Monday 5.22.2006 - Xterra is tough!

I am beatdown right now. My legs, back, and shoulders are all sore. I am tired but couldn't sleep and I have to get to work early this morning for a meeting.

So here's the report from the weekend at the Xterra West Championships:

Friday:
I headed out of my house around 11am and got the campground around 12:30. I checked in and immediately headed down to the Xterra compound/race start. The bike and run courses were already marked so I walked around for a bit and then suited up for a pre-ride. I ended meeting a couple of people to ride with and one of them was Larry Oneil. He is a very accomplished Ultramaronther and has won several 50 and 100mile race. Super cool guy and the other was a 40+ year old woman from Northern cal that smoked me on all the downhills.

the course was gnarly. tons of climbing and some really sketchy, fast descents.... and it was about 90 degress and sunny.

After the bike I decided to walk/jog the run course. the run was nuts. More climbing than any run that I have ever done and the descents were so steep that you really could even walk down them without going into a full-on sprint while trying to stay upright. It was tough, but I knew that a hard run would definitely be to my advantage so I was stoked.

After that I headed back to camp, made some dinner, and crashed early.

Saturday:
I headed down the race site to check out the running races (5k,10k) and the Duathlon... and get some free stuff.

It was hot so I didn't stay down there too long. I met up with some people that I had met at previous races, hung out a bit and the headed back to camp for a nap and some shade.

Sunday - Race Day

I got there about an hour and a half before the start, got body marked and set up transition.

The Swim:
The swim course was a big 1500m triangle starting in waist deep water and finishing with a 50 yard run up a hill to transition. My plan for the swim was to just to cruise and not get caught up with too many people, and stay a little wide. I was in the second wave (15-34) two minutes behind the pro men and women.

So the cannon went off and we all took off, it was a pretty big wave. I got hit a bit but not too bad, and my goggles almost got knocked off. After about 200m I was able to totally relax and just swim. I wasn't going fast but I was smooth. About half way through I started passing some pro men and women (obviously not the fast pro swimmers). So I finished the swim feeling really fresh and headed to T1.

Swim(.93 miles)+ T1: 25:10

The Bike:
Right out of transition you go into a steep mile long climb. The bike was going well, i was passing more of the pro women and AG'ers that were ahead of me in the swim. about half way through the loop I hooked up with Danelle Kabush (pro woman that I met the week before). I just hung on her wheel and followed her lines. She is damn good on a mountain bike. With about 3 miles to go, on the last steep downhill I went down... hard. Over the handlebars and the bike flipped with me. I landed on my side in a bush, got right up an took off. I only lost about 10-15 seconds. I had a couple scratches but nothing major. So I just hammered to get to T2. I got passed on the bike by a couple of male pros and a couple AGer's, but only one in my AG (25-29). I had no idea what place I wan in. I was thinking 5-10.

Bike(19.5 miles) + T2: 1:33:31

The run (death march) 60% climbing, 30% descending, 10% flat:

Again right out of transition you go into a brutal mile+ climb. The run was hard but I wanted to track down the guy who passed me on the bike. I came right out of tranision with the guy that beat me in AZ but I just pushed ahead on the first climb and got a big gap on him. I passed quite a few people on the first part of the run (it was a 1.5 lap course so you didn't do the huge climb again, but there were still tons of hills to be climbed) but none in my AG. Then near a turn around I saw the guy that passed me on the bike. I was on a mission to track him down. I caught him, and blew by him at the end of the first full lap. At that point I just got a second wind and started to push. I had a really fast second lap and was so stoked to hit the finish chute:

run(5.5 miles): 43:14 - 7:51/mile (the winner ran 8:11/mile pace)

Results:
overall time: 2:41:55
2nd in AG

I am so stoked. With a second place I have locked a spot for nationals and also 1st and 2nd place in my AG get slots for the Xterra World Championships. so yeah... I am going to Hawaii in October. Pretty unbelievable. The field was tough but I just raced hard and stuck with my plan.

Did I already say how stoked I am????