Wildflower Training Weekend - SF Tri Club

DAY 1

This time of year is always fun.  My club, SF Tri Club, heads down to Lake San Antonio for a slugfest and debauchery.  Lots of people I haven't gotten to see in a while, and all the new faces to the club were coming down so it was set up for a great time.

Training day weather was perfect at 60-70 degrees, but night time lows were heading down to FREEZING!  We were all doing what we could to stay warm.

Morning came and nasty fog put a delay on our swim until the afternoon.  Swim Art was great to lend us one of their coaches for an overview of the course and swim tips.  He had some great insights to share along with overall ideas for a better race day.The sun finally broke and it was time for some hammering around the Long Course bike.  This was the first time out on my new Williams wheels, and they look sweet, and hopefully they were as fast as they look!  I also go the Power Tap Hub on the rear, so many new toys to play with this weekend.

Swim Art coach sharing wisdom

Anyone who is familiar with the Wildflower Long Course bike route knows its not pretty.  Well, its really amazing scenery, but lots of rollers along with BIG climbs and steep descents.  Road conditions improve every year, but there is one section that just grinds you down around 25 miles.  Wish they would repave it, PLEASE!

I really need to get out on these wheels a bit more to get used to the deep rim on the front.  85 mm takes some hits in cross-winds when you go over 35 mph and it made for some interesting descents.

We had a huge crew from SF Tri, and four or five other clubs doing recon on the course this weekend.  Made for a festive time out on the course and meeting people from all over the place.

My "buddy" Adam decided Nasty Grade repeats were a good idea.

Little crazy on the wattage.  Really good to see how inconsistent things are.  Managed it fairly well on climbs, but really need to concentrate on the flats and rollers to smooth out my effort.

Getting back to the campsite, time for a "fun" brick run.  After two miles Dan and Adam drop me like nothing once we hit a hill.  Legs were like lead, hopefully just from racing Oceanside last week.  Grinding away at 7 hilly miles, back to camp, a small bite to eat and a nice swim.

DAY 2

Up early and its a bit warmer than yesterday making everyone happy.  On tap is the Long Course run.  This run is almost constant harassment of hills, but almost all on trails making it nice on the legs.  I'm up for a good pace today, but again, Dan and this time Tim decide to punish and drop me hitting the first set of hills.  Very content to push the pace and have fun anyways, its time to be the teams mobile Photog.  I really recommend people get out to enjoy these trails to run and enjoy outside of the actual race.  Its great countryside and perfect to get out of your comfort zones.

Long Course Run

Long Course Elevation - Started 3 miles into the loop, 1,300 feet gain.

Wrapping up the weekend with a mile swim in the lake.  Finally felt good to get some sun and cool off as the temperature got above 70 for once!  Great weekend with the friends and feeling good about the coming races.