I think my endorphins got the better of me because after taking a day off (probably to digest all that food I ate on the bike!), I jumped right back into training. Early the following week, I hopped on a red eye to Tampa, took a two-hour nap on arrival and knocked out a 4.5 hour brick.

At this point, I started to get some serious warning signs -- increased sleep, lingering muscle tightness and an inability to elevate my HR (didn't check my mojo). Fortunately, I had signed myself up for the USA Triathlon Coaching Clinic. The clinic is excellent and I would recommend it to any serious athlete or aspiring coach. Three days of listening to the dangers of overtraining combined with two "failed" sessions led me to the conclusion that it was time to back off.

At the back of my mind, there was another reason. My original plan had been to train straight through Wildflower. There was only one hitch, for each lousy session I was having, another tri-stud signed up to race the long course. Names such as Reid, Zack, Widoff, McCormack, Walton and Tobin were liberally sprinkled in the pre-race press reports I was reading. If I didn't pull myself together it might be embarrassing.

Drastic action was required, so I resorted to what worked for Kona 2000. I stopped training. Well, I didn't stop completely. I stepped it down to less than an hour a day and that is virtually nothing when you are used to 20+ hours a week. I ate huge amounts of fruit and slept 10-12 hours a day. I slept and slept and slept. I was really amazed at my capacity to sleep. Even when I arrived at the race site, I was still sleeping long hours.

The little triathlete in me did manage one solid session on the Monday before the race. A 2.5 hour ride with a total of 30 minutes of flat TT intervals. I just couldn't face a week of totally nothing and wanted to limit the damage to my bike leg. Have a look at my race splits and you'll see that it might have hurt as much as it helped. We'll never know.

If you have never had the opportunity to race Wildflower, I strongly recommend it. Sure, it is WAY too early in the season to be going long (don't even get me started on IM Cali), but it is called a Triathlon Festival for good reason. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are more hard bodies around then on Ali'i Drive during Kona race week. Plus the fun loving Cal Poly students make a great contrast to the triathletes.

Have you ever noticed that the average Olympic Distance age-grouper seems to enjoy the pre-race festivities a lot more than the long course folks? As for the Ironman athletes, we are painfully easy to spot. A little too fit, a little too focused, an apple in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Perhaps we know just how ugly it can get when things go wrong. Anyhow, it was fun to talk with people that think that "a race is training".

On Thursday, I was still feeling the effects of the Double Dudley Ride (with a Twin Palomar variation) and was grateful to get a massage from a cyberbuddy who was in from Tucson. As fate would have it, Peter Reid was getting a massage just before me and I had my chance to meet the other half of Triathlon's Dynamic Duo. I'd met Peter just before IM Canada 1999, but I don't think it really counts when a guy is signing you a Powerbar poster as fast as his hands can go.

This time was a lot more relaxed and we were able to talk about a wide range of topics from Ironman course changes to Ironman training (well that's a wide range for me!). Peter gave me some insights into how he approaches IM racing and that's spurred some ideas for adjusting my IM Canada preparations. A short summary would be... "if you want to go fast, then you need to go fast". In other words, short course racing is useful for the long course athlete. Please don't tell my competition! ;-)

It was also interesting to see a champion athlete a few days before an event. Whenever I have seen Peter before it has been very close to a race in a large group of people. Personally, I can't think of a more stressful situation. I certainly know that I tend to become more and more internal before a big race. I sense that Peter approaches every session, every race and every day trying to get the absolute maximum benefit to his career. For me, that is true professionalism -- focused, not quiet.

My Friday highlight would have to be the pro briefing. At 5PM we gathered in the VIP tent. It seemed very small and stuffy to me. The tent was packed with some serious athletic talent and I wondered what the hell I was doing here with all these hotshots.

Some dude with a beard sat down beside me and I did a double take when I realized it was Chuckie V. Chuck had been convinced to spend the winter in Boulder and I guess he needed the extra warmth the beard provided. Talking about sharks in San Francisco Bay (lots according to the man) and commiserating about Boulder's cost of living had an immediate and profoundly relaxing effect.

That is until they took roll call!

Part of me fully expected to get thrown out of the tent, and there was a moment's hesitation when Terry Davis came to my name. Turns out he wasn't sure how to pronounce it, but that was a pretty long pause for me. They let me stay for the briefing. Soon, it was time for the pro introductions.

I cannot tell a lie...

I bottled on the introductions -- it was just too nerve racking for me to face a crowd with the likes of Tinley, Welch and Zack. Confidence is normally not an issue for me, but I guess we all have our limits.

That experience gave me a new and deeper understanding of what the elites go through and reminds me of something that I have known for a while outside of triathlon. Have you ever noticed that "regular" quiet people are labeled as shy, but fast/beautiful/gifted quiet people are labeled as arrogant or stuck-up?

I didn't blow off the introductions, I was plain old scared! I'll do better next time. Something for my pre-race visualisations.

Friday night was the first time in a week that I didn't feel exhausted. On Saturday morning, I received my pre-race caffeine fix from two cans of Red Bull taken at 3AM. It can't be good for my blood sugar levels, but it does get me out of my sleeping bag without any difficulty. Besides, I like to try new things for my off-peak races.

I had a few problems with PowerGels at IMNZ, but the folks at the Expo were kind enough to set the pros up with as many as we needed. The Red Bull must have been kicking in because I made a strategic decision to start my bike with a Tangerine (double caffeine!). My NZ problems were really hydration related so I also loaded up my Camelbak with water. Newbies aren't the only ones who use them!

My #1 goal for the race was to avoid embarassing myself -- ideally with a mid pack pro finish around 4:30. Subsidiary goals were to beat Barb Lindquist out of the water (I received a five-minute head start) and go faster than the top woman's time (yes, I need to get past this).

Just before the race start, a freshly shaven Chuckie walked up, shook my hand and wished me luck with an ear to ear grin. Triathlon needs more people like Chuck.

One of the great things about racing pro at Wildflower is the position of the bike racks (very good). One of the tough things is that it is a wave start and the weaker pro swimmers (that would be me!) have less people to draft. My mind went like this...

G1 - If you take it out hard and get dropped, you might embarrass yourself.
G2 - If you take it out easy, you will get dropped and embarrass yourself.

G1 - Well, even if you don't get dropped, you might blow up later in the day and embarrass yourself.
G2 - Still, I'd rather blow up late than in front of all these athletes and spectators.

G1 - Okay, so we'll take it out hard and see what happens.
G2 - I'm not so sure.

G1 - Hey, those pro guys are lining up at the back.
G2 - Maybe they are crap just like me?!

G1 - Cool, I'll stand right beside that nervous looking dude.
G2 - Wish me luck!

Rule one, never, ever let your competitors see how trashed you feel. Peter hadn't eaten well for two days and none of us had any idea what was up. I imagine that my body language wasn't quite as confident.

As it turned out, my swim was great. I went out moderately hard and tucked in behind another guy after 200 meters or so -- drafting along at IM race pace, I said a prayer of thanks for triathletes that come from cycle racing backgrounds. That's about the time, my ride picked up the pace. Not a problem and I hung in as he dragged us up to the next group of guys. We finished in a pack of six -- just in front of Barb!

No surprise that Barb beat this IM athlete out of transition. One minute each on my transitions and the short course folks still kicked my butt!

Having survived the swim my confidence was high, but memories of going out too hard at IMNZ were fresh in my mind. I let Barb drop me on all the early hills. Some of the guys refused to yield and took it out hard in pursuit of the main bunch. Once we reached the flats I settled in passed Barb and started to reel in a few of the fishes.

My bike strategy was textbook -- easy for the first 15 miles, steady for the next 15 miles then work hard in the third 15 miles. The final 11 miles would have to take care of themselves.

The Wildflower bike course has an intimidating reputation and I think that is because most people start too fast. The real riding doesn't start until Mile 41 of the bike and many people's legs are gone by that stage. I really enjoyed the ride and we were blessed with a calm day. My average speed was low, but I was slowly moving through the pro group and that made me happy.

My hip flexors were starting to bug me and I was grateful to arrive at Nasty Grade (no joke!). I worked this climb hard and it was refreshing to see some big numbers on my heart rate monitor. I was BACK. Not exactly burning up the course, but pushing a reasonable gear. I knew that the women's leader was closing on me because I could hear the aid stations continue cheering after I passed.

I refused to look back because whenever someone looks back and I am gaining on them, I suck all the energy I can out of them. I say, "roadkill" to myself and mentally lock onto their back wheel. I really didn't want Barb (or anyone else) to return the favor. I must have managed to gap whoever was back there because the extended cheers died at the top of the hill. At the false summit, there was a guy warming up in an Energizer Bunny uniform and I am sure he gave a lot of athletes a smile later in the day.

I was having a lot of fun and working reasonably hard. I knew my bike split wouldn't be great, but it was reasonable.

Onto the run...

A friend had given me a piece of advice for the run. "Go out as hard as you can and then survive to the end. You'll be good for at least 10K and then you just gut it out to the line."

Curiosity got the better of me and decided to give his strategy a go.

The advice worked very well for three miles and I managed to pass a few guys. Then I arrived in the hills and started to suffer. My legs simply refused to climb. I kept running but knew that my splits were lagging. I could hear those extended aid station cheers again. I dug deep and, once again, they died down. It was still uni-directional roadkill!

Sure enough, around the 7-Mile mark, things got a little difficult but I managed to hang on. At Mile 10 I saw that I wasn't going to be catching anyone unless they had a spectacular blow up.

The last two miles could best be described as "extremely unpleasant". I managed to convince myself that running fast was the quickest way to end the suffering and I pushed hard all the way to the line. I was extremely thankful that there was no reason to sprint that final mile down Lynch Hill.

I crossed the line, shook a few hands and headed over to the transition area. Sure enough Chuck was there and we swapped a few words. He had a very solid day finishing fifth and is looking sharp for IM Cali in two weeks time.

As for me, I had a blast and know exactly what I need to do over the next three months. Race more and get back in bike shape.

See you at the races,

gordo

Unofficial Results - Swim 0:27:52; T1 0:01:02; Bike 2:38:08; T2 0:01:04; Run 1:28:12 = Total 4:36:18 -- Position (unofficial) 23rd out of 42 pro men