Xterra Last Stand

Well, I completed my first Xterra (triathlon) of the season.  My race results are as follows:

 

Swim: 16:44 Ranked 16 in group.
T1: 2:00 Minutes
Bike: 1:04:34 ranked 21 in group*
T2: 1:02 Minutes
Run: 46:22 ranked 32 in group.
Total Time: 2:10:41 ranked 28th out of 38 in age group.

The swim was mass start so you have 180 people running into the water at the same time.  I stayed in the back, however started passing people quickly.  It turned into a mad house.  I’ve never experienced anything like in a ‘road’ triathlon.  It’s also a lap swim, meaning you swim 1/4 mile, then run on the beach, then swim the last 1/4 mile.  If you HR wasn’t spiked swimming, it was running.

I hit T1 good, however was so disoriented I could barely stand up. My understanding is you lose your equilibrium by staring at murky water for so long.  I’ve researched some possible solutions so will practice those.

The bike is where I had the incident.  I took off on the bike like a bat out of hell.  Unlike a road triathlon, in an Xterra the trail gets plugged quickly by slower riders and it’s not always easy to pass.  It was frustrating but I eventually took off.  I felt great and had a lot of power in my legs.  And then my stomach cramped.  UGH.  I tried slowing down to see if it would settle down, but it didn’t.  I finally had to dismount and exercise the demon.  This cost me about 5 minutes (conservative) in the bike portion.  It’s all a part of racing, just really frustrating.  I’m going to experiment with different nutrition. This happened during the Barry Roubaix as well.

The run was…well a run.  86 degree and I was running.  Not happy about that.  Also, the first 200 yards was running on the beach.  That does wonders for the calf muscles.  The trail was gorgeous and was a great trail to run.  But man was I whooped by then.  I’m not a runner so I’ll always be near the end of the pack in this category.  I did run the entire trail, which was good.

I think Xterra’s are much more difficult that road triathlons.  The mass swim start is insane, mountain biking is 90% anaerobic for an hour and then you have to run on a trail that is anything but flat.

All in all, I had a great time, just could have done without the bike incident.