I have been looking forward to the first XTERRA of the
season for a while now. It’s my second year of racing triathlons and I built up
my Toa with races like this in mind.
The conditions were fantastic for an early season race. The
water was in the mid 50’s, which was a little shock to the system, but not too
bad after a few minutes. The swim was a mass start, with some strong swimmers
out there. I came in with a decent swim, - top 20 and headed for the bike.
Once
on the bike, I was having a great time, it was warm and sunny. The trails were
in fantastic shape – hero dirt. I passed a few riders and hit a great groove
where everything was going well. Point the bike where I wanted it to go, and it did, flying through the fun singletrack trails. At this point, I didn’t know how I was doing
place wise, but I never saw anyone in my age group, so I just kept hitting it
as hard as I could.
Before I knew it, I had caught 3 other racers and we all
came in to the transition together. A quick change of shoes, grab a GU and a
swig of water and it time to run. The legs didn’t make the switch to smoothly,
and I realized that it was warmer than I thought and I didn’t drink enough on
the bike. I drank 2 cups of water at the first two aid stations and did another
GU. Slowly, the legs started to do their thing, then I hit the climb – ouch. I
kept my pace even up over Mooney Ridge and hit the descent, which is what I was
dreading at this point since the descent is usually harder on tired legs then
the climbing. But, I made it down smoothly, got passed by a couple of really
good runners and headed for the last mile to the finish.
It was a smooth run in
to the finish, with a great result. 1st in my age group.
Scott C