For some reason I have an issue with skipping some races. Not sure if it’s the competitive spirit, atmosphere or a combination of both that I have an issue missing out on. This past weekend I skipped the 8-hours of Cannonsburg race and then the Ruby XC race. I’ve done 9 races this year, so you think I wouldn’t have an issue missing some. But I really do. Maybe it’s a sickness.
Anyways, this Sunday is another triathlon: Xterra Torn Shirt.
Well, I completed my first Xterra (triathlon) of the season. My race results are as follows:
Swim: 16:44 Ranked 16 in group.
T1: 2:00 Minutes
Bike: 1:04:34 ranked 21 in group*
T2: 1:02 Minutes
Run: 46:22 ranked 32 in group.
Total Time: 2:10:41 ranked 28th out of 38 in age group.
The swim was mass start so you have 180 people running into the water at the same time. I stayed in the back, however started passing people quickly. It turned into a mad house. I’ve never experienced anything like in a ‘road’ triathlon. It’s also a lap swim, meaning you swim 1/4 mile, then run on the beach, then swim the last 1/4 mile. If you HR wasn’t spiked swimming, it was running.
I hit T1 good, however was so disoriented I could barely stand up. My understanding is you lose your equilibrium by staring at murky water for so long. I’ve researched some possible solutions so will practice those.
The bike is where I had the incident. I took off on the bike like a bat out of hell. Unlike a road triathlon, in an Xterra the trail gets plugged quickly by slower riders and it’s not always easy to pass. It was frustrating but I eventually took off. I felt great and had a lot of power in my legs. And then my stomach cramped. UGH. I tried slowing down to see if it would settle down, but it didn’t. I finally had to dismount and exercise the demon. This cost me about 5 minutes (conservative) in the bike portion. It’s all a part of racing, just really frustrating. I’m going to experiment with different nutrition. This happened during the Barry Roubaix as well.
The run was…well a run. 86 degree and I was running. Not happy about that. Also, the first 200 yards was running on the beach. That does wonders for the calf muscles. The trail was gorgeous and was a great trail to run. But man was I whooped by then. I’m not a runner so I’ll always be near the end of the pack in this category. I did run the entire trail, which was good.
I think Xterra’s are much more difficult that road triathlons. The mass swim start is insane, mountain biking is 90% anaerobic for an hour and then you have to run on a trail that is anything but flat.
All in all, I had a great time, just could have done without the bike incident.
Found this site to be very valuable, especially early on in the season when not really in a groove yet. You can chose from different events under the list tab.
Filed under: equipment, racing, training by Guppie
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First Xterra even tomorrow morning. I’m not really competitive in these events, just do them for the challenge and have fun. That really takes the pressure off. The only anxiety I feel now is making sure I’ve packed everything. VERY different than a mountain bike race.
My main concern is the swim, I just haven’t had much pool time. Once I’m pass that, then it’s all good. Suppose to be 86 degrees, but we go off at 9am so hopefully it stays cool. By the time we hit the run, it could be very hot.
This is my HR from the stage race event last weekend. Not including Sundays race. The top is the Crit race and the bottom is the TT. The TT was first. The big dip in TT race around 3.25 mile is me going straight and the trail going right. That was my first Crit race and it was HARD.
Sunday is my first triathlon of the year. Small one with only .5 mile swim, 14 mile bike and 4 mile trail run. My main concern is the swim because I’ve slacked off this week on my swimming. Also, I’ve yet to swim in open water since it’s been so cold. I’m sure it will go okay but won’t be pretty. I really just do these events for fun so there is no real pressure on me.
So I’m starting my second year racing expert category and let me tell you it’s not going so well. I had a stellar year in 2008 and per the rules, which have since been changed, I had to move to expert. Since the rules did change, I could have moved back to sport, but I wanted the challenge. I am getting more than I can handle.
During 2009 I raced Expert in MMBA series and Sport in USAC series. I didn’t want to invest in the license required for USAC since I wasn’t sure how many races I would be doing. Even racing sport, my best finish in the USAC was 5th. I wrote off 2009 to a training season since I also increased the number of triathlons I was doing. My training was broken up between swimming, biking and running.
Enter 2010. I have 5 races under my belt (and one 10k running race). The first was the Barry Roubaix dirt road race, which I thought I did okay considering I had the worst gearing possible for the race. 12-21 cassette on a CX bike and tons of hills. I should have just used my mountain bike (I borrowed the CX bike the night before from my cousin).
The following races I just couldn’t perform at the level I wanted too. At Yankee TT, my race time was slower than my training time. Every time I step on the gas, my engine sputters. This past weekend really hit home. It was a stage race, meaning two races on Saturday (TT and Crit) and one on Sunday (XC). I finished last in the TT, which I thought had to do with course knowledge. Never ridden the course before. Ran it during an Xterra, just never ridden. During my warm-ups, I noticed my legs were burning up fast. Apparently they have not recovered from the 10k race the weekend before.
Then came the crit race, which I’ve NEVER done before. Fun race and great crowd. Again, I step on the gas and all I get is sputtering.
Come Sunday and I was dragging my ass to the starting line. The XC race starts. I wasn’t sure if I would even do it since my lower back was fried, which after an adjustment on second lap (seat height), that helped a lot. Wish I would have fixed it during Fort Custer a couple weeks earlier. I was almost bed ridden after that race my lower back hurt so much.
Anyways, the first lap I was feeling mentally positive, physically drained. I actually was passing people. I adjusted my seat post at start of second lap and took off. I started to pass more and more people. Then boom. Body had enough. I continue on the third lap and this is where i was mentally crushed. An Elite racer passed me (lapped) and he turned around and asked why I was even racing. Normally I’d invite him to get off his bike so I could shove his bike up his ass, but my ego has taken five races of crappy performance.
I started to wonder why I even bother to race. I have a pure breed racing bike, 2010 S-Works Epic, with a basically a beginner racer on it. I feel like a poser. My race times would barely register in sport category. Today I can’t motivate myself to train. I still ask why I bother to race. I was crushed by the Elite’s comments to me on the trail.
I read some of my posts during my stellar 2008 season and it’s just night and day difference. My HR zones and Muscular Endurance was so strong. Not so much anymore.
So I have to ask myself: What’s changed?
Why do I think this is so?
I don’t want to stop racing. I enjoy it, but right now I feel like a burden to my fellow expert racers. I know every category somebody has to finish last but I’m not okay with that. I hope these changes help.
Other than a face plant into mud, it was a fun trail to ride. I’m am very unhappy with my fitness level so I need to pick things up. I have another race this Sunday so hopefully my head stays focused. It’s going to be a long race. 
Filed under: Weekly training, training by Guppie
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First race of the season kicked off Sunday. The prior to Sunday was sunny and 65 degrees. Sunday was rainy and 40 degrees. I was frozen to the core prior to starting.
This is my first race in expert and the good news is that I destroyed my time from last year. I should note that last year we only had to do one lap. Experts do two laps. Even my second lap time was 2 minutes slower than last years first lap.
The good news is that I didn’t finish dead last. There were 8 people below me and a whole bunch above me. 
Things are going to change. I started this blog to hold myself accountable to my training. My new job teaching drained the majority of my time which resulted in less training. The semester is over so it’s time to pick it up. After getting owned in this past race, I am ready to tear it up.
Filed under: racing, training by Guppie
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My petition to stay in sport was denied. I am being moved up to expert. I finished third in sport and had a goal of winning it this year. Now in expert, my goal is to become stronger and faster. A podium finish would be a miracle. This is now a building year.
That is the race season for me. Finally, only one more race to go: Iceman Cometh, November 8. This is a 25-28 mile point to point race. There is nothing technically challenging about the trail. It’s the distance that is the major obstacle. Due to suffering from chronic fatigue, I really reduced my training hours over the past month. That shows in my race results for the last two races.
Addison Oaks on September 21st was a race I probable shouldn’t have done. Yet I did it. Not only that, I also did the Pando race, which was the following weekend. The week leading up to Pando I paid close attention to my resting HR. I was experiencing around 10bpm increase in my rest HR. One morning it was as high as 22 bpm. Regardless, I saddled up for Pando. Even on the drive there I felt like I was out of breath. I just thought I would muscle through it.
I did do an easy pre-ride the day before. I wanted to set a race pace that I could handle without over doing it. My goal was to just finish the race. I settled in on a comfortable 22 minute lap (4 lap race). Come race day, that turned into a 16 minute lap for the first two laps. Then I felt my body start to shut down so I backed off. I finished right in the middle of the pack, so not so bad.
I did reach my annual goal of finish in the top 3 for the points series. I took third place overall, but not to far from second. I need to build up my endurance to handle 15+ races in a season. It was those damn TRI’s.
Anyway’s, here are some random pictures from the race season:
Special Thanks To:
