For my second 70.3 I picked Vineman, mostly because it was
such a popular race and seemed like a nice place to get away to for a few
days. Everything I heard about the race
was that it was fast and I think in my mind I equated fast with easier (compared
to Oceanside). This would lead to me
setting some pretty aggressive goal splits, none of which I hit. But that doesn’t me the day was not a
success. In fact, it was a hugely
successful and a day I am still having trouble fully understanding what I did. Aside from the goal splits I wanted to break
5 hours and to be the fastest Fortius Athlete of the day.
I drove up to our rented house with my teammate Paul on the Friday
before the race. The ride was long but
it was nice to get to know Paul a little better. This was his first 70.3 so I gave him as much
advice as I could. We got to the house around 5:30 and meet up
with two other teammates Faeron and Kosha.
We chatted for a bit and then went to the store to get food and cooked a
nice dinner at the house. Saturday was a
leisurely morning around the house and then we went to packet pick up, dropped
our run gear in T2 and then back to the house for lunch. After lunch Heather and I rode down to the swim
start to get familiar with the swim course and T1. I had heard a lot about the incline coming
out of T1 and there was much debate about riding or running up the
incline. I tested out riding up the
incline and it went well. Once back at the
house I went for a quick run and then swam a bit in the river. The house had kayaks so I took one out for a
really nice relaxing time on the water. Took
it easy the rest of the afternoon and then cooked another nice dinner at the
house and was off to bed early.
Race morning went as planned, I ate a bowl of granola with
Almond milk, Greek yogurt and half a wheat bagel with almond butter. This combo seems to be perfect for a 70.3 as
I have done it twice now and both times never got hungry until after the
race. T1 is set up so you can come and
go basically as you please compared to Oceanside where the shut it down at a certain
time and you have to wait for your wave.
Here we were instructed to be there an hour before your wave so we ended
up getting there at 6:30 (for a 7:24 start).
In hindsight this was a little too tight for me. I like to take my time setting up and getting
ready and “taking care of business” when I got there most racks were full,
meaning I was late, and I was kind of rushed.
I still had time to do everything I needed but it was slightly
uncomfortable. I made my way down to the
beach just as the 8th wave (I was in 10) was starting. I like to watch at least one group go out to
see what’s going on. After that we were
called to the waiting area and then in the water. I was able to get in a good swim warm up in
the 6 minutes we had between groups. I
settled into a spot I liked and waited.
Our age group was split up into two groups and it did not
feel crowded so at the gun everyone was off and there was not a lot of
contact. I tried to hook up with some
swimmers but was not able to find anyone so I was on my own. Things were going great until we hit the 3rd
buoy, that’s where it got real shallow and I began to dolphin dive. I figured I would do that until people
started passing me. This never happened
and I dolphin dove all the way to the 4th buoy. Then I began to swim again. Fairly uneventful to the turn around when I
looked at my watch and saw 18 mins. This
was not great. I wanted to do something
in the low 30’s and I knew I needed to really get moving. Just then it got the shallowest it was on the
swim. The water was probably only 1 foot
deep at this point and very rocky. I
stood up and walked, tried to back stroke and basically just fought until you
could swim again. It was so frustrating,
I had heard it was shallow and there would be people walking but it was far
worse than I expected. After this part I got back into a good pace
and just went all out to the start. Got
out of the water quickly, removed goggles, cap and wetsuit as quickly as
possible and threw everything into the provided bag. 
Not that I am the fastest at T1 (20/249 AG)
but it always surprises me how many people beat me to the bike but are just
standing at their bikes looking like they are waiting for something. I hit T1 and I feel like a storm coming
through, getting everything done as fast as possible. They may beat me out of the water but I
always beat them out of T1. Once I got
to the mount line I decide to run the hill.
The day before the entire ramp was open and there was a ton of space to maneuver. On race day the ramp was cut in half and it
was pretty narrow, a prefect spots for
disaster. Once up the hill I mounted and
had a little trouble clipping in on the left side due to dirt but quickly got
moving. I saw Kelly right away and she
said Kosha was just ahead of me, I knew in my head that there was no way I
would see him any sooner than mile 5 of the run so I just put my head down and
got to work. The first five miles are
flat and straight. A great chance to get
warmed up and ready for the next 2:40, if all went well. After a few extremely sharp turns and a quick
climb we were on Westside and into the rollers.
It was here when I saw my first of many Fortius teammates; Joel and I
said a few words. I had been hearing for
a few months now about these rollers and there really is no way to prepare for
them other than riding the course. I
have explained to a few people after the race that none of them were especially
challenging but it’s as if you leave a little piece if you on each one and by
then end of the day the small rollers seem like brutal climbs. The constant up and down, go hard and
recover, really takes its toll on you and for me it was my quads. This was the first race I was doing where I
was really focusing on Power. I had a
power number in mind and I spent most of the ride just above that number. I was not worried as I knew of the course of
the ride the number would come down a bit and be very close to where I wanted
to be. I used the same nutrition plan
for this race as my previous 70.3. I
took about 700-800 calories which included 2 bottles of water with Skratch and
half of another bottle of water only along with 5-6 salt pills. It is a bit of an effort to eat that much
over the course of 56 miles but I forced myself to stay on track and make sure
I got in enough or else the run would be lost.
I made it to the half way point just under my 1:20 target and was doing
great. The highlight of the bike was
when John caught me and we rode for approx 5 miles together from 35-40. It was so nice to talk to a familiar face
during the race. It was like we were out
on a training ride, a perfect mental break to take your mind of things for a
bit without losing focus of the big picture.
After we passed the house he was staying in and his personal cheering
section, at mile 40, he took off. The
only real climb was about mile 44 up Caulk Hill. It was tough but not too long or too
steep. Nothing we had not seen and
climbed before. I was so happy to see nobody
walking their bikes up the hill, unlike Oceanside. I caught John at about mile
54 and we rode the last two together discussing what was coming and how we were
feeling. Unfortunately he was not doing
so well after going a bit too hard on the bike, something he brought up as soon
as he initially caught me back at mile 35.
We dismounted together and took the long run through T2 and to our run
gear. The past few T2’s I have tried to avoid
sitting down only to waste time fumbling with my shoes and having to sit down
anyways. This time I racked the bike and
just sat down. Switched shoes, took off helmet,
grabbed hat and nutrition and took off.
John and I wished each other luck on the run and I was off.
Here we go…the run. As
soon as the run started I caught Heather, we shared words of encouragement and
went on our ways. I really needed to
stay calm in the first four miles of this run.
I knew the last 4/5 miles were going to be brutal so I needed to make sure
I was not overdoing it early. It was not
easy but I fought the urge and put in a 22:46 5K (7:20 pace) which included a
bathroom stop. I just tried to convince
myself I was out for a 13 run and there was no need to push it out of the
gate. This mental trick actually worked
and maybe a bit too much as I was slower then I wanted to be but I took it as a
good sign. I took some fluids at each aid station and ice
at a few with salt pills every couple miles and was feeling pretty good, not
amazing but good and I made it into and out of the winery. This is where the battle really started. I knew we would be heading toward a turn
around a little past mile 8 and after exiting the winery it would be just shy
of a mile to that point but it felt like it never came. Each roller and turn I
was expecting to see the cone but it never came.
The heat was catching up with me and a lot of
negative self talk was taking place. My
pace was fairly consistent but I was not doing well. In the morning Gerardo and I ended up walking
in to T1 together and were discussing where we would see each other on the
run. He said it would be my mile 10 and
his 4.5. He is pretty spot on with this
kind of stuff so I figured it would be pretty close. I should have just listened to him, it would
have saved me a lot of grief because mile 9 I saw Spencer and Alex and that’s
when I convinced myself Gerardo had already passed them and was in the
winery. I was doing the math and
mentally checking out big time. I ran my
slowest mile (aside from the pee break in mile 3) and I was falling apart. Still taking fluids and salt but mentally I
was losing the war. As I turned onto
Slusser Rd I began watching the runners going the opposite way and I was
approaching mile marker 10. As if on cue
I see Gerardo smiling and laughing knowing he nailed it as to when we’d see each
other. We exchanged a high five and he
said something positive. That exchange
changed everything for me. I quickly did
some math and realized I was still on track to beat him. My pace picked up and I gave everything I had
left for the final 5K. I ended up passing
2 guys in my AG in the final mile and finished way stronger than I thought I would
just 30 minutes earlier.
Goal
|
Actual (AG rank)
|
|
Swim
|
33:00
|
34:29 (60)
|
T1
|
2:30
|
2:24 (20)
|
Bike
|
2:40:00
|
2:42:24 (63)
|
T2
|
2:30
|
3:13
(33)
|
Run
|
1:28:00
|
1:32:22 (10)
|
After the race my quads were killing me, I walked around a
bit and drank a bunch of water but I was hurting. Fortunately I ran in Ray and he got me over
to the people with the ESTIM (Electrical Stimulation Therapy) units and
got me hooked up, which was a life saver.
After 20 minutes on that I was finally above to get some food in my and
re-connect with my teammates. Someone
had a phone and was checking results. I
asked if they would look up my bid number, when I heard 4:54:52 and 26th
in AG I kind of lost it emotionally. I
shed a few tears, good thing I had sunglasses on but I was completely overwhelmed
with emotion over that fact I had just pulled that off on a day where I was
losing it with 4 miles to go. I was so
proud of myself for pulling my stuff together and finishing because it could
have gone the other way and sub 5 would have been out the window. People starting saying that 26th
should be good enough for a roll down spot, again totally shocked and overwhelmed
that Worlds might be an option. I stayed
for the ceremony and ended up taking the 3rd of 3 spots for my
AG. So amazing!! Worlds were never on my radar at all, like
not even a thought. Now I am a Worlds Qualifier
at my 2nd 70.3. Wow!
