XTERRA USA Champs

After a great XTERRA Mountain Champs I had almost two months of prep time for USA Champs and every one of those days was needed, if not more.  Outside of the usual suspects there were a few guys coming over from Europe as well to make it the deepest field at USA Champs.

My prep was great going in, I traveled out a week early to really nail the course and know how to ride each piece as fast as possible.  I can’t thank First Endurance and Robert enough for the support in being able to stay at the cabin in Eden and be able to easily access the course.  I had a great training partner going in as well with Craig Evans coming out for the week before to train with in the Springs before we rolled over to Utah.

Transition race morning, I am some where in there on the left. (N2PHOTOSERVICES)

After a week in Ogden, race morning arrived quickly and we were off swimming in the low waters of Pineview Reservoir.  The reported water temperature was 60 degrees there was some miss-calibration or error in reading the thermometer, as the water was definitely closer to the limit at 68.  If you did XTERRA West Champs in Vegas, that water was around 60 degrees.  I started strong and worked into the front group with the exception of Ben Allen and Leonardo Chacon who were off the front.  As we neared the end of the first lap I could tell the swim was long but put my head down and just tried to keep Ben and Leo as close as possible.  We exited the swim a minute down which was a manageable gap and was great to have them that close considering that the swim as 10 minutes longer than normal.  It was nice to have a long swim considering that it is usually the first thing to get cancelled or shortened.

Rolling up the climb (N2PHOTOSERVICES)

 Dan Hugo and I took off on the bike in pursuit trading off on the road to Wheeler Canyon.  I felt good and was riding well and was sticking close to Dan but whenever the trail flattened out a bit I had a hard time getting my legs to turnover and Dan was slowly opening up a gap.  I pushed on and about half way up Middle Fork trail Conrad caught me and Josiah went by close to crest.  I descended well and nearly caught Josiah before the trail turned up again.  Just before the base of Sardine peak Ruben Ruzafa caught up, I tried to key off of each of them and stick to their wheels but the legs were not turning over fast enough to keep pace.   I climbed steadily up Sardine but by the peak I was starting to feel cooked.  It was then that I realized I had failed in a key area of every race, my nutrition.  I have the best race nutrition out there with First Endurance but if I fail to actually take in my EFS drink and Liquid Shot during the race it doesn’t really matter.   I squeezed some in but was way behind and it was damage control at that point.

SRM File of XTERRA USA Champs

Still running well early on (N2PHOTOSERVICES)

Just after Nico caught me trying to keep in contact (N2PHOTO)

I hit the run, about 2 minutes down from Ben and over 5 from the lead.  Though I felt heavy and slow to start the run I was moving all right up the hill.  Brad Weiss was not far behind and I managed to keep ahead of him for the first 2 miles but he was gone quickly when he passed.  I plodded along taking in as much as I could with out upsetting things but I really started to struggle at 4 miles which is almost all downhill to the finish from there.  I leg the legs go as much as possible on the way down and kept checking to see if anyone was catching me.  With a mile to go I caught the first glimpse of Nico Lebrun and knew that I had to give everything if I wanted to stay ahead.  He caught me about 1/4mile and I pushed again to stay with him but when we hit the last short uphill before the downhill to the finish he glided up as I struggled to keep my feet moving.  About 20 feet from the turn downhill I heard footsteps behind me and had a feeling that this person couldn’t beat me.  I threw the last of my energy into getting up that last twenty feet and threw myself around the corner and downhill

The last struggle before the sprint for home (N2PHOTO)

towards the finish.  As I rounded the corner I heard names and it was Ryan Ignatz that was coming up on me.  We were separated by 1 point in the series and who ever was first across the line would be 3^rd in the series.  As some put it, it was the ugliest sprint they had ever seen as I was flailing all over the place but it worked.  I stayed on my feet and edged Ryan across the line for 9^th on the day and held 3^rd in the USA series, my highest placing in the series to date.  I collapsed almost immediately after the finish and after a good recovery in the med tent was able to get my muscles working again to move around.  I learned a few lessons that I certainly can't forget in Maui in 5 weeks time, clock is ticking.

2013 XTERRA USA Championship from XTERRA TV on Vimeo.

Nitty Gritty Details:

Clothing: 2XU Custom Compression Team Kit

Swim: 2XU X:3 Westsuit, 2XU Race Goggles and 2Toms SportsShield.

Bike: Pro Cycling Specialized SW Epic 29, Fast Trak 2.0 @ 23psi front, Renegade 1.95 @ 27 psi rear with Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant, SRM Rotor 3D+ crank, 38-27 Q-Rings, Sidi Terra, Rudy Project Wingspan helmet and Rudy Project Noyz Fluo Yellow w/ImpactX Photolaser Racing Red 

Run: Colorado Running Company Inov-8 Trailroc 245 w/ 2Toms BlisterShield,

XTERRA Mountain Champs

Though I am way behind on may race reports I will start with the most recent and work my way back, and in essence I am going from a great race where I overcame a few metal hurdles to the races where I was not mentally strong enough to do so.
XTERRA Mountain Champs has always been an important race for me being essentially a home race and one to gain confidence from before going back in to a heavy training load leading in to USA and World Champs.  Last year I had a very off day and I was determined to not relive that experience.  A number of the other guys were not expecting much from me since I had only returned from a couple of races in Europe on Monday preceding the race and they had seen me low in the results in the previous races.  The only though for the race was that I had nothing to prove to anyone else, I needed to prove everything to myself.
I positioned myself high on the shore for the start and was able to run a few steps and dove in and got body length on the field at the start.  Normally a roadie but venturing into the off road scene Kyle Leto caught up and we swam together through the first lap.  Kyle slowly began to gap me on the second lap but I decided to play it a bit safer and maintain my pace rather than push it to stay on his feet since we were at 7500 feet.  I was also banking a bit on the coming ride that even though it isn't technical it is much different than the road and I would put time into him even though he is a strong rider.

That is me to the far left in the 2XU suit.

Once on the bike I was just 10 seconds down and quickly caught up and made sure that I was setting the pace when we hit the dirt.  This was where I had to mentally stay focused through the ride and continually push, it is racing and it always hurts, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you go it will hurt.  I needed to make sure that I kept the pressure on, if I let off then it hurt a lot more.  I gapped Kyle, however Ben Hoffman was inching his way up to me and Josiah was rocketing up the climb and erased a near 2 minute deficit from the swim by 4 miles into the bike.  I couldn't quite hold Josiah's wheel as we hit Strawberry Fields Road and when we peaked out over the top of the climb he had a minute on me.  I burned the decent hoping to open up some room to Ben and then really laid the power on once on Village to Village trail.  The gap grew to 1:45 to Josiah and I knew if he didn't have any mechanical issues we wouldn't see him again till the finish.  I knew Ben was behind and might be closing and there was a strong field behind trying to chase us down.  At the start of Ally's Way, the gap was down to maybe 10 seconds to Ben, I took as many chances as I could on the decent, over cooking one corner and going down.  I was surprised that Ben didn't roll up on me when I was getting going but took off again and headed into transition.

Slim lead up the switch backs over Josiah with Ben closing in.

SRM Powerfile from 2013 XTERRA Mountain Champs.

After pushing the pace on the bike my legs were heavy as I hit the run and with two long climbs with some steep sections it was not a place where you wanted your legs to be moving slow.  I managed to keep things moving well through the first 5k and was hoping the downhill would help my legs turnover but the second climb really sapped my legs and they really started to burn.  I did not see or hear Ben coming up on me until a few long switch backs as the trail wound back to the finish.  It was a huge mental breakthrough as I crossed the finish in 2nd, one of my proudest races of the effort and staying strong throughout the race which is something that I had not been doing the last few races.  It was a nice confidence boost as well that I was able to race up to the ability that I had been showing in training.

Mtn Champs Podium: Cody, Me, Josiah, Ben, Ryan

XTERRA Mountain Champs Highlight Video

Nitty Gritty Details:

Clothing: 2XU Custom Compression Team Kit

Swim: 2XU X:3 Westsuit, 2XU Race Goggles and 2Toms SportsShield.

Bike: Pro Cycling Specialized SW Epic 29, Fast Trak 2.0 @ 23psi Front, Renegade 1.95 @ 27 psi rear with Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant, SRM Rotor 3D+ crank, 38-27 Q-Rings, Sidi Terra, Rudy Project Wingspan helmet and Rudy Project Stratofly w/Multilaser Orange Lens

Bike Nutirion: 1-24oz bottle 1st Endurance EFS, 1/2 Flask 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot 

Run: Colorado Running Company Inov-8 f-lite 195 w/ 2Toms BlisterShield,

Run Nutrition: Flask 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot 

May Part 1

Drive started snowy on the way to St. George

Ended in the dry desert.

I am a bit relieved May is behind us and I figure I need to get caught up from the 5 races I did among other activities.  These will be rather brief updates as I try to get things on track.  Right at the end of April I had raced St. Anthony’s Triathlon in Florida and the following week I drove out to St. George, UT for the Ironman 70.3 US Pro Championship.  Back to back racing is tough and to make things harder I was going from a very stacked field at St. Anthony’s to an equally tough field in St. George.  The race started perfectly, I really pushed the first half of the swim as was able to do what I knew I was capable of and just hung on to the tail end of the lead pack out of the water.  I worked hard the first few miles of the bike to solidify my position in the group.  It was crazy how easy it was being in that group, even though we were riding according to the rules there was still a significant advantage sitting 4-5 guys back from the front.  About 15miles in on the bike I decided to move up in the pack.  Unfortunately the ref saw my move differently than I did and when I slid back in to line after passing a couple people.  I got my first penalty in a triathlon in 13 years of racing, according to the ref I moved in to a space that was too small, meaning that the distance between the two riders was right at the draft distance.  I saw the distance was larger since there was a smaller space between the two riders I had just passed.  It sucks since it is a complete judgment call by the ref and I suffered the consequence of a four-minute penalty on course where I watched everyone ride by.  In the end I lost 8 minutes as the group I was riding with ended up going 2:12 for the bike and I ended up with a bike time of 2:20.  Once on the run I started steady but unfortunately could not maintain the pace and slowly slid backwards.  It was a tough day because of the penalty and another learning experience in a 70.3 race.

Incredible homestay support thank you to the Guymon family for all the support through the weekend!

Training Peaks did a post race analysis of a few of the Pro's power files and I was lucky enough to be include in that group, you can see their analysis here: Training Peaks IM 70.3 St. George.

A couple weeks later I got to return to the fun side of racing at XTERRA Southeast Championship in Alabama.  The lead up to the race was perfect then the rain came in Friday night and everything changed.  It was enough to drop the water temperature down to wetsuit legal and quite a few pros, myself included were left scrambling trying to find one.  Huge thanks to Casey Fannin for letting me use his after he raced in the short course race before our race, and congrats on the win in coming back from back surgery.  Wetsuit may have been a bit tight or maybe I was just off my game but struggled to keep with the front group and was about 10 seconds down going into T1 but that is much better than the 2 minutes I would have lost without a wetsuit.  The rain changed the trail as well, they were conditions I don’t get to ride in in Colorado, I was more timid riding as I had a good crash in Canada last year on wet roots and I didn’t want to repeat that.  I did hook one of my bar ends on a tree which I forgot to switch before I traveled to Alabama and went down hard Josiah and Brad Weiss both passed as I had to pull vines out of my rear wheel and straighten my handlebar.  I rode the rest of the course pretty clean but newbie pro Nick Fisher caught me towards the end of the bike and we headed out on the run together.  He was faster at the start and opened up a good gap through the first lap of the run.  On the second lap I didn’t know it till very late in the run but I had been closing the gap back down but ran out of trail to catch him and ended up 6^th.

St. Anthony's

After XTERRA the second points chase series are the 5150 races in attempting to qualify for the 5150 Hy-Vee Championship over Labor Day weekend.  Ironman 70.3 California was the first race I did with points and did not score as well as needed to qualify for the race putting a bit more pressure to score better in the following points races.  St. Anthony’s triathlon was next on the list to score points and like Oceanside the field was extremely deep.  I had raced St. A’s before in 2006 and 2007 and had some good familiarity with the course and flew in later to the race so I could stay a bit longer with the family in Tampa and be able to enjoy it a bit.

Though I don’t like the early mornings that road tri’s bring I am thankful that we are out of the heat as I do not have the best track record in hot humid races and this was one of many 6:50 am starts with the sun just breaking the horizon as the horn blew.  The start of the race was very rough with 50 some odd guys basically climbing all over each other trying to find clear water.  I elected for a position I don’t normally take starting behind a few of the swimmers I knew to be faster and would have a bit more clear water to my sides at the start.  It worked well off the line for about 50 meters then the guys that were getting spit out of the front line I was then swimming over but I was holding and maintaining position well through the first half of the swim as I was at the tail end of the front pack.  At the first turn buoy we turned away from shore and straight into about a 4-5 foot swell that the wind kicked up.  I started to struggle a bit sighting and following feet but it wasn’t until the next turn that I lost contact and the pack started to get broken up and every body started to get spread out.  On the last leg into the swim exit some of the swells were large enough that if I happened to sight when I was in the trough I couldn’t even see the tops of the trees on the shore.  At the exit I was about 1min down from the lead and with the quality of the swimmers in the field I was pretty happy with but I knew I had some hard riding ahead to get in the front group.  After a bit of a struggle in transition I was off.

After getting across the cobbled street out of transition I strapped the Sidi’s and started pounding the pedals.  I looked down to make sure I hadn’t lost my 1^st Endurance Liquid Shot only to notice that I forgot to put my SRM PC 7 on my bike.  In the shorter races I rarely pay attention to the numbers on my SRM in the race so it was not critical immediately.  My coach Derick, and I use it for post race analysis.  I focused in on the task of catching anyone and everyone ahead of me, trying to make sure I was maintaining the stagger and no drafting rules at the same time trying to work in with a group of other riders to work our way to the front pack.  All signs were that I was pushing as hard as possible but I was loosing time to the group ahead and I was not able to keep pace with a few of the faster cyclists coming up from behind.  I slowly progressed through a few other riders gaining most of my time in the corners and more technical parts of the course.  Overall I felt like a rode very strong through the entire ride and never faded but the pack dynamics up the road were too much to overcome losing about 3-4mins as I hit T2.

Transition was anything but smooth again but I got rolling only to have the couple guys behind me fly past in the first half mile.  I struggled with some stomach cramping for the first couple miles I think from eating a bit too much at dinner and that parlayed itself to affecting my normal pre-race breakfast as I was tasting it a bit early in the run.  Though it was tough I knew that I still needed to hydrate and I put down little bits of water until I was able to work the cramps out about 2 miles into the run.  From then on I really felt like I was rolling along well but guys were still going by me.  I cruised into the finish in 35^th, well off of where I was hoping and nowhere near the points I needed to help my 5150 standing.

In looking back at the splits from the race, I was able to walk away with a few positives.  My swim was solid, there are certain things you can’t help and water conditions being one of them but I was in with the front group and will continue to get stronger.  The bike I fought like hell and pushed hard but need to play the game better to stay with those groups.  The run was as strong as I have felt in a long while, I negative split by 20 seconds per mile not fading as the temperatures started climbing.  Though the speed was very much lacking compared to even the middle of the pack pros it is something that will come.  Derick has been very focused on me making sure I know that we need to build a strong base that has lacked in previous years and we can build the speed on top of that.

It is a very quick turnaround I raced the Ironman 70.3 US Pro Championship in St. George Utah on Saturday.  Race report from there coming soon!

Nitty Gritty Details:

Clothing: 2XU Long Distance Tri Suit, 2XU Compression Calf Guards

Swim: 2XU V:2 Westsuit, 2XU Race Goggles and 2Toms SportsShield.

Bike: Pro Cycling Specialized Shiv Pro, 808's with Zipp Tangente Tubulars with Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant, SRM Rotor 3D+ crank 53-39 Q-Rings, Sidi T3.6, Rudy Project Wingspan helmet and Rudy Project Hypermask Performance w/Multilaser Blue Lens 

Bike Nutrition: 1-24 oz bottle of 1st Endurance EFS Orange, 1/2 Flask 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, 1-24oz bladder of water. 

Run: Colorado Running Company Inov-8 Road X-Treme 208 w/ 2Toms BlisterShield, Rudy Project Noyz

XTERRA West Championship-More than racing

Conrad "breaking trail"

Testing the limits on the pre-ride.

Ahhh finally the start of the fun racing, the off-road season has started for me and it couldn't have come any sooner.  Though it is not a mountain bike venue in any sense I was happy to be out with the off-road family again at the XTERRA West Championship at Lake Las Vegas.  With this course the only real variable is how loose the dirt is until the "trail" gets broken in.  As is standard Conrad was there well in advance of the rest of us and started "breaking trail" and as more of us arrived, we followed 98% of his line and a trail was broken in.  There were few differences between 2013 and 2012 were that the already tame course got a bit more sanitized, which I think we need to "thank" an obstacle run event organizer for adding dirt to the one short technical area of the course making it much easier to ride.  Also some previous heavy rain rutted the course but at the same time there hadn't been any rain recently so the course was very loose as well.  The weather was a drastic change from last year as well, a cloudless sky, temps that were a good 30 degrees F warmer than last year and some wicked winds.  The water was as dirty as always but the cold was welcome in the burning sun.

The usual happened in the swim, Craig, Chris and I tried to get away from Conrad but a lass my lack of good speed put him on my feet and I towed him around the swim as usual.  Chris was the best of us out of the water but I was quickest out of transition and on the bike first.

Out of the cold and into the wind and heat.

My short lived lead over Conrad

Conrad always repays the favor of the swim and I sat on his wheel on the road section out to the "trails", though with the tailwind I was spinning out trying to stay on his tail as he mashed his 40t Rotor Q-Ring and I was on a measly 38t Q-Ring.  Once on the trail I settled into my rhythm and Conrad motored away quicker than desired.  I focused on being as smooth as possible and keeping the power on to hold of Josiah.  After the first two big climbs I descended down a fast stretch when I came across a bike in the middle of the trail with no one in sight.  As I neared a run aid station that was not yet manned I notice some extra color to the ground and someone lying on the ground in obvious pain.  The sport course race had gone off 2 hours before the Championship race and it was an athlete from that race that was there.  There was very little time to think as I approached closer and the only logical thing was to find help.  I heard her ask to get help and I tried to say as loudly as possible that I would.  I proceded along the course to where I thought I would find the closest person to call in for more help, after a few minutes of riding I managed to flag down Dewet (Squirt Lube founder).  I stopped and waited for him to ride back to me and told him the situation about where the athlete was and to find a radio to call for help.  I headed back off on the course battling the thoughts in my head as to if I did the 

Craig and I taking in much needed hydration.

right thing riding off to get help instead of stopping, but it came down to the fast that she needed medical help and I am not medically trained.  A few minutes later I came across an atv with two paramedics, I slowed down, told them the same think I told Dewet.  They called it in on the radio and rumbled off toward the athlete.  I felt much better at that point that I knew medics were aware and on their way and I focused on trying to get back into a race rhythm and go.  Not long later Josiah caught up and I fought to stay on his wheel but he was stronger in the wind and I toiled along.  I continued to push on starting the second lap and a short time later started lapping other Championship athletes.  It was more relief to see medical help had reached the athlete when I came by again and I focused back on opening up the gap between me and fourth place.

Some steep short hills.

SRM Powerfile from 2013 XTERRA West Champs

I started the run with half a cold bottle of EFS drink and a flask of EFS liquid shot thanks to Matt Lieto for letting me stach those in his cooler, it was a welcome way to start the run.  I had a decent gap but with the heat rising and the tailwind at the beginning of the run my core temp was soaring.  I think that is one of the few time I have actually wanted a headwind.  I continued to battle away against the hills and changing winds, only allowing myself to look behind when the course allowed me to do so without turning around.  The last couple miles were painful as a half dollar size blister formed on my left heel and a nickle size one formed on my right.  I was the cause of the blisters, I had put heel lifts in to ease the strain on my achilles as I had developed some tendonitis a week earlier throwing things off, I didn't break the shoes in properly or prep the shoes with 2 Toms Blister Shield properly as well.  I did manage to hold on and crossed the line in 3rd.

L-R Ryan Ignatz (4th), Conrad (missing getting stiches 2nd), Josiah (1st), Myself (3rd), Matt Lieto (5th)

It was a nice way to start the XTERRA series place wise but in talking with Ryan Ignatz afterward neither of us thought our races warranted a 3rd for me or 4th placing for him.

The injured athlete, Eliana Fu, was taken to the hospital and thankfully it was not anything serious but a very painful hematoma.  She was not the only victim on the course as many others crossed the line bruised and bloodied, even Conrad has seriously cut up his hand on a fall, he won't forget to wear gloves at another race again.

It is back to the road for a couple races, first off is St. Anthony's Triathlon in two weeks and some great family time, then off to St. George, Utah for the 70.3 US Pro Championship.  Both fields are stacked and it will be some very fast hard racing before I get to enjoy ripping around on the mountian bike in the dirty south.

Nitty Gritty Details:

Clothing: 2XU Long Distance Tri Suit

Swim: 2XU Velocity V:2 Westsuit  2XU Comp goggles and 2Toms SportsShield.

Bike: Pro Cycling Specialized S-Works Epic 29, 2.2" Fast Trak @ 23.5 psi on the front and 2.2" Fast Trak @ 27.5 psi on the rear, Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant 80ml in each wheel, SRM Rotor 3D+ crank 38-27 Q-Rings, Sidi Terra.  Rudy Project Windmax helmet and Rudy Project Stratofly w/Multilaser Orange Lenses
Bike Nutrition: 1-24 and 1-20oz bottle of First Endurance EFS Grape and 1 flask EFS Liquid Shot.

Run: Colorado Running Company Inov-8 Trailroc 245 with 2Toms BlisterShield, Rudy Project Stratofly w/Multilaser Orange Lenses