The Vineman Showdown is an afternoon triathlon, which was a strange adjustment. We woke up in the morning and it was hard to know what exactly to do until leaving for the race. So we took the dogs for a long walk and picked up bagels and coffee then walked home and leisurely packed up our tri stuff. We thought we had everything but decided to run down a list quick before we left and realized Kyle didn’t have his race belt. We couldn’t find it and he had a makeshift sort of one anyway, so we decided to stop at the bike store on the way to the freeway and pick one up. Well, the bike store didn’t have one, so we had to go down the street to REI, and by the time we did that, we were running a bit behind. When we got to the race course, the main parking lot was full so we had to park in one that was about half a mile from the transition area. We pulled out our helmets and repacked (read: stuffed) our bags and rode to the start. I’m not really serious enough about triathlons yet to do much of a warm up, so it was good to be forced to ride before the race.
The race was really well organized and the racks were labeled by your number, so there was no arguing over space on the rack which was good since we were late (and it made it easy to for me to find my stuff during transitions). We set up our areas and pulled on our wetsuits and it was time to head to the start line. I didn’t feel overly rushed but also wouldn’t have had any extra time if something had gone wrong. I did leave the transition area feeling like I had forgotten to do something, but I couldn’t place what it was.
It was a super beautiful day, warm and sunny, so it was hard to believe the water was going to be cold, but it was (not as cold as a month ago though!). I got in and swam around a bit; I don’t think Kyle did, but now I can’t recall. Anyway I swam around and then got out and watched Kyle’s wave start. People started talking about rumors that there were jellyfish, but the bay is like swimming in a lake -- you can’t see more than a foot in front of you -- so I don't think we avoid them even if they were there.
Swim: 400m swim in the North Bay
The swim was a half-moon shape with 3 buoys to keep on your right. Our wave was pretty big – all women 34 and under – so there were probably 100 women. I’m not sure if it had something to do with the immediate arching to the right of the swim course or what, but it was a totally crazy washing machine swim. Usually I’m rumbling around with people for the first maybe 50 yards but for this one, I was fighting people for the majority of the swim. Elbowing, kicking, punching – at one point I’m pretty sure someone was just riding on top of me. I could NOT get a good rhythm or stroke going. The crowd was swimming a bit wide so I found a little space on the inside, but it didn’t last long. I kept sighting the buoys and each time I would see way too many fluorescent orange swim caps in front of me. When I came out I figured I was about 20th.
Swim split: 6:55
Swim rank: 13/47 women 25-29
T1:
I was feeling pretty bummed jogging to the transition area, I was expecting to come out of the water so much better than that, and the swim usually gets me into a good position, but obviously not this time. It cheered me up a bit that I passed a couple people just on the jog into transition though. Then transition went really well, I was pretty quick and there several women sitting down, taking their time, so that was a good sign.
Transition time: unknown
Bike: 9 miles, out and back
The first thing out of the transition area was a super steep hill out of the park. There were numerous warnings in the course description and race reports about making sure your bike was in the easiest gear so that you could make it up. I was totally ready for it. What I wasn’t ready for were other people who were not ready for it. About half way up the hill, the person in front of me swerved and cut me off, and I was forced to clip out so that I wouldn't fall. I had to run up to a semi-flat part as fast as I could and remount, but I definitely lost some time there. I was mostly mad though because I was so prepared not to let that hill get me! Up another steep section and then it was a long downhill out of the park. I was all set to tackle the bike course now that I was out of the park and when I looked down at my bike computer and DANG IT that’s what I forgot when I was setting up my transition area! So no bike computer to help me figure out how fast I was going or how far I was into the ride. Oh well.
Two girls passed me just as we were going out of the park which I was really excited about because I would have some people to chase. One girl kept passing me on flats but I’d pass her on hills, which I’ve decided means she just had a really great bike. The other girl stayed just out of my reach – her name is Emily.
The bike portion was awesome because it was hard. It was all rolling hills and turns and it was really fun. To add to it, it was really windy. The whole course was all about changing gears, up hill, down hill, short flat, up hill, down hill – all you could hear was click click… click click… click click… click click – everyone shifting all the time. One downside of all the shifting and fun ups and downs though was that it was hard to find time to drink water – I usually do my best to drink as much of my water bottle as possible, but there was a lot left after the race:
I was feeling really good about my ride because I hadn’t let any other women pass me since coming out of the park and I was hanging onto Emily. Then about three-quarters of the way through the ride I looked down and noticed there was no chip around my ankle. I was stunned. I nearly stopped biking. There were tears in my eyes (maybe that was the wind). I swore a bunch. I was so angry. I’m not sure why times and places are so important to me, I guess I’m just a numbers person, and the thought of finishing this triathlon and not really knowing how I did really made me angry. It probably took a half a mile for me to get over my anger and rationalize that it probably came off with my wetsuit and I could probably put it back on and if I couldn’t find it I could just try to figure out how I did if I could keep up with Emily and look at her time. I got back to focusing on the ride, but that definitely broke my concentration and speed and spirit for a mile or two.
Coming back into the park was a long uphill and I passed Emily which really surprised me because I had been trying to catch her the whole time. Then we came to the steep hill that we had biked out, but we had to dismount at the top and run down with our bikes. I had read about this, too, so I knew that it would be easier to take my bike shoes off and run barefoot than try to run in my bike shoes (I’m not advanced enough yet to try getting my feet out while riding). I know I definitely would have fallen on my butt if I had tried it with my shoes on because it was hard even in bare feet.
Bike split/rank: unknown (maybe 16-17mph?)
T2: 3 miles, out and back
Emily passed me somewhere on that downhill run-with-bike thing, but I was still feeling good because I saw that I was the first bike back on my rack. My main focus though was finding my chip. Changed shoes, grabbed my wetsuit and shook it and nothing, more swearing, rustled around everything and couldn’t find it, more swearing, and made the decision to go with out it, turned to run out of the transition and there it was on grass! Strapped it back on and ran out.
Transition time: unknown
Run:
Again we had to get out of the park on the run so we were faced with another version of the steep hill. First, it was a couple sets of stairs. I totally nailed them. People were going up them all gingerly one step at a time. Not me, I grabbed the handrail and bounded up those suckers, only to be faced then with another steep hill. I did my best to run up it, but it was steep, really steep. I’ll admit it, I walked. After conquering the stairs, the hill conquered me. I was truly trying as hard as I could to run, but my legs refused. Finally, I made it to the top and ran the long gradual downhill out of the park. I let gravity do the work and cruised down the hill but I was aware that the out and back meant I’d have to run up that long hill at the end.
The run course was nothing special, just an out and back on the main road outside the park. It was just as windy as being on the bike course though. I couldn’t really tell how I was feeling so I decided to tough it out the first half and then kick it up a notch after the turnaround. I could also see Emily in front of me so I wanted to keep her in reach. About a quarter mile before getting to the turn around I saw Kyle on his way back to the park and realized I could potentially catch him. I decided to pick it up a bit but then my head said, “No, don’t go faster, it hurts so much to run after biking.” It was almost an automatic reaction that my head said no, and I think in the last 3 triathlons my head was right, but for some reason this time I was like, “Wait a minute, my legs don’t actually feel that bad, I think I can pick it up!” This was a huge revelation for me that perhaps I’m getting strong enough the bike to run doesn’t kill me as much as it used to. So I picked it up. (And, yes, I talk to myself like that in my head when I run.)
When I got to the turn around the volunteers were all hyped and said I was among the top 10 women. That gave me another little boost. I was still keeping my eye on Emily and picking off men from the first wave in the process. As we were nearing reentering the park, suddenly I started catching Emily. I’m pretty sure though that it was her slowing down, not me speeding up. I passed her just before getting to the long uphill, but now I had to hold her off. I needed some motivation to get up that hill, and there it was in black shorts and a blue shirt – Kyle! I didn’t focus on the hill at all, instead I focused on catching Kyle. I was working my butt off to get to him, breathing really loudly. I really wanted to just yell, “Hey Ky! Wait up!” but I couldn’t get it out. I definitely owe getting up that hill to him. I caught him just as we got to the top, and said something like, “You have a sexy butt,” to get his attention, and I’m pretty sure this other guy thought I was talking to him. I thought there was about 200 left, just a downhill to the finish, so I took off going pretty hard but it turns out it was more like 400 so that was not as much fun as I wanted it to be.
Swim split: 24:02
Swim rank: 8/47 women 25-29
Post-race:
Kyle finished right after me, so we got some water and went right to the food. I was not at all hungry but by the time we got some food and I finished rehydrating I was totally down with eating a burger. Sometimes it’s amazing how not very good food tastes gourmet after working out.
I would definitely do this triathlon again, it was a fun course with some added challenges and it was really well-organized. My times seemed a bit slow, but I'll chalk that up to the tough course, added challenges, and strong winds. We hung around for the results and awards, I was hoping maybe, just maybe, I was in the top 3 in my age group, but I was 6th. Next year!
Total time: 1:09:02
Final rank: 6/47 women 25-29, 17/216 women overall
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