Wildflower Triathlon

This is the second year I have participated in the one and only Wildflower Triathlon. Last year's experience at Wildflower was probably my worst race ever. That includes my whole running career, which started in middle school.To quickly sum up my race last year, my swim and bike went decently well. But since this was my first Olympic distance triathlon I did not know how to fuel properly for this distance. Since sprint triathlons are short enough that you can make it through on just water. It was also very hot and I failed to take that into account. So while on the bike I probably only took in about 8 oz of watered down gatorade. By the time I got to the run I was getting seriously dehydrated. I had to walk and at every aid station I tried to take in some water and more gatorade but it just didn't seem to help. I constantly felt like fainting. Once I finished I was very upset on how the race turned out and started to hyperventilate. (For the record, I have never done this before in my life! I didn't even know that that was what I was doing until a volunteer medic came over to help me) To cut this part short, from going into hysterics, being over heated, and seriously dehydrated, I was taken to the medic tent and ended up having a couple IVs.

What I have just shared with you is embarrassing to me because I always figured that something like this would never happen to me. I felt I was stronger than that, and smarter. However, even the strongest and well prepared people will experience things such as this. The good news, I made sure to figure out how to fuel myself for an Olympic triathlon and have never had this issue again! And I hope I never do! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, that after all that happened I still managed to place 4th in my age group (20-24).

Now for the part I'm sure you all are waiting to read about. My race experience this year. How did it compare to last year? There is no comparison! I had a score to settle at this race and I definitely settled it!

This year I decided it would be best to camp at the event. The previous year I stayed at a different area that was about 15 minutes away. My sisters (all three of them) came down with me and we arrived at Wildflower on Friday. Found ourselves a nice camp site near a tree and pitched our tents. This first day was insanely hot. I felt like I was in a sauna! I think the temperature that day got up to about 91 degrees, or at least it felt that hot. Back in Oregon the warmest it had gotten was about 75 degrees. So I was definitely not accustomed to this kind of heat. With the heat being what is was, it was crucial to stay hydrated. I made sure to drink as much water as I could but sometimes water doesn't seem to get absorbed very well. Therefore, it was on to the fruits and vegetables full of water! In particular, cucumbers, seemed to do wonders. I felt so much more refreshed after eating one. I might also add that I ate it plain. Just peeled it and then ate it. No need for dressing or anything else slopped on it.

For the rest of Friday I tried to stay out of the sun as much as I could but still made sure to walk around as not to tighten up. I ventured down to the expo area, which was about a mile or so from our campsite, so I could pick up my packet and then take a dip in the lake to get a feel for it. And let me tell ya, that water felt so lovely! Plus, this would be my first race wearing the blueseventy helix wetsuit, and it was quite comfortable. A lot more flexible than the last wetsuit I had. However, getting the thing on in that kind of heat was not that much fun, but once in the water I was fabulous. That pretty much sums up day 1.

Saturday turned out to also be a very hot day. This was the day for the Long course and Mountain bike races. I wanted to watch the Long course racers not only because that is the pro race but also because my coach, Erich, was racing. They started at 8:00am and the temperature in the morning was very nice, almost chilly, but for racers it was perfect. Sadly though, that temperature rose rather quickly as the race went on, which is about 4+ hours of racing. I was able to watch the start of the race but wanted to get back to our campsite so I could get my easy run and bike done while the temperature was still tolerable. Also, so I could see the finish and not have to worry about getting my workouts in later. To my surprise, the long course run went right by our campsite. I got to see the pros and Erich run. Plus, when they went by I knew if I wanted to see the finish I would have to hustle on down soon after they went by, and I made it just in time. Erich's race results didn't meet his expectations but the absurd heat may have been a factor, not to mention he hasn't been training for long course. Nice Job Erich!
This pretty much sums up day 2. Even though I got in a lot of walking that day I think it was best. Much better than laying around the campsite.

Erich over half way done on the run!

It was finally race day! The weather was not at all like the previous two days. Instead, it was just like Oregon! Overcast, cold, windy and spitting rain. The rain stopped relatively quick, but the cold and wind stayed with us throughout the day. So maybe this was to my advantage since I'm used to training in this type of weather.

The first wave of the day, which was the collegiate waves, went off at 9:00am. My wave was not to start until 10:10am, after all the male waves had gone. The waiting part felt like it took forever! Especially since the wind was so cold and fierce that it chilled you rather quickly. I actually wasn't too nervous by the time it was my wave's turn to go. Maybe I got all my nerves out the previous two days.

The swim was not a very fun one. I had a great start into the water and had good position, but due to the crazy wind the water was very choppy. The way out felt like it took forever. Thankfully, I got a good feel for the water and didn't get a ton of mouthfuls like I did at Nationals last year. Not to mention, blueseventy's helix wetsuit helped tremendously but keeping me more buoyant and flexible in the water. Once I got around the turn buoy to head back to T1 it was much faster cause now I was flowing with the water instead of fighting it. I came out in about 14th position. Through T1 I passed most of them and when I headed out for the bike I was now in about 3rd or 4th position. Swim was 27:57.

Swim start - I'm on the far right

The bike went really well. This course is famous for its hills. I've been told that this is one of the hardest triathlon courses and so far it has been the hardest one I have competed in. Besides having the hills to deal with there was now another factor, wind. This is an out and back course so I only had to fight with the wind for half of it. From the very start I was passing people left and right, well actually just on my right, otherwise it's against the rules and if caught I could get a penalty. Anyways, there were so many people (mostly men, since they went before all the women and I was wave 2 of the women's waves) on the road that I constantly had to stay towards the center line of the road and had to yell "on your left" A LOT! I always disliked having to do that, o'well. I took advantage of all the downhills and straightaways and hills now that I'm thinking about it. The hills actually aren't that bad. People just seem to have a natural fear of them though. There were a few sections on the course where there were big gusts of wind. That made nervous a couple times, and I had to get out of the aero position. Coming into T2 I was now in 2nd position off the bike. Bike was 1:17:19.

Getting back into aero position

Starting the run

I had yet to have any visual contact of the girl that was in 1st position. But I felt strong coming off the bike and I knew that I would be able to catch her if she didn't have a very strong run. At this point I still wasn't sure how far ahead she was, but thanks to some of the male athletes they let me know about how far ahead she was and encouraged me to catch her. One gentlemen told me that she was only about 30 seconds ahead of me, and this really excited me. I was now about 1k into the 10k course and I finally saw her. From there I started to real her in and ended up passing her around the 2k mark. From there I didn't look back and just focused on how many other people I could catch as well as not having to stop at all on the run, as I had the previous year! I had quite a few guys encourage me a long the way by saying "Nice", "Yeah" or something along those lines. My favorite one though, is I was coming up on a group of older gentlemen (I think they were in there 50s) and I could over hear them talking about how awesome it was to pass a lot of these young guys and at that point I passed them and then one of them said "we have just been chicked!" in a half serious yet playful tone. I finished strong and felt good the whole way, relatively. I finished the run in a time of 40:09 and had an overall time of 2:28:36. Times were a bit slower this year due to the choppy swim.

Home stretch

Just finished and am all sweaty and smiles :)

I ended up winning my age group which was 25-29, even though I am technically still 24, and I also was the overall Olympic female winner (1st out of 714 female finishers). This is my biggest win so far and I am so thankful to my family, Erich, friends, and sponsors for helping me achieve this goal! I couldn't have done it without you guys! :)

25-29 Age group awards - Yeah, bottle of wine!

Male and Female Olympic overall winners - Got an awesome transition bag!

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the race unfolded. It didn't have a lot of control over the swim but wish I would've been able to swim it a bit faster. Same goes for the run, which I did have control over. But I can not beat myself up about it considering that I have not been able to consistently run or do a workout for about 2.5 months due to my ankle issue. I am happy to report that I did not feel it at all during the race and should be able to now get back into more running! Yay!