Race Recap #2: The One and Only Wildflower Olympic Tri

After 2 quick days at work, Wildflower weekend was finally upon us!  The past two weeks of races were exciting and exceeded my wildest expectations, but I knew that Wildflower was a notoriously difficult course and the temperatures were in the 90's all week.  My sights were set on running the race for the experience, not for the competition.  Don't get me wrong, I was going to push myself as much as I could, but given that this was my second tri EVER, I couldn't expect to have the same results as I did at the SV Sprint Tri.  Well, the weekend far exceeded my expectations, and now I have an actual goal for next year!

Race Weekend

On Friday morning, our FNS family packed up 3 cars, 7 bikes, and enough food to feed a small army and headed off to Lake San Antonio.  Our campsite was perfect...right near mile eight of the long course run route that would take place on Saturday.

We set up camp, then headed down to the expo for packet pick up and to snag some free swag :)  Since the swim cap for my wave was the most boring color ever - white, seriously?? - I swiped three much more exciting colors from the hospitality tent.  I also expanded my cycling jersey collection and picked up a new hat and a pink water bottle from the Betty Designs tent.  We grabbed some stickers, chapstick, free samples, put our feet in the water, the made the long trek back up to camp.

I haven't been camping in far too long, and Friday night was full of my favorite part of camping trips, just chilling around the fire, having awesome conversations and playing games with friends.  How many movie titles can you name that have a number in the title??

Saturday we woke up to the sun, Dad (Mario) cooked up some eggs and bacon, then we headed down to watch the pro's duke it out to start the long course race.  (After, that is, I took a frigid shower because someone though charging their cell phone was more important that hot water in the shower trailer!!)  We made it down to the transition area just as the Elite men started their swim, so we posted up right outside of the transition area where Heather Jackson and Jesse Thomas' bikes were racked so that we could see their wicked fast transitions.  We were literally 20 feet away...so amazing to watch them in action.  All of the pros are unbelievably fast in transition.  Then we worked our way over to the bike mount to watch in awe as the pro's, collegiate, and top amateur athletes did flying mounts with their shoes already on their bikes.  Great viewing, plus there were a few near disasters, so that was exciting!

We made our way back to our campsite to squeeze in a 30 minute run before the pros started running by.  At this point, around 10:20 am, the sun was already blazing.  My wave started the swim at 10:20 the next day, so I was definitely starting to freak out about how I was going to handle the heat for my race.  I know that I run much better in the cold, and if the weather stayed like it did on Saturday, I was in trouble!

During our warm up run, we ran along part of the 1/2 marathon course.  As we passed the aid station, everyone started cheering, which was fun.  Of course we got into it and yelled "yay, we're winning" or something cheesey like that, to which we learned that the top 3 men had already come by!  Talk about blazing!!!  We were bummed we missed them, but hustled back to camp so we wouldn't miss Heather Jackson.  We set up our chairs in the shade along the road and camped out (no pun intended) for the next 3 hours cheering on runners.

It's truly amazing to see the variety of people who come together to take part in this sport.  From the athletes to the spectators, it is one of the most supportive communities I have been a part of!  I got to cheer for Heather as she rolled by, almost 10 minutes ahead of second place, and got to cheer for a few people sporting Colorado gear too!  Go Buffs!!!  I also got to see Katie, one of the bloggers I follow, running a fantastic race...very cool.

Once the roads opened, my mom showed up to camp, we cooked up a fajita feast, and watched the Cal Poly Tri Team run the naked mile - college men are so proud of their weiners!!!  Best quote of the night came from my mom: "there sure was a lot of variety..." Another night was spent in front of the campfire, then it was off early to bed.

Pre-Race

We woke up on Sunday to a cold, overcast morning.  The complete opposite of the day before.  My prayers had been answered!  My wave didn't start until 1:20 after the first wave, so I had a long morning of waiting after getting down to transition.  I set up my bike and transition spot, traced my route into transition and out of transition, and hung out with my mom and Fatima (awesome cheerleaders all day).   Around my transition area were 2 girls I knew from my first tri, which helped ease the pre-race nerves.  I got into my wetsuit (my new Xterra - perfect size!) and headed down the long ramp to the swim start. 

Swim - 34:04

The water was 68*...warmer than the air temp!!!  There were 5 minutes between waves, so as soon as the pink cap wave (lucky) went off, we were able to get acclimated and warm up for about 2.5 minutes.  Then it was nervous anticipation until the buzzer went off.  The first 300 yards were crazy, as I've come to learn!  And because of the cool weather, the winds made their presence known.  The water was incredibly choppy and it definitely took a while for me to feel comfortable.  But once I rounded the first buoy, I settled into a comfortable pace.  I definitely wasn't in the lead pack from my wave, but I wasn't at the back either.  This was also my first race with my new wetsuit.  I'm very pleased with the fit, and my shoulders felt fine the whole time :)

T1 - 3:37

The first part of transition was an approx. 50 yard run up a steep boat ramp, barefooted!  I knew my mom and Fatima would be watching the swim exit, and it was awesome to see them at the top of the ramp.  3 of the girls from our group were running the course as a relay and 2 of them, Lindsey and Natalie, were in transition and cheering me on as I prepped for the bike.  I double checked that my timing chip was still on (lesson learned), then I was off.

Bike - 1:38:08, 15.10 mph pace

So Lynch Hill is the infamous hill that I have heard about since before I signed up for Wildflower.  Immediately after coming out of transition, up the hill you go.  I was pleasantly surprised that when I reached the top of Lynch, I felt great.  It definitely didn't live up to the hype.  Unfortunately, everyone seemed to forget to mention the rest of the bike course!  Even though I had studied the course, I wasn't mentally prepared for how hilly the rest of it was!!!  I felt good on the ride, and the hills felt ok, I just really wasn't expecting so many of them!  And the wind was in full force after the 20k turnaround.  Even on the downhills and flats, it felt like I was riding a hill!  I felt okay about my bike split, especially given the wind and the hills.  However, this is still the area that needs the most improvement.  The fastest bike split in my age group rode at an 18 mph pace...so I have lots to work towards!

The best part of the bike was seeing all of our FNS kits out on the course.  Since it was an out and back course, I saw almost all of our racers and the support we exchanged was amazing.

T2 - 1:33

5th fastest T2...can't be mad about that!  And I saw my mom and Fatima again!  This was a great course for spectator support!

Run - 49:43

Once I was out on the run, my calves felt like they were going to explode.  They felt the same way when I started the run at my last tri.  I'm considering wearing compression socks...maybe that will help?  Well, the first 4 miles are all uphill.  I knew that in theory, but it didn't quite click until mile 2.  I kept thinking, we must go downhill soon...wrong :( I passed a few women in my age group and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  The middle 2 miles are up a dirt trail, which would have been miserable in the heat, with dust flying and no cover from the sun, but is was perfect with the clouds.  On that stretch, I passed a woman in my age group, then she passed me, then we ran next to each other for a while.  I though I had shaken her by the time we reached the top of the last hill, but she caught up and passed me on the way down Lynch hill.  I willed my legs to move faster, and by the time we reached the last straight away to the finish line, I picked up my pace and held her off till the end!  

Post Race

The celebration at the end was just as fun as the race.  I ran into a few friends who I didn't know would be at the race, found my mom, and found all the FNS boys who had awesome races themselves.  Then we lined the finisher's chute to cheer on the rest of the FNS family.  Big burritos and beer followed before we packed up camp and said goodbye to an amazing weekend.

Results:

3:07:05 official time

25/158 age group

98/703 female overall

I now know why this is "the one and only" Wildflower.  The community of triathletes and spectators cannot be beat.  Camping and making fun memories with friends, new and old, has definitely made this race live up to the hype.  Because there are so many races out there that I want to do, I find it difficult to repeat a race no matter how much I liked it.  HOWEVER, Wildflower has earned a permanent spot on my race calendar for years to come.  Now that I have a baseline time, I cannot wait to  crush it next year! 

And mom caught the bug and is considering doing a relay...how cool is that!