Here is my race report form the Vineman 70.3..
Vineman is not my “A” race. IM Canada in August is. So going into it I knew I was using the VM as a training race. My coach Dave gave me specific instructions on how hard he wanted me to go.
Swim – was as at 1/2 IM pace
Bike – just above Full Ironman pace
Run- at Full Ironman pace.

Going into the race I felt ok. On Friday I played golf which was a big mistake. That was the first time I played in 4 months and my shoulders and arms were worn out. On Saturday my upper half was tight and sore.. Lesson learned!!!

When the swim started I didn’t feel 100% so I just settled into a comfortable but steady pace. Coming out of the water I felt ready to go.. Starting on the bike it took me about 5 minutes to settle down and get my power into check.. I was going to hard!! I was able to keep the rest of the ride in my power range and was able to keep it smooth over all the rollers. My splits for the bike are from start to top of Canyon and then Canyon to finish
1st half – avg speed 20.6mph
2nd half – avg speed 21.2mph

Coming off the bike I felt really fresh and settled into my IM pace (8:30) very quickly. I walked :30sec at every aid station!! My splits are from start to mile 7 then mile 7-11.2 then 11.2 to finish
Mile 0-7 Avg pace 8:36
Mile 7-11.2 avg pace 8:28
Mile 11.2-finish avg pace 7:36.
I was still feeling really fresh coming out of La Crema and wanted to pick up the pace but, I could hear my coach Dave on my shoulder saying not till mile 11!! (he sad if I was feeling good I could let it rip at mile 11) So I stayed steady til mile 11+. Then I told myself GAME ON!! but, I still told myself that I had to walk through the last two aid stations. :30sec walk.. The pace was strong but, I knew I could have held that pace longer if I needed to..
At the end of the race I felt really good. Didn’t feel to spent at all.
Before I picked up the pace I asked myself could I have held the IM pace for another 13+ miles. Felt I could have held it for another 10 miles at least.
Looking forward to the Full Aqua Bikein two weeks!!!
Overall a great race and great fitness in the bank!!!

Times
Swim – :33min
Bike – 2:41
Run – 1:49
Total time 5:10

~PK

Nick Kersmarki
Race: Leesville Gap
Cat 3
Place: 9th (possibly 10th)

Warning: long report

I dare anyone to show me worse roads than what leesville has to offer. Its bad when you get a sigh of relief at a stretch of deep gravel, thinking sweet some deep gravel I’ll be able to let relax my grip for 30 seconds or so until we get back on the “pavement”…

We started with the usual roll out before we cross the HWY. With the usual couple of guys trying to get away and the usual single file ramp ups to bring them back into the fold. As we came up to the HWY I made sure to be at the front. I knew what awaited on the other side. As soon as we crossed it was absolute carnage… the worst 3-5 miles of “pavement” i have ever ridden. I don’t want to go into how bad it was because you have to experience it for yourself. If you’ve done this race before i can tell you it’s gotten worse from the last time you raced it.

We rolled through this section and passed the P/1/2′s that had turned into road kill on both sides of us lining the roads. BTW not a good day for deep dish sew ups…

We hit the climb and i was at the front. After about 5 min of climbing there was 10 of us and we had a sizable gap on the field. There was a Masi guy that was driving the whole climb like a madman. I started to fade about 10min and started to lose 10 meters than 20 meters. I knew this was a deciding obstacle it the race so i tried not to blow up and keep the gap where it was. The climb was a lot longer than i remember and being on some airplanes lately hasn’t helped my climbing. It’s over 1500ft gain but we were well into 15 min before it was over. When we crested the top the lead 8 had about 20 seconds on me us and no one behind us i sight. We descended the fast technical and treacherous descent off the mountain and i lost about 10 seconds to the Rocknasim guy that i was with. The leaders were in sight but there was 10sec between me and the Rock guy and 20 up from him. I started trying to do mental telepathy to the rock guy to have him sit up as we could probably bring them back together but, he was still dreaming of catching on solo. I was in the pain cave knowing it would take a few minutes for the 8 to get organized and just yelling in my head sit up we can do it…
We did the next climb with the same gaps and it was becoming apparent that we weren’t going to catch them and there was a large chase group forming behind me so i sat up and hopped into a group of almost 20 riders and we began the chase. And chase we did. We spent the next 20 miles at 28-30 in the flats with hard organized rotations. But, we were not seeing them. This went on until the climb before the feed zone and we dropped a few of the passengers. The gap was 1:30ish according to a spectator and it became apparent to me that we weren’t going to pull them back so i began preparation for a least a pack finish.

We came in to the last 10 miles and dropped the pace to about 24mph and i spent some time chatting with Guy at the front about the Germany game and had a nice little 10minuets of new roads and conversation until the attacking began… First guy went off the left and the guy to my right went with him. I decided to go with him and put in an effort. We got up to the guy and he sat up. So i sat up and we were brought into the fold. Then another attack as soon as we were brought back into the fold. This time it was a solo attempt and were were coming up on the final turn with less than 4 miles to go. I had just gone so let others give chase and we couldn’t bring him back. The guy was “all in” and we were not gaining. He wasn’t getting away but, we weren’t bringing him back. Well,,,, the last turn of the race was one to many and he over cooked it and went into the shoulder… Poor guy. Not sure if he would have made it but, it looked dangerous.

Now we were back together again and in the final stretch. At this point there was about 10 of us and two guys went for it. I was 4th wheel and sat in to see what would happen. It was the Rocknasim guy from earlier and was he strong. There was no response from the rest of us. And they were not letting up and their lead was stretching. So… i went on the attack and solo’d up to them with no response from the field. We now had a gap and i started chatting up the guys. “keep it smooth” “we can do this”. Then a group of three came up to bridge to us and i said lets pick it up just a little and make them work for it. We were into a direct head wind and going about 24.5mph I said “keep it above 25mph”. The three caught us and now we were 6. The others had tossed in the towel and we hit the 1k to go sign. I was at the front and decided to gutter it. I moved all the way to the right so that they couldn’t get any draft and shifted into an easier gear so that A. it looked like i was struggling and B. so i could accelerate when i needed to for the eventual attacks behind me. I lead all the way until about 500m and then i heard the familiar shifting from behind me and two guys came around. I hopped on the back and was third wheel. At about 200m the guy on the front realized he bite of more than he could chew (the moment i was hoping for) and slowed just a little bit. I attacked and held it to the line to take it. Wasn’t for the win but, certainly a hard earned consolation prize.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

~Nick