4/29 - 5/5 - Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

This weekend I did end up racing at the Wildflower Triathlon up in Bradley, California. Truthfully, I could write so many words on just the experience itself, but unfortunately when you drive to and from races, there doesn't leave a lot of down-time to be exceedingly verbose so a quick summary will have to suffice.

The race itself didn't exactly go to plan. It has been an odd year already weather wise. Last month, the normally 80 degree swim at Ironman 70.3 Galveston was somehow 64 degrees. In the 31 years of Wildflower it has always been a wetsuit swim for the pros. Well, with some record heat the water temperature had risen to a point where the pros couldn't wear wetsuits. It wasn't really bothersome as I tend to overheat anyway, except that I ripped my swim skin on Wednesday in a practice swim. In addition, I was also super stoked to wear my new 2XU X:3 wetsuit. I wore it at the pool on Wednesday on a 100 degree Tucson day with the sun at peak level. For once I didn't overheat and I attributed that to some design decisions that 2XU put into the wetsuit. But like I said, the race wasn't wetsuit legal, so I wasn't able to put it into action.

For this race, I told myself to be aggressive remembering the words Matty Reed told me about swim starts. Unfortunately I wasn't aggressive enough as they packed all the pros into a small start area. As always, the swim was violent, and I made the main pack only to be the last one to be spit out of it. From there it was a casual swim until the next group caught back up. I swam in with that pack but we were already 5 minutes down from the leaders, and 2.5 minutes down from the main pack.

Getting on the bike was no better. Although I had good initial power, the lack of recent longer threshold and endurance sessions really hurt me and after about an hour my power started to fade. However, I was able to catch up to longtime friend and family man Gavin Anderson and we got a chance to "catch up" on the bike. The one benefit of the pro stagger rule we follow in non-WTC races is that we can ride side-by-side as long as we are 2m apart. We were both hurting so we rolled in casually to T2.

Although the bike course at Wildflower is epic, it is the run that really makes this course truly epic. In fact, when some of the other pros started to walk part of the run, I figured I should walk as well seeing that I was a Wildflower rookie. I even walked a super-steep downhill in the middle of the course. It was probably the best decision ever as I was able to cruise the rest of the course, including running down the infamous Lynch hill without even feeling the slightest pain in my quads.

From a race on paper it may have not been the best result, but I got exactly what I needed out of the race. This is truly a course were course experience is vital and I will be more prepared to barrel up and down the steep trail sections next year. As it stands, I got a solid endurance session in if I decide to show up at Ironman Texas in two weeks. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and met some new friends in what has been dubbed "The Woodstock of Triathlon".

My weekly swimbike, and run totals:

Total: 179 Miles / 14 hours 55 minutes
Swim: 13,100 yards / ~7 miles / 3 hours 44 minutes
Bike: 147 miles / 8 hours 13 minutes
Run: 25 miles / 2 hours 57 minutes
Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes




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