Physical Pain for God's Glory

Back at the ICTN Camp, Executive Director of Fellowship of Christian Athletes Team Endurance, Chris Anderson, asked if I would consider racing for Team FCA-Endurance at this year's Wildflower Triathlon. Having already become a member of FCA it was easy for me to say, "yes" based on my support of Fellow Christian Athletes but also to be a part of a classic race with several friends who share the same passion of triathlon and the God we serve.

I've always wanted to race Wildflower. It's an iconic race in the sport and one that is a must for any serious triathlete. Known for it's festival atmosphere and difficulty, the race lived up to its reputation. So, with that let me give you the blow by blow race report like I've been posting over at my alternate race blog that you can see by clicking HERE.

(By the way; the picture was taken by Mitch Thrower of Triathlete Magazine taken at Wildflower and I thought was incredibly cool!)

PreRace:

Not having raced since October of 2006, I had to really think through all my race preparation such as nutrition, equipment and clothing. All of this is packed and prepared before leaving home because if anything is forgotten it requires an expensive makeup at the race venue. However, this race required something new in the pre-race planning: Camping! No hotel rooms and restaurants at Wildflower. So, we had to pull out our camping gear down and sift through it for race venue accommodations. This also meant getting all of my meals prepared ahead and in the ice chest.

Thursday I was finally able to leave about 3:30 in the afternoon for the two and a half hour drive south to Lake San Antonio.

Upon arrival I started driving toward the predesignated camp area for the Team Endurance participants. Quickly, I noticed Chris Anderson walking toward the camp as Troy Soares drove up looking for Chris who was out on a run. After a quick hello and directions I located camp, greeted Robin Soares who was tending dinner with their adorable daughter Anna and quickly set up camp and joined the Soares for dinner with my Trader Joe's salad, then said goodnight to everyone and crawled into my "sac" with a book and distant crickets serenading me to sleep.

Friday: Started with meeting more folks joining us including fellow teammate and up and coming elite/pro Ben Greenfield. This guy is going to be a contender! Look for him. Also joined by Ben's coached athlete Trevor, the three of us headed off for a swim. Walking down I noticed Chris Lieto's Base Nutrition set up and stopped in to say hi and he gave me a cup of much needed Peet's Coffee! The swim was comfortable and encouraging as it's been awhile since having been in open water. We later joined Troy for a ride and easy run along most of the ridable run course (which isn't much). The rest of the afternoon was spent registering, hanging out at the FCA-Endurance booth in the expo area. A fun thing that happened here was during the Challenged Athletes Foundation presentation I overheard over the loud speakers a name that grabbed my attention and ran to the stage. Scout Bassett, who I met at Southwest Community Church when her family attended there, was going to be racing on Sunday. It was nice to see her and encourage her as we talked back then about triathlon and her desire to be like her hero Sarah Reinertson. What a joy it was to see them together and her racing at Wildflower!

A wonderful benefit to racing a TRI-California race is race director Terry Davis' willingness to join with FCA because of his own faith in Christ. This allowed us to have an IronPrayer service not off in a distant location but at the finish line bleachers while having our prayer service conducted over the expo sound system! I was the featured speaker and was able to use this time to encourage our fellow Christian competitors to be bold in their faith and race knowing they represent a God who will help them succeed but to remember the witness they have for the gift they possess in Christ. We then broke into prayer groups to pray about our races and those we'll meet during the weekend. Coach Brian and his wife Jill were at the service and this gave us a chance to catch up and talk through race strategy. The rest of the night was just spent hanging out at camp and early to bed for the next day of pain... bike, wetsuit, nutrition, clothing, transition amenities... all ready!

RaceDay:

Slept well! I put on no pressure to perform since this was a primer or tune up for not having raced in a while. Since my wave wasn't schedule to go off until 9am I was able to wake up before 6 and eat something... rule is morning of race day not to eat within three hours of racing. TMI to explain now. We showed up to set up for transition by riding down the steep hill to the lake. I had a lot of wait time on my hands so I pulled out my iPod and cranked Leeland while I sat along the transition fencing. Soon I saw Chris walk by and we chatted and prayed together, then Troy walked up and we prayed for him too as he's been nursing a foot injury. As time progressed I got a quick 5 min run in, walked through my transition gear one more time, donned wetsuit and headed down the ramp. With only the time to get a dip in the water before the horn there would be no real swim warm up. But my heart rate was reading low which told me I was calm and ready.

Swim. Horn goes off and so do I. The first buoy to sight quickly faded as the sun was playing havoc with my goggles. After making the turn by feel I started on the long out before being completely frustrated with my goggles. I could not see! I pulled up and cleared my goggles and to my amazement... Things became clear and I realized how badly this was crippling me. After making it around the turn I began to swim through a lot of pink caps and several blue. This was the slower folks from the prior wave and the swimmers in mine that went out too hard at the start. But my goggles were doing their thing again and soon I was having to pull up again to clear them. Doing this I noticed I was way to the right, thinking I need to stay close to the buoys, but most everyone else was cutting the corner to the ramp. I immediately corrected course and headed in. Running up the ramp I noticed a 32:something and felt good about swim overall.

Bike. Okay... this is one tough course. My goal was to go easy up the hills and "fly" down the hills and on the flats. This strategy was working by about mile 10 when a guy who I was passing on the downhills and was overtaking me on the hills looked back on a pass and said, "I hope you're not a thorn in my side all day." I told him I hoped not to be one too and said, "I'm here to encourage you." We traded places all the way to "Nasty Grade" when I next saw him coming up mile 11 on the run as I was going down mile 10... Overall I was able to keep coach's instructions of riding 10 beats below AeT (aerobic threshold). Anytime I felt the legs pushing too hard I pulled back. Nasty Grade lived up to it's reputation not because it was far too steep but because it seemed to be too far. Overall, this is one beautiful bike course and challenging. But as I have no idea what my bike split was; I imagine it was a strong but conservative effort. Coming at the top of the decent into transition I had the wits about me to pop out of my shoes knowing I wasn't going to be peddling down the decent. So coming off the bike I expected a lot of discomfort due to the work in aero position but I popped right up and just started running past guys in T2. I felt great.

Run. T2 I planned ahead to just take my time and rehydrate and fuel. I chose to tie my shoes as opposed to using speed laces or lace locks because I had heard of the severe up and down on the run. This meant really cinching up all the laces to snug fit my shoe around my foot so my toes wouldn't be bouncing off the front of the shoe. This was a good decision because from the beginning the road/trails were either up or down not until after mile six was there truly a flat section.  I saw Troy after the first mile who was pushing along on his tender foot but with a smile. I quickly prayed for his strength and joy as I passed by, I would later be getting the return enthusiasm and prayerful support at the top of mile 11 hill! Thanks Troy! The run, done on mostly trails was hot, dusty and speckled every mile with incredibly enthusiastic aid stations. I could tell the steep up and downs were starting to take there toll. I had however, prepared with proper hydration and constant use of Electrolytes so I experience no cramping! But I remember everyone telling me about a hill you'll walk. I thought it was mile eleven that folks kept talking about BUT there was this hill at mile 5 or so that just kicked my butt! I want you all to know... I ran the whole thing (although some would argue it looked more like baby steps in quick succession)! The interesting thing about Wildflower is the run never seems to stop going up into the sky. By mile 71/2 you reach the highest part of the run but your climbing hasn't stopped. That last decent to make up all that climbing was as nearly brutal on the legs as all that uphill! But what a joy to see the finish line. Crossing it I looked down to a 5:17:08 (I only know this because it's when I stopped my watch!).

Overall I really enjoyed the race, the expo and the challenge of a brutal course. But being there with my FCA friends was a blessing and made the weekend even more enjoyable. Thanks to Robin for being a one woman support out on the course! Chris, I appreciate your encouragement and constant reminder of why we race. Brian... thanks for getting me ready. I can't believe after all this time off to have had such as wonderful day.

On a separate note. After the race I was overjoyed to be walking to the FCA booth when I hear my name yelled out and look up to see Courtney Cardenas standing in line to get a waffle cone. He said Jamie was at the booth! It was good to see her all bubbly and walking around on her cane; a custom made walking stick that declares, "Powered by God and Cancer Sucks." Today is Jamies 32nd birthday so Courtney threw a surprise party for her last night and it was great to just hang out and tell stories and encourage Jamie. There it was great to see Kirk Nelson another FCA-E pro triathlete who took 10th place overall on the day and several other folks who came to enjoy the casual evening with our friend Jamie Whitmore; Xterra triathlete extraordinaire!

DivPlc       Div         Swim          T1             Bike             T2          Run            Overall        OvrPlc

13         M45-49    00:32:46    00:03:07    02:46:55    00:02:20    01:51:47   05:16:47       176

Comments

[bobby]

Congratulations! That was awesome dude. Thanks for sharing.

And we'll have to do lunch again some time soon so you can let me know what the heck I am doing! Maybe share some of that TMI for the blog info.

I signed up for a sprint in July and an Olympic in September with Tri-California at Pacific Grove. Enjoying hearing about your journey!

[mereimage]

Bobby, next time I fly to your neck of the woods. I could use an afternoon at the beach!

[Mark Hyde]

You rock Dan!! So great to have my pastor back in the race. Is it okay to say I'm you're number one race fan? Can't wait to see to you and Joy next weekend. Put Scottie to work this weekend. Your church will be blessed.