Xterra World's

XTERRA World Championship/Race Report(28^th AG/11^th American)

Ritz-Carlton Kapalua-Maui, Hawaii – October 27, 2013

Swim – 27:43/Bike - 2:10:02/Run - 58:05/OA - 3:39:47

QUICK STATS…

Swim course distance: 1,500-meters(0.93 miles)Rough Water Pacific Ocean Swim
Water temperature:  78 Degrees(Non-Wetsuit Swim)

Air Temperature:  Upper 80’s w/light winds & full sun
Mountain bike course distance: 20 miles
Total climbing on bike: 3,300-feet
Trail Run course distance:  10K
Total climbing on run: 1,000-feet
Total climbing on course: 4,300-feet

Qualifying for & competing in the Xterra World Championship has been the “Outcome Goal” that I have been chasing for the past 2 years.  All other goals that I have chased since then, were my “Process Goals”, the small steps needed to make this outcome goal a reality.   Needless to say, this was my ultimate “A” Race & the biggest race of my Triathlon Career! 

Lead in…

I blew off some fun local late season races that I normally like to do so that I would be able to focus entirely on the demands of this course.  I did have a 4 day training disruption do to an illness in the family during the peak weekend of my training just 3 weeks before the race.  While this was not idea, my lead in to this otherwise went about as good as it could.  Several great training blocks followed by nice recovery.  Most importantly, since breaking a collarbone back last winter, I was able to recover quickly & stay health for the entire season.  I felt like I was peaking at the right time! 

Swim - 27:43…

I grew up on the Ocean & Lifeguarded throughout High School & College, so the rough water ocean swim in Maui was an advantage for me.  However, we didn’t have the heavy surf I was hoping for on race day.  Nonetheless, I was quite happy with my swim.  I felt amazing & was aggressive trying to stay on feet when I could without blowing myself out. I was able to draft for about about 50% of the swim. Not as much as would have liked for a race like this, but enough to certainly help me save some energy & boast my swim split. I did banana a little on my swim out to the first "long" buoy, because the long-shore current was a little more than I calculated further out, but I still had a much more direct route than the vast majority of the field. I knew that if I had a strong swim, I could come out of the water with my friend Marcus Barton & that's exactly what I did.  In addition to being a good friend, Marcus has been having a spectacular 2013 season that has included AG wins at the Xterra Southeast Championship & USAT Off-Road Nationals.  He also earned this year’s Xterra Southeast Regional Champion title while I was a very distant 2^nd.  So by coming out of Swim/T2 together with him, I was feeling pretty good! 

Bike - 2:10:02…

I was exactly where I wanted to be going into the bike.  I exited T2 with Marcus & we rode together for the first 30 minutes. We leap frogged a bit, but I settled in riding his wheel which is exactly where I wanted to be. He's a strong & smart rider & the pace of his wheel seemed comfortable for me. Part of me wanted to pass him, but with such a long race ahead, this was where I needed to be. Up until this point, my race was going exactly how I pictured my "Perfect Race" to be going. Then, my chain started making horrible noises & wouldn't lock into gear. I found a gear that worked, but every time I tried to shift out of that, it wouldn't lock. I stopped a couple of times to quickly look at it, but I was unable to do any field repairs. After the race, I realized that half of my rear cassette had shattered & that I lost my entire lower range of gears! It is actually amazing that it held up for the race! Still, I was able to keep Marcus in sight for a while, until steeper hills forced me to get off the bike and push because I did not have the gear to ride them. For the remaining 15 miles of the bike, I had to get out of the saddle & push all the climbs in big gears &/or walk them. While I did worry that pushing those big gears & was going to lead to cramping & hurt my run, I was overcome with determination to overcome any obstacle and get to the finish line with a race that I could be proud of. These obstacles also included 2 wrecks & running out of water during that last 40 minutes of the bike. Surprisingly, my bike leg actually has the highest overall split rank!  Still, the mechanicals cost me at least 10 minutes on my bike split & probably more.

Run - 58:05(Rank 259)...

I was so happy to have made it through the bike that I was fired up with adrenaline in T2. I was clapping, hooting, & hollering coming out to T2!   

However, it didn't take long out of transition for the reality of how brutal hard & steep that run was to kick in. The climbing just kept on coming with no breaks. Each section seemed steeper than the next. I did something that I have never done in a race & walked a few sections. I took advantage of this time to down nutrition & down as much fluid as possible. Once I hit the high point of the course, I was able to find my legs & make up for some lost time. I passed several folks on the last 2 miles of the run just by having my legs & still being able to bomb the down hills. As hard of a time as I was having on this run course, I don't think that I was passed more than twice on the run while passing many more. I've never seen so many people bonk on a run like that! To put the icing on the cake, I had a sprint finish with a German Guy from my age group. The guy was gaining on me during the beach run section, but once we hit the last hundred yards solid ground to the finishing chute, I did a 100 yard dash to the finish. The German had out run split me by nearly 7 minutes, but wasn't able to out sprint me :). So I am quite proud of that 28th AG place! My run did not feel great, but surprisingly it ranks as my best splits. I think that is mostly just because so many people bonked in the heat on that.

Overall - 3:39:47(Rank 239/28th in AG)...

While a major mechanical on my bike may have prevented this from being my "Perfect Race" & probably cost me 10 minutes on my bike split(who knows what it cost me on my run?) I still couldn't be happier with my race & my fitness. In the grand scheme of things, 10 minutes would have only brought me up about 3 spots in my AG.   However, finishing STRONG in the hardest race that I have ever done, in that brutal heat, & with a respectable time vs. the best in the world even more of an accomplishment for me. After putting in so much getting there, I had more shear will & determination to make that a great race than I have ever had for any race. While this may not have been my "Perfect Race" & my time certainly could have been better without that major mechanical, this was my "Best Race". I used every once of my fitness, mental toughness, & race experience to combat adversity & still cross the finish line with a solid race. Podiums are nice, but this is why I got hooked on racing. This experience is something that I can draw from & will help me in my future races & life experience. Whenever I need to dig deep & things are not going as planned, I will know that I can feed from that adversity.