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George Wiens Completes Vineman Ironman

Vineman triathlon was a great experience for my first 70.3 Ironman event. Swimming in the Russian River and bicycling in Sonoma Valley made for a venue that would be difficult to improve upon. Starting with a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride and finishing with a 13 mile run the triathlon came at the end of a six month training schedule for me. The weather was perfect at 65 degrees with overcast skies and only slight winds.

The swim course was the best that I have experienced being a narrow passage on the river even though parts were shallow enough to drag your fingertips on the bottom. I discovered that if you leave an energy gel packet in your tri top pocket it will float its way up to your arm pit inside the wetsuit and become a scratching annoyance with every stroke.

The bike course was beautiful with dozens of vineyards and wineries. The main drawback was that some stretches of pavement were bone jarring rough and made it tough to stay down in the aero bar position. I managed to pass many riders on the
bike course and I knew I would see most of them again later in the triathlon.

It felt good to get off the bike and start running. A couple of miles into the run I realized that I should have taken more care at the swim beach to get all the sand and gravel off my feet before putting on the socks. Run training will be a main goal for next year because most of the people that I passed on the bike ran past
me on the course. Making the halfway turn in the run course at La Crema Winery I realized that I was going to finish within my time goal range.

Next year I'll do Vineman triathlon again and improve on my overall time. At 54 years old this season it was the first time I had ever ran 13 miles.

I was sore, happy and amazed that I finished.

George Wiens