Xterra West Championships, Las Vegas

Back when I was a swimmer I use to enter a "throw-away race" before all my real events at any big competition. This race was always aweful but it woke the nerves up, cleaned out the cobwebs, and got me ready to get on with the important races. I was hoping that the Desert Duathlon would act as that throw-away race but apparently I needed two this season to get the reset button to fully engage. Just a week ago I switched up the schedule and decided to head to Vegas for the opening race of the Xterra USA Pro Series. I made the 7.5hr drive out from Tucson on Thursday with fellow Canuck Karsten Madsen and spent friday/saturday getting in some pre-rides and runs on the Lake Las Vegas course. I was really happy with the small changes to the bike course which took out the stupid hike-a-bike and sketchy downhill and generally made the course much more rideable, though still super tough. I also liked the new single loop run course and well the swim is the swim. (and just for the record it wasn't THAT cold, definitely not in the 50's. Sure the hands and feet got a little numb and the face was a little tingly, but no gasping for breath, thinking about ripping off my wetsuit feeling that 50deg water entails)

Swim Start (think I'm 2nd from the right)

Got up early Sunday morning and did the usual warm-up routine feeling pretty good, not super snappy, but it's still April. The swim was a deep water start under the bridge of the Aston Montalego Hotel, but with only 30 or so pros and plenty of room it was pretty mellow. I was only swimming in my new Nineteen wetsuit for the 2nd time this season but felt super comfy in it and jumped right on leader Seth Wealing's feet. Seth was setting a quick enough pace that I couldn't get around him and go faster, but was a little too easy sitting in his draft. In the end it made more sense to conserve the energy, though I did try to will him to pick it up just a bit (didn't work) and hopefully didn't irritate him too much running into the back of his feet constantly, I hate doing that to people.

Seth and I heading to the first buoy

Was out of the water in second overall, first woman and as usual had no idea where anyone else would be. Even with the numb hands and feet I had a speedy transition and headed out onto the bike, the first race on the new (and super fast) Fuji DSR 1.0. The 2 loop bike course, while not overly technical, had a bunch of tough uphills early on with some deep sand wash riding in the middle and a tiny bit of single track at the end. I held off Mel quite a bit further than previous years and felt I was riding strong and steady, though not as quick as I would have liked. Couldn't hang on Mel's wheel but entered the second lap still holding onto 2nd place. Half way through the 2nd lap I was caught by Xterra rookie, Pro MTBer and fellow Honey Stinger athlete Kelley Cullen, with Shonny not too far behind her. Great to see new faces out racing - not as happy when they go whizzing by me. I held it close finishing up the bike and flew through T2 to close the gap down to as little as possible heading out on the run.

Had to put the following photo in to call Shonny out ;) racking her bike nowhere near her spot and right on top of mine!!! How many bikes can you squeeze onto one bike rack...

I could see Shonny and Kelley running side by side about 200m in front of me and called on the legs to pick it up and shut it down. They didn't respond. I caught Kelley about 3km in but the gap between Shonny and I would close a bit, then open back up, repeat, repeat. On the uphills it would seem like she was right there but the illusion would right itself on every downhill and she ran a strong second 5km to finish just over a minute up. Mel never had to look back after passing me to take a convincing win, while Kelley Cullen and Danelle Kabush rounded out the top 5.

Overall really happy with the effort and result (3rd) but looking at the splits it is still obvious that the bike needs to improve. I'm back in Tucson for a quick 3 day turn around before heading to Waco Texas for the next race. It was great to see everyone in the Xterra crew again and super big thanks to Shelby for the bike feed, all the great volunteers for their help and race sponsors for putting on a great race. Also huge thanks to my sponsors Fuji, Rudy Project, Maxxis, Nineteen, Extreme Endurance, Champsys, and Honeystinger for all their great support!! Coach... we are back on the right track and moving forward.

Check out the Race Gallery from Nils Nilsen for some more great shots!!!

Yeah for Xterra!!!

Just a quick blurb before heading to bed (it's race day tomorrow!!!) Last Sunday after an incredibly sub-par interval session on my TT bike I made the decision to skip the first race of the Liftetime Fitness Series in South Beach and head to Las Vegas for the opening race of the Xterra USA Series. Still more time and work is needed on that bike before I will be comfortable and able to produce the kind of power I need to be competitive on the road and it just didn't feel right to head back to Miami and not be able to race like I know that I am capable of. As soon as I made the decision and talked it over with the coach I knew it was the right one, stress gone, happy face back on :))))

Looking forward to a great race tomorrow, especially after watching Paula Findley take the win at the ITU WCS Sydney race!!! What a great way to get psyched up for race day...

Fun in LA

Well lactate/VO2 testing can hardly be called fun, probably the most painful 30+ minute workout you can do, but getting the data back is sorta fun if you like the "science behind the sports" stuff and don't mind bruised finger tips for a day or so. Monday morning, feeling pretty good after a whole day in the car on Sunday, I headed over to the Culver City Plunge (great name for a pool) for a quick, easy swim session. Not that I'm complaining about the pools in Tucson, but what a great facility; long course, salt water, nice and cool temp. and open for lap swimming all day!!! I love swimming long course and so rarely get to do it these days. Short of sneaking into the U of A pool, it is all yards all the time in Tucson. (at least it is outside)

From there I headed over to Helen's Cycles in Santa Monica to do a bike fit with guru Nate Loyal. I have never done a professional fit so I was pretty excited to see what he thought of my personal fitting experiment. Apparently I pretty much got it all wrong. We ended up moving my saddle back almost 5cm and shortening the stem 3cm. We also added shims to my cleats to stabilize my pedal stoke. As drastic as it sounds I didn't really feel all that different on it after the changes but after a ride back at home I am definitely able to stay down in the aerobars comfortably through the whole ride and expect the power to start getting back to where it belongs after a bit more training on it.

With my new bike position it was directly over to the lab for the bike test. Not ideal, but since I don't get out to LA to see Gareth all that often, we didn't have much choice. I haven't done any testing in over two years so we really needed to get some accurate numbers to make sure the training sessions are where they need to be. I had a feeling the bike numbers were going to be a bit off with the new bike and position, but thankfully it was just a bit low at the top end with my aerobic base good and strong. Easily fixed!!!! It was also the first time I have done a VO2 test so it was interesting to see the results of that though I have to admit still a bit unsure of what exactly they mean. Guess that is why I have a coach :)

working HARD :)) with the lovely green mask on

Lab graph for all you techies out there

Tuesday morning it was back to the lab for the run test. Legs were a bit fatigued but that's how you have to race triathlons anyways. My run has been feeling really good and the results showed lower HR's over the entire test with just a bit more lactate production at threshold but even still able to push to a higher level :) Now if I can just figure out how to run more on my mid-foot and with higher heels and knees I'll be flying (for me anyways)

More Data :))

After the test it was quick lunch and right back in the car for the drive home, yuck. Bit of a whirlwind trip but lots of great information and feedback to keep moving forward in the right direction. I would have loved to stay for a couple more days, SoCal is definitely a Landscape Architect's dream and with everything in spring bloom I could have spent hours wandering around just looking a people's gardens. One of these days...

Back in Tucson it is business as usual. The temp's are heating up and I'm feeling better about where I am fitness wise and where I need to get. Big weekend of training ahead then it is back to Miami for the first race in the Lifetime Fitness Series, South Beach :)

Where or where did my bike legs go....

Been avoiding writing the race report for Miami International Triathlon for over a week now. Not that it was really all that bad a race, just not what I had hoped for. Got up early for the 7:15am race start and luckily brought my camping headlight so I could see what I was doing setting up transition and warming up. As the race was right downtown Miami we were all getting ready to go at about the same time the party crowd was stumbling out of the clubs. Thankfully there was the biggest police presence I have ever seen at a race out keeping most of them off the roads.

Felt pretty descent warming up and got off to a good start and right onto Sara McLarty's feet. I guess I must have zoned out for a second because right before the first turn buoy I looked up and suddenly there was a gap that I couldn't close down, grrr. I ended up towing three other girls around the swim course and lost about a minute to Sara. Pulled the rookie move and dropped a shoe coming out of T1, hopefully got that out of the way for the rest of the season. Then tried to settle into a strong pace on the bike but had nothing in the legs. I know that I haven't been on my TT bike much but not sure that can total explain my complete lack of power. Struggled just to get through the course as more than half the field rode by me like I was standing still. Legs felt like lead weights, like in those nightmares you have where you need to move and no matter how hard you try you just can't seem to go anywhere. Got into T2 in 9th and thankfully the run legs felt pretty good. Got into a good rhythm and started making time on some of the girls in front of me. Ended up moving up a spot into 8th and having a really solid run split 37.17.

Post-race with Berk

After the race I enjoyed a nice night out in South Beach with my homestay Berk Boge, good food, live music and the biggest mojito I have ever seen. Monday I had a late flight out so got in an easy run/swim before heading out to the airport. I had no trouble getting my bike, disguised in a hockey bag, on with no fee from Phoenix but had to argue a bit with the agent. I think she finally got tired of fighting with me and said "this time she would let it go without a charge" :) After some thinking and talking with Gareth about the race and training in general, we decided that a trip out to LA for a bike fit and blood lactate/VO2 testing on both the bike and run was important. I haven't had any testing done in a while so we have been working off really old numbers.

The 8hr drive out from Tucson on Sunday was super boring but really flew by. I am here in LA for a couple of days, then back to the desert for a nice training block before the next set of races. The craziness starts with the first race of the Lifetime Fitness series, South Beach Nautica Triathlon, then right into Xterra Waco, a weekend off then over to Spain for the ITU Cross World Champs. One week off after that then another block of 3 races back to back!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!

The 2011 triathlon season starts offically tomorrow for me with the Miami International Triathlon. But first a quick update since I've been MIA since the Desert Duathlon... Tucson has been treating me well and is now permanently home :). While that was always the master plan instead of just my winter training camp, I wanted to make sure everything was going to work out before making it official. I had packed up all my worldly belongings and shipped them out with me in January in anticipation of the move and they now sit in a storage unit waiting for their new home. I will be working with fellow pro-triathlete Lisa Ribes at LJ Designs while still helping out my old firm with some of their residential design work as they need it. I was a bit nervous about how they would take the news of me not coming back to work, but I couldn't have asked for a better situation. I even have an accepted offer on a townhouse that should see me in my own place beginning of May :) For the first time ever I will be able to ride my MTB from my house right to some of the best training trails around, very exciting!!!

Moving on, my FUJI D-6 arrived and after a bit of fiddling, swapping to a smaller size, and lots of work from the guys at Fairwheel Bikes (I did bake them chocolate brownies for their effort) it is now just about dialed in and ready to go. Having not been on a true aero bike in years there will undoubtedly be a few more minor changes in position, but overall super happy with the fit. I have only gotten about 2-3 weeks worth on training on it, so the appropriate muscle groups are still in the process of adapting to the new position, but it's already super speedy.

Last weekend I got to head over to TriSports for tri-fest and meet up with old friends and sponsors. I had a great time chatting with Sandy and Andrew from Extreme Endurance and meeting up with fellow sponsored triathlete Charisa Wernick. This will be my three year using their products and highly recommend giving them a try. (use code bigfish for a 10% discount :)) I'm also super excited to add Champion Systems and Honeystingers as sponsors and will be sporting some terrific new training and race kits design by Kirstin Mayer at Betty Designs. We are still finalizing the designs but I hopefully should have them ready to go early in May.

So I am here in Miami, staying with Hammerhead triathlete Berk Boge in beautiful Coconut Grove. I arrived, bike unscathed, thursday afternoon in time to get in a short set of bike/run intervals in Key Biscayne. Friday was a legs off day with just a short swim and today a quick bike/run/swim with Xterra racer Branden Rakita complete with lunch at 100% Natural, yum :) The women's field only has 14 on the start list but should be very competitive. Sara McLarty is here, so the plan is to try and stay on her feet for the swim and put some time on the rest of the field, then see what I've got on the bike and run!!!

Here we go!!!!

Swim... who needs a swim

Me usually, but Sunday at the Desert Classic duathlon I had no choice but to do without. The weather has been absolutely georgeous here in the Southwest, that is right up until I packed up the car for the drive to Phoenix. I was really feeling for all the MTBers dealing with the epic conditions at 24hrs in the Old Pueblo. I got in the car mid-morning and hit a full on sand storm just outside of Tucson. Crazy winds and zero visibilty to the point of trucks being blown off the road. I have to admit that I was having a bit of a panic moment with visions on me being blown off the road trying to ride a TT bike I had all of one training ride on. The weather cleared briefly in the early evening enough for me to get an easy spin in before packing it in for the night. It was great to be staying with fellow Xterra racer LaJuan Kelly and her husband for the weekend who indulged me with a fabulous dinner and great "TV entertainment" ;). With an 8am start it was early up and out the door. The race is held at the McDowell Mountain Park just outside Fountain Hills and while the weather was still threatening, the rain had stopped and the temperature was cool but not freezing. It was a mini-Xterra reunion with both Mel McQuaid and myself, as well as Trevor Glavin and Cody Waite racing. The womens field was small but stellar with Leanda Cave, Lisa Ribes, Anna Curi Preisig and the Wassner Twins joining Mel and myself on the line. We all enjoy some laughs and jokes before the race as Mel arrived literally 15mins before the start having hit the snooze button as few to many times and preceeded to do a few jumping jacks for warm-up, but it was game on right from the start.

Leanda warning us about the mountain lions ;)

Leanda and Lisa both took off like rockets with the rest of us just trying to hold it close. By halfway through the first run it was Leanda out front and Lisa, Mel, Bec, and myself running all together. Once we hit the single track, Mel and I managed to put some time on the other two and headed out onto the bike together. I would right now love to say that I totally threw down and hammered out the bike, but with riding a borrowed TT bike and having only 2 rides in an aero position under my belt for the past four months I painfully watched Mel simply ride away from me. Everytime I race this course I am surprised at just how hard the bike is and my quads were defnitely letting me know this. Bec caught me a little passed halfway, then unfortunately blew a tire and had to walk it back to transition. I held third through the rest of the bike and headed onto the second run having lost 3mins to Leanda and Mel but gaining a bit of time on the rest of the girls and sort of stuck in no man's land ran strong to the finish. Leanda held off Mel by about 30sec for the win with Lisa and Laurel rounding out the top five. Leanda, Mel and Lisa all look great heading into the Abu Dhabi Triathlon which I wisefully will not be attending. The weather held off just long enough for us to get in a nice group warm down run and get all our gear out of transition before the skies opened up and the rain poured down again. So I have to admit pretty happy with the result and glad to have the first race out of the way as it always hurts the most. Definitely looking forward to adding that swim back where it should be for the rest of the races this year. Also looking forward to a bit of a recovery week and very excited to be getting some quality time in on my own triathlon bike when it get here in a couple of days. Thanks to everyone at the Phoenix Triathlon Club and all the volunteers who put on another terrific race, and thanks to Kerry Yndestad for the race photos. (full race results here)

Post -race Xterra chit-chat :)

Desert Classic Duathlon

Time is flying by and the race season is getting underway (blogging is still lagging behind). Two weekends ago I headed up to the 2nd MBAA race of the series at Estrella Mountain Regional Park where there is a competitive MTB course built right in behind the Phoenix International Raceway. Thankfully I had pre-ridden the course beforehand as it was a really fun technical course and I knew exactly what I was dropping into, lots of great rocky descents and climbs. Sadly the women's field was really small and very quickly it ended up myself and Kenda Pro-rider Zephanie Blasi. The race was 2 loops of the longer outside loop and 1 of the inside technical loop. We rode together through the first loop, then Zephanie put a gap on me through one of the technical sections and I was chasing hard 30sec down going into the 3rd lap. Unfortunately she flatted mid way through the lap and ended up running her bike in. Overall a great race, taking the win for Team Colleen. I didn't think that I really dug all that deep for the race, but at 2hr20mins it was one of the longer MTB races I have done and the first race effort of the year and training the next week was miserable. The body gradually got itself sorted out and I got back to some great training sessions this week. Mel McQuaid also rolled into Tucson this week and I have enjoyed getting some pool sessions in with her even though we end up chatting way too much and inevitably missing send-offs. She is focusing on the high stakes Abu Dhabi Triathlon in a couple weeks so I have passed on joining her on her marathon bike rides. Up this weekend is the Desert Classic Duathlon, now in its 14th year. Other than being a duathlon and therefore lacking the most important thing - a swim - this is a great race I raced numerous times years ago while I was living in Tempe. Held out in Fountain Hills at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park, it is a 3.5mile trail run, 21mile bike, 3mile trail run and usually attracts a great group of local triathletes and a solid group of pro's.

I was really hoping to race on my brand new Fuji D-6, but due to some technical sizing difficulties I will have to wait until the next race to show it off. Big thanks to Bruce at Fairwheel for all his time getting me set-up on another bike for the race. I haven't been on a true TT bike in many years and have been only riding my road and MTB for the past two months so I am a little apprehensive about the bike leg and how the body is going to respond to the completely different riding position but overall really looking forward to getting out and hammering and hopefully mixing it up with the "roadie triathletes" :))