Put away the Accellerade and Cytomax. GU and Clif Shots are not on the menu for a long time to come. Wildflower 2009 is officially over, and what a tremendous year it turned out to be. After a fragmented showing in 2008, Team WK? came back stronger than ever, and had its grandest representation yet. It was exciting to have so many people in camp this year, energy levels were high and the support was incredibly uplifting. We had a year of a few milestones. Two of us tackled the Long course on Saturday, and we also had some first timers race the Olympic distance on Sunday. I think everyone would agree that it was a wonderful experience and I am thankful that we have such a strong crew of competitors to both train and share the excitement of competition withNow for the weekend recap!
First off I should say that I don’t think tapering is easy to do. On paper it seems like cutting back on volume and resting a lot should be awesome. But as many of you know, it only allows you to think about the race, worry about gaining a bunch of weight and question your fitness levels. In addition to this I now have to add: keeping my body out of dangerous situations. To begin with, during my final week of tapering, I stubbed my toe on a shopping cart wheel?!?! WTF?!?! I hit the thing, looked down and all I saw was a bloody toe! Then a couple of days later Kathy asks me to open a jar of artichoke hearts. Stubborn jar wouldn’t open so I give it one final huge twist and I feel a muscle in my shoulder blade pinch and knot-up!?!?! WTF??!?!? What is happening! Then two days before we are ready to leave, I am walking into our kitchen and I step on the jagged edge of an aluminum foil box!?!?! I look down and see blood dripping out of my foot…….WTF!?!??! That was it, I was done. I sat on the couch with a blank look on my face and fell into a 20 min total depression. It eventually passed, and I laughed it off, but just a reminder that all that training can be wasted on an ill advised trip to Whole Foods, or an obscene sized jar of artichoke hearts from Costco. Thankfully all that drama translated into a good race for me. The Long Course ended up being much more difficult than I expected and I was more than thrilled to just finish upright (6:27). Just so happens that my finishing time this year is also a personal best for me at that distance by a whole minute, so even better.
Shannon came into this weekend with a taper strategy I will call the Euro-shutdown. Basically he trained hard but then didn’t do anything for 2 weeks while he visited his girl in Europe, dined on Hungarian stews, wore turtlenecks, grew a moustache, smoked cigarettes, sipped double espressos and took horse drawn carriages to the opera. He’s all about trying new things, so this race technique was right up his alley. One thing that he didn’t change was his pre-race mystic “alone time”. This is where he disappears into the shadows to center himself, focus, and connect with the universe. I think this year he was surrounded by a family of deer, a couple of squirrels and a jackrabbit. He must have drawn a lot of power from his woodland friends because he ended up having a great race. The Wildflower Long Course is ridiculously hard, and he finished with a very respectable time (6:19).
Matt is our founding father and tribe elder. You can count on a couple of things every year with Matt: 1. He will be at the race and 2. His fitness level can be anywhere from awesome, to just OK. The last few years he has had an interesting strategy of combining snowboarding, volleyball and soccer as his main training vehicles. He didn’t have his fastest race this year (3:07:31), and if you talk to him about it he will blame this on a couple of things: 1. He started a new job this year so it was difficult adjusting to a new schedule and 2. He only got to snowboard once this season. Obviously factor #2 played the largest part in his time falling short of expectations, let’s hope he gets to spend more time at Squaw Valley before next years race.
Brian S was one of the new guys this year and racing for the first time. We didn’t really know what to expect out of him as he wasn’t able to train with us either. I think the odds makers were putting him somewhere just over 3 hours as a finishing time as that would seem pretty reasonable for what we thought his fitness level and relative inexperience would give him. He showed up to camp very low-key and subdued, asking questions, getting some pointers and overall seeming very relaxed. I thought his approach was quite sound, as he didn’t really know many people in the group and was trying to integrate himself and figure out how it all worked. But obviously a confident storm was brewing internally because he unleashed a beat down on the Olympic distance course! Besides Rick D and Chad he was the only racer to break 3 hours this year (2:56:10). I think we all are impressed with his performance and can’t wait to see what he can do next time. Good job Brian and welcome aboard.
Speaking of Chad, I’m sorry, but I would once again like everyone to recognize the deplorable accommodations that he must suffer through every year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that was only a 42” external LCD Flat screen that we had to watch the Pay-per-view fight on…..absolutely pitiful, I could hardly see anything! And how could he ever get a good night’s rest inside that bus….with satellite TV and a fully stocked kitchen, who has time to sleep? All kidding aside, thanks again from everyone, to Chad and his Father for hosting Fight Night. It was a real treat having that made available to all of us, and I know everyone enjoyed the distraction. Also congrats to Chad on a great race (2:39:05), it wasn’t his best time but it is still a very impressive showing and worthy of recognition.
I hope you all had a chance to meet Charlie. Charlie has been a friend of mine for some 7 years or so and I think I have tried to convince him to do Wildflower almost every one of those years. Well as everyone knows, he finally has a finishing time by his name….and what a time it was (4:08:43). Four hours on the course with a smile on his face and conversations, with I’m sure, everyone nearby. Charles is such a good sort that it’s impossible for him not to engage those around him and draw them into his world of fun. I only wish I could have been on course with him for a while to experience it all. I hope Charlie continues to race, as he and his guitar will always be welcome in our camp. Next time though, no cell phone calls during T1 or billowy yellow running skirts!
Time to talk about our Benchmark, our First Knight, our Gunslinger, our Pacquiao! Rick D. Once again he brings his A game to Lake San Antonio and challenges all others to take what is rightfully his and what he works so hard for. This year was no exception as he finished in an amazing: 4th place??? 46th overall??? Wait a sec, is that it? Come on Deckert, what are you waiting for already. We’re getting kind of bored with this top 5 crap. We want to be able to say that we have a champion in our camp and for some reason we put all of our hope in you. Useless Miss! Just kidding buddy boy…..you will always be our man and we’ll carry the belts for you even if they say 5th place. Regardless of his finishing place, Rick’s consistent high level of achievement and work ethic provides the rest of us with something to reach for and I know that I would never have achieved what I have already in this sport without his help and encouragement. Thanks brother, we always owe a lot to you.
Next I would like to address what I am going to refer to as “The Splinter Group”. In case some of you didn’t realize, one of our longtime compatriots was brazenly attempting to branch off, leave the group and start his OWN GROUP! The only thing stopping a successful coup was his relative inexperience with providing sound triathlon advice and structured training plans to novice members. But this didn’t stop him from trying. During the year, he scheduled his own group rides (same route but different start time??….hmmmm?!?! interesting…), he scheduled open water swim clinics (only select people invited?!!?! What is this??!!?), and he even managed to transport his new “team” in a private team shuttle to the Lake (Excuse me?!?!.....as if we wouldn’t notice!!?!?). Unfortunately for him, the cord could not be completely severed as he was able to only partially isolate his loyal followers and was forced to stay somewhat close to his old team’s camp. He couldn’t remember how to put on the race numbers, which leg the timing chip went on or how many gels to tape to his bike, so he begrudgingly camped his “team” a few yards away so he could quietly creep over to the old camp to determine proper race number positioning. By now you all know I am talking about Steve, his first lieutenant Mike Fulkerson and sergeant at arms Dan G. All joking aside, I was actually very impressed with Steve this year. He was calm, relaxed, and focused. I think the sheparding of some first time racers helped him tremendously as his triathlon journey continues down some new paths. He didn’t have his best time this year (3:01:56), but I think he will agree that it was one of his best years.
Mike Fulkerson and Dan G (Steve’s protégé’s) were another couple of first time Olympic distance racers who tackled the tough course eagerly. Dan in particular seemed quite relaxed and confident. Perhaps maybe a little too confident? He ended up having an awesome swim split (26:50), great bike split (1:30:39), but admittedly crumbled a bit on the run (1:04:05) (total time 3:08:02). This race is such a tremendous learning experience and I know Dan will be back to use all his newly found knowledge to dominate this course next year. He has the attitude and power, but unfortunately for him he also had the heat cramps. Still a very good first race for Dan, and I know we will be seeing him again.
Mike Fulkerson had a very similar race to Dan, just backwards (hmmmm…..could these similar results have anything to do with suspect coaching?!?!). Mike had an admittedly tough swim (33:37), a great bike split (1:29:53), but a blazing 10k! (55:02) (total time 3:04:09). Mike started shaky, but finished strong….congrats on a good race. He is another racer who has potential to do really good on this course with some experience under his belt, and I think we all look forward to see what he can do in the years to come.
In my opinion B Hirai is the top story of this year’s trip. Training up in No Cal, in relative isolation from the rest of the group, we normally are forced to hear how he is doing from sporadic email correspondence or from the sprinkling of visits he makes back to the South Bay. This year was no exception, so when he showed up at camp none of us really knew how he would do. Sunday morning his face looked tense and showed pure concentration. As the morning moved along, Shannon and I noticed that he was rubbing his neck a lot. After a little sleuthing, we uncovered that he had pinched a muscle in his neck during a controversial and somewhat risky, pre-race face washing maneuver. You can imagine how flabbergasted and dumbfounded we were to hear that he would attempt something so dangerous and unheard of on race day. His concern was evident and he made his way down to the race early to have someone work on it for him. We didn’t really see him again until the race was underway…..but when we did, it seemed that his clean face and stiff neck were the key elements to vault him to a personal best!! He passed Shannon and Debbie after the swim on his way out onto the bike course screaming “I don’t know what’s happening…..but I’m on FIRE!!” B crossed the finish line with the trademark smile on his face and a PB (3:08:04), taking an astounding 13 minutes off of his 2007 time! A huge congratulations goes out to B for an outstanding race this year.
Guess who’s back!! That’s right, you all saw him, it wasn’t a mirage, illusion or hoax. That was our team captain, morale leader, mascot, and namesake......MIKE KANTOR. After a one year sabbatical during which he explored portions of the South Bay few dare to venture into, ate bizarre processed foods, traveled extensively by beach cruiser, and invested countless hours to become a true Guitar Hero…. The Prodigal Son returns!! I think I speak for everyone when I say that it is so nice to have you back buddy. Things are just so much better when Kantor is around. The camp is livelier, the mood is upbeat, food tastes better, and the sun always seems to be shining. What I’ve come to realize is that you don’t really ask Mike if he is back to stay…..because he never really leaves. He might race next year, he might not. He may show up 2 years down the road or it could be 3…..but he will show, no doubt in my mind. He’s like Sasquatch, the Lochness monster, or the LA Clippers…just when you don’t think they’re going to show and you’ve given up all hope….they are there, in full glory ready to go. He is our own living myth, a story to tell your kids at night: “If you eat all your broccoli and brush your teeth, Kantor will show up at Wildflower”. His time this year you ask?….not important. He was there, I saw him, that’s all that really matters.
Last but not least, a quick shout out to Bubba. He didn’t camp with us but I saw him coming down the finishing chute. He had a smile on his face and ended with a great first race time (3:10:01). Let’s hope he comes back again next year to challenge himself on the hills around Lake San Antonio.
Thanks again to everyone for such a great year at Wildflower. Let’s not forget that we couldn’t do it without all the support of our family and loved ones. Kathy, Jules, Taylor, Debbie, Katy, Lauren, Don, Jude and Chad’s Father, it was so nice having you all up there and believe me, it makes a difference seeing your faces and hearing you cheer during the race. I am so pleased that our group is growing and I am hoping that we can have even more competitors next year. Training and racing is best when it is shared and experienced with friends, and I am forever thankful to have you all around to enjoy it with. Have a great summer……that’s a wrap.
Laurence
Manager-Team WK?
