The Third of Three (Vineman)

It's taken me a while to get to this blog post.  Between travel and an injured shoulder, I haven't had the chance to sit at the computer for any length of time.

On July 13, Randy and I competed in our third 70.3 triathlon in five weeks.  To read about Eagleman, click here.  To read about Syracuse, click here.

This one, Vineman, was in Sonoma County, California.  We flew out to stay with Randy's brother, Rod, in Walnut Creek for a few days before heading up.  While visiting, my brother-in-law invited us to join him in a ride call the Butterlap, which is unlike any ride we've ever done.  People of all ages and abilities on all kinds of bikes meet up at the Ferry Building to ride the streets of San Francisco.  It's probably only about 18 miles of riding, but it takes about two hours.  The group was large that night, and it stops at about four different places.  People bring along radios, six-packs of PBR, and other unmentionables.  It's a lot of fun and a great way to see the city.  There are only a few hills to climb and there is a "coaster race" down the last hill.  Basically, pedal until the top, then coast for over a mile and see who gets the farthest.  If you're in the Bay Area, check them out at www.butterlap.com.

 

Anyway, the next day we drove up to Guernville, where we rented a cute little house with Rod, his lovely girlfriend, Melissa, and her very fun and energetic daughter, Hannah.

The house was only a mile from the swim start.  The only thing we had to check in the day before was our run gear at T2.  The swim has a zillion waves because of the small area and we didn't start until 8:00 for Randy and 8:12 for me.  We rode down to the swim start/T1 at about 7:00 and got ourselves settled and ready.  Rod, Melissa, and Hannah came to cheer us on.

The swim is in the Russian River, which is very calm and very shallow.  It was pretty uneventful as far as triathlon swims go.  At the turnaround, my hands kept hitting the bottom, so I did a couple of dolphin dives to get moving quicker, which I find annoying since it breaks the rhythm.  There were a lot of people taking advantage of the fact that it was so shallow and they were stopping to rest or walk.  I generally swam around them.  My time was 34:56, which is a little on the slow side, but not a problem.

After tossing my wetsuit to Rod, I took off on the bike.  The bike course is beautiful, through the vineyards of Sonoma County.  The road surface left a bit to be desired, though.  I found it difficult to enjoy some of the downhills because of the potholes.  The big climb, Chalk Hill, at mile 45-ish wasn't as horrible as some would lead you to believe.  It wasn't an easy climb, but not kick-you-in-the-butt.  I was hoping to get under 3 hours for the bike again, but knew I'd be happy with anything within a few minutes of 3.  My time was 3:02:39.  Not the goal, but I wasn't disappointed.

After running my bike for what I think is at least a quarter mile from the dismount line to my T2 spot, I got ready to run.  I learned from my mistake at Eagleman and lathered on the sunscreen (SPF 100 this time - it came out as a sweater).  I had to run what seemed like another quarter mile to get out of T2 and onto the official run course.  About a half mile in, I realized I was going to be in trouble.  I had a side stitch, which I never have had while racing, and my right quadriceps was cramping.  I started to walk and stretch.  I got rid of the side stitch, but it wasn't until I got to an aid station that I could really help the cramp.  I put ice up into my shorts.  I don't know why, but it helped (probably psychosomatic).  I did the same at every aid station.

Unfortunately, the temperature by the time I started the run was approaching 90 and it was only climbing.  I decided to walk the uphills and run everything else.  Seemed like everyone else had the same plan.  The problem was that it was taking longer and longer to start running after cresting a hill.  I resigned myself to the fact that this was not going to be one of my better races and just concentrated on finishing.  It started to look like a death march out there.  Very few people were running and the volunteers at the aid stations were coming to us as we approached.  They were well-stocked and for that, we were all very grateful.  It was tough when we saw the ambulance go by, realizing that someone was probably in big trouble.  I managed to get to mile 11.5, with a lot of walking/running, when I decided to run the finish.  It was a slow run, but I managed it.  My run time was terrible (2:32:55), but I didn't really care.

I felt like crap after this one.  I knew I should eat, but I couldn't manage much.  Although, the watermelon tasted pretty good, especially when I added salt!

Needless to say, I did not get a spot to the 70.3 Worlds.  The first four people in my age group snatched them up, although most of the other age groups rolled quite far.  Randy just missed out, which was  bummer.

We got back to the house and Melissa had made us a big dinner, which was great...thank you, Melissa!!  They were great cheerleaders on a very hot day!  It was nice to have someone there, since we didn't know anyone else racing!

The next day, Randy, Rod, and I did a little wine tasting (of course) and even managed to get some ice cream.

We went home a few days later, despite some drama at the airport.  The race was tough, the trip was great and the company was even better.  Doing these three races so close together, at the end of the school year, and with some travel, was definitely exhausting.  I don't think we realized how tired we were until we got home.  But, it was totally worth it!