Xterra Double Header - Lory and Pagosa Springs

A bit late with the race reports because we stayed in Pagosa/Durango for the week after the race and now it's all a blur.

XTERRA Lory

I left the house at around 4:45 and decided to take a highway further from the foothills to avoid hitting wildlife in the dark. And just as I was applauding myself for that decision I turned onto a road in my neighborhood and was faced with a pair of bucks who were completely unconcerned about the giant metal beast of death hurtling towards them. Thankfully I had slowed for the turn and I saw them in time. Then a few minutes after that I had an impatient jeep on my ass and soon a line of traffic behind me and I couldn't figure out where all these uptight, impatient people were going at 4:45 in the morning in my quiet neighborhood. Until I passed the road to the Rez and remembered the Half Ironman going on in Boulder. And as crazy as my double header sounded I was very grateful not to be heading to that starting line with all those wound up people.  Love the relatively chill atmosphere of the typical Xterra/off-road transition zone.

Xterra Lory went well except for my exceptionally slow time. I took it easy, tried my best to keep my heart rate in Zone 3 for the bike and run and didn't go crazy on the short swim. At times the bike felt like I was out for a casual ride in the park, other times I had to push in Zone 4 because of having to pass someone and stay ahead to avoid leap frogging on the single track. Overall an uneventful race. No cramps on the run which was good and for once I had some gas in the tank for the final mile which pushed my heart rate into Zone 5 but I really wanted to be done and was sick of farting around in Zone 3. And there was a woman running right behind me for the last couple few miles who insisted she didn't want to pass me and somehow I didn't want her sprinting by me at the finish because that happens to me all the time. In the end I put a bit of distance on her in the last 1/4 mile or so.

The bike course was awesome, mostly hero dirt where usually it's a dust bowl. There was one huge mud bog that I had to walk through but otherwise you couldn't ask for better conditions. Water was nice as well, supposedly 70 degrees though it felt a bit colder than that. Still, nice water temp. and a warm sunny morning. It was hot for the run but not as bad as I was anticipating. I threw some ice in my hat and down my sports bra and that did the trick. Carried a water bottle but didn't really need it, the ice was enough and I regretted having to carry it. Only problem was that T2 was WAY too long with farting around with the ice. Got to be a better way to work it but ice is way better than carrying a bottle.

The only serious mishap I had was on the run.  There's a steep, cliffy, rocky part just before the top of the big climb and some idiot woman came up behind and insisted very loudly, aggressively and repeatedly that she needed to pass me on the cliffy part.  I waited until I thought it was safe-ish but she still ended up running me off the cliff and I nearly fell down the side of the hill but managed to catch myself.  Just.  To add insult to injury she was a DNF due to a technical on the bike and was doing the run just because.  I managed to twist my back and shoulders pretty good but thankfully by Sunday I had forgotten about it.  I realize now that this is partly why Mile 2 was 3 1/2 minutes slower than last year.  I easily lost  a minute or two.

On an interesting note I finished Xterra Lory in 3:02:36 and Xterra Pagosa Springs in 3:02:59.  Weird that the finish times would be so close given the big differences in distance, elevation gain and terrain.

I was tired for the drive back to Boulder, not entirely sure how I made it. Took the back roads to avoid the half Ironman in Boulder and it took about the same amount of time, maybe even a couple of minutes quicker, than the highway I took on the way there, just under an hour 20 minutes. Which is only significant because then we had a 6 hour or so drive to Pagosa Springs. It's normally supposed to be 5 1/2 hours but lucky us, the highway was shut in Fairplay due to flooding so we had a detour. And even more drama because I wasn't sure there was a detour when I first saw the sign about the closure on the highway about an hour or so from the shut road. Had to pull off, call the hotel, have a panic attack, etc. until the front desk guy assured me there was a way. Thankfully Jonny drove the whole way but I was unable to sleep in the car as I thought I would. Pulled into Pagosa Springs at around 8:50 to find that the town shuts down at 9:00. Most places wouldn't let us in but we finally found a mexican food place with very mediocre food but hey, it was food and at least it didn't make me sick.

XTERRA Pagosa Springs

The Pagosa race didn't start until 10:00 a.m. so I was able to sleep in but found myself awake before 6:00 anyway. I'm learning to sleep better in hotels, I can mostly sleep through the night but still find myself waking up too early. Though I do this at home in the summer too. Should probably get a Fitbit or similar gizmo to monitor my sleep better. Hate to buy more Stuff though and the Garmin gizmo was a big enough expense.

The transition area was flooded in places, people ended up racking their bikes in the bushes or on the ground. I talked to some women who had pre-ridden the course and they said it was muddy in places, huge puddles that sometime you make it through, sometimes you don't. I so wish I could have pre-ridden the course, this was my one regret about the back to back races and did figure into my results.

The swim went well, water was 65 degrees and another sunny warm morning. I clicked the wrong button on my Garmin and never started it for the swim so I have no data and the race didn't provide splits in the results. Best I can work out is 24 minutes for swim, T1 and a bit of bike before I realized the Garmin wasn't on. The swim started in deep water but I hung onto the pier until the starting horn so as not to waste energy treading water. I'm not sure this put me in a great position but the first buoy was so far away and the course was a bit confusing so I followed the crowd and didn't worry about it. I did an open water swim race a week later with a deep water start and it turns out its no problem treading water if you have a wetsuit, you practically float in that thing so next time I'll put myself in a better position and not worry about treading water. Swim was short and sweet (750 m/820 yards) and went down without a hitch, I even had some feet to follow. The only problem was that it somehow took 2 guys to haul my carcass out of the water and back onto the pier. You would think my parkour skills would have kicked in but no I just flailed stupidly until the second guy came to the rescue. In retrospect I probably could have gotten out on my own more easily using both arms and no help from the guys.

I forgot my Camelbak in T1 and had to run back for it wasting some time.

The bike course was beautiful. Wonderful flowy singletrack through the woods, loads of wildflowers. I think the only spots I had to walk were some of the mud bogs. And there were lots and lots of mud bogs. Apparently the rainpocalypse was not restricted to the Front Range. The course was a big loop and unfortunately the directional signs at the start of the loop were confusing and there was no volunteer directing people. Many people went off course including me. I can't remember if I followed the line of people off course or if I misinterpreted the signs for the turn but either way I had about a half mile of climbing before some guys came back down the trail saying we were going the wrong way. And at that point I had the dilemma of 'do I trust those guys?' I went with my gut and trusted them and was glad I did. Lost just over 9 minutes and went an extra 1.15 miles but at least I ended up going the right way and unlike agility, an off course in Xterra is not an elimination as long as you fix it. One poor woman ended up seriously lost for a couple of hours and several people came down the course the opposite way. Not sure what they did about those folks completing the loop in the wrong direction in the results.

T2 was quick. The transition area was not neutral, meaning some spots gave you an advantage with the ins/outs and I had a great spot near the bike out/bike in/run out gate.

The run was ridiculous, not a run at all. My Garmin was giving grades of 30-40%. This was a hike, not a run. In addition it was an out and back on narrow single track so you had to stop and step out of the single track to let the person in the opposite direction go by or to pass. Which was super annoying. And once again the course markings led me astray and I missed a turn, going down a wrong trail that eventually got faint so I knew I was wrong. I looked up and saw people on the correct trail yelling down to me. This was the stupidest 'run' course I've ever done. At least it was short, 2.88 miles, which nonetheless took me over 46 minutes. Oh well, at least the bike was worth it.

Covered in mud.

Overall I did well juggling 2 races in 2 days. Don't think I'd ever intentionally do it again though I know if the situation came up again, ie a race gets postponed or something, that I can do it. I didn't try to keep to a heart rate for Pagosa, just went as fast as I could which was diminished of course but I don't think by a whole lot. I wasn't super stiff or sore Sunday morning for Pagosa and I felt o.k. on Monday. The key was to keep to a reasonable pace for Lory but still push myself. It's weird though and a little frustrating to hold back during a race but a good mental management lesson and I felt I did well with that part. But the whole weekend was a blur and it was hard to savor the races with them being so close together.  

Final Stats

LORY

Swim:  880 yards (I swam 869 yards), water temp. 70 degrees, 16:35 swimming (1:55/100 yards)/1:00 dash up the beach for official time 17:35

T1: 2:45  Wore gloves, slow T1 for some reason

Mountain Bike:  12.2 miles (12.54 by my Garmin, similar to last year), 794' elevation gain, 1:24:05/9.2 mph (13 mins./1.1 mph slower than last year)

T2:  2:15 (last year, 1:02)   Lost time messing around with the ice but shouldn't be that slow.

Trail Run:  4.8 miles (5.03 per Garmin), 623' elevation gain, 1:15:57/15:06 min./mile (per Garmin)

               Mile Splits:
               Mile 1:  15:07  (all uphill) (14:07 last year)
               Mile 2:  18:51  (all uphill) (15:13 last year)
               Mile 3:  16:27  (mix of uphill, flat and downhill) (13:11 last year)
               Mile 4:  12:49  (all downhill) (12:48 last year)
               Mile 4.8:  11:57  (mostly downhill, some slight uphill and flat-ish) (11:25 last year)

Total:  3:02:36  (last year, 2:39:20)

177/204 Overall
52/66 Women
3/5 Age Group

Swim:  2/5

T1:  1/5

Bike:  2/5

T2:  3/5

Run:  4/5 

(Placements include DNF's)

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PAGOSA SPRINGS

 Swim + T1 + a little biking:  750 meters/820 yards, 65 degrees, 24 minutes

Bike:  17.04 miles (was supposed to be 14.6), 945' elevation gain, 1:53:54/9.2 mph 

T2:  ?

Run:   2.88 miles, 479' elevation gain, 45:23/16:03 min./mile

Total:  3:02:59
 

Death or Lory - Xterra Lory 2014

Xterra Lory
1/2 mile swim, 12.2 mile bike, 4.8 mile run
6500' elevation, Lory State Park, Fort Collins area

Don't mean to sound overdramatic, I just can't resist a Clash lyric when it runs through my head.

It's a cloudy, foggy start to the morning and an interesting early morning drive up to Fort Collins through the foggy soup.  I arrive at 6:09, 10 minutes earlier than last year and yet I end up with an even worse parking spot about 1/4 mile from transition.  The race is sold out and already it's busy and crowded, a theme for the race this year.  The sun is supposed to come out by 7:00 a.m. but transition looks like this at 7:00 a.m-ish.

I'm not overly concerned but with the water so cold (supposedly 64 degrees but there are pockets of warmer and colder) it would be nice for the sun to be shining to take the edge off.  The water at Horsetooth is the highest it's been in maybe ten years.

I did manage 2 open water swims in the Boulder Rez before the race and the first swim was also cold, 65 degrees but also with pockets of cold, so I've had a small opportunity to acclimate to the cold water and get used to open water swimming again.  The first Rez swim took me about 7-8 minutes to get used to the cold and get rid of any worried feelings but after that I did a solid 1200 yards and had no problem at all on the second swim though the water wasn't cold at all (68 degrees and sun shining).  I'm concerned about the cold but not letting myself get worked up about it.  Nothing I can do about it and the swim is short.  It's impossible not to remember the panic attack I had at this race many years ago but I push it to the back of my mind and remind myself of all the successful, fun swims I've had here.

I pull up my pants leg to put on my sunscreen and am greeted by this sight.

There will be blood.

A freshly bleeding wound before the race starts and I don't even know how I got it.  Again, not much I can do.  Wash it off a bit with some water and try not to think about the possible bugs I might pick up in Horsetooth is about all I can do.

Swim - 880 yards

I get in the freezing water to warm up and acclimate as soon as the first wave goes off.  Thankfully the sun is finally starting to break through the clouds and the fog is burning off.  I dive under water and as soon as my face hits the freezing cold I decide 'screw this noise, I'm out of here, this is twelve ways to crazy, what ever possessed me?'  But after a minute or so I calm down and get a little used to it.  I set off swimming and I'm totally calm.  Freakishly calm.  Don't know why but I'll take it.  I swim about 5-6 minutes or so and get out.  It's another 15 minutes until my wave starts and if I stay in that long I'll start shivering.  So I run up and down a short hill, soaking up the sun as it starts to warm up.  I get in again with 8 minutes to go, do another 4-5 minutes of warm-up, trying to kick hard and go fast to get my heart rate up.  Still freakishly calm.

And then we're off.  And as per usual the crowd goes flying away from me.  And as per usual I work my way up, passing the people who are now freaking out and backstroking/breast stroking.  Swim training has been going well as as I swim I work on some the stroke technique things I've been working on.  The turn-around buoy seems farther this year and it almost certainly is due to the high water.  For once the course is probably close to the advertised distance.

After I turn the buoy I get boxed in by a guy kind of flailing in front of me and someone to my side.  The guy in front is hard to pass because he's zig-zagging in an unpredictable fashion and because if I pass on his left I risk running into oncoming traffic from the other direction.  So I hang out for a while enjoying the draft but soon realize this is much too slow a pace and I squeeze in front of the guy on my right.  I don't realize how much they're holding me back until I break free of them and quickly pull away.  I need to do more open water races this summer to learn some better tactics, get a better idea of my race pace, learn how to pass, etc.

The rest of the swim is uneventful except for a kayaker who comes over and yells at some of us to move away from the buoys to avoid oncoming traffic.  But nobody seems to be in sight and I'm not far from the finish so I don't understand what it's about.  I move a little but not too much, don't want to be too far off course for no reason.  My pace feels slow-ish but the cold water seems to be restricting my movement a bit.  I finish in 17:47/2:01 per 100 yards, slow for me but I'm mostly relieved I made it through feeling calm and confident.  It's not a spectacular swim but a good start to my season especially given the cold and lack of open water practice.


Bike

I'm hoping for a big improvement in my bike this year partly due to training and partly due to my new bike with bigger wheels and disk brakes.  Especially the disk brakes.  My time last year was 1:12 and I'm hoping to break an hour but not sure if that's realistic given how early in the season it is.  I decide to ride as hard as I can and hope for some improvement.

The course is so crowded this year and as soon as I hit the single track I'm swept up in the crowd of fast people going out on their second lap.  On the one hand it's kind of exciting trying to keep up with them and I know I'm going faster on the downhill than I normally would.  On the other hand I'm still not as fast and lots of people have to pass me.  I pass a couple of people from my age group right away and that makes me feel good.  My age group is huge this year, 17-18 people or so are registered which is crazy for the 50-54 age group in Xterra.  Maybe even unprecedented for almost any Xterra race.

The first lap goes by quickly and when I reach the start of the second loop my speed is 11.1 mph, a full 1 mph faster than last year and I'm thrilled with that though can't quite do the math on a possible finishing time.  However after a bit I can feel myself slowing down.  Now I'm caught up behind people from later waves starting their first lap and they're not as confident so it's harder to pass them.  I don't want to freak out the newbies so I get held up a bit.  Most people are pretty good with the passing issue in this race but it seems like there's always one hot head.  This year it's a guy from a faster wave who comes up behind just before one of the few kind of, sort of technical places.  There are some tight s-curves then a switchback and this guy's being impatient and I don't want him on my tail through this section so I actually stop and pull off the trail to let him since there are no good places coming up.  Technically we don't have to do this, it's up to the person behind to wait until there's a good spot, but I can tell this guy is a jerk.  As he goes to pass me he doesn't slow down enough or something and he falls off his bike even though he has the whole trail to himself.  He gets up all angry and at this point a crowd of 5-6 riders comes up behind him.  He gets back on in front of them all (and of course I now have to wait even longer for the train of people to pass).  He then proceeds to go over his handlebars at the switchback.  More loud angry words.  Stupid thing is he was so close to the bike finish.  A little patience would have gone a long way here.

Anyway, I can feel my quads losing power on the second lap but I still keep going hard as I can.  I finish the bike in 1:11:03, a bit over a minute faster than last year.  Not the huge improvement I was hoping for but still faster than last year and it is early in the season so I'll take it.  And the bike was still pretty fun despite the congestion.

Run

I'm hoping for the biggest improvement here.  I've been working with a coach, diligently following the program and pushing myself with my running.  Not a lot of volume but lots of intervals.  Lots and lots of intervals.  Short but sweet.  Well, maybe sweet isn't the word.  But I've been working on it and I'm hoping to at least break 1 hour this year (last year I missed breaking and hour by 33 seconds).  But it's early season and I didn't have a very long taper for this race so it's hard to say.

I start out on the run feeling good, like I'm moving pretty well.  It's a gradual uphill for about 1/3-1/2 a mile or so then it's a steep climb up the side of a steep hill for another 1 3/4 miles or so.  I'm doing o.k. at the start of the steep part but after a few minutes I feel like I'm not going as fast as last year.  Even the run course is crowded this year and I have lots of people wanting to pass and each time someone passes it breaks my rhythm and focus a bit more.  I passed 3 people in my age group on the bike and 2 people quickly pass me back in the first mile or two of the run.  Which would be fine if I felt like I was running as fast as last year but somehow I feel slower.  My brain tells my feet to turn over faster but my quads are tired now and they don't want to oblige.  It's a long slog to the top.

And when I finally get to the downhill I can't quite get my legs moving as fast as last year.  I've got a bit of a cramp which is never helpful but somehow I can't get the downhill to work for me this year.  And in fact the all downhill mile is a whopping 1:48 min. slower than last year (oddly the all uphill climb is 47 seconds faster, the only mile that's faster despite feeling slower).  My legs are feeling pretty beat for the last 2 miles despite the mostly downhill course.  I make it to the end of the singletrack with about 1/3 of a mile to go until the finish and a woman from my age group passes me.  And the worst part is that she doesn't even look like she's going fast.  But she's going faster than me and try as I might I can't catch her back up.  She ends up beating me by 31 seconds.  But at least I have someone to chase to the finish even if she is too far ahead to catch and I pick up the pace with whatever last little bit of strength my legs can muster.  I finish the run in 1:06:44, well off what I was hoping for.

Final time is 2:39:20, over 7 minutes slower than last year.  Not what I was hoping for or expecting but it is so early in the season and I didn't have a nice long taper since this isn't an 'A' race.  Hard to compare times to a race that's normally held in August.  Next race is in 3 weeks in Golden, a little sprint road tri that I'm doing for fun and to keep me going with racing since I have no Xterras in June.

Some interesting stats - there were 327 people in the race this year and only 206 last year which explains all the extra crowding on the course.  There were 59 women last year and 116 this year, almost double the amount.  There were 5 women in the 50-54 age group last year and 15 this year.  The woman who won my age group (50-54) came in 10th overall of the women, 5 of whom were pros so she was 5th overall of the age group women.  The top 3 age group women were all in the 40-44 age group.  There were only 11 seconds separating the top 3 women in the 45-49 age group.

Aside from the cold water, race conditions were about as perfect as they get.  Sunny but not hot, maybe high 60's for the run with a little breeze to keep things cool.  Bike trails were tacky, easily the best I've ever seen them on race day.  The race was crowded but people were mostly good about it.  My coach was there to cheer me and some of her other clients on.  It was fun to have somebody there.  And I met a couple few other women from my age group which was fun.  The big take home lessons?  I need more run training, I need more of a taper after a hard training block if I want to do really well, it's not fair to compare times from a race run in May to a race run in August.

For more pictures from the race course that I took on my pre-ride last year, click here.


Final Stats

Swim:  880 yards, water temp. 64 degrees but felt colder in places, 17:47 swimming (2:01/100 yards)/1:22 dash up the beach for official time 18:30 (last year 15:01 mins. swimming, 1:22 dash up from beach for official time of 16:23-swim was short)

T1: 1:59  (last year, 1:54) Didn't wear gloves this year but did have swim socks to deal with.

Mountain Bike:  12.2 miles, 1:11:03/10.3 mph (last year 12.6 miles by my cyclometer, 1:12:14 hrs./10.1 mph)

T2:  1:02 (last year, 1:02)   How freaky is that?

Trail Run:  4.8 miles, 1:06:44/13:54 min./mile  (last year, 1:00:32 hrs./12:07 min./miles)
               Mile Splits:
               Mile 1:  14:07  (all uphill) (11:40 last year)
               Mile 2:  15:13  (all uphill) (16:00 last year)
               Mile 3:  13:11  (mix of uphill, flat and downhill) (12:26 last year)
               Mile 4:  12:48  (all downhill) (10:02 last year)
               Mile 4.8:  11:25  (mostly downhill, some slight uphill and flat-ish) (10:22 last year)

Total:  2:39:20  (last year, 2:32:02)

254/327 Overall  (last year, 148/206 Overall)
78/116 Women  (last year, 30/59 Women)
10/15 Age Group  (last year, 5/7 Age Group)

Swim:  10/15  (last year, 2/7 Age Group, 116/206 Overall)

T1:  5/15  (last year, 3/7 Age Group)

Bike:  8/15  (last year, 5/7 Age Group, 141/206 Overall)

T2:  2/15  (last year, 1/7 Age Group)

Run:  13/15  (last year, 4/7 Age Group, 152/206 Overall) 

(Placements include DNF's)

Xterra Lory Pre-Ride

Went to pre-ride the Xterra Lory course today and wow, Horsetooth Reservoir is high.  Crazy high.

Eltuck Bay, swim course site for Xterra Lory

And this is what it looked like in August, 2012

Don't think they'll have to worry about making the swim too short this year.  But they may be pressed for transition area space.  At least it won't be a very long walk from the road/parking down to transition this year.

But the water.  Oh so cold.  Wonder if I can somehow squeeze into 2 wetsuits.  It's going to warm up by next week.  Sure it is.

I love thinking of the lines in mountain biking similar to the lines in dog agility.  In general I'm more a fan of letting the dog keep his speed and jump a little wide rather than trying to crank him down for a tight turn.  Especially when that dog is Strummer.  Sometimes you need a tight turn but if I can get away with wide and speedy I'll opt for that. 

Here's a video showing 2 lines for a tight switchback at Lory.  It's not super technical but it is a little trickier than it looks and plenty of people get off to walk it.  And a woman was seriously hurt on this switchback one year.  I saw her lying on the ground and it looked like she had missed it entirely.  Paramedics had to carry her out.  But if you know it's coming and how to handle it it's not bad.

Video showing the tighter inside line and wider outside line.



The outside line felt faster and more comfortable, at least for me.  I actually took the inside line by accident on my second lap.  When I tried to take it on purpose on my first lap I couldn't even do it.  The big difference between agility and mountain biking is that in the case of this race the time is inconsequential and in dog agility it's huge, could mean the difference between winning the class and being in 5th place.  Not that I care all that much about times but I do like to think about the fastest, most efficient line.  And sometimes you take whatever line happens in the moment whether it's agility or mountain biking.

And here's a video of some random footage.  I shot so many clips, the editing task seemed daunting so instead of a choppy montage I just put two of the longer clips that I liked together.  So green and lush, it was an amazing day on the trails.

Xterra Lory 2013

Xterra Lory
1/2 mile swim, 12.2 mile bike, 4.8 mile run
6500' elevation, Lory State Park, Fort Collins area

Despite a rough week I had a very good race.  I'd been feeling somewhat apathetic leading up to the race and even race morning I lacked my normal enthusiasm but once the gun went off I had no trouble focusing on my race and putting all my effort into it.  I think after a week of grieving I was happy to have something else to focus on and put my energy into.

Once again I had perfect race day conditions, mid-60's and sunny for the swim and temps. only went up to the high 60's/low 70s for the run with the ever so slight occasional breeze.  That's 3 out of 3 races so far this summer with about the best conditions I could hope for.  Lory in mid-August can be brutally hot, temps. in the mid-90's and no shade to speak of anywhere on the course so I was very lucky to have an unseasonably cool day.

Obligatory transition area photo.

I'm impressed with the handwriting skills of the girl who body marked me.  Looks even better than those letter stamps that they use at Nationals.  She spots my bike, an ancient Santa Cruz Juliana named after the legendary Juliana (Juli) Furtado, the godmother of women's mountain biking from back in the early 90's, and says, 'My friend has that bike and I can't figure it out why it says Juliana on it'.  I explain that it's named after Juli Furtado and get a polite but blank stare.  Sigh.  Makes me feel old.

I know, I'm bored waiting for the race to start so why not take a picture of my calf?  Got there at 6:19 a.m. in hopes of getting a good parking spot but still end up a ways from transition.  Was there at 6:18 last year and got a great spot near transition.   Anyway, race doesn't start until 8:00 so I have a lot of waiting around after getting my gear set up.  The race announcer is funny this year, reminds me of the commentator in Best in Show, and he has a running commentary going until the transition area closes.  He's a mountain biker and unfamiliar with triathlons and is surprised by how fancy the cars are compared to what you get at a mountain bike race.  Yeah, triathlon is not a sport for the meek of wallet though you don't have to spend a lot of money.  Triathletes love their fancy gear though, that's for sure, and the sport definitely attracts the horsey set.

Swim:  880 yards

Water temp. is 72 degrees and I opt for my full wetsuit rather than the sleeveless.  I'm glad for my choice because it's a little chilly waiting in the water for my wave to start.  I do a nice long warm-up including some builds, ie starting out slowly and building up in speed to race pace.  It's such a short swim, I want to be able to start out on the fast side, something I don't normally do.  I feel like I have some good swim fitness built up that I don't tap into during races so with this short race I want to break my 1:50-1:55/100 yards typical race pace.

I'm in wave 5 of 7 based on swim time and mountain bike pace rather than age group so most of us should be swimming at a similar pace.  Everybody else lines up way to the right of the buoys, I'm on my own lined up right with them.  I notice this a lot in races, don't know what the strategy is but I'm happy to have a straight shot and plenty of open water.

The gun goes off and though I feel like I'm going at a peppy pace everybody leaves me in the dust.  What the . . .?  But after a few minutes I start catching up to the crowd and passing people.  The course is a simple out and back and the turn around comes so quickly I can hardly believe it.  Once I'm headed back to shore I spot some groups of swimmers and try to catch  up so I can draft.  As it turns out, most are going too slow and I pass them and go on to the next.  I finally find a pair of feet with about 1/4 of the swim to go and the person is swimming straight so I follow them into the finish.  Out of the water in 15:01 (1:42/100 yards!).  SO happy with that.  This is slower than last year by about 21 seconds but the swim seemed short last year probably due to the water levels being so low and I'm sure this year was a faster swim for me.

T1

Mostly goes smoothly except for my gloves again.  They're too tight a fit for trying to get on during a race when my hands are wet.  I've got a looser pair that I'll use for my next race.  Not sure why I'm even wearing gloves for this race, don't think I usually do, guess it's force of habit.  I take time to put on socks as well, got terrible blisters on my arches going sockless here a few years ago and could barely walk for a week.  I think the fine loose dirt gets in my shoes and wreaks havoc despite a million layers of Body Glide and Aquaphor.

Bike:  12.2 miles (12.6 by my cyclometer 2 years in a row)

I have a loose goal of 1:10 for the bike which is over a 9 minute improvement from last year.  Not sure how realistic this is, I was actually slower last year than the year before on the bike.  I'm surprisingly focused this year though and I'm in a good wave for my abilities so I always have people in my sights to chase.  There are years where by the second lap I've been out there on my own and it's harder to keep focus and speed when you have no one to ride with.

Passing is not such a problem either this year.  I do have people from the faster waves catching me on their second lap but the race is smaller this year and I'm evenly matched with my wave mates so I don't have too many of them passing me.  I do end up passing people from the slower waves but most everybody is good about it this year and I only have to stop or lose momentum once.  One big lummox of a guy collides into me because he has to pass me at a spot that isn't great for passing on an uphill and he doesn't quite have the strength to do it quickly so he sort of falls into me but thankfully I don't fall over, just have to stop and put a foot down and start on the uphill from a stop but everybody else is good about it.

The hills don't feel nearly as steep this year but I'm still losing time on the tight turns slowing way down before going into them.  This is a super fast course if you're good at taking tight turns at speed, something I don't normally practice all that much.  Will have to add that to my 'skills to work on' list.

There are two tight, kind of steep and rocky switchbacks on the course and this year there are medics at both of them warning people.  Someone got hurt on one of those switchbacks last year, I saw her lying off the trail as the medic was hiking up to get to her, so I guess this year they weren't taking chances.  I rode them no problem on the pre-ride and I have to slow down and put a foot out for balance but I manage them during the race as well.  The medic guy says, 'Good job' both times and I have to laugh because it isn't pretty either time but I'm happy enough to make it around even if it isn't graceful.

I finish my first lap in about 55 minutes, right on track for my 1:10 goal except I'm not sure if both laps are the same distance.  All I can do is ride as hard as I can and again I'm losing time on the turns, not something I can do much about on the day.  As I finish my second lap I realize I'm not quite going to make it but I can see I'm going to be close so I hit the pedals hard and drive for transition fast as I can while still handling the turns.

One of the new bridges that was re-built after the fire

I finish the bike in 1:12:14, a bit off my goal but 7:30 minutes faster than last year.  Very happy with that.


T2

Smooth and uneventful, just the way I like it.  Tied for fastest in my age group.  I forget to take off one glove but no big deal, I take it off while running and shove it into a pocket in my tri-suit.


Run

There's a big hill to climb with no shade or water stations so I usually carry water but this year I feel like it's cool enough-high 60's, low 70'-that I'll be o.k.  I've been doing hill repeats in the heat to prepare and it's a bit of a risk but I'm willing to take it to avoid carrying any extra weight up that hill.  It's a good choice.  I'm close to the top of the climb before I feel like I need water and I don't really need it, it would be nice but I can do without.

The climb is about 1 3/4 miles and steep but I run the whole thing this year.  This is the sign at the start of the steep trail for the run course.  It's a bit over dramatic if you ask me but I guess it's good that they warn people since it's so different from the other bike trails in the park.

Hard to convey the steepness in photos.

I push my way up the hill with 'Spanish Reds' by Banner Pilot setting a nice rhythm.  Up and up and up.  I keep saying to myself, 'I wonder what will happen if I go a wee bit faster?' and turn my feet over a little quicker.  So many times you come around the corner and think this must be the last switchback but it never is until finally it is.

When you hit this rocky bit

and see this trail carved into the hillside to your left you know you're almost there.  The top is right around the corner to the left.

And you're rewarded with some nice views of Horsetooth Reservoir.

 Another view from the top.

Whee, time for the downhill.  It's steepy steep with lots and lots of tight switchbacks and rocks. 

I stumble on some of the rocky sections but I don't fall.

As I make my way down the switchbacks I can see people catching up to me, a few of them women and I'm not sure if any of them are in my age group.  One is too old but the others?  I can't tell.  I realize I have to pick up the pace so I switch songs to 'Blister in the Sun' which has got to be the most perfect song ever for running fast down a steep hill.  I pick up the pace, turn my feet over a bit quicker.  I don't want to take my eyes off the trail to look behind me but from what I can see in my peripheral vision when I come around the switchbacks it feels like I'm losing all of the women but one.

Finally the trail evens out of bit and the downhill becomes more gradual and there's an aid station.  I dump cup after cup of water over my head, down the back and front of my tri-suit and one of the awesome volunteers helps and dumps another cup over my head.  I take off as the people behind me come into the aid station.  I pick up the pace to put as much distance between us as I can.  In the meantime I'm pushing to catch up to another woman.  I'm not sure if she's in my age group but it's good to have someone up ahead to push for.  Meanwhile one of the women behind me finally catches me but thankfully she's not from my age group.  She says something about the yellow cows (Yellow Jerseys) on my socks, something about the guys on my ankles pushing me on and at first I misunderstand and think there's a group of people behind me but when I turn around no one else is there.  I'm gaining on the other woman ahead of me and she alternates between running and walking and finally I catch her.  She's not in my age group but it was good to have someone to chase and I'm nearly off the trail and to the short run on the road that takes me to the finish line.  As I come around the final turn to the home stretch I pick up the pace as fast as I can go, passing a guy who gives me some encouragement and I give him a wave as well.  I remember losing a placement by 5 seconds in that race earlier this season and don't want to take anything for granted so I push to the finish line with all I have even though no one else is around.  It's a challenge when the waves aren't based on age group and you aren't racing head to head.  I passed one person in my age group on the bike but that's the only person from my age group that I saw the whole race.

Also, my goal was to break 2 hours 30 minutes and at some point on the run I could see I wouldn't do it but I also knew I'd be close so I push to the finish line wondering if breakfast is going to make a re-appearance but thankfully I cross before it does and my time is 2:32:02.  So excited about that, over 14 minutes faster than last year.  My goal for the run was to break and hour and I ended up finishing the run in 1:00:32, again a bit short but almost 6 minutes faster than last year and 1:15 mins/mile faster, a huge improvement for me.

I check my results when I come in and I'm in 4th place in my age group but this is only after the bike.  In the end I end up in 5th place, missing out on 4th by a mere 43 seconds.  27 of those seconds were lost in transition in T1 - stupid gloves.  Oh well.  I'll get 51 points towards Nationals rather than 56, shouldn't mean the difference between going and not going.  I end up with way more points than I thought I would considering there were 14 people on the start list so I'm not complaining.  Feeling much better now about qualifying.  It will be close but as long as I get some points in my last race I should stay in the top 10 and qualify.

Finally this race has some veggie offerings at the post race festivities so I hang around and munch on a veggie burrito and some chips, watching the finishers go sliding down the giant inflatable Slip-n-Slide to the vile brown pit of doom at the end.

Photo from 2 years ago.

This year there's a gap between the finish line and the Slip-n-Slide so I slip between it and avoid the thing altogether.  The race announcer even makes a joke about getting a staph infection from the Slip-n-Slide.  Finally somebody else has noticed how gross it is.  I like this guy more and more as the day goes on.

It's nice to be able to hang around for a bit, usually I leave right away because they don't have veggie food.  Kudos to the race directors for finally providing some veggie grub.

Couldn't ask for a better day - perfect weather, beautiful race course, big improvements in the swim, bike and run and overall time.  Looking forward to Xterra Buffalo Creek in 2 weeks.  Phew, better rest up.

Final Stats

Swim:  880 yards, 15:01 swimming (1:42/100 yards)/1:22 dash up the beach for official time 16:23 (last year 14:40 mins. swimming, 2:07 dash up from beach for official time of 16:47-swim was short)

T1: 1:54  (last year, 1:56)

Mountain Bike:  12.2 miles (12.6 by my cyclometer), 1:12:14/10.1 mph (last year 12.6 miles by my cyclometer, 1:19:44:48 hrs./9.2 mph)

T2:  1:02 (last year, 1:05)

Trail Run:  4.8 miles, 1:00:32/12:07 min./mile  (last year, 1:06:25 hrs./13:22 min./miles)
               Mile Splits:
               Mile 1:  11:40  (all uphill) (15:09 last year)
               Mile 2:  16:00  (all uphill) (16:24 last year)
               Mile 3:  12:26  (mix of uphill, flat and downhill) (13:08 last year)
               Mile 4:  10:02  (all downhill) (10:44 last year)
               Mile 4.8:  10:22  (mostly downhill, some slight uphill and flat-ish) (11:19 last year)

Total:  2:32:02  (last year, 2:46:19)

148/206 Overall  (last year, 218/271 Overall)
30/59 Women  (last year, 48/98 Women)
5/7 Age Group  (last year, 6/10 Age Group)

Swim:  2/7 Age Group, 116/206 Overall

T1:  3/7 Age Group

Bike:  5/7 Age Group, 141/206 Overall

T2:  1/7 Age Group

Run:  4/7 Age Group, 152/206 Overall

Xterra Lory 2012

Xterra Lory
1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 4.8 mile run
6500' elevation, Lory State Park, Fort Collins area

Arrived at around 6:18, got great parking spot near transition.

I love this race.  Beautiful scenery, great course, well organized.

I was chilly first thing in the morning but quickly warmed up.

I couldn't figure out why the transition area was so cold since last year I remember the sun beating down.  I finally realized it was because it was way closer to the beach this year and thus shaded by the cliffs.  The water level in Horsetooth Reservoir is at record low levels due to the dry summer.  Last year the sandy beach area by the red inflatable arch was under 10' of water.

The sun just missing transition.

I was curious to see the fire damage.  The High Park Fire came into the western part of Lory but I wasn't sure how extensive the damage would be.  Thankfully the damage was minimal and probably good for the park.

Last year for comparison.  The pointy peak is the same in both photos.

I went into the race feeling maybe too rested.  Not much training between this race and Indian Peaks 3 weeks ago.  Lots of hiking and swimming, a little running, not so much biking.  But the bike course is not technical or super steep anywhere.  Lots of short gradual climbs, a couple very short steep bits but nothing I have to walk except one very short rocky, technical part, just a few steps.  The hard part about Lory is the run, a steep 2 mile climb with no shade.  I've been preparing for it all spring and summer with loops of hills and hill repeats and oh so many hills.


Swim - 1/2 mile

Water temp is 72 degrees, perfect temp. for me.  I wear my full wetsuit and I'm perfectly comfortable.  I start to have jittery, panicky feelings at the start of my swim warm-up but after a couple of minutes I can almost feel the shift in my brain, almost like a switch going off, and I feel confident again.  Such a weird sensation.  I'm fine for the rest of my warm-up.  I'm in the 4th of 7 waves and this time I'm not distracted by a moose and leave right on schedule with my wave.  Swim is really good from start to finish.  No feet to draft off of but plenty of room and I don't have to waste a lot of energy sighting.  I pass a lot of people in my wave but only one, and he's breast stroking, from the wave ahead of me.  Such a short swim and they put some extra time in between my wave and the one before so it's not a big surprise.  Waves are arranged by bike ability then swim ability rather than age group so not too many stragglers in the quicker waves.

The buoys seem to fly by but I've lost count and I'm not sure if I'm at the turn around or not.  Seems like I should be but because of the low water level we swim much further into Horsetooth than normal.  I'm swimming directly into sunlight and can't see another buoy but I do see the splashing of other swimmers up ahead and no one around me slows for the turn so I keep going.  Finally I hit the turn around and the buoys fly by again on the way back.  I love it when the swim goes well.

I hit the beach and look at my watch - 14:40!  I can't believe it, normally it would be around 16 something.  This is a pace of 1:40/100 yards and I'm very skeptical of that.  My swim time is posted as 16:47 which is when I crossed the timing mat so I'm not sure if that 880 yards includes the beach run or if the swim was just measured short.

The beach run was hilarious.  The sand was not sand so much as mud and a wet, mucky, quicksand, ankle sucking type mud at that.  I'm amazed my timing chip stayed strapped on my ankle.  I saw a guy climbing out of the water on some rocks well away from the swim exit but he got to run on dry sand and even though it was longer it was totally worth it.  Wish I had spotted that in time.  Not much I could do once I was ankle deep in muck.

T1

Wetsuit comes off way easier this year.  I'm finally getting used to getting it off or maybe it's stretched a lot over the year.  Transition is quick-ish this year, especially since I'm wearing socks.

Bike - 12 miles

Not much to say about the bike.  I have more difficulty with people passing me this year and feel like I lose a lot more time and even worse, momentum.  Not sure why.  It's mostly people from the earlier waves passing me on their second lap.  Maybe I'm in too fast of a wave but another 5-10 minutes wouldn't have mattered much.  Doesn't seem to be much way around it with a 2 lap course.

Towards the end of my second lap I hear ambulance sirens and as I come up on a tight switchback I see an EMT heading for a woman on the ground.  I stop to let him by.  She had fallen on her hip and didn't seem to be able to move.  Hope she was o.k.  At least help got to her.

The one good take home lesson I have from this year is that I seem to lose the most time on the turns on the flat.  Lory has a lot of straight, flat, fast sections followed by random turns that you can't see ahead of time due to the long grass.  I get way ahead on the straight parts then lose too much speed on the turns and people catch me up and pass me.  I'm being particularly conservative because the trails are extra dry and loose, even sandy in places, and I don't want to hurt myself before Nationals.  But this costs me a lot of time and momentum when I have to slow or stop to let people pass.

My cyclometer reads 1:18:44, 12.6 miles.  My official bike time is 1:19:44, not sure where the extra .6 miles came from.  This means I only had a minute of stoppage time but this year I did a lot more slowing down and moving over rather than stopping.  In any case, this is 5 minutes slower than my time last year.  My cyclometer measured 12.3 miles last year and the bike course was slightly different at the end.


T2

Helmet/bike shoes off, running shoes on, dump bottle of ice water over head and go.  The only glitch is that someone has racked their bike in my spot.  I've got the end spot on the rack, how hard is it to know that's not your spot?  Though probably the person knows fine well, they're just too lazy to put the bike in their spot.  I wish people had better manners.  If you want the good spot on the end, get there earlier.

By now it's hot and there's no debate about me carrying a spare water bottle.  This year I've got a waist pack carrier for it since last year carrying it in one hand seemed to throw me off balance too much.  I struggle with the waist pack as I start the run.  Can't seem to get it to buckle.  In my haste I'm trying to put it on backwards.  Doh.  At least I'm futzing with it while I'm running and not wasting too much time.


Run

The water is heavy and weighing me down but I know I'm going to need it so I suck it up.  I was so hoping for the steep climb to seem easier this year.  Temps. are hot but still around 81 degrees rather than pushing 90.  Somehow I fail to notice the difference.  The climb is hot, steep and hard just like it always is.  My fellow competitors aren't helping matters.  'Whew, sure is a long climb.'  'Boy it's getting HOT.'  'This climb goes on forever.'  And so forth.  Normally I'm pretty good at turning around other people's negative suggestions but today is more challenging than normal.  Thankfully there's a guy at the top yelling words of encouragement to everybody.  He smiles when he sees me, 'Do you feel tough?'  I reply, 'Yes, tough, absolutely' and give him a thumbs up.  'Go get your downhill!'  he yells after I pass.  Yes, the downhill, that hill seemed to take forever but somehow the top has come so quickly.  So happy to see the downhill.

I don't go speeding down as quickly as I have in years past, maybe because I'm running mostly on my own.  A guy goes flying by me, jolting me out of my reverie and I remember, 'oh yeah, the race' and pick up my pace.  Some women come up behind me and I pick up my pace.  One passes but the other doesn't, putting some much needed pressure on me from behind.

I have a lot more energy for the last 1.8 miles than I normally do and for once it feels good to be running for the finish line rather than shuffling.  I even have a little bit of kick for the end but not enough to make it across the wretched Slip-n-Slide.

Photo from last year.

I get a splash from the hose and once again climb over the side to avoid the gross brown pit of doom at the end.

I feel much better at the finish then I probably ever have.  In the end my time is exactly 1:00 minute slower than last year but my run is 2:31 faster.  Doesn't seem like much but so happy to see some improvement, however small.

Once again, no vegetarian food, not even any bananas or bagels or horrible oreo cookies.  The only food is chips, salsa and fish or chicken tacos.  And the woman dishing out the chips gives me a small portion, couldn't even spare a few more given that that's all I had to eat.  Wouldn't be an issue if my car was nearby, I brought extra food, but it's back at transition, probably a good 1/2 mile or more.  So I stay just long enough to see my results then leave for most of the awards ceremony.  It's the only unfortunate thing about this race.

I end up finishing 6/10 in my age group, better than I thought I would.  I don't feel as tired after this race as I have in any other previous year.  Not sure I could have put much more into the run and I think the passing situation got the better of me on the bike this year.  Despite feeling rested I also feel a bit flat.  Four races at 3 weeks apart was a lot for me, never done anything like that before so it was an experiment.  Don't know if I'll do that next year.  Or I could train harder and get in better shape.

Next up is Nationals at Snowbasin in Utah.  So excited for that.  Will definitely get some better training in in the upcoming weeks.

Final Stats

Swim:  880 yards, 14:40 swimming/2:07 dash up the beach for official time 16:47 (last year 16:44 mins./1:54 per 100 yards)

T1: 1:56  (last year, 2:03)

Mountain Bike:  12 miles (12.6 by my cyclometer), 1:19:44/9.2 mph (last year 12.3 miles by my cyclometer, 1:14:48 hrs./9.8 mph)

T2:  1:05 (last year, 1:29)

Trail Run:  4.8 miles, 1:06:250/13:22 min./mile  (last year, 1:09:21 hrs./13:53 min./miles)
               Mile Splits:
               Mile 1:  15:09  (all uphill)
               Mile 2:  16:24  (all uphill)
               Mile 3:  13:08  (mix of uphill, flat and downhill)
               Mile 4:  10:44  (all downhill)
               Mile 4.8:  11:19  (mostly downhill, some slight uphill and flat-ish)

Total:  2:46:19  (last year, 2:45:19)

218/271 Overall  (last year, 199/273 Overall)
48/98 Women  (last year, 56/99 Women)
6/10 Age Group  (last year, 5/8 Age Group)

Swim:  5/10 Age Group, 61/98 Women, 189/273 Overall

T1:  3/10 Age Group

Bike:  6/10 Age Group, 66/98 Women, 220/273 Overall

T2:  2/10 Age Group

Run:  8/10 Age Group, 74/98 Women, 228/273 Overall

Xterra Lory 2011

'It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.'
-Andy Warhol

1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 4.8 mile run
6500' elevation, Lory State Park, Fort Collins area

I love this race.  It's a beautiful course, well organized, fun atmosphere, a great way to finish out my triathlon season.  My main goal for this race is to take some time off the bike.  I did the course at a pace of 9.0 mph 2 years ago (bike course was different last year) and the realistic goal is for 9.4 mph but my secret stretch goal is 10 mph.  I know it'll be a hot day, predictions are for 90's and the sun is already blaring at 7:00 a.m. so I don't want to push the swim for maybe a minute or two of time gain.  I know the run will be tough in the heat but I'm going to keep my focus run it as hard as I can.  I'm frustrated with my running this year and this is my last chance to improve.

I don't have any goals for placements.  There are 12 people signed up in my age group and I know 2 are way faster than me but I don't know about the rest nor do I know who will actually show up so setting a placement goal is pointless.

For the second weekend in a row I'm headed north up to Fort Collins in the pitch black and hoping not to run into any drunks or deer.  Or drunk deer.  I start off the journey by watching a guy next to me start to turn into oncoming traffic on a 55 mph highway as I wait at a red light.  I honk at him not knowing what else to do and this works in that he stops but he doesn't back up out of harm's way and I can see cars starting to come at him off in the distance.  He sits there for a bit sticking out in traffic then finally decides to do a U-turn in front of me on the red light with the oncoming traffic getting ever closer.  Thankfully he pulls this off and takes off in the opposite direction.

I arrive to the race 15-20 minutes later than I normally do (6:40 a.m.) and while I still have plenty of time I arrive at the same time as everyone else and the busyness is a little on the frazzling side for my sleepy brain.  I get a nice spot in transition but it's crowded and eventually a guy with a huge bike racks next to me and his giant handlebars block me in.

Busy Busy

I'm #97

Then I go down to the end of the transition area to take a picture of the swim course and see a ton of empty racks so I grab my stuff  and relocate.  The transition area is neutral meaning it doesn't matter where you rack, the only advantage is being on the main row and not in a row that's off the main runway.  I can't believe my luck and as people head down to the water they comment that they should have come down here too.

This never happens in a triathlon

Last year I didn't wear socks and got horrific blisters on the arches of both feet.  They were horribly painful and took weeks to heal.  So this time I'm planning on wearing socks but nonetheless I glob a ton of Bodyglide and Aquaphor onto my feet and especially on my arches.  It seems like ridiculous overkill but no way I'm getting blisters this year.

I had originally planned to leave a cooler in transition with 2 big bottles of ice water but the cooler was too heavy to carry on my bike the long way from my car to transition so I grab the small cooler packs out of the cooler and place them on top of the bottles then put my backpack over that in transition.  If not for this simple thing my race would have had a much different outcome.

There are lots of dogs milling about with spectators.  This one reminds me of Lola a bit.  She's wagging her tail at anybody who'll pay attention to her.

Swim (880 yards)
The water temp. is a balmy 75 degrees but I stick to my guns and wear my wetsuit. I'm glad I have it and I don't get hot at all.  I'm in the 5th of 7 waves and they're putting around 6 minutes between waves so I have plenty of time to warm up.  There's a huge area to warm up in right next to the start line so I'm able to swim right up until the start of my wave.  This year the waves are organized by a combination of our swim times and biking ability so instead of being in the old lady wave at the end of the race I'm in a wave with all manner of hooligans.  Men, 20 year olds, a mish mash of everybody and most of us supposedly close to each other in swim ability.  This is a good idea to eliminate congestion on the single track trails for the bike.  However it means I'm swimming in a mass of humanity for about half the race.  I get bumped and swum into a bit and I've got to swim around all manner of people breast stroking, back stroking, etc. and no way to pass them but to swim into the mass.  Normally this would send me into a panic but I've been working on this outside of the water, and I'll write more about that later, and I'm not the least bit worried, just keep siting to find an opening somewhere and keep moving forward.  I try to find feet to draft off of but they all end up being way too slow and I have to pass them.  I'm so preoccupied with managing the crowds that the turn-around buoy comes up before I know it.  And once I turn and head back to shore there's suddenly no one in front of me.  So weird.  After a minute or two I feel like I've somehow drifted way off course but after looking at photos of the buoys I realize it's just the way they positioned the buoys.  I make it back to shore without incident and stop for a moment in the water to take off the top part of my wetsuit and get my clothes underneath as wet as I can.

Swim (880 yards):  16:44 mins. (1:54/100 yards), 2/8 in age group, 150/273 overall

Dash to T1:  58 secs.

T1:  2:03, 5/8 age group

Bike (12miles advertised, 12.3 miles by my cyclometer)
My brain is a bit muddled after coming out of the water and I think I can get on the bike as soon as I cross the timing mat out of transition but I see a bunch of people running way past the mats so I start to get on then think I can't and get off and run a bit more then realize, duh, I can, I don't know what these people are doing.  And I was supposed to be working on quick, cyclocross style bike mounts this summer but I can't even figure out when to get on the bike.

There is only one woman in my swim wave that's also in my age group and though I'm out of transition before her she quickly passes me on the flat road before the single track.  I plan to at least keep her in my sights but she's way too fast for me and I have to abandon that strategy early on.  The race is a little crazy for the first lap with people trying to pass me as well as me trying to pass other people but for the most part it works out o.k.  There's only one woman who gives me a little bit of a hard time about letting me pass because she's already fallen once trying to let people pass.  But there's soon a group of people built up behind her and she's going to have to let us by at some point.  She eventually slams on her brakes to a stop in the middle of the trail with no warning then makes her way to the side.  I have enough time to stop but the guy behind me nearly runs into me.  Everybody else is really nice about letting me pass or nice about passing me so for the most part it's not a big deal.  It always seems there's one person that you pass back and forth several times and for me it's a tall skinny 24 year old woman who I'm guessing might be doing her 1st triathlon because she did the swim with no wetsuit and wore a swimsuit for the whole race.  So I try to be extra nice to her when I need to pass and at a couple points I get caught up behind her and don't try to pass because it seems more trouble than it's worth.  But at some point near the start of the second lap I pass her and take off and get way ahead and that's the last of my passing difficulties.

My average speed for the first lap starts out at around 10.1 mph then goes down to 9.8 at the slower part of the course with the hills.  With a possible 10 mph ave. speed in my sights and the course a bit more clear I attack the second loop, using my new bike handling skills to works around the turns and get as much speed as I can on the downhills.  I can't ride the switchback/drop on the first loop because someone's in the way and there's also someone there off her bike on the second loop but she steps off the trail to let me by and I cruise down it no problemo and the person I pass is from my age group.  I pass one other person from my age group on the bike but there's no sign of the person from my wave that passed me at the start.

I get over the final hill before transition and there's a mile, maybe more, and I'm at 10 mph ave. speed so I try to go even faster on the remaining downhill because maybe I'll exceed my stretch goal!  I get off the bike and my cyclometer reads 10.1 mph!  I'm so happy and I realize I've taken 10 minutes off my bike time from 2 years ago.  But when I see my official results my time is only 8 minutes faster and my ave. speed is 9.8.  I realize my cyclometer only records time and distance when the bike is moving so the time I wasted mounting the bike at the start and stopping to let people pass is about 2 minutes.  But still, I know my actual riding time was 10.1 mph, can't help the stoppage time for letting people pass, and I'm very very happy about it.

Bike (12 miles advertised, 12.3 miles by my cyclometer):  1:14:48, 9.8 mph official time,
                                                                                              5/8 age group, 184/273 overall

 T2:  1:29 (ouch), 5/8 age group

Run (4.8 miles)
T2 took a little longer than normal because I had a hard time racking my bike with no other bikes to weight the rack down and the rack moving all over but also because I took the time to dump one of my ice water bottles over my head.  I was already starting to overheat on the bike, temps. were high eighties pushing into 90 degrees for the run.

I carried my other large size water bottle with me on the run.  The ice packs had kept it cold enough that there were still loads of ice cubes even without the cooler.  It's heavy though and throwing off my stride.  After only half a mile my hip is starting to ache and I consider abandoning it on the road by the cars before I hit the single track up the steep hill.  I'm cool enough from the water I poured on my head in transition and it feels like it's slowing me way down.  But I remember how badly I struggled in the heat last year and I was already overheating on the bike this year.  In the end I decide to keep it.  And I'm so glad I do.

My plan is to wait until mile 2 then dump half of it on my head and take the rest as I need it.  But soon after the 1 mile mark I'm already struggling with the heat.  The hill is steep and goes on for 2 miles or so and there's no shade, the sun is beating down and I start to see how valuable this water will be to me.  I end up squirting small amounts of it on my head, face, arms, chest, etc. every time I start to feel myself overheat.  I take the occasional sip as well.  I ration it out and it lasts until maybe the 3 1/2-3 3/4 mile mark.  The heat effects me for sure but the water makes it possible for me to run the entire course unlike last year where I was sick and dizzy and had to walk a good portion of it especially at the end.  My race would have been miserable without it.

Lots of Runners pass me on the uphill but no one from my age group.  I used to be a Runner and it kind of makes me sad that I'm not anymore but I can't worry about that and I focus only on the trail in front of me and moving up the hill and forget the heat and the other people.  Somehow despite the heat and my diminished running abilities this year the top of the hill seems to come faster and easier than any other year I've done this.  But I notice what feels like a blister starting on the arch of my left foot.  I can't believe it but what can I do but head down the hill?  At least it's only 2 miles or so to the finish.  I pick up some speed going down and pass back some of the people that passed me on the way up.  The downhill seems longer this year though, I think I'm slower on it than 2 years ago because of the heat.

I get to the bottom of the steep downhill part and after a bit I can hear and see the finish line but it still looks so far off that it's actually discouraging.  I hit the 4 mile marker, only .8 mile left, but somehow this is discouraging too.  Can I hold on for that long?  I'm so hot and tired.  But again I forget all that and look only at the trail in front of me and next thing I know I'm off the single track and at the last water station.  The volunteer dumps water on my head and I take another quick glass even though I'm minutes from the finish.  It only costs a few seconds and it tastes so good and gives me a little boost for the finish.

That last stretch down the dirt road to the finish seemed so cruel last year but this year it zips by and soon I see the finish and the ridiculous Slip-n-Slide with the filthy tub of water at the end.

Thankfully there is not a little kid blocking my way at the finish.  I think I probably would have thrown him out of the way if there was I was so thankful to be done.

I'm planning on avoiding the Slip-n-Slide this year but I'm so hot and I see a woman spraying a hose down the ramp.  The announcer tells me that I'd better go faster than that or I'll never make it to the end and he's right but I don't care.  I make it about halfway down and lay there in the spray of the fabulous hose.  Feels.  SO.  Good.  I get up and climb over the side to get out so I don't have to get in the horrible filthy brown pit of doom.

Yes I do know how funny that looks, didn't take the photo on purpose but oh well.

Run (4.8 miles):  1:09:21, 13.53 min./mile (not great but better than I though it would be given the heat)

Finish:  2:45:19, 5/8 age group, 56/99 women, 199/273 overall.

So very happy with this race given the conditions.  My finish time 2 years ago was 2:44 but the swim was maybe 100-150 yards shorter and it was overcast and in the high 50's.  My bike was 8 minutes faster and run was only 5 minutes longer.

Compared to last year's race the swim was exactly the same time (freaky!), bike was 8 mins. faster this year, run was 9 mins. faster this year in similar hot conditions but the bike course was much harder last year so I'm not sure it's fair to compare those 2 races.

No hardware this time but it's o.k., this race was better for me than any of the races that I did manage to place at.  The woman from my wave that passed me on the bike right out of transition ended up in 3rd and it was her first off-road triathlon.  First and second place went to the 2 super fast people.  I was only 7 1/2 minutes behind 4th place and 5th place was over 1/2 an hour behind me.  I was 46-47 minutes off of first place and 1/2 an hour off of 3rd so nowhere close to placing.  But I'm happy about the improvements over previous years and holding up physically and mentally in that heat.  Fun day out on the trails despite the hot run.

The only downside to the day, aside from the heat, was the finish line food.  No food at all for vegetarians, just fish tacos and chicken burritos, some gross puffed fries and oreo cookies.  Funny thing was I asked if they had any vegetarian options and when they said 'no' the 2 girls standing next to me also groaned, 'This is Fort Collins, how can there be no veggie food?!!'  The caterers were apologetic and said they did have veggie burritos at their restaurant but weren't told to bring any.  They kindly gave a coupon for a free veggie burrito to the women but this didn't help us right then and there.  I did have energy bars in my car but my key was about 1/2-3/4 mile away back in the transition area.  I missed the raffle and a good portion of the awards going back to transition then coming back to my car and the finish area.  I did get to see the sides and roof of the Slip-n-Slide collapse though and it is a beautiful finish area.  Can't complain too much when there's blue skies and red cliffs.

Was tired and bonky on the way home but I eventually made up for the lack of finish line food no problem once I got home.  I wonder if I can spend the next week just sleeping and eating?


FINAL STATS

Swim (880 yards):  16:44 mins. (1:54/100 yards), 2/8 in age group, 150/273 overall


Dash to T1:  58 secs.

T1:  2:03, 5/8 age group

Bike (12 miles advertised, 12.3 miles by my cyclometer):  1:14:48, 9.8 mph official time,
                                                                                              5/8 age group, 184/273 overall

 T2:  1:29, 5/8 age group

Run (4.8 miles):  1:09:21, 13.53 min./mile, 6/8 age group, 255/273 overall

Finish:  2:45:19, 5/8 age group, 56/99 women, 199/273 overall.