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