I wanted was fluids, so I kept the cold fluids going down. Greg helped Damian and I find shade to rest under, while we consumed a new recovery drink by Powerbar. It was really good, and I'm going to have to research the name and where its sold. We eventually joined our coaches and teammates who gathered at the finish line to cheer on those finishing the race. Everyone on my team completed the course. It was a great day for the San Diego TNT Tri Team!

My roommates and I returned to the cabin to clean up and get ready for the TNT Victory Party that evening. While I waited for my turn in the shower, I went down to the river for a relaxing swim. Its kind of odd to casually swim after training with such intensity these many months. I also spent a few minutes in the hot tub just letting the warm water ease all of the muscle aches and tension. I had entered that post-race phase of amazement...and delirious goofiness. Coach Trent's funny saying was correct...the hay was in the barn. Haaay! I just completed a half ironman race!

My overall time at Vineman was 6:10:05. That's quite a bit faster than my projected 6:30:00. Completing this race is a huge achievement for me. Its something that I dreamed about doing for a long time, and then I trained many months in preparation. Reaching this goal and this level in the sport not only has physical significance, there's also some emotional and philosophical meanings for me. My thoughts and emotions are jumbled right now, yet I'll post more once I sort through the significance. I also have pictures to share, which I'll post later this week. For now, I need some rest and recovery time. I'll be in touch soon!

G