Napa Valley Vintage Half Ironman Race Report

[Mary]

Here is my race report from last Saturday.

I wanted to get a race in before IM Brazil, so I took the opportunity to spend time with family and race in the Napa Valley Vintage Half Ironman last Saturday.


Pre race: I arrived in Napa on Thursday evening and settled in. I got up on Friday and put my bike together and headed out for a short ride and run. It had rained the night before, but it was dry when I headed out, so that was a good sign. My sister and I headed down to the bike shop, I needed to pick up some CO2 and I had left my brand new sunglasses somewhere between Seattle and Sacramento, so I needed to pick up another pair. If that’s the worse that happens, it will be a good race. We drove the course, which by the way is quite hilly and the roads are very much chip seal and lots of potholes and ruts. It began to rain, and then pour. It pretty much rained for the rest of the day and well into the night.


Race day: I got up early as usual and had my coffee and breakfast and before I knew it, it was time to leave. We were about 1 hr from the race site, so we headed out at 5:30. Transition opened at 6:30 and the race started at 8am. Got to the race site, racked my bike and went down to pick up the race packet. Got all my gear out, I had brought some plastic garbage bags to put my run gear in, which turned out to be a good thing. The race started right around 8am, they had 3 swim waves and I got into the 2nd group out. This was my first open water swim for the year and it felt good to be in the open water. Had a good swim and finished in 32:32. Sounds like a great time, but the swim was short, oh well. Got the wetsuit off and by this time it had started to rain, so I decided to put on my rain jacket, which I am glad that I tossed in at the last minute. Headed out on the bike and it began to pour and didn’t stop until well into the run. It was a tough bike course and with the rain, not much fun. I wasn’t able to really take advantage of the descents as this was a training race and I didn’t want to end up crashing 3 weeks before Brazil. Finished the bike in 3:16:13. I have never been so happy to have my feet on the ground. Thank goodness I had put my running shoes in a plastic bag, at least I had something dry to put on my feet. Off on the run, which was a two loop run with several hills. Started off well and had a good first loop, but on the second loop began to slow down. I think it was a combination of not enough nutrition on the bike and the relentless hills. Managed to pull out a 2:07:24, which is a PR run for me in the ½ distance.


Total race time was: 6:09:50, a PR for me and also placed me 2nd in my age group.



Overall, this was a very mentally and physically challenging race, I am glad that I did it and I know where I am in regards to my race in Brazil.

[BryanU]

Great race Mary!

I raced there in 2007. We had sunshine but a lot of wind on the swim and bike course and I remember it as one of the all-around tougher Halfs I've done. According to my records from that race, the Bike course had around 3000 feet of climbing - the Run course had 800 ft of climbing (and very little was flat other than over the top of a hill and transitioning from the bottom of one to the start of the next).

[benbiggles]

Awesome result Mary, especially given the conditions you faced.

A Half IM PR leading into Brazil is indeed a good place to be, especially given the tough nature of this course in comparison to Boise (last years prep race leading into CDA for those who don't know). Very pleasing.

[jrplatt]

Nice job Mary!

I did this race last year and remember the swim was short too, as my 21 minute swim would have given Andy Potts a run for his money!

Jeff

[Marne Sall]

Excellent work Mary! I admire your dig deep and get it done focus considering the conditions. I chuckled about the sunglasses. One can never have enough sunglasses...especially in sunny Seattle, right?

[Cindybigglestone]

Wow! Great results Mary all that hard work and dedicated training is really showing, your a great motivation to me this year, thank you!!! I can't wait to see what happens in Brazil.

[Heidi]

Wow, fantastic race Mary!

I saw that another new team member, Gerry Marvin, also raced and placed 2 in his AG. Congrats to him as well.