Wildflower Race Report

Wildflower is a race I always seem to want to do. It's a unique race atmosphere and kinda early in the season (for me) so I enjoy the fitness check. And let's just say Wildflower will NOT lie to you about how fit or unfit you are. It's BRUTAL. I actually got to write the chapter on "Wildflower" in "50 Greatest Triathlons". The book should be out soon. I hope I did the race justice.

Anyway, this was my third time doing the race. It was the first time I went into the race not injured. What a better way to race. Not injured. Go figure. I had a decent amount of prep for it and was very happy with my end result which was 2nd in 30-34, 5th AG overall and beating over 50% of the Pro Field. Not to mention I had a shocker of a run. 1:21.03 was the time. I really wasn't expecting to be able to go that fast on this course. I would have to say, given the training I have in my now, it is a pretty good sign.

The day before the race I was feeling a bit of the pressure. I think most of it was coming from the fact that my last race was Hawaii and last year I only did 2 other races, one of which didn't go well internally. The result was fine but the way it felt was another story. As well, my swim in Hawaii, while being a non wetsuit PR, had a major anxiety attack attached to it. I was obsessing about the swim at WF. In a way I guess I was just out of practice when it comes to racing and I felt like I didn't know what to do.

That feeling became even stronger about 30 seconds before the start of my wave. I was standing next to Patrick Baldwin (Not that Bachelor). I have gotten to know him over the last 2 years racing as he and I seem to always be right around the same time give or take. We both are not a big fan of the swim start so we jockeyed for the far left of the front line. I said something lame to him in a nervous chatter like "So what do we do"? It was such a strange feeling I was having. I had NO IDEA what I was supposed to do. Luckily triathlon is not rocket science and when the gun went off instincts took over and I swam like a mofo to that first buoy.

When I made the turn I was in a great position. Things were calm thus far and I had a pair of feet with a green cap. Unfortunately, those feet went out a bit too hard and I had to go around them. I felt so smooth in the water early on which is not normal for me. I usually take a while to find a rhythm. Maybe all those hard swims JZ has been making us do on Saturdays is paying off!?

It was crazy how many people from the wave before us we had to swim over. And not in the second 1/2. I was climbing over people by the second buoy. So the rest of the swim was my best attempt to be polite to yellow caps. It wasn't easy but I tried. As the swim progressed I would look up to see if I could find any green ones that I might be able to get on but I never saw any. Of course, part of me thought I might have been dropped by my wave. But then I thought "Hmmmm? Maybe I am swimming in the front of my wave?" Turns out I was. I got out third which was a first. I was stoked. I saw a 26 on the clock and that was good enough for me. It was probably the most effortless swim I have ever done. Maybe it was that new Orca 3:8 suit. I must say it was quite slick!

Out of the water I had a minor issue. I got to my bike and I was extremely dizzy. I bent down to get my stuff and was like "WHOA! I better sit down." SO I did and that helped but for the first few miles on the bike I had this strange vertigo feeling. Never had that before but I figured it came from the swim. I wasn't planing on riding very hard for the first 30 min so I just cruised along till it went away.

As I cruised, I was passed by Jonathan Toker (Salt Stick) and then by Patrick. I wasn't sure if I should let those two guys go but I did. They rode away from me pretty quickly and by the turn to the back side of the course they were both gone. I didn't have my power meter on the bike nor did I have a running time going. I was 100% numberless for this one and I wasn't sure how I was riding. I could clearly have a conversation with anyone. I wasn't working hard but my left quad felt a bit spent. Just the left one. So I rode using that as my gage.

Once I got to the "hill" some dude in my AG caught up to me and I decided that I needed to at least keep this guy in my scope. I rode the hill like I might in a training ride and then tried to keep the other guy in view the rest of the ride.

Somehow at about mile 48 I caught back up to JT and when I go by I ask him how far up Patrick was? He said that Patrick was just up the road. This lit a fire in me. I will admit that for most of the ride I thought I was out of the game. Apparently I was back in. I rode so easy that I should be able to run off this bike okay and hunt these guys down.

My transition to the run was quick and as I started the run I felt like I was just shuffling along. I was moving well but my stride was so tiny. I usually have a pretty long stride that actually makes me look like I am running slow. I just kept up with it and before I knew it I had Patrick in site and passed him at mile 3 and then saw the other guy. I passed him in the next 2 min. At that point I thought I was in front for my AG. That is what people were telling me.

I never really opened it up on the run. The progression to being injury free has been long and I wasn't about to screw that up. The Wildflower run would be hard enough on my feet as it is. From the running days, we would get green lighted in races. If you have a green light from coach you can open it up and run hard. Without it, you better do what he told you to do or you were gonna be in big trouble. I did not have a green light for this race. I was just supposed to run smooth. And that was all I was doing.

It felt great. I was actually present and aware of people watching. I had some interaction with the aid stations and my friends watching. It wasn't until about a mile and half to go that I spot my friend Matt Dixon watching and he tells me that there is one more guy in front of me. "DAMN! I thought I had this in the bag". There wasn't enough road left to try and get him. So I just kept trucking along at my pace. I really wanted to win my AG. I really wanted to be top AG of the day but that didn't happen and I was okay with it.

The race was a perfect start. The feet fell better than I expected afterwords. I don't have a race until Buffalo Springs 70.3 in late June so there is plenty of time to recover and move forward. Hopefully, I will be able to ride that new sweet Orbea Ordu I am on a tad faster :-)

The weekend was a blast and I look forward to next year!

Cheers,
bdc