Wildflower Race Report

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Well let me tell you, this race lives up to all of the hype.  Most of the 7,500 athletes and 30,000 spectators end up camping for the weekend, but Tri-California is generous enough to provide elites with houses that are...well, just take a look at the pics. Thank you to everyone at Tri-California!


The above is from the road that drops you down to the houses, about 500ft below.



The second is from the balcony of our place.


The week of the race was great for me. I felt the best I had in a long time and was swimming, riding and running very well. One of the reasons that I choose this race was not that it suited me, but because it addressed almost ALL of my weaknesses.

- Narrow congested swim start.

- Fast descents on the bike, with speeds easily reaching 50+ mph

- Run course that was off road, off camber and very hilly/technical


I didn't expect to race my fastest, but the goal that Cliff English and myself had was to stay focused and race hard no matter what. 

I had varying degrees of success on the course with my above limiters... I wasn't aggressive at the swim start, which cost me the front group. I did lose a bunch of time on the descents, but not as much as I have in the past and I didn't run well, but I stayed focused.

17th was far from what I wanted on the day, far from what my fitness shows, but the course was completely opposite from one that suits me and all of the anxiety and focus issues were over come on the day...That in itself was what I was looking for!

+++

Going forward I will race the local Aquathon's in Madison and either Elkhart Lake Olympic Distance, or Kansas 70.3 on June 10th before heading to Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

More to come and thanks for all your support!


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