Toughest Tri in the Country?

Team in Training participants in the Jamba Juice Wildflower Triathlons raised OVER 1.5 MILLION DOLLARS to battle blood cancers!!

A local California paper rated Wildflower as
“the toughest Olympic-distance triathlon course in the country”…
I finished in 5:16:09 – just 4 minutes short of course closure.

Surprisingly, my swim time was close to my training time (54 minutes) and the water temperature was reasonable – like Lake Erie in early summer. Got lots of TLC from the college kids on surfboards, acting as our “pool wall” and compass: “go AROUND the bouy!” The wetsuit? No one I saw looked comfortable getting out of it.

The bike course was difficult - I walked more than a few stretches on those l-o-n-g California hills. Bike time: 2:36, averaging 9.5 mph (I got up to 37 mph going DOWNHILL :) I spent way too long in the first transition (14 min.), and walked a good portion of the “run” course in the heat of the day (run/walk time: 1:26:47).

God bless Bryce, who was out there on the final stretch to encourage me and give me the heads up on the course closure time limit. And Kurt, checking for Christine, who I kept hoping was going to catch up with me and we'd finish together, but more on that later. No more walking (well, a little). I ran down the final hill to the finish.

To say I was “overwhelmed” is an understatement.
- but -

We had a great time. The country was beautiful, the camping was pleasant (cold at night, but no rain), and Team and Training provided two great pasta dinners, motivating speakers and… mobile shower trailers – what a luxury compared to the camp showers!

– MOST IMPORTANTLY –
The Northern Ohio Chapter of TNT raised $125,000 of the $1.5 million, THANKS TO ALL our contibutors!!!!

Next time – oh yes, there will be another attempt in 2008 when Team in Training tackles Wildflower again – we’ll be prepared. Unlike California teams, we were unable to attend practice weekends to get familiar with the course. We underestimated the course difficulty. Based on our training speeds and distances back in March, we estimated a 4.5-hour finish time, with a 30 minute buffer for transitions. So we said we should finish in 5 hours or less. This put us in the next to the last wave, 50 minutes after the first group of TNT females started. Unfortunately, this impacted Christine more than me. She had bike chain difficulty in her battle with the hills and did not make the cut-off time for the bike course, so they did not allow her on the run course to finish. There are finish times of 6+ hours, so we know she could have completed the course had we been in the earlier wave. We are going back so she can finish and I can RIDE 100% of the bike course and really have a 4.5-hour finish time (or better…?).

For Leukemia patients, endurance is an everyday struggle. They need a dedicated support network to keep them in the race, where the goal is LIFE. They are why we’ll keep TRI-ING!

Visit http://www.teamintraining.org for more information
For more race details (including pictures), check out: http://www.tricalifornia.com/wildflower/2006


Aside - Comments on tri life and stuff - does this make sense?:
The wave starts seem to be designed to discourage older and/or slower finishers. Team and Training has its own waves, which get to go earlier than the age group waves (except the one Chris and I were in...which went off after all the age groupers):
Collegiate goes first - hey that makes sense.
Then
Men, youngest to oldest
Women, youngest to oldest, with 40+ women being the wave right before the relay teams.
Team in Training Men are in the middle, after age groupers, and the A-wave of Team in Training Women go 5 minutes after the TNT men (with the 25 and under women).

So, in effect, 40+ women are getting the message:
If you are going to be in this event, you have to finish in less time than any other age group, male or female. Otherwise, don't bother showing up, because we'll close the course before you finish.

Seems backwards to me. Shouldn't the younger, stronger (supposedly) have the obstacles of swimming past people who may be slower then them.

It is nice that they recognize Team in Training women might need a little extra time, being "newbies". But us "middle/end of the pack" participants want a fair shake. I know there are people older than me who are WAY, WAY faster, but still, how about wave starts that might be more logical? Are all triathlons set up this way? Chris and I would have had 5 more minutes if we were not with Team in Training, as the 40+ women's wave went out right bfore us. Yes, we should have been in the TNT A wave, obviously - which would have given us 50 minutes. But still - Is it too much to ask to give 40+ women MORE time than 25-year old MEN?

Hmm? let's think on that. Maybe there's something I don't see. At least in a marathon, everyone starts within 30 minutes (or less), and they often let walkers start earlier. Is there any issue with "glutting" the transition area, because the faster people would catch up to the slower people ....? Who knows? When I go back to Wildflower, I might stay in the later wave, but it is nice to know we can get an extra 50 minutes with the TNT wave if we need it.

Cheers. See you around.