Xterra USA Chamionships 2010

aka - i write long race reports. :)

Leading up to the race:
i slept pretty poorly for probably a week or more before the race. Not sure what the deal was with that, but i was really stressed out at work, i was on the tired end of things and just a little overwhelmed by all that i had to get done before heading out of town. i was happy that this was going to be my last race because i wasn't sure if i could put in another month of training. The weather wasn’t helping the situation.
The sore throat was lame. I don't know if it was allergies, totally in my head, or whatever, but earlier in the week i was worried it was turning into something else, but by the time we got to Ogden on Friday it was pretty much ok. The dry air was tough on it though, especially on race day but i don't think it actually factored into anything, i just feels like maybe i've been smoking a few marlboro reds is all.
The travel day was totally relaxed, way more relaxed than last year. i think that had a lot to do with eric being there and him taking care of so much of it all. it was a good trip down, the pre-ride was fun. we met up with trish from Bellingham which was fun. We started at green pond like last year and then tried heading up out of snow basin for like 10 minutes and we all decided yeah, no. the air was getting mighty thin on us so nothing would be gained by us riding that last part, and thank goodness we didn’t.
We went to the dinner which was fun, saw Cori and Mat and his parents. Mat was regional champion again, so that was fun to see.
Eventually we headed back to the hotel. I just chilled out but Eric started to organize his stuff. I finally realized it was pretty late and I should really start organizing my stuff too, but I was still in denial. I was chugging water from the minute we got off the plane until the minute I went to bed but not sure if it was helping me at all.
I had bad dreams all night long then got up at 6am, ½ hr later than last year. I had my normal pre-race PB&J the second I got up to ensure it was about 3hrs before race start and we were off to set up transitions. It was chilly in the morning but the sky was clear so it was pretty obvious it was going to be a beautiful day.
We set up T1 first then drove up to Snow Basin for T2. Mat and his parents gave us a ride back down to T1 so we didn’t have to take the shuttle. When we got back to T1 I found out that Cori and I had racked right next to each other which was a fun surprise! Then I tracked down Shonny, we checked out the bike exit and then went down to the swim start.
The Swim: 1500m, two loops at Pine View Reservoir; about 4800ft above sea level
While I was swimming, I thought the swim was going really well. The start was nutty. I have been trying to be more aggressive in the swim starts, pushing up into the mix so I've gotten more used to all the contact but this was the first time I got hit really hard in the back of the head - pretty sure my brain jiggled loose in there and it was the first time my goggles got kicked off. Luckily only off one eye and thank goodness i didn't totally lose them! I was surprised how aggro people were but then remembered this was the national championships. There was still lots of contact until probably turning after the 2nd buoy. Heading from buoy 2 to the turnaround took FOREVER. I could have been standing still, but more likely I was off course. Once I looked up to site and I saw nothing. No swimmers, no boats, not Xterra arch, no kyakers. Nothing. I was going 100% the wrong way, i was totally confused and disoriented and had no idea where i was! After that i sighted more frequently.
I thought the rest of the swim went pretty well. I didn’t get lapped by any of the pros and only got caught by maybe a handful of the folks in the long course race who started 20 minutes after us and were on their first loop. I was surprised and disappointed to see 35 minutes on my watch when i was coming up out of the water. I swam the whole way and was working pretty well especially on that last lap. I hobbled up onto the pavement, the chip seal really hurt my feet but I got my way to transition even getting called out by the announcer.
T1 was really bad. I couldn't get one of my socks on and had to take it off and mess with it, whatever. Everything else was ok i guess, but i still wear that wrist brace and it’s a pain in my ass. Eric says to ditch it, and i thought about it for this race, but considering i still can't support my weight on it, i didn't want to risk it. In the scheme of things any time savings would have been minimal. but it is one of the things i am going to have checked out more this winter. Total swim and T1 time 39:25; 52 seconds slower than last year.
The Bike: 18.9 miles, 3000ft+ of cumulative elevation gain, climbing up to a max of 7500ft above sea level.
The bike starts off with about 2 miles on the gravel shoulder of the road. I was right on this one girl's wheel and last second she swerved and I almost nailed one of sign poles right off the bat. That would have been a disaster. It got my heart beating a bit and then i was extra cautious as to how close i followed her for the rest of that road section.
Once you cross the spillway, you head up into Wheeler Canyon. I was surprised how chilly it was and only then realized that my feet were pretty much numb from the cold of the water, too. i was working hard, i felt like i was riding well, i was passing lots of people and i don't remember getting passed by anyone, but could have been. that canyon part might just be my favorite part of the race. i was happy to get up to the green pond area and was happy that none of the fast dudes from the next race were up in my business through the descent. i thought i was going pretty fast for me through all that stuff and was happy the leaves along the trail had all been whooshed away by all the faster people since they were kind of freaking me out during our pre-ride.
i had this guy on me for that entire fast fun section and every time we hit a rocky section he was grunting and groaning and i swore he was crashing each time. it made me laugh but at the same time totally worried me.
i tried to stay in my middle ring as much as i could but fell into my little one every once in a while and sometimes for a long time. my right quad was on the verge of cramping and i was having a tough time getting comfortable on my saddle. my left arse was hurting (and still does!) and my left sit bone was getting all wacky, worrying me that my obturator inturnus was on the verge of a freakout again. luckily everything stayed in check. i was happy to get to snow basin and felt like a bad ass when i got to head up the hill while the sport racers turned into transition.
i was riding up up up, and that is when i saw shonny running up the hill. i kept riding because although i was willing to tell her if i walked, i didn't want her to actually see me do it! She was good inspiration at that point because obviously I was able to ride it no problem.
later on though there were two sections i had to walk up. the first about made my calves cramp with every step, then the second was that last final push up a total wall. i was happy to get to the top of that because i thought i was done with the climbing but it turned out we weren’t even close. i started to get a little panicky because we just kept going up and away from snow basin. i was feeling sick, on the verge of puking a few times, and just trying to keep it together. again i almost got off at one point but there was a guy sitting by his truck so i just kept going which was good because there was actually a short downhill once i got passed him.
once i got to the downhill i actually had some fun,. i was happy to get through all of the switch backs and i felt like i was actually getting through them well. i had two people behind me the whole time and they never asked to pass, so i was pretty happy. my right elbow was starting to hurt, which was new but i had to be almost done, really, right? I got to t2 and almost fell over trying to get off my bike - awesome!
i took 2 clif shots on the bike and drank about ½ of a big bottle of electrolyte drink - yeah, only ½. I was not drinking, which is odd for me because i usually drink like crazy. i wasn't thinking about it, and when i did drink i had mixed it too strong and my throat was burning from the air, and i just didn't even want to drink anything the whole time. bad move. my stomach even started to rumble because it felt empty and i just wasn't listening. it was a bad mistake on my part.
T2 was fast and easy and i ran outta there like no one's business. Total Bike and T2 time: 2:29:12, 1:38 faster than last year and on a longer course, too!
The Run: 6.3 miles, starting around 6300ft above sea level, topping out at 7500ft.
The mean thing about the run is that you head away from transition then go STRAIGHT UP HILL, so I ran out then started to walk almost right away. I got passed by some runners and I was passing some too. By the top of the hill i was ready to start drinking again but couldn't believe it when the cup of water I grabbed had only a tiny splash of water in it! Once the course flattened out a bit I was running all the flats and down hills and a few of the smaller up hills. Really i just couldn't breathe. Nothing really hurt, I had a little bit of a side cramp but it went away. I just couldn't get any air. When I got to the 2 mile marker I was convinced that they marked the course wrong. The 2nd aid station seemed like 100 miles away but I took two cups of water there. I was fighting the negative thoughts, trying to enjoy it. I chatted only with one guy for a short time about how I was pretty sure they said the run was only a 9k but he said no it was at least a 10k. so for the rest of it I tried to stay focused on what i was doing. On one terrible uphill i got pretty dizzy and was pretty sure i was going to pass out, and wondered how long i'd lay there before any help would come, but i managed to keep it together. That would have been embarrassing! And THEN my feet cramped up. I haven't ever had my feet cramp while running and it was particularly bad on the downhill. i did manage to run the whole run down the big hil to the finish, fending off the feet cramps the whole time, i couldn't not run that part - sheesh!

I was happy to cross the line. Last year when i crossed the line i was just like, oh, ok. now it’s over. this time, i was like, damn, i am pretty worn out, i want to go lay down somewhere. Total run time: 1:08:28, 1 second faster than last year.
Total race time: 4:17:05, 47 seconds faster than last year.
After sitting in the shade for a little I recovered quickly it seems and was able to get moving and changed my clothes and stuff pretty quickly. I couldn't eat anything for a few hours, and couldn't really drink anything either. Other than that I was in a pretty good mood.

Once indoors i cornered dan hugo and eric took my picture with him. poor guy didn't have his shirt on but that was his fault, not mine. 

so looking at the times and the numbers and stuff. i went into the race saying really that i didn't care if i came in last place, i just wanted a faster time. so, I didn’t come in last place! and i was 47 seconds faster! Hooray! but really I wanted to come in under 4hrs, so i am disappointed in that. i am disappointed in my swim because i don't know why it was so slow and i was disappointed in my run just because it was a disappointing run. on the bike i felt like i worked really hard, i wonder if i could have worked harder, but i am pretty content with how i did there. the last two weeks of training riding with april with her on her single speed 29er and me just trying to hang on on all those hills made me realize that i wasn't working hard enough on my hard mtn bike rides earlier in the season.

Eric on the other hand had a FANTASTIC race coming in 3rd in his age group only 2 minutes behind 1st place! I was so proud of him but knew he would wind up on the podium! He is a amazing!

We headed down the mountain, relaxed, showered, then went out for dinner. I had a frozen strawberry lemonade that with every sip gave me terrible brain freeze.

After we relaxed some more then went out to the Harvest Moon festival where we sat next to a giant great dane who farted non-stop, saw a totally drunk dude who had fallen, was covered in blood and had the Utah police all over him and we watched the highlight video from the race.

After we went to i-Fly Utah for some indoor sky diving then called it a night!

Sunday we chilled out, had some delish banana bread French toast served by the same waiter that served me breakfast last year, packed up then headed over to Matt’s house. Matt was one of my best friends from high school but sadly I hadn’t seen him since December of 1997. His parents and sisters were all in town visiting, too, so I got to catch up with all of them as well which was very fun! It was so great to see Matt again and I hope to see him again soon!

This morning I woke up more refreshed then I have in months. This week is for resting, attending the LUNA Chix end of year auction and planning for Sirus’s 5th birthday on Sunday!