Gaining Wisdom at Wildflower

Some of this blog can be found in a write-up I did for the RIDE Tri Team, so apologies to those reading both.

Wildflower Long | 5:09:17 | 12th - Age Group, 35th Gender

Well it has been about a week since Wildflower, so it is about time I get something down on “paper”.  For those unfamiliar (as I was up until about 6 months ago) with Wildflower, it offers quite a unique racing experience.  The Wildflower Triathlon has been dubbed the “Woodstock of Triathlon”.  It’s the “one and only” Wildflower and the 34th running of the event did not disappoint.  The weekend consists of a few different races ranging from Long Course (70.3 distance) to Sprint, on and off-road.  Due to an ill-timed dam drainage and 100-year drought conditions, the race has taken on a new flavor which turns the triathlon into a swim-run-bike-run.  The Long Course breaks down by 1.2 Mile Swim - ~2.3 Mile Run - 56 Mile Bike - ~9.8 Mile Run.  The Long bike course is a challenging one with over 3,800ft of gain and a climb named “Nasty Grade”.  The run course is a mix of trail and road that with several tough sections.

Quick Side Bar  To me Wildflower represented a “B” or “C” race for the year [You can find general definitions here for those interested].  Now this is a familiar concept for those in the racing community, but something completely foreign to me.  My days of competitive sports and exercising consisted of every event being an “A” event.  It took a day or so after the race to accept the outcome for what it was and my general placing overall.  I am happy with the training benefit and experience that I gained from the race.  

The true Wildflower experience involves spending the weekend camping or for some glamping in RV’s.  In my case, I was part of the former.  I carpooled up with a teammate on Friday morning and got into the campsite around noon.  The day was spent getting the campsite set up, checking in for the race, doing a short training ride and run, then just hanging out with the team.  My usual pre-race resting and eating habits were pretty much out the window, but I guess that is all part of the experience.  

Josh (right) showed off some serious camping culinary skills throughout the weekend

Swim | 0:34:49

I was hoping to have a stronger swim than Oceanside, but ended up with about the same performance.  Harris Creek presented a nice calm lake with an out and back course.  Other than foggy goggles and tired arms, I came out where expected.

Finally a decent photo of the custom Blueseventy Helix wetsuit

The “fun” of the races starts right away as you exit the swim, you have to deal with a quick transition into running shoes and a punishing climb from the water, up a boat ramp, and onto the trail for the T1A --> T1B 2 mile run. And as if the first boat ramp wasn’t bad enough, you end the transition run with another boat ramp of near equal distance and elevation gain to come into T1B. 

Bike | 2:49:03

Knowing that the course had a challenging, hilly bike course, I knew that this wouldn’t be a fast course for me.  And as if a hilly bike course wasn’t going to present enough of a challenge for me, it just so happened to be a windy day.  Wind was pretty consistent around 10mph, but did gust throughout the ride at 20+mph.  Needless to say, I did not have a crackin day on the bike.  Watt-wise, I was off my target and ended up with an Intensity factor of 83% (I utilized an updated bFTP for this race).  The bike was certainly taxing on me physically, but the wind, rough roads, and huge descents were a drain on me mentally.  I was battling a lot of negative self-talk throughout the bike which ultimately spilled over into my run.

Run | 1:40:28

Since we covered a little over 2 miles of the run on the transition from swim to bike, you are left to deal with less than a half marathon off the bike.  I had been warned about the run by some of my team members and looked over the course files.  Unfortunately, nothing prepares you for the ups and downs of this run like being on the actual course.  I ran strong for the first 2 miles, but then hit the first of two tough sections and went into preservation mode.  I think on another day with an “A” race mentality, I would have sucked up my concern and self-doubt to power on.  However, this day turned into just accepting the run and my effort for what it was.  I was generally running alone for most of the race.  I picked off a fair amount of people that were in the wave preceding mine and even a few of the pro women.  The Cal Poly students manning the aid stations on the run course offered a nice distraction with antics that you would expect and admire from college students without supervision.  The only real memorable portion of the run was a half-chug of a Coors Light I was handed around mile 11.  It only took about 5 minutes for me to regret the decision after a few burps came with a wonderful after taste.
 

Pre-Coors Light, Post-Tough Sections

Coming down the finish chute at Wildflower is pretty cool and I can just imagine how crazy it must have been during the races heydays.  The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the festival atmosphere that is Wildflower.  There was live-music throughout the day, oversized board games, or for me, lots of beer to drink and food to eat.  The night was capped off with dinner, drinking, and good times around the campfire.

This was a good race to test the legs and put me in check after a nice showing in Oceanside.  Next up I’ll be racing another tough course on the Big Island when I participate in 70.3 Honu on 4 June.