The Renegade Off Road Triathlon marked the one year anniversary of my triathlon career as this was the first race I ever competed in. I completed last years .5 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 3mile run in 2:27:48 and was looking forward to beating that time and setting a new PR. This is the closest race to home, only about 30min away from me in San Dimas, and the only non-XTERRA race of the year but it will remain a fixture on my schedule as its is the first race I ever did. With the race being close to home I drove up on Saturday to pre-ride and run the course. It was a beautiful Southern California day with temps in the 70’s and not a cloud in the sky, a perfect day to ride. I remembered the course from last year and was excited to see how I felt with off-road specific training, hoping that the sections that I found difficult last year would not be so tough. The ride felt great and I did feel all the hills were not nearly as big as last year, definitely a good sign. The run starts out with a short steep climb and then some rolling hills to another longer climb around the mile mark. I took my time for the pre-run to try and plan my attack, the areas I knew I could push that would benefit me. I felt pretty good because even at a casual pace I beat my run time last year by 4min, all the training is paying off!
(Map of the bike loop and run course)
With the race being close to home it was nice to sleep in my bed and get a good nights sleep. I headed out Sunday morning feeling relaxed and ready to race. Sunday was just as beautiful as Saturday. I got to the race just in time to see the sun rise over the lake, nothing like a great sunrise to get me excited about a race! I set up my transition area and was getting into race mode when my good friends Josh, Angelica, Mark, Jessica, Steve and Jaqi all showed up. It was really funny to see them (the girls) all bundled up in blankets as I was walking around with my race suit on. I said my hellos and then headed down to the water to get my warm up in. Luckily the water was a lot warmer than Folsom Lake and this was a huge relief as I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about my face going numb. I got my couple hundred yards in and headed over to the start, time to race.
The Swim
This race was a bit different from XTERRA REAL as there were 3 waves for the start instead of one mass start. This gave me tons of room to get into the water and really I was able to swim all alone the entire time. I think I was still thinking about how rough the swim was the week before because I was a lot slower than I wanted to be in the water, but hey, that happens and I was confident I would be able to make up time on the bike.
(Me getting my wetsuit off coming out of the water and heading into transition)
The Bike
I knew from the ride yesterday that I was going to be a lot quicker on the bike and boy was that ever the case, I felt like I was flying through the course. I rode the first 3-4 mile going back and forth with another rider until he had a mechanical issue and then I was on my own the rest of loop one. I passed a few people early on and quickly settled into my own pace and felt great starting the second loop. I got passed by one guy on the second loop so I was still feeling confident that I was going to have a strong age group finish, probably around 5th or 6th just like Folsom. Oh the bike course was a great mix of single track and fire road that was nice and fast. the whole course rolled through the hills and had beautiful views of both the lake and mountains.
(Cruising through some single track)
The Run
Now I knew from last year that the run started with a big hill and wanted to pace myself. I left transition with another runner and he quickly over took me but I was not worried cause I was confident I would gain on him at the first hill. That is exactly what happened, as soon as we got to the top of the hill I surged past him and he didn’t have an answer! It felt great to make a tactical move like that so early in the run. I was again out on my own and was feeling good. Around mile 2 I started to hear foot steps and knew that someone was gaining on me. I to a peak around a corner and saw that it was the guy I had past on the first hill. I quickly picked up the pace not wanting to lose my position but with about a half mile left in the race he past me and I could keep up. I found out after the race that he was a 2:41 marathoner and that he was just getting stronger as the race went so I didn’t feel as bad.
(Coming down the home stretch)
Coming out of the woods towards the finish I could hear the announcer say to the runner in front of me, “congratulations top 10 finish!”. This totally caught me by surprise as I had no idea I was that far out front! I was so excited as I crossed the finish line and say my time 2:05:47. I crushed last years time by 22min and it felt great to know all the training was worth it. I cooled down and packed up my gear and headed back over to the results area to see where I finished overall. I had to do a triple take, I finished 10th overall and first in my age group. I was blown away!! We hung around for the awards and I got an awesome pint glass for winning my division and then we all headed out to a celebration lunch.
Results:
10th overall (108 racers)
1st in my division (11 racers)
Here are the final splits:
Swim: 15:59
Bike: 1:16:39
Run: 30:20
Finish Time: 2:05:47
The XTERRA West Cup is coming May 2nd and I will definitely be training hard the next few weeks to be ready.
Sunday the 29th marked the official start of my XTERRA season with XTERRA REAL, a .5 mile swim 13 mile mtn. bike and 4 mile run, at Folsom Lake,CA.Living in Southern California was a bit of a trek, a 8hr. drive up the 5fwy, so I left early Friday morning so that I could get settled and rest before the race. I got to my campground around 3 on Friday afternoon and I couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was in the mid-seventies and sunny, great race weather and I was starting to get excited!
About 15min prior to start I headed down to get a little warm up swim in. I jumped in the water a gasped, it was freezing!!! Turns out the water temp was 58, welcome to XTERRA. I did my usual 200 yard or so warm up and was feeling better about the water temp, that I could handle it and would warm up as the swim went on.
So I was totally wrong about being ready for the cold water. I got about 300 yards into the swim and was completely dis-oriented, everything was spinning and it felt like my face was frozen. I quickly took off my goggle and floated on my back for a few seconds to try and regain my balance and feeling in my face. I was a little panicked as this was not at all how I wanted the race to start, so I pushed the pain aside and tried to focus on the swim buoy and muscle forward. I didn’t start feeling “normal” until about the half way mark of the swim but really, I never got comfortable. I can’t tell you how glad when the swim was over and I could get on dry land and my bike.
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