Race 25: 2012 Wildflower Mountain Bike

Date: May 5th, 2012
Distance: .25 Mile Swim, 9.7 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run 

In 2012, I really wanted to take another shot at the long course triathlon at Wildflower, but with the stress fracture still bothering me a little, I was advised by my doctor to lay off the long runs for a while. However, he did clear me for the shorter mountain bike race that was held on the same day. With the medical blessing to compete, I would go into this race knowing that I was going to be going 100% for the entire race, with an attempt to place in the top 5 of my age group.

The swim was hectic. I placed myself near the front of my start wave, only behind the handful of national junior competitors (directly behind the Canadian junior, assuming he was better than all the Americans.) I have never swam next to, or in between highly competitive swimmers before, and for that I would be punished. The strength and unwillingness to give even an inch of space to anyone else would be overwhelming, but I would try my best to hold my ground and keep pace with those around me. Unfortunately, I would only be able to keep pace for about 150 yards before falling back and joining a group of swimmers who were more at my level. I would exit the water a little slower than I would have wanted, but still within my ideal time window for a PR, and possibly a podium finish.

I tackled the hills and off road portion of the bike course with determination to keep progressing faster than any racers around me. The downhill portions would be at speeds that would bring up past memories of crashing on my bike, but I would still press on, taking the risk (but remembering the lessons learned over the years) to try to beat 40 minutes on the bike. With out a fast bike, there would be no chance for a top 5 finish. I hit T2 in 39 minutes and 22 seconds. A good time, but not fast enough to make up for the swim. I would have to press hard on the run to have a chance.

Being in the first wave of racers, I was also one of the first few runners on the course. I would be sure to run at a strong pace, sprinting up each hill and allowing gravity and a long stride to carry me down. I was tired for sure, but I fought the urge to slow down, knowing that I only had 15 minutes to run, and I could get all the oxygen I wanted after the finish line. I wouldn't see a single competitor in my age group the whole run, which meant that if I was to get in the top 5, I had better have been in the top 5 coming off the bike. My final time would be 1 hour, 6 minutes and 38 seconds, putting me in 6th place. I missed out by less than 2 minutes. After learning of the result, I would immediately piece together things that I could have done to catch 5th place, but would quickly replace those thoughts with ones reminding that I had a great race, with a great finishing time, and that 6th place would be more than acceptable for someone who is still getting over racing with a stress fracture.

Links:

Website: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/WildFlower2013-main.htm
Official Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20120505_AVIA_Wildflower_Triathlons.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Mountain+Bike+Individual~M25-29