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I decided to put this race on my calendar this year because of its reputation of being one of the toughest half iron distance races around. The U.S. Championship course will be much more difficult than Ironman Arizona and I wanted to compete in this race to get a feel for where I'm at in my training and where my weaknesses are. Some say the Wildflower long course is nearly as difficult as a full Ironman. The 56 mile bike has 5,345 feet of elevation gain and the 13.1 mile run has over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. In comparison the U.S. Ironman Championship course will have 3,900 feet of elevation gain in its 112 miles and 2,100 feet of elevation gain for its 26.2 mile run. As you can see the Wildflower course is not for someone who doesn't like hills.
The carrot for this race was chasing my wife Liz's course time of 6:35:43. Looking at her splits I felt I could beat her swim and bike times. The key would be gaining enough of an advantage in those disciplines to beat her run time of 2:10:27 which I was fairly confident I could do based on my recent training.
Before I get in to my race report let me tell you that the Wildflower Triathlon is a must attend event. The venue is beautiful, the race celebrating its 30th anniversary is very well organized. It totally lives up to its reputation as the Woodstock of triathlons with over 30,000 people attending, live music, excellent food vendors with reasonable prices, tri related sports vendors and even activities for children. Nearly everyone camps or brings an RV. Even some of the Pros have been known to sleep in a tent during the weekend. It's the perfect place for a beginner or serious triathlete to race and if you bring the entire family and they will all be guaranteed a good time. The only time you may be disappointed with is your finishing time if you under estimate the difficulty of this course.
Before I get in to my race report let me tell you that the Wildflower Triathlon is a must attend event. The venue is beautiful, the race celebrating its 30th anniversary is very well organized. It totally lives up to its reputation as the Woodstock of triathlons with over 30,000 people attending, live music, excellent food vendors with reasonable prices, tri related sports vendors and even activities for children. Nearly everyone camps or brings an RV. Even some of the Pros have been known to sleep in a tent during the weekend. It's the perfect place for a beginner or serious triathlete to race and if you bring the entire family and they will all be guaranteed a good time. The only time you may be disappointed with is your finishing time if you under estimate the difficulty of this course.
THE SWIM 1.2 Miles
First off, let me tell you that Lake San Antonio has the best tasting water I've ever swam in...and did I mention warm? This is only my 9th triathlon and only my second in the past 18 months. Although I’m more confident than I used to be, I still get butterflies. I told my wife Liz when I stop getting nervous about triathlons, that’s when I need to start doing something else. After setting up my transition I walked down to the boat ramp to prepare for my wave start. The lake was calm and peaceful with the exception of the athletes who had already started swimming.Swim start |
Liz's Time: 54:19
Goal Time: 45:00
Actual Time: 44:01