Wildflower race report

Wildflower Triathlon ; May 2, 2009

Whenever I race Tri-Cal series races, I wish I were living in California. They put on great races, and take care of the Pro’s VERY well. I would love to do more of them, but airfare costs too much now that I don’t have travel benefits on AA anymore. I shared a van with Chris Tremonte, and Courtenay Brown to get to the house, and met Andrew Lockton to carpool down to the race site.

My plan was to race this conservatively. In my past experiences with ½ Ironman distance (all of 3) is that I die on the run. I wanted to save up a bit this time. I had a very bad start position when we toed the line. (In the middle, in the back of the group) When the horn sounded, I entered the water in the back of the pack, but I managed to find a gap between other swimmers. I turned on the sprinter speed and shot through it to clean water with nobody around. I must have been in the top 10 at the first buoy (about 200m into the race). I knew to slow it down, but I was stuck by some other swimmers that wanted to swim towards shore, and not towards the next buoy! I eventually got free of them and swam alone most of the way. I could have swum faster, but the race was too long to waste energy, so I exited the water fresh, and in 27th place of 50 pros. (time 24:22)

Transition was smooth, not especially quick but without drafting, it didn’t matter much. I used my cyclocross experience to mount the bike and passed at least 4 people who had to stop to get on at the mount line. The first mile of the bike was perfect for me; a narrow road with lots of turns. I probably passed another 5 people simply by taking the corners better. The 2nd mile of the course was the exact opposite, a steep climb. I didn’t want to blow my legs so I got up it, and just about all the people I had just passed, returned the favor.

I cruised on the bike and was passed by many. It was frustrating, but my legs were not 100%, but I didn’t worry. I kept telling myself “It is a long race”. My plan was to attack at the bottom of “Steep Grade” which is about 44 miles into the 56 mile bike. Right about then, my legs felt MUCH better. (the caffeinated gel probably helped) I went hard and found a great rhythm. I expected to get passed some more, but instead, I started making up ground on others! I couldn’t believe it. I am horrible at climbing, but I managed to get a handful of guys that had previously passed me. This NEVER happens. I saw some that had completely blown themselves. It really motivated me and I continued the hard effort all the way into transition. (33rd 2:36:42)

I felt wonderful on the run, passing even more the 1st mile. After that, I was alone for about 7 miles. The volunteers were great at cheering me on. I interacted with them to get them to motivate me more, and that really helped since I was solo. Another athlete named Brad passed me with about 4-5 miles to go. Just after, I saw that some others were ahead of me. It was time to put the hammer down. I did just that and reeled another handful in. The last mile or so was a steep downhill. It really hurt my feet and burned my quads. I finished the run. (22nd 1:24:48)

After the race, I saw Chris and Courtenay. They had both sliced their feet exiting the water, but still rode the bike. They were forced to pull out before the run, and I had to take Chris to the hospital. That took about 5 or 6 hours (another story).

I placed 28th with a 4:28:40 out of 50 Pros. This field was stacked, so I am happy with that. A few more risks in effort may have put me up higher, but I wanted it to be solid for my confidence. Overall, this sets me up well for Ironman Coeur d’Alene. I definitely had enough endurance, but a little more speed on the bike would have been nice. (a carbon TT bike would help too!)