Wildflower Festival

I just got back from my first experience at Wildflower- "The Woodstock of Triathlon." I had a great time. We drove there on Thursday and instead of camping, eight of us rented a house for the weekend which worked out great having a kitchen and showers. Most people camp at Wildflower but that has got to be exhausting to race and camp- it didn't sound fun to me. So I organized renting this house and got 7 of my friends to join me.

First of all where Wildflower takes place is beautiful! The scenery was gorgeous and there were deer every where. The drive up there had breath taking scenery driving through vineyards. It was really pretty.

Friday we all went over to the race site, registered and went for a swim on the swim course. I swam about 20-25 minutes. I felt great.

Saturday was the Long Course which I was doing and two of my friends who were staying with us were doing, Marc and Kevin. I felt really good, had my coffee, oatmeal and trail mix for breakfast and was ready to race! The swim went Ok, I felt really good and was able to draft a few times but the winds had picked up and it was pretty choppy for a lake swim. I had a slower time than my last race but overall I felt like I could have kept swimming which is a good sign my training is on track for my Ironman. I think the winds slowed everybody down.

And they definitely slowed everybody down on the bike. The head wind was really tough on the bike the entire ride. I had a great ride. I was hoping for under 3 hours and I would have hit it easily if it weren't for those head winds. The hills weren't too bad for me which is what this race is known for. After doing that century ride I can take on any hill easy. The winds took it out of me though. I ended up having the 10th fastest time on my bike in my age group- pretty good!

The run was very tough! All up hill! I felt good but it was a tough run. I had a surprise at aid station 8 when there were a bunch of naked people cheering us on- no one told me about that but I guess it's a tradition- the Naked 8 Station- it shocked me when I turned the corner and everyone was naked- kinda funny!

I finished the race in 6:09- I was very happy with my race and had a great time at wildflower! I will definitely be there again next year!

I feel really good about my training for the Ironman- this race was validation that I am definitely on track. The two guys who did the race with me, who were staying with us, are also doing Ironman Lake Placid and neither of them finished the race this weekend so I am feeling pretty good about myself! That's right I beat the boys!

I'll write tomorrow about Sundays race which was the Olympic Distance that my training partner and my sister both completed and did awesome!