Well, a month has passed since the Wildflower Triathlon in Bradley, CA and I think I have finally recovered enough mentally to write about it.
For those that don't know, the Wildflower Triathlon is one of the largest and oldest triathlons in the country. This year will be the 31st annual Wildflower which has been held at Lake San Antonio in central California since 1983. Lake San Antonio is located about 20 miles inland from the coast and 15 miles West of Paso Robles, CA.
Known for a particularly hilly and grueling course with over 5,000’ of elevation gain, this race draws 7,500 athletes and 30,000 spectators each year. Wildflower is commonly referred to as the 'Woodstock' of triathlons and ranks near the top of the ‘must do’ triathlons.
Sean and I pulled out of Frisco at 2:30 PM on Wednesday to begin our 24 hour drive to California. Surprisingly, the drive went a lot better than anticipated with the worst section being that on Hwy 287 from DFW to Amarillo. Too many small towns and stop lights. The 1,000 mile stretch on I-40 was a breeze.
We rolled into Paso Robles around 12:00 PM PST on Thursday and made a pit stop at Walmart to gather our final necessities before heading into the hills. We wanted to make it to the park early on Thursday as everything on the internet lead us to believe that the campsites fill up quickly.
Once we pulled in the park, we made our first right into the Redonda Vista campground which was our first choice. We stopped at a lone campsite with three (3) guys sitting in the shade with a pile of empty PBR's in front of them and they invited us to become their neighbors....we should've known better! To be honest, it turned out to be a great campsite, 100% shaded and relatively quite.
The rest of Thursday afternoon was spent setting up our campsite, driving the bike course and drinking beer with the neighbors.
Friday morning, Sean headed into town for a couple hours to get some work done. I rode down to the lake mid-morning for a warm-up swim. While putting my wetsuit on, I struck up a conversation with a fellow athlete who happened to be from Madison, WI who was waiting on some friends. I went in and swam a couple laps and as I came around the second time, I couldn't help but notice that the friend she was waiting on was 2012 Wildflower champion Heather Jackson! I swam one final lap and then got out and could resist but to grab my phone and ask HJ for a picture.
I tweeted Heather to tell her thanks for the pic and she was even kind enough to reply! Come to find out that that "fellow athlete" I struck up a converstaion with was Jackie Arendt who is also a pro who has her own list of accolades including back-to-back runner-up finishes at IM Louisville.
After the swim, I rode the first couple miles of the bike course back to our campsite which included a mile long climb up Beach Hill Road....granny gear all the way up!
I rode back down to transition later in the day to meet Sean and walk the expo. This time we rode the course backwards and went up Lynch Hill Road...I'm not sure which was worse, but there is nothing that resembles either of these within 200 miles of DFW!
Friday evening Sean's baked ziti cooked on his new Coleman grill, a glass of wine and an early bedtime.
We both woke early Saturday morning and were just lounging at our campsite when they guy from the motorhome behind us (who we were given warning) walked over to the tents next to us and started shaking them furiously while yelling "GOOOOOOD MOOORNING WILDFLOWER!!! WAKE UP, YOU HAVE A RACE TODAY!!!" It was hilarious as he continued to do this all throughout the campsite until he was far enough away and we could hardly hear him in the distance.
Sean and I packed our final things and headed on down to transition. The morning was calm and the weather was perfect!
The swim start at Wildflower is rather unique in that you begin on the boat ramp and the first 50 meters is swam in a narrow chute in between two (2) docks. This video is not of my AG but gives you an idea of what it is like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo-flbVnsK8
Sean and I stood near the middle of the pack and allowed all of the crazies to be up front. The last thing I wanted to do was get all caught up in that and spark an anxiety attack! Our philosophy worked as the swim start wasn't near as bad as I was anticipating.
The entire swim went great and I set a new PR at that 1.2 mile distance finishing it in 35:36 (1:50/100m). What's even better is that at the end of the race they formally announced that the swim distance was long and was actually 1.3 miles which put my pace at 1:42/100m.
T1 was smooth and I was off on the bike. The bike course is a single loop 56-mile course which circles the lake. The first challenge on the bike course is the climb up Beach Hill Road about 1 mile into the course. Half way up Beach Hill stood a female college student wearing nothing but a bikini bottom holding a sign over her head which read "My eyes are up here!" That was perfect timing as it took a little bit of the edge off and allowed me to settle into my groove.
The early parts of the bike course were going great as I was not pushing hard and just keeping my HR under control. I dropped my chain on a climb around mile 15 but was able to recover rather quickly and repassed everyone that snuck by. The first 40 miles of the bike course could not have gone any better. I had not been passed by a single bike and I hit the 40 mile mark just under 2:00 so I was averaging just over 20 MPH up to that point.
And, that's when the wheels fell off....not literally, but I might actually have been better off! At mile 41 on the bike you begin a 5 mile long 900' climb up what is referred to as Nasty Grade. Sean caught and passed me at the base of Nasty Grade and I steadily watched him ride away from me. He wasn't the only one as it seemed like everyone on the course rolled passed me with ease including a little old lady in a wheel chair...ok, maybe not, but it felt that way!
I was about half way up Nasty Grade when I realized that I made a fatal mistake and had completely forgotten about my nutrition plan. My gel flask was full with five (5) gels which I was supposed to take one (1) every 0:30, however, I forgot to add water to the flask to thin out the gel, otherwise the gel is too thick to come out. I did take a hit off the flask at about the 0:45 minute mark into the bike, but that was it. I began the bike with two (2) water bottles which I was supposed to drink 1 bottle/hour....well, I drank 1 bottle over the course of the entire 3:00 bike ride. And to top it off, I was supposed to take one (1) SaltStick Cap every hour throughout the race and failed to do that as well.
Needless to say, my goal time of 2:45 on the bike was blown by over 0:15 as my bike split was 3:01:49 at an average of 18.4 MPH. That means that I averaged only 15.5 MPH over the final 16 miles of the bike course which included a 2 mile long descent at +40 MPH.
I completely fell apart!
Here is the profile of the bike course:
The run course is equally, if not more hilly than the bike course. It's another single 13.1 mile loop that meanders through the park and campsites. I knew I was in trouble when I had to stop and walk before the first mile marker.
The first 4 miles are relatively flat as you run along the lakeshore, but then you turn onto a dirt path and head straight up a hill that I'm not convinced I could run up it on fresh legs. Everyone, I mean everyone, was walking up this hill. Once I reached the top, I tried running but my legs we shot. I was struggling to run for 60 seconds at a time.
Instead of boring you with the details of my 13.1 mile leasurely hike (naked buy riding a bicycle at mile 8), I'll shorten it by saying that it was the worst 02:40:49 of my life! I did manage to run the entire length down Lynch Hill and even put a smile on my face running the finish chute!
My overall time was 06:25:17 which put me at 118th in my AG and 721 OA. Results I am by no means proud of, but they beat the hell out of a DNF! This took me exactly one (1) hour longer than IM 70.3 Austin back in October 2012 and I am in unbelievably better shape today than I was six (6) months ago not to mention that my training for Wildflower was much more regimented.
The good news is that I took this one off the chin and didn't let it get me down. I made a mental mistake with regards to fueling and hydration which I will NOT make again. Plus, I'm glad to have learned this lesson at Wildflower and not IMAZ in November!
I found Sean shortly after the race and we drank a couple beers and ate some nachos before jumping on he shuttle to take us back to the campsite.
The remainder of the evening was spent drinking beer, pitching washers, playing beer pong, conversing with complete strangers, cooking pizza pockets on the grill, etc... Surprisingly, I felt great that evening after fueling my body appropriately.
On a side note, the guy who parked his mobile home next to us was Dick Nordquest who has completed over 70 Ironman races and competed in Kona 22 times!
We did retire relatively early that night as we had to wake up early Sunday morning, tear down camp and be out of the park by 7:00 AM before they close the roads for the olympic race Sunday morning.
The drive home was anticlimactic other than relentless binge eating at McDonald's, In-n-Out Burger, Taco Bell, etc... The was a close run in with some zombies in some small town in New Mexico, but we managed to escape!
I will be taking the month of May rather easy prior to beginning my training for IMAZ in June.
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