Wildflower Triathlon - Long Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

OK, I don't get my lame time here... Either the course was long or the current and chop played more of a factor than I realized while swimming. I know I'm not a fast swimmer, but I'm not this slow either... Last year at 5430, I swam considerably faster with way less training and confidence.

Anyway, I actually enjoyed the swim... a first during a tri for me. I went out in the middle of my wave and made my way to the first buoy at which point you go right until the turn around. My age-group was huge so we had two waves and I was in the first. I felt strong and my strokes felt smooth and effortless. I thought I was going fast and I was able to stay with a large group of same colored swim caps. I was even able to pass people in earlier waves... I felt like I was on my way to a personal best swim for sure!!! I could feel the waves but they didn't bother me at all. At the turn around my confidence grew further and I felt like I was surging to the finish. When I got to the last buoy I couldn't believe it! It didn't feel like I was tired or like I was out there very long. I raced to the finish and as I got out of the water I hit my watch for the split and when I saw 42:32 (official time was more because of run to transition), my heart sank for a second. But then I saw JuliaPurr yelling at me to get my ass moving and I did!


I don't know... I do need to train more. I was happy with my training leading up to this race, and I'm faster than last year. I KNOW that! I think I swam well. My time sucked rotten eggs, but I was fresh leaving the water.

Transition was fine. I did struggle for a few seconds getting my heels out of the suit, but not enough to bother me much. I think my time was as good as most of the fast guys here.

Not much. Perhaps, body glide the inside of my suit near ankles.

OK, first off. My time was a little better here: I crashed at mile 3 and wasted a little more than 5 minutes getting going again. Actual ride time was about 2:45 and my actual avg mph was about 20.3 which was as good as the winner of my age group.

With that said, this was a tough, tough ride. I got out of transition and within the first mile the climbing begins! The first climb is very steep and fairly longish. I was into it! I easily passed people and I was in my element here. As I approached the top of this hill, I went from my little ring to the big ring I threw my chain! I tried to peddle it back on and with my head down I ran into a fence that was across part of the road (it should not have been there!). I went down hard. I destroyed my new aero helmet, mashed my rear derailleur, gouged my carbon aero bars and less I forget, scraped up my knees, elbow, shoulders and back. Dripping blood, I got up and started trying to untangle my chain... I watched people I passed going up, fly past me. I was freaking out! Finally I stopped. Ate a Goo, drank some Gatorade and calmed down. I looked at my chain and realized that it was inverted and if I took my time I could get it on and I could get going again.

I did and descended this hill and began another long climb. I heard something fall on the road... I thought it was just my Gatorade on my seat but it was also my Pit Stop flat repair and my new tubular spare tire! Uh oh!

At mile 8 the first big climb was over and the rolling hills begin... I start pounding hard and I'm feeling good now... I'm passing folks and really enjoying the ride. I start to fuel up for the big climb known as NASTY GRADE... Unfortunately, I couldn't go as fast as I wanted to... the winds were swirling... 20 mile an hour winds with gusts of 30... It was demoralizing but everyone was dealing with the same thing. I knew on the ride that I wasn't going to reach my goal of a sub-five hour half-ironman... oh well... I continued riding hard and continued to feel strong. At around mile 38 you turn into the big hills that become Nasty Grade. The climbing was hard but I was in a rhythm and I caught the only person to actually pass me on the ride. Somewhere on the climb I heard a hiss... I look at my front tire and I see a metal shard in my tire... Luckily when I glued my tire on the day before, I also put some TUFO tire sealant in there and it was working! I lost some tire pressure, but the hissing stopped. the pressure of the tire pushed the shard out far enough that when I wiped the tire it came out along with a little white Tufo sealant. I never even had to get off my bike. I could feel a bump in my tire for some reason though. I just hoped the tire would make another 15 miles or so.
The day before the race, Lilia and I drove the course so I knew that there was a false summit to Nasty Grade. I got to the first "summit" and poured it on hard to the top. I was surprised when I got to the top because I thought there was more climbing to go, but I recognized where I was and began a smoking fast descent. I thought it would be really fast to the finish but it wasn't. MORE WIND! Soon enough though, I was at mile 55 and into the fast descent to transition.

All in all a very strong ride on a very difficult course with unfavorable winds.

I was an ANIMAL on this ride!!!


Not crash.

This was a preparation crash. If I had adjusted my gears as intended the day before I wouldn't have crashed...

It bums me out too... This was an expensive crash!

Too slow. I should have been about 45 seconds faster.

Run without socks. I put my socks on and changed shirts... this took too much time.

I ran very well. Not all out but strong and comfortable. I didn't really feel bad until around mile 11/12. I could have ran harder for sure and my HR kind of shows it. I didn't have the usual cardiac drift, but had the opposite instead... my heart rate got slower towards the end.

I did have knee pain that that got bad from mile 7 on (as a result of my bike crash) and my elbow hurt too.

Push harder especially the second half.
Still I was happy with my run.

Went to the aid station to have all of my wounds attended to. Hung out with SGT VIK, had a beer and waited for Lilia to finish.


The course.
Oh and the naked aid station! I couldn't get the image of all those big boobs and little peckers out of my head!


This was an awesome race. A beautiful setting. VERY well run and organized. I enjoyed it immensely.

5300 feet of climbing between the bike and run. HUGE

With that said, the finishers medal might have well been a plastic laminate! It is tiny and weighs about an ounce. Pretty pathetic actually. Also, why races continue to give cotton t-shirts out, I'll never know! Every race should give a tech shirt. People train in tech shirts and that's a great way to promote the event. I on the other hand, will be cleaning my bike with the complimentary t-shirt!

Wildflower is a tough race. It is a must do race for sure.