Wildflower Prep...1 week to go!

First off, my apologies for not updating this on a more regular basis.  I could try to come up with some obscure, sympathy-seeking excuse, but in reality, there is non.  What I can tell you, though, is that I've been working really hard and I'm feeling ready to rock it next weekend down in SLO.  This past Monday and Tuesday, Rebecca and I made the trip down south to meet my coach, Brian Priddin, for a little mini-camp on the course.  I've put in the work, so it was time to see the course and fine-tune some things before race day.



Monday morning was the ride on the bike course.  The way out was 5 minutes hard, 1 minute easy.  After the turn around, the way back was race effort.  Last year's race was so hard for me and those hills out there can be very challenging.  I've been doing 100% of my riding on my Felt TT bike since early February when my road bike was stolen.  I see it as a blessing in disguise.  Last year, I did most of my prep for Wildflower on my road bike.  This time around, I'm used to going up hill and going down some crazy descents on my TT bike.  I'm more comfortable and feel a lot faster on my race bike.  The hills this time seemed smaller and more manageable.  I feel I can power up and over them much better.  Like I said, blessing in disguise, although after May 1st, I'll have to pony up some money and buy a new road bike.  The other reason I feel so comfy on my race bike is the fit I got from TT bike fit export Joe Santos at Davis Wheelworks.  The guy works with some of the best triathletes and professional cyclists in the area.  He makes them really fast on their bikes, and from what I've noticed so far, I feel like a different rider on the same bike I've been riding for 2.5 years.  It's pretty cool!


Next on Monday was a swim.  We practiced some starts and finises at the bottom of the big boat launch.  It was nice to be in a wetsuit again.  I hadn't put one on since my last race of last year back in October.  Brian paddled alongside me in his kayak.  It felt like I was following the lead boat in a race.  I'm not THAT good a swimmer, but maybe someday I'll experience drafting off the lead boat in a real race like Kyle Leto!


Monday evening was my run workout around the 10k course.  Workout was miles 1, 3, 5&6 hard, with miles 2 and 4 cruising recovery (still decent pace).  My run split in the race last year was 34:52.  That evening I ran with my heavy trainers on, and took 2 of the 6 miles at an easier than race pace speed....and ran faster than my race split last year.  That means 2 things:  1.) I sucked last year...and 2.) I'm fit this year!


Tuesday was a series of mini-triathlons to get comfortable with transitions at real speed on the real course.  After doing this, I am now confident in my first and last little bits of each discipline.  It makes for less things to think about on race day.


The rest of this week and next week will be more sharpening of the knife and focusing on feeling good going into the weekend.  I'm excited to get my official race season started.  This race has been the star on my calendar for a while.  I'm ready to roll!


(Shameless plug (I know, I'm a dork) - follow me on twitter @bauer_andrew for more day-to-day training updates)


Thanks for reading.