Wildflower 2009!

I am very excited for Wildflower Long Course this Saturday! Wildflower is a famous race held at Lake San Antiono, which is a beautiful resevoir about 30 minutes west of Paso Robles. Given it's remote location, most of the participants camp at the race site, and there is a great party/festival atmosphere the entire weekend.

Carey and I are planning to leave Friday midday, enjoy the coastal drive, and arrive in the afternoon. We'll camp for Friday night, enjoy the campfire, and try to get a decent night's sleep before the Saturday race.

The swim is a relatively easy one, with wave starts and a usually calm lake. I'll hope to swim the 1.2 miles in about 30 minutes.


The bike course is incredibly tough, and a real highlight of this race. Immediately, there's a tough climb up and out of the lakeside transition. After a series of rollers around the west and north side of the lake, there's a long, gradual descent until about mile 45, where we reach the southeast corner of the lake and the lowest point of the course. From here, we beging the Nasty Grade, a long, difficult climb of about 5 miles and 1,000 feet of elevation gain. After cresting the climb, there are some fast, fun descent back into transition. I'll be thrilled to ride anywhere under 2:57 or so.

After the tough bike course, there's little releif in sight, as the run course at Wildflower is likely the toughest run in the sport. It begins with a jog along the lake for a few miles before turning in the canyons and

hills. The trails are dusty, and the climbs are tough. I will be happy to run anything equal to or faster than last year's 1:53.




Last year, I had an excellent day and went 5:30. I am feeling a bit stronger this year, particularly on the bike, so I will pleased if I am able to beat last year's time. A stretch goal will be 5:25 or better.

But, regardless of my race, I am certain that will have a great time driving up the coast and enjoying some of California's most beautiful areas. After the race on Saturday, we are off to Avila Beach for some relaxation, wine tasting, and recovery - lucky me!

To follow the race, check out http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/Wildflower2009-main.htm They should have good results on Saturday.

Thanks for your support.

Oceanside Half Iron: Race Report

Going into Oceanside, I felt prepared to have a good race and, hopefully, improve on last year’s 5:24. I had thought if things went well, I could go under 5:20, but I wasn’t too worried about my time given how early we are into the 2009 season. With my A race not until August 1st, I haven’t put any speed or intensity into my training yet. As I keep reminding myself, I want to be in peak form on August 1st, not now. Still, I felt ready to have a good, fun day.

We had a relaxing drive down, easy evening, and great dinner before the race. I was able to fill Carey in on the timing of where and when I’d be, and I filled her in on some of the challenges I’d face, among them was my tendency to lose focus on the run by joking around with spectators or other competitors. We had a good laugh about this…

I was up early and last minute prep, breakfast, and the cruise down to transition were nice and easy. I set up a good spot in transition, and I was ready to go by the time I got down to the water’s edge. It was a cold morning, and the 58 degree water actually felt warm and comfortable as we slipped in and swam out to the start.

I started the swim smoothly, and I felt like I was keeping an even pace on the way out to the turn around. Out at the half way point, the glare from the rising sun was awful and there was almost no visibility. My navigation was OK, but I felt like I swam a bit wide on the way back. Add this mis-navigation to the list of early season mistakes I would make on the day. Coming up the boat ramp, I felt like I had a good swim, and the 31 minutes on the clock were fine by me.

After the long run into transition, I began the process of switching into cycling gear…and just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. My Murphy’s Law of transition included: stuck foot in my wetsuit, unable to get my helmet on, dropped nutrition, and forgetting to put my race belt on. This last one was a real treat because I didn’t notice until I was pedaling out of the transition and I looked down to see that I was sitting on my bib and belt…stopping 50 yards out of transition to put the belt on made me feel like a real genius. Anyway, a horrible T1 time of over 5 minutes was the result of all this early season rustiness. It’s silly to give away time like this…

The start of the bike was fast, with the expected tailwind helping all the way north to Christianitos Road. After crossing I-5 and heading into the base, I was ready for the brutal climb up Mount Mother, and I cranked up it as best I could. After that climb, the rest of the rollers went smoothly. After turning on to Vandergrift at the airfield, I was ready for an anticipated headwind. However, luckily for the athletes, the wind had shifted, and there was even a slight tailwind on the way back to the harbor. I was able to finish the ride strongly. I slipped back into the transition area in 2:52. This is a new PR for a 56 mile ride for me and 6 minutes faster than last year, so I am pleased with the progress in my cycling. T2 was smooth and didn’t have any of the screw-ups that plagued my T1.
Starting the half marathon, I felt decent but not great. While my legs were strong and I felt like I had had enough calories, I had consumed too much water and had to use the bathroom and my arches were killing me. I remembered the wise words of Ironman legend Dave Scott: Do what you can do right now! So, I kept my head up, my stride long, and my smile wide, as those are things over which I had control. And, as always, I began to feel better after a bit.

The run course was different than the previous two times that I have raced here; there was a section about a ¼ mile long across the beach which included some soft sand. This pretty much sucked. After dealing with this, I got on to the strand and tried to open up the pace a bit. It was nice to see Carey with my friends Mike and Jim cheering along the strand. What great Iron fans they are to come out and watch. After some high fives from them, I was feeling better and moving south on the first out leg of the run.

As I made my way through the first leg, I came across some young guys having a party in front of their house on the strand. One of these guys had a football and was farting around on the strand. So, consistent with my tendency to lose focus and clown around a bit, I found myself taking a handoff from the guys and running with the football up the course…oops, so much for that disciplined mental focus on the run. After fumbling the football, I made a better effort to keep a steady pace as the miles clicked by.

I didn’t have quite as much speed as last year, and I think the soft sand section was slow. So, my 1:50 time for the run was OK. The 5:21 overall time is a new PR and 3 minutes faster than last year.

In reviewing the race, my swimming was good and on track to improve through the season. My cycling is feeling terrific, and I am looking forward to more gains here. And my running is on track and looking to get stronger. I need to be better in transition and not give away so much time there (the 5 minute T1 cost me the chance to go sub-5:20). But, this is a race skill that will improve throughout the season. So, for an early season race, I am pleased. I am well on track for the year, and, given that I have an extra 5 weeks between this race and my A race as opposed to last year, I have plenty of time to get stronger, smarter, and faster.

Next up is the Wildflower Long Course on May 2nd. Thanks for the support.