Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Wildflower Half Ironman
Date:	Saturday, May 4, 2002
Location:	Lake San Antonio, CA
Race Type:	Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	5:09:23
Overall Place:	181
Age Group Place:	42
Comment:	Just a brief moment in the vacation of sweat

Race Report:

[See Big Sur Marathon Race report, which ends on Sunday as this report picks up on Monday]

Monday morning I tried a quick 2-mile run and was glad to find out that the marathon PR didn't kill me. It wasn't easy, but I was still alive. Later that day I spun out my legs on a super easy 20-mile ride north toward Santa Cruz, and that made my legs feel *much* better. Then Tuesday morning I met Steve Blum and we rode 17-Mile Drive ... this is the road that goes from Pacific Grove to the Pebble Beach resort, and it is spectacular. Not to be missed if you're in the area. Steve & I joked about the Seaside squirrels and talked about his Tuesday morning rides (he does this ride every week? Or at least every week he's not in Zanzabar? Unreal!) After the ride I had a tasty breakfast and headed to San Francisco to get fit to my bike and meet CLM. I watched CLM beat the crap out of some padded mitts at the dojo before we had some tasty Thai for dinner. I crashed on her futon after taking in the SF views from some *very* steep hills. (Ahhh, to be a bike messenger in that city!). Wednesday morning we grabbed some breakfast and then I was off to Lake San Antonio & the Wildflower Experience.

I managed to ride the Wildflower course Wednesday afternoon after setting up my tent. Bumpy. Gorgeous. Hilly. Those three things, in that order, came to mind at every turn. Thursday I took in the swim course (perfect water temps of 66) after breakfast and a flat 7-mile section of the run course before dinner. Friday I just sat at the expo, read, and took in all the tri vibes. What an amazing event ... like a town of 20,000 triathletes.

Saturday I raced the Wildflower Long Course. Yet again I found myself off course in the swim, but not too bad ... I had a decent bike, but wished I had a 39/23 instead of my 42/23 ... not a big deal, but it would have been nice. I felt like total crap on the run. Gee, wonder why? :-) I managed to run until the first hill at mile 5 and then proceeded to run/walk for the next 8 miles for a total of about 2 miles of walking. I finished in 5:09 and when I saw my splits I didn't believe them. 1:50 on the run? I was incredulous. I thought I'd been out there for 2:15 or more! ... Also, I distinctly remember seeing 2:50 on my watch at mile 1 or so of the run. But that would have meant a 2:20 bike, which was a bit too optimistic to say the least. I pondered this for several days ... read the upcoming full report for details ... but the splits were right: 30-ish swim, 2:45-ish bike, 1:50-ish run plus transitions equals a 5:09 WF long course. Did I mention the run was hard? After the Cal Poly girls managed to force a quick smile from me at mile 4, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of soaking my body in that wonderfully cool water of Lake San Antonio. Man, that was a hot, hard run.

With Wildflower behind me the fun really started!!!

Sunday I watched the Oly race go off, snapping some photos. I finally find Amy White doing her Slowtwitch duties. I amble down to the swim course to get in one more easy, long swim. It's a gorgeous day. I'm on vacation. Now I wanna go biking. So I ride the WF long course again, a third time. It was great! I felt pretty strong on the bike, but had to employ some interesting new mind games to get up Nasty Grade for the third time in five days. See the full report for details ... I'll just say it's a great climbing strategy.

Monday I rise and, feeling a little hesitant, decide to take in the run course, again. I wanted to *run* the whole thing. Knowing the course, I realize there are several bail points if I'm feeling like crap. So I run the course ... it was hard, but not nearly as hard as Saturday. I run the whole thing and do it in almost exactly the same time as my race split. It really is a hard course, but it is beautiful and quiet and much easier at 7:30 a.m. :-) I'm still confused about my WF splits, but oh well. It was coming down Lynch Hill that I saw an RV leaving WF ... and someone at the wheel who could pass for Mike Plumb (who won his age group in the Oly!).

With my rental car packed I headed back to the Pacific Coast, setting up camp right above the ocean in Los Padres National Forest. As I pulled into the campground I saw an interesting sign: "Naciemento Road." Hmmm, me thinks, Naciemento Lake was right next to Lake San Antonio ... I wonder if ... you know where this is going ...

It does.

Naciemento Road is this GORGEOUS road over the coastal range (ouch, 7.5-mile climb up up up) through Fort Hunter-Liggett, right onto G14 ... which I remembered from my drive into Lake San Antonio. How do I know this? Because I biked it, of course!!! I biked all the way back to Lake San Antonio, stopping at my campsite to refill water bottles (among other places). I would have biked down to the lake & jumped in, but there was no way I was going to do that damn 1-mile climb out of the transition area. I'm not THAT crazy! All told the ride was about ... hmmm, I'd say about 110 miles. Thank the stars the flip side of the 7.5-mile climb was only 3.5 miles. The valley floor must be several hundred feet above the Pacific Ocean. Still, that first climb is one of the most spectacular stretches of road.

Wednesday it was time to fly home, so I motored back to Monterey along Hwy 1 (still beautiful) and ducked into the Monterey Sports Center for my first shower in two days. Oh, grabbed a quick 4-mile run along the waterfront and then swam an easy 400 yards in the pool before cleaning myself up for the flight. Before leaving the airport, I called my boss and talked about taking Thursday and Friday off. I wasn't going to arrive home until after midnight and something had come up ...

Something was a group ride with The Gang back at home. This wasn't just any group ride, this was the Inaugural Tour de Skyline. Leave from Front Royal, bike the entirety of Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, spend the night in Waynesboro, bike home Saturday. Two days, 220 miles, 20,000 climbing ... too much fun. We had *spectacular* weather. Just amazing. And I felt good. I ate & ate & ate on these rides, remembering how I bonked so hard in my century last year. Finishing up the second day I felt strong, so I broke away from the group and pushed the last 24 miles.

Sunday was the standard Sunday 10-mile club run. Luckily, I was talking up my vacation to my training buddy who'd done a 105-mile ride on Saturday as well (he rode up from Front Royal but turned around 10 minutes before we arrived at the meeting point). So the pace was mercifully easy.

Trust me ... there are a lot more details ... Sorry I couldn't trim it down even more, but thanks for reading to the end.

And THAT was my vacation! Holy Shit!*

* This is no longer a vacation! It's a quest. It's a quest for fun! I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so much fucking fun we'll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of you're assholes! I gotta be crazy! I'm on a pilgrimage to ride a bike. Praise Marty Moose! Praise swimming/biking/running/camping! Holy Shit!