Myron's Wildflower Race report

During the last couple of months, I have been training hard for Ironman
France. I have met many of the training goals I set for myself. My
functional threshold on the bike has increased significantly; my weight is down under 170 pounds; my swimming speed is starting to come back. I have been mostly quite consistent with my training and, during the last month have averaged over 16 hours a week. Overall, things have gone
quite well and I am looking forward to Ironman France.

Two issues have been causing me concern. Since I ran a 10 km race last month, I have been struggling with some achilles tendonitis, which has impacted my running. Everytime I try to ramp up the volume or intensity of my runs, my achilles get inflamed and I spend a few days limping and icing my tendons before I can run again. Secondly, the delayed spring has limited my outside riding and I have had minimal opportunities to test my riding off the trainer since my bike crash last September.

This past week, I headed down to California for a training camp led by my coach, Todd Malcolm. The plan was to train hard for a week and then race in the world famous Wildflower Half Ironman race. My main objective was to get lots of hill riding, some good volume of training and to experience the Wildflower race. I also wanted to make sure I didn't thrash my achilles for the race in France, which is my main goal this season.

The day before we left, I decided to connect with some friends for a 2.5
hour bike ride. I had put my race wheels on the night before and when
I went to leave for my ride, I had a flat. 15 minutes of mucking around made me late for meeting the group, so I left in a mad rush and hammered up the hill to the top of Bow Trail. I went tearing down the hill at top speed and then turned to head down the hill to Edworthy Park. I continued racing down the hill to meet the group and as I came around a corner going 65 km / hour, a deer jumped out of the bushes and stood on the road in front of me. I had a fraction of a second to decide what to do and, since it didn't move, I slammed on the brakes. The deer hopped away, but my back tire starting sliding out and I went into a mad wobble as I struggled to avoid a crash. I was barely able to avoid a nasty wipeout, that would have surely resulted in a second broken collarbone (or worse). I arrived at my bike ride a bit frazzled.

I left the next day for California and connected with Todd's group. We spent the afternoon in LA picking up a few pieces of triathlon gear and then spent the night in Paso Robles. On Monday, we picked up some groceries and got set up at our house in Oak Shores, near Lake Nacimiento. The setting was idyllic, other than the complete lack of cell phone / internet connection (I know, this may sound great, but it was not what I had planned as I had a few fires burning at work). We spent the afternoon cycling, swimming and going for a brief BRICK run. I cut the run short, since my achilles was very sore. Our house was at the bottom of three big hills, which we had to ride up to get out to the road. It was great to ride outside and ride hills in the nice Californian weather. I felt amazing on the bike and chewed up the hills.
I was, however, quite tentative on the descents.

The next day was a bit rainy and windy. We went for a swim in the lake and then set out to ride the 90 km Wildflower bike course. While I still felt good on the hills, the wind and wet roads made the descents treacherous. I had Zipp 808 race wheels on my bike, which are quite deep and caused my bike to be blown around by the wind. Everytime I got above 50 kms / hour, the bike would start to wobble and I had to hit the brakes on wet roads. I was still freaked out from my near crash with the deer and found this ride rather sketchy on the descents.

We did more swimming, biking and running on Wednesday. Hill repeats on the bike at the race course got the legs going. I felt amazing in the swim and bike and decided to test out my achilles for an 11km tempo run.
The run went well and I was able to finish strong in a sub 4:00 / km pace. Unfortunately, my achilles flared up almost immediately afterwards and I spent the next day limping in pain. We swam and cycled again Thursday, but I skipped the run, as I was starting to think about the race on Saturday. My legs were getting quite fatigued from the week of training and I decided to skip the ride Friday to recharge the batteries and give myself a shot at a good race.

In the evenings we did sessions on changing tires, mental training, race planning, etc. The group was fantastic - lots of fun banter and storytelling, everyone pitching in with meals and a laid back atmosphere.

I reviewed the results from the race during the last couple of years and wrote up my race plan for Saturday, which was perhaps a bit ambitious given the intense week of training. Despite my tired legs, I figured I would try to race with the leaders in my age group and shoot for a top 10 finish (out of about 260 competitors). On this difficult course, I figured it would take a time of about 4:55 hours. However, I made two key caveats: (i) this was a training race for France and mental toughness / smart decisions were more important than the result; (ii) if I felt acute pain in my Achilles, I promised myself that I would drop out on the run rather than trash my achilles right before my final build up to France.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling rested and confident. We made our way down to the transition area and got set up for the race. The venue was amazing - lots of friendly young volunteers; a well organized check in and tons of support. The day was stunning - 72 degrees farenheit, clear blue skies and no wind. We listened to the US National anthem and watched the start of the elite race.

The start was organized in waves based on your age group, with a wave leaving every five minutes. There were two waves of 40-44 year old men and I was in the first wave. I lined up front and centre and hit the water running. There was a bit of thrashing at the start and I caught an elbow in the head that half knocked off my goggles. I kept swimming and was able to do a quick fix on the fly. Within 150 metres, I was out front with two other swimmers. I settled into a comfortable pace and was enjoying the race. We quickly caught the slow swimmers from the wave that started in front of us and I had to pick my way through the pack. I lost sight of the two other swimmers from my wave that I was swimming with and wasn't sure if I had passed them or not. I finished the 1900 metre swim in about 28 mins (right on pace with my goal). and was at the
front of my wave.

My transition was a bit slow, but I got on the bike and tried to settle into a comfortable pace during the first mile before I hit the long, steep climb up from the lake. I felt a bit tight in the legs on the first part of the climb but quickly warmed up and steadily worked my way up through the pack of riders on the hill. Once up top, I settled into an aero position and continued passing people.

I clipped along at a decent pace and began knocking off the miles. My tentativeness on the descents was gone today and I hit 70-75 km / hour going down the bigger hills. Only three people passed me (all of whom were in the 40-44 age group) and I repassed two of them on the Nasty Grade Hill. I hit the transition area in 3:16 total time(including the swim and transition), which meant a 1:38-1:40 half marathon would get me to my goal and perhaps a top 5 finish. There were only three bikes in our section of the transition area, so I figured I was in a good position in the race (although I had no idea how fast people in the second wave had gone). When I hopped off my bike, I immediately felt my right achilles seize up and I knew that the run was not going to happen for me today. I put on my shoes anyways and walked / jogged out to the people from our group who weren't racing today. I felt like I had lots of energy for the run and spent a few minutes thinking about whether to push through the pain in my tendons. Logic prevailed and I sat down and sulked for a few minutes. The competitor in me found it agonizing to drop out, even though I knew it was the right decision. I tried my best to enjoy the rest of the day but was quite upset by the way things ended.

Looking at the bright side of things, I had a fantastic week of training and proved to myself that my fitness and training is on track for my goal race at Ironman France. I enjoyed the company of the group and found the whole Wildflower event to be great. Over the course of the week, I was able to regain my confidence on the descents. Despite racing on tired legs after a hard training camp week, I was able to race the first two legs with the leaders in my age group (and, in fact, a top 5 age group (out of 260) and a top 50 overall (out of 2600) was within my grasp with even a half decent run). Nonetheless, I can't help feeling frustrated by having to drop out and missing the chance to finish the
race strong. I am motivated to do the necessary rehab work on my
achilles so I can get back running as quickly as possible.

Eight weeks until Ironman France.......