Xterra Changed is format a bit this year and instead of just having 4 regional championship races they now have 8 cup races all over the country. The 2008 Xterra West Coast Championship in Temecula was my introduction to Xterra and boy was I in for a surprise. I had just come off of a pretty solid road race and thought that I would finish around the same time, maybe 15-20 minutes slower. Boy was I in for a surprise, race day was 100+ degrees and I ended up finishing in 4:18 and change. It was then I decided that I was going to focus on Xterra.
This year the race moved from Temecula to Lake Las Vegas just outside Henderson, NV. I was a little bummed because I would not be able to directly compare times from last year, but I quickly got over that as I was excited to compete against the top racers on the West Coast. So my wife Ryel and I packed up and headed out on the road, and as you can see we were very excited to get to the desert.
jumping…
…for joy!
The race was on Saturday and we arrived late on Thursday so we could get settled and I would have a chance to ride the course on Friday. We had a relaxing morning Friday and then headed up to the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort where the race was being help. The hotel was beautif and while I was riding and running Ryel was able to site and overlook the lake while catching up on work, what a perfect way to spend the day.
The course was unlike anything I have ridden before, it was essentially a abandoned construction site so there were no plants, trees or any signs of life for that matter except for right on the edge of the water. It was also the first full distance race of the season with a 1500k swim, 30k bike and 10k run. I did one loop on the bike course and one loop on the run course and felt pretty good. I was ready for the tough parts and knew where I was going to need to push. Here is a map of the course (yellow is the swim, red is the bike, and green is the run) and as you can see, lots of dirt.
Did the usual pre-race dinner of macaroni grill and then it was off to bed. Race day was beautiful, clear skies and comfortable temps. We headed over to transition to get set up
The transition area
Me finish up my pre-race set up and breakfast
The Swim:
The swim was a point to point swim starting at the resort and ending at the transition area. There was a bit of wind by race time so they modified the swim just a bit so that we would not have to fight the current as much. The water temp was great and I got a really good warm up. The pros went out with a cannon start and I started shortly after in the first wave. the first few hundred yards of the swim were in a protected bay so there was no current at all but as soon as we got into the open water the current was evident, luckily it was moving the same direction we were, that is until the second buoy. At that point I was very glad that I get to do my open water swims in the ocean and am used to dealing with swells and how to swim through them. I was able to pass several people here as they were struggling through the current.
Coming out of the swim and into transition
The Bike:
Since I was able to ride the course the day before I knew the first few miles of the bike would be the toughest as most of the the 1000+ ft. of climbing were between mile 1 and 3. I planned to go out a bit slow so I could warm up and then go hard after the hills. This worked well for me as I was able to pass a few people and maintain a solid pace. My worry was that I was going to slow down the second lap but I was able to keep a strong pace throughout both laps and felt great going into transition.
Finishing up lap one
and the start of lap two
The Run
The run was similar to the bike in the fact that most of the 500ft. of climbing was in the first 1.5 miles. things were going great until the turnaround point and as I was going down the steep hill I just finished climbing, my right hamstring tightened up on me. I stretched quickly and pushed on. The second lap was a lot tougher as I was beat. I really need to improve this part of my race the most. Luckily the last mile is downhill and you can see the finish line and that was exactly the motivation I needed.
A couple of shots from the run
Its really hard to copare this race to temecula but I was definitely much faster with a finish time of 3:33:14. That was good enough for an 11th place finish in my age group. Not as good as I hoped but I am still very happy with my results. Having this race early in the season will only help me get stronger.
happy to finish
and congratulated by my wife!
Race Details:
11th in age group (of 20)
98th overall (of 197)
swim: 24:56
bike: 1:52:54
run: 1:11:56
finish time: 3:33:14
Dayle's Xterra Blog 