2014 Wildflower 70.3 Race Report
Jason Brandt. WildFlower 70.3 Race Report. I'm not a writer so apologize in advance for any rambling
Wildflower was my annual guys trip this year as work has gotten busy and prevents a longer trip. Had heard about wildflower as a "bucket list" must do for triathletes on the West Coast. Also has a reputation as a hilly, hot tough half iron distance race. Was racing with 2 of my great friends and 2 others that became good friends over the weekend. Flew Friday AM to Burbank and was picked up by the 4 guys who had rented an RV and drove over from Scottsdale, AZ. Arrived at Lake San Antonio park about Friday 4PM.
Assembled my bike and got checked in and transition set up Friday evening. The lake or lack of one required a new swim start location which modified the course by adding a 2.2 mile run from swim exit to bike start. Thankfully they subtracted that distance from the second run we did. So it was a 1.2 mile swim, 2.2 mile run, 56 mile bike and then 10.9 mile run.
Tri-california puts on a great race and everything was very organized. Woke up Saturday at 0515 and ate the core diet example breakfast of applesauce, whey protein, banana and bottle of sports drink. Hadn't planned to check on bikes before heading to swim start but since we were all dressed and ready we did go the bikes which was good confidence booster knowing the tires were still good and nothing had blown around. Onto the bus to go over to Harris Creek for swim start.
Harris Creek T1A is a 1/4 mile step boat ramp. Transition was done on the length of the boat ramp, those closest to the water had the advantage as they got their shoes on sooner to run the ribbed concrete ramp. I was feeling good in transition, mentally rehearsing and trying not to get anxious. Given that I live in Seattle and open water swimming hadn't kicked off, I had not had an open water swim since IMAZ. Took my wetsuit to the pool Thursday before the race at least to get a little practice. Race began at 0800 with waves every 5 minutes. Each group was allowed a 3 minute warmup before being corralled back to the start. I was in the M40-44 and started 0840. Water was churned up at the entry/exit with zero visibility but cleared up a little a few hundred yards out.
Swim went great for me. Had planned 34 min and did just under 31 min. Nice improvement for me from last HIM a year ago. I actually had some success following feet but not the whole way. Seemed to me I kept finding someone who couldn't sight for a darn and zig zagged or came up on people swimming to slow. Next time, I'll have to swim harder in the start and find someone fast initially to follow feet. Sighting was a little tough at first going right into the sun but after the first buoy was not an issue. THe last 150 yards or so, I could touch the muck on the bottom with each stroke and it was a blackest muddiest water I had ever swam in. The sheet they had laid out going up the boat ramp was easy to sight off the whole second half of the swim. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493267421
Jogged to my T1A area, stripped off suit, put on socks and shoes and was on my way. The ran begins with the climb the remainder of the boat ramp and then has a series of ups and downs before descending to the lake bed to run over to lynch TA. The run ends with the climb up the lynch boat ramp. I averaged 7:55/mile which was Z2 + :30 so right on target from guidance but faster than I had planned. T1B went well, shoes off, helmet on and ran with bike to mount line. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493267426
It was clear it was going to be a hot day, I think temp peaked at 88 degrees, air was very dry but thankfully the winds were not at all noticeable. There is no easing into this bike. The hills start early and we were either going up or down the entire time until you made the Easterly turn (~20 mile) that put you on the north side of the lake. I think 2/3 of the bikes I saw were road bikes which made me wonder if I was at a disadvantage but after the race I concluded tri bike was the way to go especially that flat section between mile 20 and 40.
The infamous nasty grade begins at mile 41. It did have me in my easiest gears, cadence dropped to 50 but I didn't come out of the saddle. Not sure what my speed was but because I had paced my effort fairly well up to that point the hill was manageable. Not as difficult as what I was thinking it would be. There is a false summit with a right turn and then a few more hundred feet of climbing. Coach Rich had prepared us for this with his pre race webinar.
I could tell I was having a really good bike. For the most part I rode my target NP power watts but the difference between normalized power and average was much larger given the hills and that I would coast anytime that I felt that I couldn't have safely gone faster (VI 1.09). Target was 224W and if I was having a great day permission to take it 231. File shows that I had a 232 NP and 212 average watts so i think I executed the bike exactly as planned. Drank 9 bottles of Gatorade Endurance (plan was for 6 but lack of needing me pee had me upping fluids). http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493267434
Came into T2 with feet on top of shoes and had a good dismount. Ran to far end where my bike rack was and shed helmet and put on compression socks, running shoes, race belt and grabbed by ziploc and was off. Darn compression socks must have taken me 90 seconds. Got passed in the transtion by one person in my age group who I had passed on the bike. I think I will forego the compression socks for future races given the time they take to put on. Everything else in transition went well.
Ran out of T2 and the hills began right away just like bike. Lathered myself up with sunscreen while I ran (glad I had it as I didn't see a single volunteer offering it all day). Belly felt full of liquid and I had to pee so I took that as a good sign as I wasn't behind on fluids by much. First few miles went well until we hit the big hills. Long enough I could see 20 athletes in front of me and everyone of them was walking the hills. At which point I decided I would power walk the hills, jog if they leveled out at all and resume running the flats and downhills. Saw one guy trip and do a somersault right in front of me. I'm not a fan of trail running as I"ve twisted my ankles too many times. Also found myself occasionally passed going downhill as I was braking myself versus letting gravity take over. The flat stretches through the meadows and in Redondo were good. About 2 miles to go I negotiated with myself to walk a little more often and that probably cost me about 3-4 minutes over the 11 miles. The last 1.5 miles is down this huge paved lynch hill which was cool knowing the end was in sight but running downhill has its own challenges. Finish chute felt just like a WTC race, flags, stands, music, announcers...very cool. Total time 5:19 figured I was certainly in top 10% of my age group which was my goal but suspected I had slipped a few spots from where I finished the bike and not sure I would be in top 10. Finished the second run in an 8:48 pace which is Zone 1. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/493267469
After the race, I felt like I had had an awesome swim and bike and a decent run. The more I talked with folks the better I felt about my run as it sounded like the heat, dry air, hills and trail running took their tolls on everyone. My time put me 11th in my AG of 171. Great race to have done. Now 8 weeks to go until CDA.
Some of the many lessons learned from this race:
Swim the first 400 yards faster to follow feet of people faster than me.
Swim harder with arms overall
I can bike the higher end of my "should" bike wattage
I'm a strong biker on the hills and riding with power gives me an advantage on hills
Fore go the compression socks, too much time to put on
Select races that don't have trail running and hill running is not my strength
The run always gets tough, ensure I have my ONE THING x4 to go to in order to prevent the negotiation that goes on regarding sustaining the pace.
Be grateful for the opportunity to race.
Comments
Great job Jason! Sounds like a very solid race for you. Nothing much you can do about big hills and VI especially in a HIM which you are hammering, but definitely as you head into CDA make sure you are flattening that VI out as much as possible!
If you haven't seen the power/TSS pacing guide for IM/HIM bike legs take a look at it to see what IF you should be targeting at CDA. The spreadsheet is in the free racing with power guide: http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Racing+with+Power+Kit. Take your best estimated bike time in the chart and look at the TSS ranges that set you up for a solid run, my guess is that your goal of 10:15 overall means you should be shooting for 75-77% ftp for IMCdA.
Great job!
Also for planning purposes, I've noticed people can expect a swim split of based on a pace @ 93% of their swim T Pace. Eg, 100 yds @ 1:40 = 1:50 for 100 meters, divided by 0.93 equates to IM pace of 1:58.xx in the IM, or one hour 15 minutes. YMMV, some folks can go a bit faster, others not quite so fast. But 0.93 gives you the mid range target.
But in any event, the most important things are to first of all, be realiatic planning goal times based on what you actually do in training, and sevond, dont drive your goals into the Wall on race day if circumstances, like the weather, or flats, or a penalty, change on race day.