Wildflower Race Report
It has been a couple years since I have raced Wildflower and I was excited to be there this year. The last few years I have had an injury and was unable to race. This year my training is going well and I am healthy. I have been putting in some good base training to gear up for the year and for Kona. Wildflower in my eyes is always the start of the racing year. It is always a wake up call and a gage to see how training is going. At this point I am very happy with my performance considering the time of year and training I have been doing.
I had a less than expected swim getting gapped on the swim half way through. I got stuck behind someone that lost the front group and I was unable to bridge across on my own. It is my own fault for not positioning myself closer to the front. I ended up losing about 1 minute to the leaders at the start of the bike.
I was looking forward to getting on the course but I had a hard time getting out of my mind the fact that I had a slow swim. I settled into my pace soon and caught some of the leaders. I caught up to Chris McCormack by mile 10 or so and was just trying to focus on a smooth rhythm on my bike that would last the whole 56 miles. I could see Terenzo and Bjorn up the rode and new that I would slowly bring them in. I wanted to stay steady and not serge to catch them and then slow up later. I caught Terenzo by mile 20 or so and kept Bjorn in site about 1 minute up the rode for the rest of the ride. As we got close to the big climb I had to keep reminding myself that this race was not about having a fast bike time or getting a bike preme or be first off the bike. It was about trying to win the race for me so pacing was the important piece for the ride. I remembered from past years that the last 10 miles of the ride is very important and you can lose or gain time during that point. I finished strong and ended up having the fastest bike ride of the day and set another course record riding 2:14:00 for the 56 mile hilly loop. It was not my objective but I am always happy to have a great performance. I would trade it for the overall win though any day.
I started the run about 1 minute behind Bjorn and was feeling good as I climbed the stairs out of transition. I got in a good rhythm on the run and was running past mile 3 and passed Bjorn and found out that at transition I was 5 minutes up on Macca. I was excited and had the feeling that I could win this race. That was my first mistake and learned once again to not take anything for granted and nothing is in the bag. Run hard from the beginning and stay strong. From mile 4-8 Macca and Eneko Llanos gained 3 minutes on me. This was the hardest section of the run I feel with huge climbs and descents that can take everything out of your legs. I probably took these too cautiously and paid for it with losing time, and it still took a lot out of my quads. At mile 10 Macca, Eneko, and myself were within 5 seconds of each other and we turned to head up the climb for the next 2 miles until the final 1 mile descent. I tried to hang as close as I could, but my legs where done from the ride and running the previous hills. It takes a special and experienced runner to handle those hills the way those two do as well as Chris Legh. They are some of the best runners in the sport by far.
I ended up finishing 3rd for the day with a time of 4:03 with what I believe was one of the toughest fields they have had at Wildflower and probably one of the toughest fields you will see at any Half Ironman all year. I am proud of my finish and know there is a lot of room for improvement.
Thanks to all of you for your amazing support!
Chris Lieto
