XTERRA Stoaked - TriathlonOther

I did poorly on the swim and learned many things in the process. The first lesson learned was that XTERRA wetsuit rules differ from USAT rules. USAT has 78 degrees and higher being no wetsuits for amateurs. XTERRA follows the ITU rules of 73 degrees and up no wetsuits for amateurs. The second thing I learned was how stressful a mass start with 104 swimmers can be. Every time I bumped into a swimmer I stopped to give myself some more room. This by far was the most stressful swim I've had. I couldn't relax and get into any sort of rhythm.

Basically in any race there are the following groups: The Leaders, The Chasers, The Pack, The Stragglers, The Strugglers, and the ones in-over-there-heads (basically about to be taken by the Langoliers). For my swim I was definitely at the tail end of the "Strugglers" group. In fact in my picture you can see my two lovely lifeguard escorts on surfboards. In that picture both of my legs were cramping and I was a half-second from raising my arm for assistance. After flipping on my back for 3 deep breaths I turned back over and front crawled my way back to shore. I thought I was dead last but there were two more poor souls out there fighting not to be taken by the Langoliers on Kayaks.

How nervous and freaked out I was during this swim was orders of magnitude worse than my first open water swim in a wetsuit. At least the wetsuit floated and I had that as my safety net.

The most important thing to do that I had the most difficult time doing was being calm and relaxed. This prevented me from getting into a rhythm in the swim. What it came down to was lack of experience in swimming without a wetsuit, and especially in a mass start with over 100 people. I did not like all of that turbulence in the water.

T1 had a portion on the main beach to get on bike shoes, a short jog to the main transition area to put on helmet, gloves, glasses, and Camelbak.

Transition time is estimated from my bike computer. The official race times lumped T1 with the bike, and T2 with the run.

There really isn't much to do differently. Transition this time was greatly simplified without having to deal with a wetsuit. Also taping up the excess straps of the Camelbak made it much less of a hassle to deal with. I still have problems putting on the Dreamfar jersey without it bunching up in the back.

My first lap was all right. I was still trying to put out of my mind how horrible my swim was to focus on the ride. Once I got to my first downhill those thoughts quickly went away. During my first lap I did the "bucking bronco" with my bike and managed to pull up and push forward the handle bar to prevent myself from doing an endo (flying over the handlebars end-over-end).

What I didn't expect on the second lap was after a 100 riders how fast the trail conditions can change. All of the roots on the off-cambered section of trail that were a little slippery were now very slick with all of the mud deposited by each rider. All of the mud pits were really slick and deep because every one rides a slightly different line. Turns taken at high-speed during the first lap were now had slightly loose ground.

Due to this lack of experience I fell 3 times during my second lap. The first crash I hit my left elbow pretty hard against a rock and scraped it and had a little rock chip stuck in. When I got back on the bike I quickly veered to the left since my left arm couldn't take the pressure right away. I like most people after crashing are never quite the same for the rest of the day. I went from being in a zen like state reading the trail and seeing the line I need to take through the upcoming obstacles. To now looking at the trail and having it being written in French. And I don't speak French. Given this state and the growing fatigue my decision making skills and mental focus on the bike was quickly deteriorating. I was so out of it I even shifted to the big ring (a higher gear) in the middle of a climb instead of the small ring in the front!

My second fall was on a downhill descent and not taking into account that the sharp left could be loose. It wasn't during the first lap and boy did things change. As soon as my rear tire started sliding, I instantly turned toward the skid. Unfortunately the ground caught my front wheel turned it perpendicular to the top tube and my bike slammed down hard. During all of this I managed to clip out but ended up doing the superman into a Jurassic Park sized fern. The only thing going through my mind was I hope there isn't a jagged tree stump or a boulder behind there. Luckily there was just more ferns and it was a nice soft landing. My final fall was in the off-cambered section of trail with the super slick tree roots that every one so kindly deposited some mud from there tires on. So for this section I followed the mountain biking safety mantra "when in doubt walk it out."

I need to be a little bit more assertive in passing people on the course. I ended up passing about 24 riders on the course. Several of them I followed them and waited until they got off in the technical bits to pass. Others I followed until the double track. What I should keep in mind is that if I catch a rider by definition their pace is slower than mine.

I also need to attack the hills more and quickly transition to running when the gear becomes so low I'm spinning out. Also when I'm off of the bike I need to run with the bike and quickly remount as soon as possible.

Estimated time.

Have shot blocks in jersey and eat right before grabbing water at first aid station.

I felt good on the run and ran conservatively keeping my heart rate below 170. I walked up the steep hills and ran the slight inclines and down all of the descents. My second lap I pushed a little bit harder and saved some energy for the final burst up the steep hill to the finish. Unfortunately I didn't have enough to run up the entire hill and walked the steepest part.

Build up more strength and muscular endurance for running up steep hills. Also improve overall running efficiency and speed.

Walked to the aid/feed station for several oranges, bananas, chips, water, gatorade, and free BEER!


Primarily lack of experience at this level of competition. Related to this was completely loosing focus and freaking out during the swim. Mentally could not get over the fact that I didn't have the safety net of a floaty wetsuit.

A few mistakes were made on the bike, taking too long to pass, did not take into account how fast trail conditions could change on lap 2, needed to attack more of the hills, and also run while off of the bike.

For the run I was maybe too conservative and could have pushed harder.

I think I may need to tweak my nutrition during the race. I think I may need to evaluate this further. I wonder if it has anything to do with racing through my normal lunch hour. I guess I'll have to talk with my coach. During training I think I may need to experiment with other sources of nutrition besides my usual balance/power bar. Maybe try Gu or something.


XTERRA Stoaked was a lot of fun. Post-race awards included a raffle for some pretty sweet swag and prizes (transition bag, hydration pack, $100 gift certificate, etc.) Also they had a keg what more can you ask for?