Xterra National Championshps: Playing in the Snow!

Xterra is gnarly. From scorching heat and choking humidity in summer championships races and now to snow and freezing temps for Nationals.... gotta love it!


Last night from the front deck of the condo:


this morning from the front deck of the condo:


Well it's the day before the race and as you can probably guess from the title it snowed last night. It was just a dusting, but c'mon, snow. I am not a cold weather triathlete. I love the snow and the cold when I am going snowboarding or staying inside having some drinks by the fire, but not when I have to swim, bike, and run.

I am not stressing out about it. It is what it is. I am still going to go out, go hard, and see what happens... just with a little more gear on than usual. I am contemplating what I am going to wear tomorrow morning. The air temperature at the start should be just below 40 and the water temp is a steamy 58. So gear choice will be very important.

as if there was any doubt...


This morning was a couple race prep workouts. I was planning on a swim but bagged that idea when I checked the temp and it was only 28 degrees. So instead at about 830 I rolled out on my bike and watched the start of the Xterra Sport race and then got in a 40 min ride with a couple of race pace efforts then just some easy spinning. After the ride I changed into some warm run clothes and headed out with Tom and Cody for a quick 15 minute run with some accelerations to race pace on the way back to the condo. Feeling good.

post bike... still some snow on the deck:


post run:


Here's some more photos and video. My next post will be a full race report and I probably won't get that up until sometime Monday or Tuesday...

post ride/run breakkie:


yeah... that's snow:


From the start of the sport race. You can see the snow up on the mountain. I'll be up there tomorrow:


Cody and Tom headed up on the trail this morning to find this:


and this: