Vineman 70.3

Another week another 70.3 raced, not quite on the podium this week but very happy with my 4th place finish.

On Thursday I packed my gear and waited for the "man van" to roll up to start our journey down to Santa Rosa. Traveling with good mates and triathletes Matt Lieto and Jesse Thomas made the 9hr drive down a fun and stress less trip. Jeff and Shannon were hosting us for the weekend and offered great hospitality; one big thing about racing well is being settled and relaxed before the race so having such an accommodating couple letting us stay was a perfect start to the race weekend.

After Rev3 I felt pretty good physically and thought that it didn't take anything out of me, but it took a good few days to start to feel the life back in the body and come race day I was nearly 100% again.

So race morning the alarm went off at 3:30am! An earlier start than I am used to but at least it would all be over with early too!

The race started well I was able to jump on the feet of Andy Potts right from the gun he is a super-fast swimmer and I knew I would start the day well if I came out of the water with him, a slick t2 had me into the bike first with a small group right behind. I was feeling ok but not flash as I tried to find my cycling legs! Andy then rode past me and I thought “he is riding strong”, then it was Mathews, as I found myself going backwards through the field. As i got further back there was a point where i knew that if i wanted to stay in this race I had to really dig deep, managing to hang on to the next athlete to pass me I was fortunately towed up to the front of the race again. As it was I started to feel better and a little more comfortable but still wasn’t riding like I am capable of. After a series of strong bikers split the field I found myself coming off the bike in 9th place over 3mins down to the lead.

I remember thinking "Steady Eddy" as a few went out so fast, running strong I built into the run and started picking places one by one. Catching people is always good for your confidence and helped me run my way into 4th place a result i am really happy with after last week and that this was by far one of the strongest fields at a 70.3 race this year!

Next is Calgary 70.3 in a fortnight so a little more time to recover and find those cycling legs of mine!

Ironman 70.3 Vineman
Santa Rosa, California
July 17, 2011
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Andy Potts (USA) 3:45:58
2. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:46:27
3. Joe Gambles (AUS) 3:47:04
4. Graham O’Grady (NZL) 3:48:56
5. Kyle Leto (USA) 3:50:05
6. Timothy O’Donnell (USA) 3:50:26
7. Chris Lieto (USA) 3:51:07
8. Matt Reed (USA) 3:52:30
9. Matt Lieto (USA) 3:52:31
10. Jesse Thomas (USA) 3:53:51

Gog