Xterra Lory 2011 Race Report

Saturday, I raced the Xterra Lory triathlon--my last triathlon before Xterra nationals in 4 weeks.  When I signed up for this race way back in December I didn't know what kind of mountain biker I would be so I signed up for the elite category.  Of course as the season unfolded I realized I am not the best mountain biker and have not been placing as high as I expected.  So, when I saw I was in the first wave and that pretty much all the women racing elite were actually pros and most of the other people in the first wave were fast guys, I moved to the second wave and raced age group.  Besides, I have yet to win my age group this year and with a lot of the heavy hitters in my age group not racing and this being a good course for me (non technical bike and long gradual climb on the run) I figured this was my shot.  So, onto the details of the race.

Swim: 1/2 mile or so, 9/101 women, 1/20 AG, 13:58

I didn't do much of a warm up.  I should but I used all of my time setting up, standing in the bathroom line, talking and then squeezing into my wetsuit.

Horsetooth Reservoir made for a beautiful swim venue

The 20+ minute wetsuit squeeze in

The reservoir was beautiful.  If the swim had been much longer I would have been warm, but I felt perfect in my long sleeved wetsuit for that distance.

The first wave went off and we waited and waited and it was finally our time to go.  I was lined up in front next to Paula since I knew she would be one of the faster female swimmers, since I was swimming close to her pace at the beginning of the season, and since she would also be one of the fastest overall amateurs.

For me, it's important to start the swim fast.  The first 50 meters or so were great, then I got pummeled a lot for 100 meters or so, then I guess I got dropped by some people and dropped some others.  No Paula in sight. Apparently she was way up front.  I was caught in the middle between what appeared to be the front pack and a back that was a ways behind me.  There was a guy swimming right next to me to the turn buoy, but I dropped him there.  I seemed to be slowly catching up to the pack, but could never quite do it.

It was still a good swim, I felt like I swam fairly straight and a good pace considering my lack of swimming.

At the swim exit Adam told me that I was third woman (in my wave).

After removing one wetsuit sleeve, I guess I needed my goggles off right away!

T1: 1:14, 5/101 women (fastest wetsuit wearer), 1/20 AG
I felt like transition took forever.  I saw Paula leaving as I got in and another woman leaving as I was getting ready to leave.  I could have been faster with the wetsuit--this has been the struggle all year with my aging wetsuit.

trying to hurry hurry hurry!

Bike: 12.2 miles, 17/100 women, 3/20 AG, 1:05:09

heading out on the bike

I headed out on the bike I was right behind another woman.  I worked hard to catch up to her and caught up to her just after we turned off the dirt road back onto single track.  I quickly got the nerve to pass her and was moving along pretty well for me for the first half of the first lap.Then I started getting caught by more and more guys from my wave, some who were nice some who were not.  Having people ride right on my wheel when I am not a terribly predictable rider makes me nervous and tends to make me ride slower,  I wish people would say that the want to pass and then try to do so or back off a bit instead of just riding right on my wheel.  One guy was even yelling at me.  Not productive.

Any way, the woman passed me back but no other women passed me which was a huge relief!  the second lap was me passing people from later waves that made me look like a good mountain biker, but I was patient, gave them there space and nicely alerted them that I wanted to pass.  It's just a race, no reason to be mean to people. I was very happy that the race ended with no falling and me only getting off my bike twice--both which I planned.  I felt pretty good about the bike until I saw the results and saw how much I need to improve.  I'm sure I lost seconds on every turn, every downhill, every sandy section.

Coming into transition, relived to be done and taking in a gu for some energy for the run.

T2: :44, 1/100 women, 1/20 AG I was not far from the woman that I left T1 behind and got through fast enough to head out of transition ahead of her.  I did manage to bang the back of my right leg on my bike pedal as I was running up the hill in transition. Adam thought I was telling him to shut up, but I think I might have been saying something else that starts with sh...

Run: 8k, 5/99 women, 1/20 AG,40:54

I took a gu at the end of the bike thinking there was an aid station right out of transition.  There wasn't.  I was in a hurry to drop the woman behind me anyway.  I was running a good pace but could sense that she was not falling off my pace.  I was relieved when I finally got to the aid station and could drink some water and dump water on my head.  I only had a sip of water and gu with not much water was probably not a good thing.

I ran the course last weekend when I prerode and I'm glad I did.  After the aid station the course begins climbing steadily for over 1.5 miles. There is no shade and it seems like it is never going to end.  I was mentally prepared for this and that helped a lot.

There were a lot of switchbacks which was good and bad.  It allowed me to see where the woman was behind me, but also allowed her to see me.  I was hoping to get out of her sight so she would "give up".  After a while up the climb I saw her walking and put on the gas a little and then never saw her again.

I started to slow a little towards the top of the climb and then saw a woman ahead of me on the rolling section towards the top.  At first I thought she was just some random person out for a run, then I realized she was in the race.   She must have been from the first wave, but just in case I made sure to pass quickly.

As the decent that I was so looking forward to began, I got a major side stitch.  Perhaps from having a gu with not much water or perhaps from not focusing on my breathing enough on the climb. It felt like the worst side stitch ever in my whole life..ever.  I tried to run fast downhill but every step was excruciating.  I tried to tell myself the faster I run the faster I'm done and the sooner the pain goes away, but with 2 miles to go it's hard to think like that.  I kept moving down the hill steadily although not as fast as normal.  I even passed a guy.  Once the decent flattened out a bit it was not better but not as bad.  I had less than a mile left and tried to push as hard as I could.  I could see some women up ahead of me and didn't know who they were and whether they were in my wave or not.  I ran hard and passed one of them with 300 meters or so to go.  I didn't catch the others but it turns out they were in the first wave and got a 7 or 8 minute head start.  

Sprinting to the finish

Jumping on the slip and slide at the finish...I only made it about half way down.  Clearly I am lacking proper technique.

I was so happy to be done with the race and happy with how I did.

Overall: I finished second in my wave and thought maybe, just maybe I won my age group.  I looked at the results and saw I was several minutes back from the age group win, and while I was faster than her on the swim and run, she beat me by over 11 minutes on the bike!  Ouch.  I was relieved to find out she is a pro mountain biker and beat a lot of the guys times in the race.  I ended up finishing in 2:01:57 for 7th overall female, 3rd amateur, 2nd 30-34 so I'm happy with it.  I still need to improve a lot on the bike and my fitness on the swim and run are lacking, but I have 4 weeks to nationals to take care of that, right?

Getting my coffee mug award