St. George 70.3 Race Report

St. George 70.3 always finds a way onto my race schedule. Sometimes I just can't say no!

This year, the race was only 7 days after the West Championship XTerra race in Las Vegas. I arrived home on Sunday night, had a few days to "recover", and then headed to St. George with my Tri bike. I knew going into it that I would be tired and I had very little long distance training.

However, I enjoy being with friends and doing this early season race. I overestimated my ability to bounce back after a hard race and traveling in a car many, many miles in one week!

I got up early Friday morning and tried to focus on setting up two different transitions and checking in. Each year I am so scatter brained at this race. I was determined to make the process go quickly, smoothly, and efficiently so I could rest and put my feet up the better part of the day. Unfortunately, I haven't changed.

I checked in and realized I forgot so many things. Half my nutrition, my salt tablets, my Garmin charger (and my Garmin was dead). I hadn't planned food and needed to shop, which is stressful for me. I forgot to plan my electrolyte drink. Things were not looking smooth.

I check in and then headed straight for the Iolite tent at the Expo. This little gadget can actually help a serpentine swimmer such as myself, swim straight. Operator error, it does not correct, however! (More on this later).

I set up my transitions, did my short pre-race brick, called every friend I knew in town and finally found a charger for my Garmin. I was tired, stressed, sun-burnt and hungry by the time it was all completed. Needless to say, I didn't have a hard time getting to sleep that night. Staying asleep is another story.

Ironman Triathlons are the complete opposite of XTerra. The tension is palpable. I check and re-check how I've laid everything out. I second guess and third guess how I  should lay out my gloves and socks. We wake up so early to catch a bus to sit around in transition and stress about tire pressure. 

Finally, we are herded into huge corrals and I find people with the same color cap I have. I feel like we are sheep. Safety in numbers as we huddle together, slowly moving toward the water...

All of the sudden I feel this overwhelming calm. It happens every time. When I see the wave before me enter the water, the calm comes and I no longer think about the far future on the bike and "what will happen on the run?" I have this calm excited feeling that soon I will be in the water and get to swim. The swim is a great way to start a triathlon because I feel confident and can focus on what I enjoy doing and stop stressing about the long day and all the unknowns I might face.

I swam about the same as every other race. The Iolites worked great keeping me fairly straight at each turn buoy until the final turn to shore. They draw a straight line and show a green light if I stay on that straight path. Unfortunately, my goggle were foggy so I could only find the first yellow buoy that should be in a straight line to the "swim out". The problem? The yellow buoys were actually curved in a C shape to my left. I swam straight for the buoy, but the path to the swim out was slightly to my right. I kept trying to swim correctly while the Iolite goggles kept telling me I was too far to the right. My friend had no problem because she could sight correctly and swam straight the first 10m which is all that is required for this awesome gadget. Better luck next time!

My next problem was, and always is, getting out of my wet suit. I pull the rubber down to my elbows where it gets stuck. In frustration, I ALWAYS try to pull the other arm out, where it also gets stuck. So I  become stuck in a black, rubber straight jacket. The awesome volunteers in their enthusiasm to help, began rolling my wet suit down off my elbows, making it completely stuck because it is rolled over and over onto itself. Finally, I find a way to instruct them to hook a finger into the elbow-stuck part and pull down. This releases my right arm and I can unroll my left arm and slide it off. I sit on the ground and POOF! freedom in seconds as they whip that sucker off my legs! I grabbed my wet suit and run across the timing mat, which now has a much slower swim time by about 1 minute than I wish it did. Oh well.

The rest of the race is pretty boring, so you can stop reading here, or blame me for the loss of time you might experience! I rode my bike up some hills, then down some hills, then ate a PowerBar Gel, then rode some flat, and on and on... I also had three very long bathroom breaks, which is stressful, too. I sit in the outhouse and hear all the people I just passed, riding past me sitting there. I realize I just lost a lot of time. Again. 

Then came the new section of the race where you ride up Snow Canyon, back down, do a U-turn and ride back up. I think about 75% or more of the riders might be asking for that section to be re-thought! But I noticed one thing about the U-turn. I cornered it great and had already geared down for the immediate climb right after the U-turn. I noticed many people hadn't planned for that and going from a near stop, turn and back to climbing was awkward. Thank you, mountain biking for preparing me for that!

Other than that, it's just riding. And pedaling and riding some more. Heading back into town, I reached top speeds. That was fun.

I got to transition, grabbed my run stuff and felt great. For about 1 mile. I'd say it was "All downhill from there", but it wasn't. The run starts uphill, then continues up. One pro said it like this: You climb a mountain for the first three miles and then run up some hills at the top. Yeah. Like that. I obviously hadn't recovered from my traveling and racing the week before. 

I felt so tired. I actually had a second energy drink and still felt like falling asleep. There was an over-whelming desire to curl up on the curb and take a nap. I walked. I ate gels, I did the caffeine thing. Nothing. Finally, the last two miles I was closing in on two women in my AG and I focused on them. When they would walk, I would run my lightening 12 min. mile shuffle and hope I could pass before the finish line. 

With about 3/4 of a mile to go, I crept up on them and "blasted" pass so they wouldn't try to take back the lead. I was probably moving at a blazing 11-minute mile pace. And with about 1/4 mile to go, I noticed another person in my AG. Was it possible? Could I actually catch someone else? Wow, with rocket boosters pushing me to what was probably 10.5 minute miles, I passed her, too, and maybe had a 4 second lead at the finish. Small triumph.

My legs immediately seized and I spent the next 48 hours sleeping and eating. Usually I can't eat for hours after Ironman Events. This time, I downed pounds of food, went to bed just to wake up in the middle of the night to eat some more. It went on like this for 48-60 hours. 

The next week was a recovery week. Which couldn't have been anything but recovery. I spent most of my days eating, sleeping, and trying not to think about how much I wanted to start riding and running again. The second week I began doing more workout-type things and by the end of the second week I was feeling almost "normal" again.

I was shocked at how tired I felt. Not sore, but tired. I was shocked how long it took to feel better.

I still love doing Ironmans. It is not "Disneyland Fun", but it is social fun and challenging fun. I like being with others, and how Ironman treats you like you are special. No matter HOW you do, WHAT you do makes you a rock star on that day. The volunteers, the brand itself, makes you feel like there is nothing more important that day than getting you across the finish line. It's fun in an "I just did something miraculous" kind of way.

Time to update a little!

Last year was a learning year full of fun and challenges. I was able to race enough races to qualify for Nationals in Ogden and then I headed to Maui for XTerra Worlds. What a BLAST. However, that's just too much to review so we'll start over again with this year and try to keep it more updated! Hope that's okay for my 2 or 3 readers....

This year started with a BANG at XTerra West Championships again in Las Vegas. Last year this was the race where I qualified for Worlds. This year I was returning to see if I have made improvements on the mountain bike. Every XTerra course is unique in terrain, obstacles, temperature and even distance. I was excited to try an event that I started this journey on and have a comparison.

This is XTerra's 20th year so the field was stacked with people wanting to qualify for Worlds. The competition was confident enough to fly from all over the country and even from outside the country to throw their "hat into the ring". I recognized right away I wouldn't be qualifying. This took a lot of pressure off me and actually made me relax and enjoy the whole XTerra atmosphere. Everyone is friendly, supportive, competitive, and actually pretty chill. Until the gun goes off!

I went early enough to pre-ride the course and noticed right away that I was handling the loose gravel downhills better than last year. At the bottom of each hill, however, there is a collection of sand. If you don't keep the handlebars pointed straight, the bike comes to a complete stop and does a little jack-knife kind of move. I was trying to listen to suggestions so I could get through these patches without slowing down too much or falling. Without much success.

The day of the race, I get super excited to swim. Open water swimming is like trail running. But only on race day do you get to do it. No boats (except for support) and I get to swim and swim. Unlike Ironman races, at XTerra, you typically do two laps with a beach run between laps. Last year I couldn't wait to try it. It's harder than it looks to stand up, get your equilibrium, run, and than jump into swim again. The Heart Rate really spikes. However, now that I've done it a few times, I'm good with it. I just look like a dork in the pictures!

I came out of the water in a pretty good position. The course had been changed from last year and the run to the bikes was a little longer. I'm still having major struggles getting out of my wet suit and need to figure this one out!

I was off on the bike and right away had people passing me. This always causes me an undue amount of stress. Eventually, I calm down and concentrate. When Mountain Biking, this is imperative. I don't think about being tired, hungry, thirsty, what's for dinner... I can only think about "light hands, heavy feet." That seems to take care of everything else. The one problem lately is that my hands/fingers are always hurting. I have to be careful on long rides to not grip my handlebars!

This year I made it over obstacles I had to walk for last year. There are two particularly weird places and I was proud to ride them both. Even that weird natural cement section. You'd have to be there to understand, but riding super technical flat mesas has helped me handle it.

I was doing well, but knew I was in the back of my own category. Still, I had others around me and that made me stay focused. I came off the bike 17 minutes faster than last year, which is almost completely due to my improved skills on my Specialized Epic.

Quick change in transition (or not so quick), I was off on the run. It starts uphill on a paved road before turning back onto the bike course that we've already seen twice. I had people in front to focus on and kept trying to close the gaps. It was a great game of cat and mouse because right away I knew I was also a mouse to a very skilled trail runner coming behind me.

In Vegas, the terrain lets you see behind and in front for a long way. It's deceptive because you can't really tell how much ground you are making up or losing, but it keeps you pushing. I was very happy with my run, but did have to walk a few uphills at the end. I hate to admit it, but I was just getting tired. In the last mile, the cat caught and then passed me. I held her off as long as I could!

In the end, I was also 16 minutes faster on the run than last year. This is purely because last year I was so wasted after the bike, I walked most of the 6.2 miles. Over all, I was ecstatic to realize how much I improved since starting this 1 year ago. I was also impressed with the level of competition in an XTerra. It seems people my age don't just join this crazy sport. They stay on the roads!

And no matter what, even if I am in the back of the pack, I am grateful to have finally found something that I truly enjoy doing. Not enjoy because of the challenge, or whatever... I find myself having "Disneyland kind of fun" out there. That's what I call this particular type of fun. Disneyland Fun!