Each year, our triathlon Club, Golden Gate Triathlon Club, heads down to Lake San Antonio outside of Paso Robles, California, for a weekend of training on the Wildflower course. It's always a crazy weekend full of friends, laughter and lively conversation, and this year proved to be no exception.
We arrived late Friday afternoon and settled into our "cabin" for the weekend - Cabin 1. The cabins are trailer homes, which serve their purpose for the weekend and actually aren't too bad. The sleeping accommodations are always interesting. For example, our room had two double beds in it, which meant two people were to sleep in each bed, which can prove interesting when you go down on your own! There were 11 of us assigned to Cabin 1, including a good friend and sorority sister, Susie, who I was excited to catch up with, as we hadn't seen one another in quite a while. Also staying in Cabin 1 was a woman who I had only met over email who is also doing Ironman France this summer. 
As the afternoon progressed, our cabin mates began to arrive and most set out for short runs prior to our cabin dinner. I set out for a 30 minute run and found myself laughing out loud when I noticed one of the houseboats on the lake was a trailer literally mounted on a floating base. Nice and trashy. Just what you expect down on the lake. 
I always enjoy the Friday night dinner, as you get to catch up with old friends and meet new people. One of our cabin mates was someone I had heard about for years, but had not yet had the pleasure to meet. I was kicking myself as I had forgotten to pack the perfect board game for the weekend - 25 Words or Less - so we ended up making our own version, which served as a great icebreaker after our group dinner. It was a fun way to send the evening. 
While WFTW ("Wildflower Training Weekend") is a fun, social weekend, there is also work to be done, so people headed off to bed at a relatively decent hour, as our training the following day consisted of an 8 am swim workout, followed by a 56 mile bike ride, and then a post bike transition run. I went to sleep, thinking about Nasty Grade (the infamous hill of the Wildflower Long Course), wondering if I would find it to be as nasty as I have in the past. 
I wasn't sure I should be doing the entire long course bike ride, with a race the following weekend, so I decided to do the distance, but not go crazy. I was frustrated with my time, as it took me 3:50 to ride the course, where I typically do 56 miles in about 3:30. Bummer. But, it was a beautiful, sunny day, so I enjoyed being outdoors and procured my first sun burn of the year. (Nasty grade proved to be less nasty than in the past, but it sure is long!) 
Saturday evening's festivities included the annual coaches transition challenge (always entertaining), consisting of a brief run, the required pounding of a beer in T1, taking off on the bike, returning for T2 (and maybe pounding another beer?) and then running in. While Jan didn't flip his bike this year, it was still funny as for a brief moment it appeared that Ed might follow in Jan's footsteps. 
Our club enjoyed a group outdoor BBQ that evening and everyone headed off to their respective cabins or off with friends to enjoy the evening. Brian, a veteran WFTWer explained that it's tradition to play "The Bag Game." We didn't know what the bag game was, so Brian educated our cabin. The bag game consists of placing a typical grocery bag on the floor. Participants must pick up said bag with their teeth, without using their hands and may only have one foot on the floor while doing so. Those who prevailed without touching the floor with their hands moved on to the next round. Between each round an inch or two of the bag was torn off the top of the bag. It was a HILARIOUS competition. 
I managed to make it until the fourth round, when I face planted and took home the prize of carpet-burned knees. Chris and my sorority sister Susie battled it out for the championship, with Susie taking the title. The bag was about an inch tall for the finals. Those of us spectating were dying of laughter. 
Sunday morning Chris and I decided to forgo the insanity of the Wildflower run course and headed home to do our run on a flat surface, since I had my first half Ironman of the season the following weekend.
I always love Wildflower Training Weekend, as it allows an opportunity to meet new people and catch up with old friends. This year was no exception.
7 comments:
sorry i missed the training weekend this year, but did spend the weekend in santa cruz with the girl I was rushing to meet there last year. :) Even managed a 10 top in the crit I raced in on sunday.
correction. Was the weekend after where I did the santa cruz thing. No training weekend because my race team was putting on an omnium race.
Anthony... congrats on the top ten! That's awesome! And, I am so happy you are happy! : )
I'm glad your weekend was as much fun as you'd hoped for and that you and Chris were there together. It's great you got to see Alex and Annie---I think they would make a wonderful cheering section!shompo
I have videos of Coach Neil and other members playing the bag game at Cabin 11. There was a tie and they had to go back outside to "shotgun" a beer to see who was the overall winner. There was only a tie between two people but there were 6 doing the shotgun?! It was that kind of night. Unfortunately I can't post any of the videos and left out the photos from my public set. Too incriminating for some folks:)
P.S. I too learned it from Brian one year and passed it along to Cabin 11 this year.
Rick,
Brian was very upset that the bag game had not continued in his two year absence... I am glad he brought it back! : )
We had a lot of fun.
Jim laughed when he came into our cabin as he said he had come from another cabin that was playing the same game. Too funny.
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