Xterra East Championship returned to Richmond for it's 13th event. Being my home trail I figured I would have a good run and possibly finishing somewhat decent, but as you will read it didn't exactly go that way...at all! I'm still trying to piece it all together.
Sunday morning I woke up around 5 AM without the alarm clock. Had a sprouted whole grain English muffin (
Food for Life is kickass) with peanut butter and honey, grabbed my tri bag and rode my bike down to the race, which is about 3 miles from my house. When I got there I was cool, calm and ready to get after it. I worked through a bag of Cliff shot roks and a bottle of NUUN as I sat up my stuff in transition. I wondered around for a bit, met up with Katie, and checked out the swim until it was time to get in the water.
BOOM goes the cannon and the pros are off...2 minutes till game time! We get going in the swim and I'm feeling decent. Swim, rock hop, swim, rock hop; this was routine throughout most of the swim. I was doing great with sighting, not getting too far off track from the current. Coming out of the water and heading towards transition I was ready to hit the trails.
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| Our swim taking off |
I struggled a bit getting through T1. I almost forgot my camelbak so that added a few seconds. Out of transition and off to the Lee bridge. There was a bit of a climb to get up to the bridge and it got me worked up some which I thought was good because whenever I get started on a ride I have to get the blood flowing to get the jitters out. We made our way across the bridge and took the Riverside Dr. exit to jump on Buttermilk trail. Right at the entrance to the trails their was freshly laid mulch and I eat it...hard. I got up, grabbed my bike, put the chain back on and get moving. Everyone knows after a good wreck you are a little off, a little embarrassed and humbled a bit. I ate it again about 1/2 mile from the first wreck. I was coming down a hill and I think I hit a stump, not really sure. All I know is my bike stopped and I kept going. Now that "cool, calm and ready to get after it" was gone. I fumbled back on the bike and started moving again, at a slower pace. I just felt off for the rest of the ride, like my reaction time had a quarter second lag time. Areas that I plowed through when riding any other time I was now struggling with. 2 hours and 24 minutes later I get back to transition. I did my first fly dismount and came out of T2 hot and high hopes to have a good run...
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| Getting ready for my first "fly dismount" in a race |
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| Coming out of T2 |
But the hotness was short lived and hopes were diminishing. I started dying after about a mile. Then came the run up the side of Manchester wall , also know as the "Mayan ruins," which was the nail in the coffin. I struggled up it and finished the rest of the course at a walk/run pace of 11:11 min/mile. Never having walked before in a triathlon I was mentally beat and frustrated. My finish time was 3:58:47.
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| Road Rash from the wreck #1 |
After cooling down I got over scarred ego and decided to enjoy the afternoon with family and friends. I packed my stuff up and we headed over to Legend's brewery for a pint, some awesome pretzels and nachos.
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| Dad, Rachel, Jeremy and me |
This wasn't my first stab at an off-road tri. Last summer I did Uwharrie, NC and Charlottesville, VA. Uwharrie was actually my first triathlon so I can't blame my bang-up performance on inexperience. I think I will contribute a lot of it to road focused training. Mountain biking is a different creature compared to road biking. I compare road biking to running long distance and mountain biking to running sprints. Having spent the last 5 months on a road bike I don't think I was in mountain bike shape. Also the 2 crashes in the first 2 miles didn't help, but that comes with the territory of XTERRA.
I have great respect for the off-road triathletes. The risk of injury is much greater and the mountain biking part is extremely taxing. I did 19 weeks of training for the Orlando 70.3 without a scratch; with 2 weeks of training for the XTERRA I had 6 stitches, sprained wrist and multiple scrapes and bruises. But don't let my mishaps be a deterrent from giving one of these off-road threesomes a shot. I think a lot of my knocks come from having more courage points than skill points; if you're going to try and ride like a nut at least be able to keep the bike on the trails. All things considered it was a good learning experience and great to have fam and friends there! I would definitely do Richmond XTERRA again....maybe a few things different but absolutely again!
