Feeling Big Time at XTERRA Indian Peaks

At the XTERRA Indian Peaks race on August 1st, I have to admit I felt like a bit of a celebrity. I had tons of friends, family, and my runners there supporting me. Everywhere I turned, there was someone that I knew. It was a blast! This must be how Conrad feels all the time!




This is a rather unique swim because it is a time trial start. What that means is that every 3 to 5 seconds someone goes. I signed up rather late, so I ended up with #2. It wouldn't have been any big deal, except that #1 didn't show up, and they were doing the swim in numerical order. Yup, that's right, I had to go first! Felt kinda weird knowing that everyone on shore was looking at me, but I knew it wouldn't last long. I almost made it to the first buoy before Branden caught me, then I no longer had to worry about being in front in the one part of the race that I really suck at.




The bike was going pretty well for the first few miles. I caught a glimpse of Cody in front of me and thought I might have a chance to catch and hang with him. But then in typical XTERRA fashion, things didn't go as planned. All of a sudden, my shifting was gone! I had a malfunction with my cable housing, and I wasn't able to shift in the rear.

So single speed it was! I had to run all the up hills, and really stand to grind out the flats. On the downhills, there was no holding back! If I didn't want to loose to much time, I had to go fast when I could.

My dad was out on course and it was really fun to see him several times throughout the ride. It was pretty twisty and windy out there, so he had to do a little walking, but he could see the course in several places.




Rolling into T2 was my total rock star moment. There was a massive wall of spectators lining the approach to the dismount line and it felt like everyone of them was screaming and yelling for me! Faster than a speeding bullet, I was in and out and it totally helped having the crowd cheering me on!





Coming off the bike in 3rd, I held that position through the run. Once again great to have my dad out there letting me know where my competition was in front and behind me.

I crossed the line 3rd, but an age grouper who finished behind me ended up bumping me to 4th. That's one of the down sides to time trial starts, you don't know exactly how everyone stacks up till they ALL cross the finish line. Guess I just need to swim faster, so that that won't be a concern at all.

My best buddy Blake who ended up taking 2nd in his age group.




My dad, mom, their puppy Lil, my brother Travis, and me after a fun day.

Several of the kids that I coach at Centaurus High School came up to watch me race. It was pretty fun because normally I'm the one cheering for them. Thanks Torie, Val, Christa, and Derek! You guys rock!

Torie and Val had these awesome shirts on that they made for the race. I felt pretty darn special because how often do people make a shirt to show support?!? Usually its just a sign. That was soooooo coool!!!

AQUA SPHERE!!!

XTERRA Mountain Cup - Will

The XTERRA Mountain Cup was held in Beaver Creek, CO on July 18th. Yes I realize this report is super delayed, but better late than never... This race was race # 9 in 12 weeks and to say I was a little burnt out would be an understatement. Mentally I was completely toast. I've learned my lesson that there is such a thing as too much racing. With the coast to coast travel and hectic schedule of the summer, I went into this race just going through the motions.The interesting things was how well I did considering my approach to the race. I wasn't motivated to go hard and really hurt myself, when I knew that my fitness wasn't where I wanted it to be. So anytime things got hard, I backed it off (that will be the theme for the day).




With this approach, I somehow swam the fastest I have all year! My time wasn't anything amazing, but I was much closer to the guys in front of me than I normally am. Hhhmmm.... maybe I should not try more often?





As I started the massive 3000 ft climb up to Beaver Creek resort from the lake in Avon, I kept with my lack luster mentality. "This feels hard. I should back it off." The same as with the swim, maybe I should not try more often. Glancing behind me, I saw Brian Smith (http://wheresbrianandjennysmith.blogspot.com/) 20 or so meters behind me. "Here he comes, and there he'll go" I said to myself. But somehow, he didn't come flying by me as anticipated. I was holding him off!?! Brian is a uber biker and one of the fastest guys on the circuit. I was quite surprised that he didn't shoot past me as usual.

It wasn't until a long road section that he passed me and left me behind, but I was quite surprised that I had stayed in front of him for as long as I had. The rest of the bike was rather cruisy. As I said before - anytime it got hard, I just backed it off. Burping my tire on one of the technical downhills aided to my less-than-blistering pace.

The entrance to T2 was really fun because it was straight down a hill! I came blazing in so fast I almost ran into the fencing between the bikes and the spectators. I was in and out of transition so fast, that I didn't even have time to take my gloves off! A friend was just outside T2, so I tossed her my gloves so I didn't have to do the entire run with them.

On second thought, I don't know if I'd call this a "run." Anytime it got kinda steep, I would walk. And there was a lot of steeps. Anytime I got to an aid station, I would walk. And there were several aid stations.

As usual, I didn't see anyone on the run (other than Sport athletes). A spectator told me there was someone behind me with about a mile to go, so I did put in "a little effort" to finish things off (never did actually see the guy). I finished 10th and was a bit surprised that I did considering I wasn't even tired. Hhhmmm... maybe next time I should not care, but put a little more effort in, maybe I'll surprise myself again!