VINEMAN POST RACE REPORT

This is/was my first (and most likely not last) Iron distance race.  This distance is intimidating, not just the 140.6 miles looming in front of me, but because as recently as 4 weeks prior to the race I was still hesitant to compete.  Not due to injury, not due to anything other than my own laziness and my lack of training.  Coming into this race my longest training day was a 70 mile bike ride / 10 mile run brick work out, and that day didn’t go well either.  There were several doubts in my head, as well as Jess' (came out after the race) about my ability to finish this race.

The day before the race we met up with some fellow Triathlon Club of San Diego members for a pre course swim in the Russian River.  I must say I was gladly surprised at the temperature of the water and how calm the water was.  It was reassuring; however, of all three events I was most confident and most prepared for the swim portion.  After that we went back to the room, showered, relaxed for a bit and then decided that we would go drive the course (turned out to be a wonderful idea).  I have never done this before, but then again I have never raced this distance.  The term "rolling hills" is used very loosely when it comes to this course, it reminded me of the back half of Oceanside 70.3 (on Basilone) the hills were continuous, very little flat throughout the course and rolling hills  they definately were.  Then there was this "chalk hill" everyone was talking about.  We found it on the preride and when I saw it I was like "this is nothing, I am from SoCal, we ride hills like Old 395, those are hills" however I guess what I didn’t realize is that I was in the car, and just a little more gas got me over this hill, and I would be doing this hill twice, once around 40 and again around 100.  Completed with the pre ride, and now more confident than ever, it was time to go back to rest.

Now it was off to packet pick up.  Upon getting there we sat in a mandatory pre-race meeting.  Then it was off to get bib, and goodies.  Went in, picked up my number, 158, got my t-shirt and now off to do some shopping.  At larger events, their host tent usually produces some good swag.  This was no different; we got Jess a spectator T-shirt that was pretty cool.  Since this race is “point to point” race, transition area two was at a different place than transition 1, we were to stage our shoes the day prior to the race.  Quickly finding an ideal spot, I placed my shoes and nutrition where they would be easy to find and then we decided that it would be time to go home, relax, eat and get into bed early.

On the way back we saw Korbel vineyards, and I love Korbel.  Knowing better I looked at Jess and suggested that we "take a peek."  We did, we went in, they were doing their free sampling, so we took just a few samples and picked some champagne that we thought would be amazing after the race.  We went to the check out, handed them our request list and then something told me to ask if they give military discount.  I asked, and with a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face the cashier told me they give a 50% military discount... really, HALF OFF, are you kidding me, that sent me back for additional "Post race" bottles....

Race day:
Started with a 4:20 wake up to be in/around the transition area at 5:30 when it opened for a 6:30 start time.  Immediately upon waking up I noticed my nerves were crazy, my stomach was turning, I was visibly shaking, I was legitimately questioning my decision, but as always Jess was there to tell me to take some deep breaths and calm down and that all would be fine.  I trusted her judgement and even though I wasnt as confident myself, I was able to gather myself and relax just enough. 
One common problem I have is wetsuit burn, knowing this while putting on my wetsuit, I made sure to put on plenty of tri glide in the problem areas.
Getting into the water and warming up a bit I noticed that I was again extremely nervous, shortness of breath, heart racing, physically shaking, and just all around a nervous wreck.  This sucked, this was supposed to be the easiest part.  Having never raced this distance, and not knowing if I could correctly pace, I decided that it would be best to start in the back of the pack.  Having a few conversations with people back there I realized that they were just as nervous as I was. 
Air horn sounds, and we are off.  Immediately everyone thinks they are Michael Phelps and they are off, all of a sudden everyone is a professional, and position matters.  I begin getting beat up pretty bad, seemed like I couldnt finish a stroke without hitting someone with my hand, running into someone, or getting hit with an elbow, knee, hand or foot. 
Slowly settling into the swim

Bike
Bike sucked, no other way to put it.  I got out of the bike what I put into it in training, VERY LITTLE.  In hind sight, it is the one area where I would tell any first time Iron distance athlete to build a base, know what it is like to sit in the saddle for 120 miles, know how your neck, your shoulders, your hands, your posterior and everything else I didn’t mention is going to react to being in the saddle for 6 hours or more.  The pain that was felt in my neck, back, tail bone, and shoulders was at times almost too intense to continue.  I couldn’t have been less prepared.  That feeling, almost too much pain, to tired to raise my head and look at the road in front of me.  Or the fact that when I got into the aero bars my shoulders would begin to scream at me.  Also, lack of training led to insatiable pain in the legs, almost to the verge of cramping several times, but never actually crossing that line, was definitely something I didn’t expect, especially when they said that there was only 4000 feet of climbing on the course.  I mean seriously we rode 70 miles on July 2nd and had almost 6000 feet of climbing, surely 4000 couldn’t be that bad, that were my thoughts coming into the race.  And the "Chalk Hill" I made mention of earlier, yea at mile 100 F that hill, legs screaming, lungs hurting, trying to catch breath, everything adding up and then once cresting the hill to find that I would face the last 12 miles into a 15 plus MPH head wind, yea all factors that almost led to mental breakdown.   After coming home, putting the Garmin on the computer and down loading the information from the day, it was discovered that the course was in fact over 6500 feet of elevation, explaining the pain that I was feeling on that day.

Run
Coming into transition, I was kind of nervous about unclipping and attempting to run off of the bike, at a Half Iron distance I almost face planted because the legs weren’t under me, increasing the potential for something bad happening.  After successfully dismounting the bike, it was off to put on my shoes.  Running surprisingly well, I knew that now was definitely not the time to try to set any land speed record.  I figured that if I could keep a 10 min/mile pace then I should be able to maintain and not bonk for a little while.  Great idea right, however with the crowds of people around and the added adrenaline, the first time I looked down at my watch to see that I was in the 8:15 area, not bad if it was a 70.3 or an Olympic, but I knew there was no way I could hold that pace, so I backed off.  I decided that I would time 5k's, the first 5k came in at just over 28:00 mins, which was somewhere close to where I wanted, and I was feeling good, then the next one was the same, and again for the third, and next thing you know im 9 miles thru the run, then the next 5k came in just over 31:00, didnt hit my mark on that one, but when going up one of the rolling hills I felt the back of my left leg tighten up a bit, so I backed off to a walk.  Once cresting the hill that made me cramp, I began to jog again, then quickly (next hill) this cramp came back, this time stronger than before.  At the next aid station I made a point to take a bit more time, took in Gatorade, water, and some shot blox, it was at this point approx 15 miles in that I realized that I was quickly being reduced to a walk.  Around mile 16, totally mentally out of the race, I seen Jessie.  Able to judge my pain level, my frustration, and my mental fatigue she knew exactly what to say, telling me that she would walk every mile left with me if needed and that she was going to be beside me and that I was going to finish.  I needed this badly, I hurt, I was battered, my body was screaming, everything telling me to stop, and in almost doing so I realized I am not a quitter, I havent been on this course for 12 hours to give up, I havent put my body thru all this and not be able to call myself an Ironman, I wasnt going to do this.  Gritting down, shaking everything off, I decide I am going to finish, now reduced to a walk for the duration of the race I am cheering and encouraging others who look like they feel as bad as I do. 
Finish line is within a mile, I begin to get all the emotions wrapped into one.  Seeing the finish line I got goose bumps knowing that I was about to accomplish something a very small percentage of people can say they have done, and then hearing the words "Larry Trampel, you are an IRONMAN" I almost lost it.