So this week my training suffered a bit, but I decided to hit the road and test out the Wildflower course with my boyfriend and our friend Eric. This meant a weekend in SAN LUIS OBISPO! I haven't visited SLO for quite sometime since I don't have a Cal Poly couch at my disposal (my sister graduated 2 years after me). Poly has changed drastically since I graduated: there are commercial retailers, twice as many bars, bars I wouldn't even have risked vomitting in have been remodeled, and the college campus looks all shined up fancy and new. However, most of SLO remains the same. Firestones is still mouthwateringly good, bubble gum alley is still disgusting, I can always find tank tops and dress shirts at Lucky Lulu's, High St. deli still makes my sandwich the way I like it, and all the ugliest buildings on campus still stand (yes, the rat maze and library of concrete have not been renovated, these buildings would make anyone wonder why Poly is one of the top Architecture schools in the nation). However, I didn't just come here to relive my college days, but with a mission of seeing what I've gotten myself into by signing up for this race.
I did volunteer for Wildflower as a student, but as a volunteer you don't really see the full picture of the course so this weekend I not only saw, but experienced it. We headed out around 9a.m. to ride, run and swim? the course. Well we didn't have the drive to swim the course with the wind chill in the air, but we got ourselves together and headed out on the road. Once the guys finished making fun of my tank of a bike I was off. The crosswind made the out and back fairly painful, but the hills weren't nearly as tough as I expected. Certainly Lynch Hill out of the transition area was long and slow, but I managed to get up to 17 or 18mph while on the gradual inclines. Unfortunately, I missed the turnaround so I added a few miles, but I'm sure it will help me more than hurt me. After the long decent back into the training area I felt relieved that all the fear people had instilled in me wasn't as bad as I imagined in my head.
Now the run is a different story! I was told tales of the endless hills and how you can probably fry an egg on people's foreheads in the heat, but I needed to test out the course for myself. Miles 1 and 2 started out pretty well, a lot of rolling hills with a few steep sections, but nothing too miserable, but come about mile 2.5 the long slow stretches of hills begin. Mile number 3 was a killer slowly winding up, feeling like it never ends, but then I made it! Mile 4 meant more rollers and I feared that there was much more in store for me. I was huffing and puffing through the end of mile 4, but then...SALVATION! The downhill began! The last mile and a half is downhill so it was home free at the end.
After the run I needed a nap, but I felt accomplished that we made it through the course and breathed a sigh of relief that it was time to Party or at least eat all the awesome food in SLO. So now I need to work on mental preparation now that I'm well aware of what pain I'll be putting myself through in 3 weeks. So 3 weeks left and here I go!
I did volunteer for Wildflower as a student, but as a volunteer you don't really see the full picture of the course so this weekend I not only saw, but experienced it. We headed out around 9a.m. to ride, run and swim? the course. Well we didn't have the drive to swim the course with the wind chill in the air, but we got ourselves together and headed out on the road. Once the guys finished making fun of my tank of a bike I was off. The crosswind made the out and back fairly painful, but the hills weren't nearly as tough as I expected. Certainly Lynch Hill out of the transition area was long and slow, but I managed to get up to 17 or 18mph while on the gradual inclines. Unfortunately, I missed the turnaround so I added a few miles, but I'm sure it will help me more than hurt me. After the long decent back into the training area I felt relieved that all the fear people had instilled in me wasn't as bad as I imagined in my head.
Now the run is a different story! I was told tales of the endless hills and how you can probably fry an egg on people's foreheads in the heat, but I needed to test out the course for myself. Miles 1 and 2 started out pretty well, a lot of rolling hills with a few steep sections, but nothing too miserable, but come about mile 2.5 the long slow stretches of hills begin. Mile number 3 was a killer slowly winding up, feeling like it never ends, but then I made it! Mile 4 meant more rollers and I feared that there was much more in store for me. I was huffing and puffing through the end of mile 4, but then...SALVATION! The downhill began! The last mile and a half is downhill so it was home free at the end.
After the run I needed a nap, but I felt accomplished that we made it through the course and breathed a sigh of relief that it was time to Party or at least eat all the awesome food in SLO. So now I need to work on mental preparation now that I'm well aware of what pain I'll be putting myself through in 3 weeks. So 3 weeks left and here I go!
