This past weekend marked my return to off-road triathlon racing. By return, I mean that it was my second time racing an Xterra event, and it had been over two years since the last one. I would honestly like to make more time for racing these events, as I really like the atmosphere and the change of pace, but it rarely works out with my on-road schedule. This past weekend was an exception, and after pre-riding the course on Friday, I got up super early Saturday to drive down with fellow Durango triathlete, Dave Rakita.
We got our transitions set up quickly, but it was hard for me to wrap my head around the reversal of events. This Xterra was a swim, run, bike, and had separate transition areas, so it was definitely something new. The permitting for the race only allows 150 people to compete on the legendary Road Apple trail systems, so it was a relatively small event with quite a few first timers. This made the swim start pretty manageable, so I got out clear with a few other swimmers, and settled into a comfortable pace. The plan was to put as much time into my pursuers as possible during the swim and run, and then be able to take the bike conservatively and avoid crashes.
I came out in 4th position, with the swim leader about a minute up on our group. I wouldn't say that I felt great, but after some big training in the week leading up, and no taper, I was happy with the effort. By the one mile mark I was running in first position, and I kept on the gas for the full distance to put it out of reach. The first lap of the bike I took out pretty fast, and then put it on cruise control and made sure not to go down for the last 7-8 miles.
It was nice to switch things up a little and race on the trails, and if I can fit it in, I'd like to do a cup race later in the year, perhaps the US Champs in Ogden. Before that though, it's a taper week, Boise 70.3, some hard training with Buffalo Springs 70.3 thrown in, and then Ironman Lake Placid in late July. Weather has turned perfect in Durango, so I'm looking forward to this big block of work. Full gas!
Link to the Farmington newspaper article:
http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-sports/ci_15237968?source=email
No comments:
Post a Comment