Xterra East Championships 2015 Race Report....T'was hot and hard!

What a great race and weekend! Over the weekend of June 13/14 Sarah and I headed down to Richmond to take part in the Xterra East Championships race weekend, the 3rd stop in the US Pro Series. Yup we both took part!

We headed down on Friday afternoon and after spending a few hours on I-95 I was able to preview the Buttermilk trail section of the bike course. I had heard lots about the Xterra Richmond bike course( check out the course preview here) so really wanted to see the technical sections and prepare for the race on Sunday. I am glad I did as there are some gnarly sections that would catch you unaware on race day. It was probably at this point that I realized that my MTB skills are still gradually coming back after a 10 year layoff. I knew I would be losing time to the uber bikers on this course... Oh and it was a hot and humid 92 degrees that would hold over the weekend.

The exciting part was that on Saturday Xterra were hosting a 10km/21km trail race. Somehow I has persuaded Sarah to enter the 10km with the promise that I would run it with her. Not ideal prep for me ahead of the tri on Sunday but excellent that this gave Sarah the motivation of a race and besides it would be fun!

Sarah had nailed her training over the previous 6 weeks and really got consistent with her running.  Yes she was nervous ahead of the race having never done a trail race before and the threat of the Mayan Ruins wall and the dry rocks didn't help. We had a great time though and completed the race in 1hr 9mins which is awesome for a technical 10km.  Bad news is that she finished 5th in her age group just 4 secs behind a podium slot! She is already planning her revenge for next year.

Sarah on the Dry Rocks

After the 10km I got out onto the bike course again to see the rest of the trails. Good luck/bad luck happened halfway round as my chain snapped and I didn't have the parts to repair it. Good luck that it didn't happen on race day - bad luck that I was out in the sun and 3 miles from the race village. After a combination of running/coasting I got back to the village got the chain replaced and started the rest of the days recovery by binge watching Flip or Flop! With a 10km and too much time on the trail I was feeling pretty tired, not ideal ahead of the race.

Xterra races don't usually start until around 9am so the alarm on Sunday didn't come around too early. After setting up transition it was good to the lines that the pro field took through the swim course which you is certainly not typical. There are zig zags, sand bars, rocks and a mid swim run....definitely not your usual swim course. We headed off at 900am and I felt good in the water. I swam good lines, didn't get pushed off by the current and exited the water in around 20th place. Only down side was stepping on a rock during the middle of the swim which actually cut my foot. It felt bad to begin with but by the end of the swim I had forgotten and it wasn't until after the race that I actually remembered!

Walking on water

Through T1 and onto the bike! It was getting toasty and hydration and nutrition would be key for the 2 lap, 20 mile ride. The first mile or so is across the road bridge and then you dive onto the trails bordering the James River, the Buttermilk trails leading to Forest Hills and then onto the North Trails.  My aim was a) not to kill myself, b) enjoy it and c) keep it steady.  The first few miles saw the uber bikers whizz by and it really is amazing how they blitz the trails, I have a lot of work ahead of me but I think that will come in time. I have to remind myself that this is the first season of Xterra and I have probably ridden my MTB about 10-12 times since getting back on it in January.  

The course and atmosphere on the trails was great, at the most technical sections like the river crossing and the rock slab there were a bunch of people partying and having a great time

Party time on the Buttermilk Trail

Despite not being as quick as perhaps I would have liked, I stayed in the hunt and the 2nd lap got kind of lonely as the field was much more strung out. I also took better lines as I was learning the trail more, so much so that my 2nd lap time was almost identical to the 1st lap time.

On the North Trails

Having run the 10km with Sarah the day before I knew what I was in for and felt that with the hot weather and the tough bike course it wasn't going to be a day of laying it down on the run! Much like the bike course, it starts off tame along the canal and then throws you up the Mayan Ruins wall and onto the trails.

2.5 hours into a race this feels as bad as it looks!

My plan was to just keep it steady and to be honest I didn't have much left for the run at all....even if I had wanted to push the pace I didn't have anything left. The Mayan Ruins felt as bad as it looked and the Dry Rocks were both hot and hard.  Races are funny things though and as bad as you can feel you never really know how the rest of the field is feeling.  I made my way around the course at just over 8min/miles and crossed the line in 3hrs 04mins. 

Pushing it to the end of a hard day

Yes I was pleased to have finished a hard course but was a little disappointed in the time. It felt slow and I was totally spent. One of my goals coming into the race was to be close enough to the pointy end of my age group to see if I could grab one of the 3 automatic qualifying slots for the Xterra World Championships in Maui in November. With the race I had I didn't think I would be even close so it was with much surprise that I finished 4th in the age group and now have to wait on a potential roll-down slot if one of the top three do not accept. Again no matter how you are feeling it is always critical to push yourself to the end as you never know what is really going on with the rest of the field.

There are definitely some takeaways from this race and further work as I enter more Xterra races:

1 - Technical MTB skills are critical.

2 - Knowing the course really helps....next year at this race will be even better.

3 - Don't underestimate the overall effort needed in MTB'ing

4 - Despite my constant lack of swimming, I seem to be "ok".

5 - Overall strength needs to improve over simply swim, bike, run strength.

On-wards to the next Xterra race on July 12th at Xterra Ex2 at Rocky Gap.

Thank you goes to:

Parvilla Cycle & Multisport, Pactimo, Retul and of course Sarah!

April 2015: Training Ramblings......Swim, Bike, Run time!

Sorry....way behind on the monthly update for April so before we get to the May update let's bash April out.

The month was all about the first Xterra race at Jersey Devil on April 26th and seeing how that new challenge went.  Fortunately it went well and I ended up 5th overall (race report here) which gave me qualifying spot for Xterra Nationals in Ogden, Utah in September - Goal #1 of the season met :-)  I don't know whether it is my level of fitness or just that Xterra's are harder than road tri's but I was done after just a sprint Xterra...definitely items to work on as the summer continues.

90mins of hurt at Xterra Jersey Devil

The next Xterra on my calendar is Xterra Richmond which is the East Championships on June 14th.....I know what you are thinking "but that's the same day as Eagleman 70.3m". Yes no Eagleman for me in 2015, the first time in 10 years that I won't be racing around the Eastern Shore in early June.

Anyway that was pretty much it for April, training was steady, nothing wildly amazing in terms of hours or volume.  Just struggling a little to get some longer runs in right now and need to try and rectify that.



What I am drinking this month:
Verve Coffee: Granitos de Altura del Ortiz is a stunning micro mill in the hills of Santa María de Dota in Tarrazu, Costa Rica.This selection from 2100 meters soars with transcendent notes of aprium and red apple. The body is juicy and sweet as the finish leaves the palate with a soft cocoa flavor. 

April Total: 517miles/39hrs 17mins/2536 TSS
Swim: 10.44m/5hrs 26mins/ 239 TSS
Bike: 422m/23hrs 42mins/ 1544 TSS
Run: 83.7m/10hrs 10mins/ 752 TSS

Xterra Jersey Devil 2015 Race Report.....a solid start!

Finally after a Winter of training it was time to put it all together and hit the start line for Xterra Jersey Devil on Sunday April 26th.  Xterra is essentially an off-road triathlon in case you wondered....swim, MTB ride, trail run so something a little different for this season and almost 12 years since I had raced MTB's.

We headed to the Jersey Shore on Saturday with enough time to head to the course, register and get a short pre-ride of the bike course. The Jersey Devil course is a good first foray into the world of Xterra as the distances are relatively short (1/2mile swim, 13 mile bike and a 3.2mile run) and the technicality is pretty low. Although when you get to race speed it's always good to know the course so the pre-ride allowed a preview prior to Sunday.  The course was pretty flat, dry for the most part but four deep wet areas ensured that you looked like you had swam through a bog rather than ridden through it.....definitely a course for high speeds and constantly on the power with very little time for rest.

Our hotel was a few miles away right on the Atlantic Ocean so after eating a dinner to the dulcet tones of Robert Connelly we were lulled to the sleep by the sound of the hotel air conditioning unit drowning out the waves  crashing on the seashore.....

The nice thing about Xterra races are that they start at 900am and not right at the crack of dawn like road triathlons, I presume because they don't have to worry about the closing of roads and the like. It also meant that Chris, Cezanne and Melania were able to head out from Philly and keep Sarah company while spectating. So we headed over to the race after a quick pitstop to collect coffee and muffins and I was all set-up in the transition by 800am which left plenty of time for me to deposit said coffee and muffin into the local waste system before squeezing into the tried and tested Orca wetsuit.

I am in there somewhere

And how glad I was for a full sleeved wetsuit......58 degrees was the water temperature, which  as I can now attest to is a little uncomfortable. Luckily it was only a 1/2 mile swim so it was a splash and dash and out in just under 11 minutes. I was actually pleased with my swim and despite it still being my weakest element of the sport I was into T1 in 6th place. 

Onto the bike out on the sandy trails and with the 2 loop course being a total of 13miles it was just go-go-go from the start while trying to remember more technical areas of the course. Unfortunately the lead swimmer had a mishap early on in the bike and DNF'ed with a suspected broken wrist.  The course was great and before the end of the first lap I had worked my way into 3rd place.  The 2nd lap became a little more technical in that you had to work your way around racers still on their first lap. Personally I always like to at least be polite and not just barge through potentially crashing yourself or freaking out a slower rider but as I was slowed by a rider on a narrow section we were caught from behind and they weren't exactly polite to the slower rider. Jeez...we do this for fun!

After a quick 50mins of riding it was back into T2 and off to the run with my Hoka One-One Huaka's. I was off the bike in 4th with the 6th fastest bike overall and quickly regained 3rd in transition.

The first race of the year is a good-a-time as any for the first bike-run brick of the year and the combination of pushing the bike and the less than optimal trail run training came back to bite me pretty quickly.  The run was a lot of fun and was really a good test of trail running. There was limited areas on the course that you could get into a rhythm and open the throttle like you can on a nice flat run. About a mile in I was overtaken by a flying Daryl Weaver (National 40-44 champion) and 5th wasn't far behind. With very soggy  and muddy shoes I held on for as long as I could but ultimately fell into 5th less than a few hundred meters before the end with a 6th place 22min run.  I crossed the finish line in 1hr 27mins and 5th place overall - results

For my first Xterra race ever, I'll take a 5th place overall with two National Champions in front of me. It qualified me for the Xterra USA Championships in Ogden Utah in mid-September and importantly gave me some good indicators on what I need to work on before the next Xterra in June at the East Championships in Richmond (on a longer, more technical course).  I'll be back at this race again in 2016, Bob Horn and his crew put on a great race which for this time of year is a perfect distance and location!

As always a huge thanks to Parvilla Cycle & Multisport, Pactimo Clothing, Guru Cycles and Retul for the continued support for the Parvilla Elite Triathlon Team this 2015 season.

And now for something completely different.....Cranky Monkey 6hr MTB Race and Xterra

The Ramblings of an Endurance Junkie is probably apt right about now as this weekend I line up for my first mountain bike race of the year and my first MTB race since 2003....a lot has changed in those 12 years since I was racing all over the UK in the dirt! We moved to the USA, took up triathlon and didn't touch the trails until picking up 'cross again in 2012.

So it looks like the two worlds have collided for 2015. I am venturing into Xterra triathlons (off-road triathlons) so why not sign up for the Cranky Monkey 6hr MTB endurance race as a training race on the local trails.  It should be a lot of fun, the weather looks good, the trails have dried up and I have some pretty good fitness right now. I'm not sure if it is 6hr MTB fitness but it is fitness.

I have managed to get onto the trails a few times since actually getting my Specialized Stumpjumper in January, in amongst the rain and snow! Yes I was a little rusty but the last ride this past week was a bit better in terms of flow....I'm sure that over the course of 6hrs the feel for the trails will come back as you learn the track.

Race Flyer for Cranky Monkey 6hr

So what does this mean for 2015 and the triathlon season? It's bit of a diversion to hit the Xterra Series with the season goal to qualify for Nationals in Ogden, Utah (Sept, 2015). A long shot would be to qualify for Worlds at the Eastern Championships race at Richmond in June (only 2 or 3 spots in my age group available at the race), that might be a goal for another year! Let's see what the first few races teach me :-

My 2015 Xterra race schedule will be something like this:

April 26th - Xterra Jersey Devil, Barnegat, NJ
June 14th - Xterra East Championships, Richmond, VA
July 12th - Xterra Ex2, Rocky Gap, MD
August 2nd - Xterra Appalachia, Penns Run, PA
Sept 19th - Xterra Nationals, Ogden, UT

Should be a fun season!

February 2015: Training Ramblings........Motivation

With a gradual build in the run miles from December through January, February was finally the time to start laying down some serious miles and incorporating specific workouts into the schedule. Aside from the occasional outside weekend run the vast majority of my running is on the treadmill at work, which I have certainly come to embrace again this winter. The treadmill really enables you to do some fantastic workouts without the obstructions, breaks and at this time of year snow, ice and cold. My staple treadmill workouts this month have been:

1 - Speed Workout: 10 minute warm-up followed by 12 x 2mins at 5km pace with 2mins rest interval.

2 -  Hill Intervals: 10 minute warm-up followed by 7 x 6mins (2mins at 2%, 2mins at 4%, 2mins at 0%).

3 - Tempo: 10 minute warm-up with 35mins at 10km pace

The glamorous view of the work gym treadmill

Throw in a longer weekend run and a recovery run and it's a solid week of running.  Feeling the gains this month has been great and has certainly fueled the motivation for the 2015 season.

Speaking of motivation, I also got wet a few more times this month and will continue to build the pool time in March.  The thing I find about swimming is really that my pace doesn't really drop off with the lack of pool time but the endurance really does. Over the past month the endurance has come back and now it's time to work actually improving the pace. I have been the same pace for way too long....time to make some gains!

Biking this month was pretty much maintenance, the Winter finally hit so there was a couple of weeks without the longer weekend rides due to snow/ice and therefore lower volume.  The power numbers have still been there though and with the next power test coming shortly, it will be good to see some marginal gains.

One of the few outdoor rides this month with a stop at Sweet Sues!

The 2015 schedule is beginning to fill up a little bit more and here are the confirmed or anticipated triathlons so far:

April 26th: Xterra Jersey Devil
May 9th: Kinetic Half-Ironman
June 14th: Xterra East Championships
July 12th: Xterra Ex2 Rocky Gap
Aug 2nd: Fort Ritchie Olympic/Xterra Appalachia
Aug 16th: Challenge Pocono Mountains
Sept 20th: Xterra Nationals Utah (Pending Qualification)

A good mix of off-road and regular triathlons and I'm still looking for a couple of races in June and July.

Overall a good solid month of training with motivation still high as the Spring begins to poke it's head out from under the covers.


What I am drinking this month:
Intelligentsia Coffee: Zirikana, Rwanda - A testament to the skill and commitment by the team at the Nyarusiza washing station, this year's release is remarkably lush, and brims with flavors of lime zest, black tea and crisp grape in the finish

February Total: 485miles/39hrs 31mins/2778 TSS
Swim: 10.73m/5hrs 51mins/ 422 TSS
Bike: 354m/18hrs 51mins/ 1184 TSS
Run: 121m/14hrs 50mins/ 1172 TSS

January 2015: Training Ramblings.....Consistency is the Key

With the cross season over and Winter settling in, there isn't a lot to report from the month of January. For me it is really about getting some consistent training logged especially building the run and swim up again after a hiatus during the Fall. My biking fitness was high coming off the cross season so the plan was to maintain on the bike and build the rest so that come the early Spring I am in some kind of shape to race triathlons.

In late January Sarah and I got away for some Sun, Sea and Sand in Aruba for a week...as always it was great to relax and get away from everything, it's a plus that you can run in shorts and t-shirt in 85 degree weather and swim in the outside pool!

One Happy Island.....Aruba 2015!

Building on December I logged a steady 10hrs running and all at a steady pace, no intervals or anything as of yet just plain old base building to get ready for some harder stuff in February and beyond.  The swim grew a little...it's easy to grow from nothing, so even the 2.5hrs in January is a start. February needs to be better!

Good news on the bike was that my January FTP test came out at 308w (95% of 324w) and my Vo2 tested at 355w (for 5mins). These are both all-time highs which goes to prove that cyclocross and quality hours rather than just volume can work.....now is the time to maintain that and build as the Spring approaches.

I have also been looking at the racing calendar for 2015 and trying to figure out some races that would be fun to do.  It is all still up in the air right now but I have signed up for two races: Cranky Monkey 6hr MTB race on March 28th, which is local at Rosaryville State Park and then the Xterra East Championship in Richmond in mid-June.

Not quite as warm as Aruba.....MTBing at Rosaryville State Park

There will definitely be a mix of road and off-road triathlon's this season, riding the MTB will be great skills work for cyclocross in the Fall and it's just plain fun to run and ride off-road.

What I am Drinking This Month:
1562 Roastery: Nicaragua Jose Francisco (peach, almond, creamy, cantaloupe)

January Total: 540.24mile/40hrs 18mins/ 2620 TSS
Swim: 4.84m/ 2hrs 33mins/ 176 TSS
Bike: 456m/ 26hrs 10mins/ 1599.2 TSS
Run: 79.4m/  9hrs 55mins/ 724.8 TSS
Strength: 1hr 40mins/ 120 TSS