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Posts tagged with: vineman
Aug 1, 2011    |       4 comments

140.6, Done!

Here I am, almost 2AM, weekend almost over, PJ’s with compression socks, rehydrating with my water + Nuun, a flurry of tri gear on the floor of my living room, back from one crazy FUN weekend. WOW. A full race report will come later this week (great photos are coming through Facebook, and more as the days go by, that’s for sure) but I wanted to just let out some of my initial thoughts.

As crazy as 140.6 sounded just 9 months ago, I still can’t believe that IT just happened! Like coach Brad said, the day went by just like… that. It was a blur… how could 14 hours go by so quickly?

What I DO remember:

  • Thinking about our TNT Honored Teammates Laura & Anabel pushing me through
  • Everyone on the Sponsor-A-Mile list. It really gave me so much energy every time I’d glance at the list, and imagine that person being there
  • Hearing our coaches voices in my head telling me all their reminders, like “Hydrate!” “Higher cadence!” “Hand jumping over barrels!” “Rotate!” “Relax!”
  • “Wow, already 6 different colors of swim caps passed by”
  • Friends telling me to ring my bike bell at T1.. then after I did, a loud roar of cheers
  • Unexpectedly seeing my family on mile 29 in Geyserville
  • “Oooh that winery would be nice to stop by”
  • “Oh, gotta stop and enjoy the view” (as I did that, a bee stung me on the forehead)
  • Checking out this girl on the side of the road at mile 63 “Wow, who’s that!?” (Then a split second later, found out it was my longtime TNT friend, Marcela, who came from SF to cheer me on.)

  • My amazing cheer squad friends at mile 69 with some crazy ridiculous signs. (I couldn’t read all of it going at the speed I was on the bike, but all I saw was the penis drawing). They were also the rowdy fun bunch at the entrance of the high school.

Also, the run out & back was a great way to cheer my teammates and also equally uplifted my spirits tenfold. Here’s what I remember:

  • Scott yelling “Ahhhhh yeahhhh!” everytime I see him on the loop
  • Patrick giving me words of encouragement on the run
  • Donovan with the no smile, nod with just a finger point on the run (he was smooth like the Dos Equis or Old Spice guys)
  • Holly’s bright orange top from a quarter mile away, then a side five & smile “you got this!”
  • Julie looking strong on the final loop giving each other the look, “We’re almost done!!”
  • Jasmine on her bike (after doing ANOTHER Half Iron triathlon, Barb’s Race… she did Vineman 70.3 2 weeks ago) giving me a *DING DING* on the bike
  • The 70.3 team cheer squad at the top of the big hill with costumes and a huge cardboard cutout of coach Brad with the pink leopard print speedos)
  • Louisville squad Kristi, Kris, Anne & Elsa all smiles & cheering me on while they do their training run after completing the Aquabike

For spectators, they probably only saw their participants on the course a total of less than a minute throughout the whole day, believe it or not each second of seeing that someone, hearing that extra cheer, that quick high five, seeing those smiles, or reading that cheer sign can make a HUGE difference in a race.

Again, I’ll blog about the race in full detail later this week (or next week), but I’m STILL on cloud 9. So much to cover, but I’m super happy with how the race went down as my first Iron distance triathlon – everything went smoothly, my nutrition was locked down and worked well, and all my teammates crossed the line. SO proud of them all! GO TEAM!

Jun 27, 2011    |      0 comments

Vineman Training Weekend Pt. 2

Just when we thought the weekend was over at 2.4 + 112 miles, bright and early we met back at the high school to do our long run! We ran on the exact path as Vineman, so there will be no surprises. Teammates doing Vineman Full ran two full loops, then a portion of the third loop, which totalled 19.65 miles. People doing other events had modified routes depending on their training schedule. The course itself was relatively flat. Some rollers, but one large hill towards the middle of the loop, which I think I’ll be walking up anyway. Most of it was nicely lined with trees too. It was hot, but luckily, there was a breeze to cool us down. My pace wasn’t as fast as I would be on fresh legs, but hey, we did 112 miles of biking the day before. I was actually surprised I still had some run in me!

Jun 27, 2011    |      0 comments

Vineman Training Weekend Pt. 1

Friday
Most people will venture out to Santa Rosa for a little wine tasting, but no, not the IronTEAM, we drive up there to get a preview of what’s to come in a few weeks. We got a taste of the Vineman 70.3 and the Full Distance triathlons! Starting on Friday, I met up with some teammates in the valley and we trekked the long, scenic route up north because some of us have never been there. Pictured above was our pit stop at Big Sur. Such beautiful ocean views! I can imagine why the Big Sur International Marathon is one of the top races to do in North America. Although it was nice and scenic, the drive took about 10 hours! We were unfortunately stuck behind some slow trucks on the cliffs, then took the necessary gas/food exits, so that was pretty much day 1 until we got to the Hilton for a little debriefing of what’s to come from our coaches.

Saturday Swim
Day 2 was the main reason why we went up to Santa Rosa – to test out the course! In the morning, we did a bunch of car/bike shuffling at the high school and on to Johnson Beach, where we will be doing our swim. The coaches set up bike transition racks for our convenience, then it was off for a lovely swim in the Russian River! The “slower” swimmers got a head start (which I’m a part of). The water was amazing! I was so used to the cold, salty, & rough ocean, that this was a sweet departure. Temperature was perfect, and the best thing? It was shallow! Shallow enough to stand. It was tough at some parts because I couldn’t even extend my arm all the way (I shouldn’t anyway). It was nice to be shallow enough to see the river floor so I could get a sense of how fase (or slow) I’m going. My open water skills have improved, and my nerves are much more relaxed. We were supposed to swim the full 2.4 miles by looping from the start to the “Big Green Wall”, which I missed! I was with another teammate and we kept on swimming past it – wayyyy past it! I was wondering why no one passed me up yet? I turned around sooner on the second loop to offset my mistake, but eventually finished! Of course, I was one of the last ones out because almost all the bikes on the rack were gone!

Saturday Bike
After the swim, we had an opportunity to test out the full 112 miles on the bike! The course was two loops through the beautiful vineyards of Santa Rosa. We passed by so many wineries that it was so difficult to resist temptation to stop and get a drink! The course was exactly what people described – hot, relatively flat but rolling hills, bumpy, scenic. It was true test of endurance, but more importantly a test with my nutrition and hydration. I tried something new though – Honey Stinger Waffles. It’s very tasty, but doesn’t have much calories, which I’ll be needing. It’s best to try and fail on this new product now than on raceday! There’s a big hill towards the end, but it’s nothing compared to some of the hills we’ve conquered during training. The bumpy roads masked within the shadows of the trees was a challenge. I lost 2 water bottles because of it! Overall, I was feeling great after I eventually finished the 112 in 7:20 hours. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t overly difficult. It’s manageable if I set up my nutrition and bike strategy well. I now know how 112 feels, so that completed my puzzle of the IronTEAM unknowns.

THEN, just when you thought it was over, we had to do a 6 mile transition RUN. Yes, a run. My legs were so heavy! I was still able to run here and there, but slower pace nonetheless. It was a preview of what’s to come, but I felt overall good about it. It’s still a little crazy to think I’ll be running 26.2 after the 112, but it’s great to know that really is within arm’s reach!