Going to California

A few of us hardy souls from Victoria made the trek to CA to do the Wildflower Half Iron. I travelled with Ann Laidman in her camper van, affectionately named "Jef". He has a certain charm that's impossible not to fall in love with. We were joined by Ray Baker in his 5th wheel, and Brent Blackhall and Don Eby who roughed it in their tents. What an incredible adventure we had. Camping with 7,000 other like minded athletes is not your typical camping style. Imagine tents on any spare bit of ground to be found, wetsuits hanging in trees, bikes on top of cars, and any other sorts of triathlete gear on display.

We spent the next few days doing some light workouts on the course. One day we even drove the bike route, specifically to have a look at Nasty Grade. The hill with the most reputation on this course. We didn't think it looked toooo bad, but of course we were in a car at the time. Ensuring to have plenty of relaxation time as well, we readied ourselves for the big day. Following is my own race report. With any luck you'll hear from the others....

Race morning dawns, sunny and perfect. Perfect racing conditions. We ride our bikes, with all our gear, down the big hill to transition. It's 7:30 a.m. The race starts at 8:00 but my swim heat isn't until 9:25. We find our spots in transition and get all set up and my sunglasses break. Oh no, but then maybe it's just the lens has popped out. Seems to be, so I fit it back in. We head over to the swim start to watch the pros. Watch a few heats take off then move over to transition to watch them do T1. A wind has risen so now the water is choppy. Great! Finally it's our turn and we're standing on the boat ramp. Now we're off! I have difficulty with the choppy water. Can't get into a rhythm and keep getting slammed by waves. Often, when I turn to breath I gulp water. This sucks and I want to just quit. The buoys look far, far away. Keep giving myself "the talk" and keep going. Finally, in the second half of the swim I feel good and everything works...but I've wasted a lot of time. Up the boat ramp and into T1. My glasses break completely in two pieces so now they're toast. I have no glasses for the ride. A minor inconvenience but still. Off we go, and it's not up the hill that we thought was first, but up another one that's even worse. Heart rate is way up right off the bat. It's hot and windy, but I'm on the bike! Yay! Focused on riding steady and consistent. It's a challenging course with many hills but nothing that was impossible. Keep drinking as the wind is just whisking the sweat right off immediately. The only time I actually dripped sweat was on Nasty Grade, which is indeed nasty at 70km. By the time the ride was over I was ready to get off. But now it's run time, always a struggle for me. I'm eating salt pills and gels regularly. It's very hot and windy throughout this as well. There's lots of climbing and I opt to walk the hills. At every aid station I take water to drink and a cup to pour over my head. At a few spots there's people with hoses to spray you if you want. Yes, please! Course is very scenic around the lake and into the woods and around the campsite. Soon I realize that all this water is melting my salt pills that I have in the pocket of my top. This is a reminder to have them wrapped in something for IM. At mile 9 my stomach cramps and I'm stalled for a bit. Finally feel better and off I go only to be met by a giant hill up, then down the backside, then turn around and go back up it again. Dirty dog race organizers! After this I resort to running for 100 paces leading with my R foot then walk for a bit then 100 paces leading with my L foot, then walk again. I repeat this several times until I reach the last mile which is all downhill and if your quads aren't killing you by then you can just cruise on into the glorious finish chute. Sweet feeling.