Vineman 70.3 FINISHER

I did it.  I completed my first HALF IRONMAN!! 

VINEMAN 70.3 - OFFICIAL FINISHER

Where do begin? It was amazing. It was hard.  It was painful. ...OK. OK. OK. I will start from the beginning.

Alarm goes off... it is 3:30am.  We are tired.  but also excited. we have all of our stuff prepacked, our T2 stuff is all set up. Our bikes are safely stored in the truck.  All we have to do is get dress, fill our bottles, eat some breakfast, use the restroom and go...

As i filled up my Gatorade and water bottles, my excitement was brewing.  I quickly made oatmeal, that I actually DO NOT enjoy, but for what ever reason, seems to work for me on long training/racing days, so I choked it down.  We gathered into the van and we were off to Johnson's Beach for the start of the race.

Once we arrived, it was time to set up.  I picked a nice spot at the end of the rack or the beginning, however you looked at it.  My row was right at the entry from the swim.  So as soon as i was done and ran out i was right there. In hindsight, I probably should have picked the other end so i had less of an area to run out with the bike.. but c'est la vie.  I set up shop, Bucket braided my hair, i wrapped my knee and squeezed into my wetsuit and excitingly looked down at my watch. i had 15min until my wave. WOW, time sure had flown.

Laura, Me & Ashley

Jay, Rachel, Bucket & Lizette

Me & Bucket

As I walked down to the beach I realized i had not used the bathroom... but also, that i did not have to go. Now, that may be TMI for you, but it is slightly relevant down the line. :-)

So, anxiously, Tina, Cole, EWS, Isabel, Clare & I were waiting to get into the water, Riz and Javi gave us a hug and calmed us all down.  Reminding us that we are beyond trained for this.  Take deep breaths, find our pocket in the swim and just go for it and to have fun.  And that is exactly what I did.

We entered the water, I gave the girls a hug, said good luck and found my spot in the front of the swim pack, off to the right. Funny enough, Angela was right there as well.  We were out of the way of the main group as well as not deep in the current.  Not that there was strong on, but it was less off to the sides. I took a deep breath, peed, LOL, said a quick prayer to mom and the powers at be.  I started my watch and then we were OFF!!

I swam my little heart out.  I had Christy in my head, long and lean -- glide... so I did and I had Laura in my head - my swim buddy.  Although we were in different waves, she was with me, reminding me that she beat me by 3 seconds on our last market set.. so I swam and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I kept my breathing regular, i didn't stress myself out, even with girls trying to swim over me or kicking me, I just kept swimming.  When we hit the buoy for the turn-around, I did the "roll swim," which Riz and Javi taught us in the ocean.  It was awesome and totally keeps you in your rhythm and then I kept going ... and then i started to laugh as my knees and arms started scraping the bottom of the river as the water was so low, people got up to walk or run it.  It was comical. We saw it in the event meeting the day before and in fact a few of us did it during our training weekend.  But I kept thinking as I was swimming at the same pace as the runners - man you are dumb, LOL.  you are wasting prime leg energy on your swim! You still have to bike and run.  So silly!! -- so I chuckled to myself and kept swimming... then Riz popped in my head.  "Pee a the bridge and then start kicking so your legs can get ready for the bike."  Now normally, I am a "stop and pee" gal and I also pee like 7 times in 45min.  This time I had to slow down my momentum and NOT move my legs at all to get comfortable to pee.  It kinda looked like I was drowning, but it worked.  I felt better stated kicking and before you know it I was done with the swim and i felt good!  As i ran up the ramp the first face i saw was Bucket and then Javi.  Bucket seemed surprised to see me, which actually felt awesome as I knew that i rocked that swim!  As I gave them Hi-5s I headed to my Bike to get ready for the next phase.

The Bike... my transition took a little longer than I thought, but not crazy.  Once we changed out of our wetsuits and got all of our gear on, we had to pack up everything into one bag as they were going to take it to the finish line for us.  So that was a little hectic as I had sunblock, wet towel, my suit, etc... at least with Cozumel, I won't have a wetsuit to deal with, so it should be realitivly quick.

Once I was all ready to go, I ran out of the transition area, with my helmet cam on and rolling, I ran up the road where I saw silly fools trying to mount their bike... it is a rather steep, slippery & muddy, did they really think that was smart? LOL.  That being said, I finally hopped on my bike and I was in the zone. Struggling to get my left foot to clip in, I just rode until I had no turns to deal with.  In doing so I started to bang my shoe on the pedal to knock out any mud or debris.  I saw stuff flying but my shoe would still not clip in.  UGH... At Mile 5, we have to make a SHARP right turn on Sunrise and then we are on the "Westside Hwy" for a while.  I braced myself with my one clipped in foot took the turn and headed up the hwy.  As I made my way up the first decent hill, my shoe was not my friend... so I pushed and pulled with my right foot, slightly struggling.  I was a little tired.  But in a good head space.  And just then, Coach Brad Hall of IronTeam came riding up next to me.  He checked in on me, quick tips on my foot, a heartfelt GO TEAM, and then he was off.  But his timing (not that he planned it) was perfect... that GO TEAM, was just what I needed to get me up that hill.  Granted my left shoe NEVER CLIPPED IN for the ENTIRE RIDE... but i didn't care... i made it work.

This is me cautiously making the right turn onto Sunset

 As I cruised along i tried many times to film the experience.  I would turn my helmet cam on and off, record, etc... I was excited about it... in the end, NOTHING recorded. :-( 

That being said, I didn't need the camera.  My brain recorded it all.  The wineries were gorgeous.  The spectators were amazing and just when you didn't realize you needed it a TNT teammate from my team or another would say GO TEAM... and you were back in it!  AMAZING.

As I cruised along the course, I was thankful that we had come up a few weeks prior to train the course.  I remembered where landmarks were, to disguise the half-way point or when hills were coming, etc.  It was great.  I leapfrogged a few people here and there, one guy in particular "Green Machine" (he had a green bike and lime-green Tri kit) was super nice and embraced it when I called him Green Machine and we cheered each other on for about 20 or so miles... I am also happy to say that "Chicked" about 6 guys as well. :-)

Almost documented the "Chick" factor, too bad it was another chick. :-)

At one point, I heard a GO TEAM come up from behind me... it was Kelie. She was in the first swim wave that started the event and swimming in not her strong suit, as this girl.. this bad ass, signed up for a 70.3 without knowing how to swim!! CRAZY!  but she killed it.  So as she popped up next me, super cheery, i asked her how the swim was and she said GREAT! how awesome is that!?!?!  needless to say she crushed the bike and the run. :-)

As I munched on my PB&J I mentally prepped for Chalk Hill. Chalk Hill is not a crazy steep hill, but it has switchbacks and is a steady climb... plus it is at mile 47 of the 56 mile ride... so climbing that kind of hill that late in the game is tiring.. but I was ready.. I read my race notes, LOL.. and I stopped eating and drinking at about mile 42, so I was not too full or have a swishy belly for the climb.. and I am glad I did.  It was tough.  My left foot of course was not helping at all, so my right leg was pushing and pulling up that hill.. an awesome spectator was there cheering us on -- "only 400 yards to go - you are almost to the top." You have no idea how awesome that is to hear... and you know what is more awesome, when you lean into that turn on the switchbacks and you are greeted by 3 people dressed as angry birds, a Unicorn, and a Purple cowgirl cheering you on to the top.. and just when you look down, you see in BRIGHT ORANGE Spray paint GO TEAM and your name!  AMAZING!

On the final homestretch of the bike, I looked at my watch and to be honest, I was a little bummed. My watch had me at around 4:20 or so.. Training weekend I completed the bike in 4:05.  So I really didn't understand what I had done wrong. My nutrition was spot on, I wasn't tired, I pedaled the whole time and never really cruised... but yet I was over.  Slightly deflated, I gave myself a little pep talk and said you are doing this.. don't worry about the time, you are having fun and that's all that matters..so I pedaled on and entered the chute ... the crowd was amazing!  My TNT teammates were right at the turn and it was great to see them and hear them.

As I entered the transition area and hopped off my bike, I was completely turned around.  I thought my stuff was at the entry way from the bike, but I was positioned at the run OUT! So after being a little confused, I figured it out and made my way there, to have some other athlete have there bike on my stuff.  i was soo annoyed because they racked their bike wrong, so it was a little difficult for me to put my bike on the rack.. but whatever, I kicked off my shoes attempted to reapply sunblock and I was out again and onto the run... the last phase of this crazy adventure.

The Run... as I raced out of the chute, I see Riz.. and then I HEAR Riz... "You Killed it on the bike! I mean really killed it!! EASE into the Run!! ... I am pretty sure I "Yessed" her or said "OK," LOL. I don't remember. But I do remember thinking?!! What is she talking about, when I looked at my watch before I was like 30min OVER my time... none-the-less I pressed on with my 3-1 intervals (run 3min / walk 1min)... I figured this would be about the amount of time my knee could take with pain before I had to walk. As I began to run, I noticed my left arm was hurting from my wetsuit chaffing it the day before, so i took my left knee strap off and put it on my arm, to cover the burn. It worked. Genius!  As I pressed on, I started to have slight GI issues... now, remember in the beginning of this post when I said I had not used the restroom, here is where it bit me in the ass... or stomach I should say. :-)  As I was running my tummy was unhappy, I stopped at the first few aid stops to but nothing happened.  It was hot. 93 degrees and zero shade.  YUCK.. But I still pressed on.. I reached mile 3 and I looked at my watch.  I was at exactly 5hrs.. and then it clicked in my head.. HOLY CRAP, I did kill it on the bike... (my watch was on auto-sport, so the time lumped everything together, the swim, bike & transitions!)  I couldn't believe it.  So I thought to myself, when I was running, I able to run 10miles in 1:46 and when I not, I still managed to do it in roughly 2hrs... so there it was. i was in range of my A & B Goals -- 6 1/2 - 7 1/2 Hours.. WOW... so i really started to run. stuck with the intervals, but my tummy was not in the mood.. and then by mile 5, just when my tummy, didn't necessarily feel better, but got with the program that I really wanted to do this, my right knee was like I'm done!  You worked me so hard on the bike (that was the leg that actually did clip in) and now we are running on hard cement... No Thank You!! And then, what I thought would be a silver lining, Le Creme Winery, because of the dirt road, ended up being waaaay worse. Since I was so hot, the dirt was hard, there were tons of rocks and my poor knee was miserable and with that I saw my race goal slipping away.  My intervals went from 3/1 to 2/2 to 1/3 to run on the downhills.

I was bummed.. but I didn't care.  I stopped at every aid station for water, two to drink and two to dump on my head or neck to cool off.  I GO TEAMED everyone.  I was lucky to see Christy, Jay, Kelie, Jose, Brandi, Kyle, Eryn, Ashley, Isabel, Scott & Rene on the run... and the best part was about mile 11, Scott and I started to "run" together til the end.  Poor Scott had a bum calf and a pinched nerve in his neck, so he was just as miserable as I was.  My AJB and I hobbled along.  At mile 12, we saw out amazing Spirit Captain, Christal.  She was taking pics and cheering us on.  Of course, Scott and I stopped for the photo and she laughed at us.  We were like, do you really think 10secs is going to make a difference on our 3hr walk. LOL... we trucked on.. 12.5 Unicorn Meredith and Purple Cowgirl Liz from Chalk Hill were there.. Scream, cheering it was amazing.. and what was super cool as they took our race belts, so we could have a cool photo at the finish... So sweet.  So with the last .5mi to go, Scott and I went for it.  We ran, we hobble and wobbled into the chute..-- the longest chute ever created, BTW -- we saw Riz and teammates and they were there Hi-5ing us and we did it.. and made it to the finish line.  The Wounded Warriors DID it!  And I could not have imagined crossing the finish line with anyone else.

FINISH LINE!!

Scott & Rach

Wound Warriors

The AMAZING Cheer Team

Meredith, Christal, & Liz

Rene, Jay, Me, Scott, Kelie, Elisa, Christy

Me & Jay

Me at T2

Stan & I 

My Partner in Crime

GO TEAM

So the race was amazing.  I knew going into this race that my knee was going to be an issue and that's OK.. All I wanted to do was to do my best and if I was able to improve, even just the slightest bit, I would be happy...  And I did... remember a few posts ago and my constant reminders on Laura beating me in our last swim marker set by 3 seconds and I was wondering would do better in the race... Well.... I guess those three seconds and our friendly competition fueled me more than I thought as I beat Laura by 9 seconds on the swim!!! WAHOOOO!!! (she is doing Barb's Race this weekend, which is Vineman 70.3 but a women's only race. So her motivation now is to race 10 Seconds faster, LOL, to beat me)... whatever drives us right?? :-)

So overall, I am thrilled... I shave 5+min off my swim and 35+min off of my bike from the training weekend 3 weeks before the race.  The run.. eh.. it is what it is... I will get PT, stretch, do more core work and of course aqua jog and I am confident my knee will be ready for Cozumel.

The Road to Vineman

Bright and early Friday morning, we met up with Christy and husband, Louis.  They are both awesome and super generous to take me up, especially, since I was not coming back with them as I was going to NYC again for work.

Of course on the 8hr journey up, we were hydrating like fools... therefore we stopped to pee like a million times.  Once arriving to Sonoma, we met the team for a swim.. of course we were late because of all the traffic and pee stops, but non-the-less, we met up with the coaches just in time for them to tell us to do a quick 30min swim in the river before they took off.  As we swam, Christy noticed Angela's arm was doing something wonky, its hard to explain, but her form was a little off.  So she corrected it.  So of course, I asked Christy to look at mine... and thankfully my form was great, but I was not "gliding" enough, therefore I was not efficient in the water.  Taking this from Christy is a key note as she is one of the fastest swimmers on the team.. so as we continued on our swim I made not and glided more, with that i had to adjust my breathing, but i think i did it... YAY.. so with one more swim practice the next day, I was happy to see my form felt better and Christy noticed as well that it was on track.

So that night we had a team dinner and it was yummy.. pretty good Italian place.  of course we were all pretty tired... and we all know I love my sleep and i hate snoring, so i was excited to fall asleep before Ashley and her boyfriend, Brad, arrived later that night.. i did not hear them come in, i did not hear them trip over bags, i did not hear doors closing.. but ya know what i did hear 2hr later, apparently just after they went to bed, Snoring. LOL.  I swear a train could come roaring though my room and i would sleep soundly, tiny bit of snoring, while wearing ear plugs BTW.. i am wide awake.. it is baffling and so annoying for me and i am sure for them, too.. although all snorers swear they don't snore.

Saturday morning we all met for a mini Tri to the river for swim, then drove up to the high school for a quick bike ride to check all our gears and a mini run which i did not do because old Righty Tendi, but fun all  the same... and then headed into the Race Meeting to hear about the course, get our BID Numbers and of course buy some swag. :-)

(here are pics from the morning swim... and did I mention we are famous Cancer Crusaders!?!? --that's right, these tough cookies were featured on the Ironman Website!!)

Cole, Tina, Me, Christy, Bobbi, Chloe, Brandi

GO TEAM!

Cancer Crusaders!! 

Christy and Me

Me & Christy

The race meeting was great.  Very informative and actually kinda funny as they showed people walking during the swim, as the water is so shallow.

As we gathered all our bib numbers and were set to head out to T2 to set up, i realized i had left my T2 bag at the hotel, but have no fear, I was able to go back and grab it, and then come back to set up.  (This was actually a great learning tool as Vineman & Cozumel are set up the same with TWO Separate transition areas for the bike and the run (which is also why i wanted to do Vineman)) :-)... 

Saturday night was our Inspiration Dinner.. to be honest, I was expecting a lot more bells and whistles and Rah Rahs... but it was good non-the-less.  They told a few inspiring stories of participants and other and also announce the top fundraisers.. and... drum roll please... i was the #1 Fundraiser for SoCal!!! Wahoo! I think i only beat Lizette by $50, but i'll take it!! and over all I was #4 out of all the TNT fundraisers.. So, THANK YOU!!! you guys are the ones that really did all donating, I just was happy to be there to hear our hard work paid off.. THANK YOU!!  

After dinner we had one final team meeting before we headed to bed... at 9:00!  I know it seems super early, but given that we had to wake up at 3:30, 9:00 sounded late! :-)   our meeting was inspiring as we have an honorary team member that gave sent us an inspirational letter, the IronTeam made GO TEAM poster for us and the coaches walked us through the morning to calm and restless nerves... and with that and one last GO TEAM, we were off to bed to dream of swimming, biking, running and vineyards.

GO TEAM!

Me, Bucket, Nicole, Kelie & Scott

Jay, Me, Bucket, Kelie, Scott & Nicole

Angela & Christy

IronTeam Love - GO TEAM

Bucket, Jenna, Me & Kyle

Nicole, Bucket, Kyle, Jenna & Me

Bucket & Me

Me, Kelie, Nicole, & Jenna

Nicole, Jay, Kelie, Tina & Kirk

Jenna, Me & Tina

Taper Week

It is seriously so crazy.  I cannot believe last November I impulsively decided to do this and I cannot believe 8 months later I actually committed to training and am actually doing it.  I seriously think I am deranged.

so lets recap, when we last left off, I was heading in to my taper week and i was 5 days away from the race.
and OMG -- it was a seriously exciting and nervous week all rolled into one.  I knew I was prepared for the race as Coach Riz & Javier had us completely prepared, heck, we did 80mi to San Diego and the race is only 56mi! But even with all the training, I was still nervous.  Kinda like a little kid before the first day of school.

The week itself was great with very chill and fun practices. Javie threw Riz in the pool at our swim session, i took an awesome solo ride to Marina Del Rey on the beach back and just took my whole experience and and Thursday, I head to Angela's before we headed to Sonoma on Friday morning Christy and her husband.

Go Team

Races - No Arms

Races - Mock Waves

Ride To Marina Del Rey

Marina Del Rey

As we headed into the last week before the race... I was informed by the fundraising team that I was super close to being the #1 Fundraiser for SoCal! How cool is that??!?!?!  Lizette and Stan were hot on my tail and it was going to be close... but raising money for LLS? That was a personal challenge I was ready to take!  With one week to go, I threw out one more FB Raffle... the donations starting pouring in... but with that, so were Lizette's & Stan's.  It was going to be super close...  Stay tuned.. the winner is announced at the Send Off Dinner on Saturday.

GO TEAM

This has been a crazy adventure!! Thanks for blast of a time.

We are coming for you VINEMAN 70.3!!!  

4th of July & Last Team Training Weekend

This past weekend marked the LAST training weekend with the team.  I cannot believe how quickly the time has past.  Literally 25 weeks of training with these fools. It was also 4th of July.

So needless-to-say.. we had fun.

Stan hosted an awesome Pool Party / BBQ at his house.  it was fun.  I brought up a case of Spatter, so Kyle & Jenna's kids had a blast with that... we all were hosed down. it was hysterical.  But the best part of the day was literally hanging with everyone - not on a bike or in sneakers.  It was kinda magical.

 (Top: Jenna, Nicole, Mark, Stan, Me, Kyle, Lizette, Chloe, Scott, Jay & Tina)

(Bottom: Liz, Dani, Bucket, Cristal)

 Me & Nicole

 Tina

 Manny

 BBQ Time

 BBQ Time

Silly Team

Saturday was our OWS and Run.... of course i had to AquaJog.. Luckily it was only for 1hr and thankfully i had 5 AJBs with me!! so it made the time go by super fast and super fun.

Sunday was our final bike ride.. it was a social ride up the PCH to Malibu followed by a run.  it was a gorgeous HOT day.. but soooo worth it.  I was able to catch up with Riz at one point and then caught up to Elisabeth and Laura for the last 45 min.. it was great.  The run on the other hand was not that great... not terrible... i was able to run 7min 30sec before I had any knee pain.. so that's a start!  :-)  That being said, I also didn't want to push it this weekend and be screwed for next. The team is super fun and i am glad i had this experience.

EWS & Laura

Me, Chrystine & Kelie

Eryn, Isabel, Cole & Tina

Kyle & the Tunnel of Love

(the ONLY time Kyle came in last, by 3min, and he started 1hr AFTER us.. AMAZING)

Sunday night was our sendoff Dinner... we were able to have a few cocktails and hang.  it was really funny to see everyone in proper clothes.  I cannot tell you how many people did a double take to see me in a dress, LOL... especially since i am always hair pulled back, sweaty and sunglasses. :-) Everyone looked soooooo  pretty and happy.  it was really nice. We had a few games, some awards... clearly the fact that I stop to Go-Pro and take pics did not go unnoticed -- Award: ONE DETERMINED GO-PRO... and we had a few emotional speeches.. the mentors talked about their mentees, Jenna and Nicole were too cute... they were sobbing like crazy as if it was a funeral. LOL.  but it was awesome all at the same time.  Chrystine talked about me, Jay, Angela, Christy & Tina.  I didn't realize she had all of us as mentors.  She is awesome and I was truly blessed to have her as a mentor.  She is the real deal. NO BS and NO DRAMA.  So refreshing... :-)

Send Off Dinner 

 Obvi... :-)

Best Mentor Ever. 

Of course as we go into our taper week.. i am super excited, nervous, scared... all those fun and crazy emotions all rolled into one... i do have one concern ...my knee.  i truly hope it holds up.  I've come so far, i hope it doesn't get the better of me.... but i am ready.. so all i can say is BRING IT!!