XTerra Dirty Grizzly - TriathlonSprint

Really pleased with my swim as compared to my 1st tri a few weeks ago at Evergreen Lake (where after 1st 150-200yds I did breast stroke most of the swim just to get through it and couldn't get my breathing settled at all). Got breathing rythm in the groove almost right away. I was even in the washing machine a bit in the first 100 yards as I somehow managed to be in the middle of the pack when the horn sounded. Didn't panic, steady swim, a little rubbing and bumping going on, but nothing too bad. Freestyle the whole way, and stayed in a groove. Was really pleased with my swim.

Work on sighting some more. Go faster.

SLOW...Not a fast T1. I felt like I was really slow at T-area. After getting out of lake, you jog on a trail over to the parking lot at Bear Creek and then through the parking lot barefoot. That was fine, but I was just slow at T getting my bike stuff on. Then just after I started off the rack, I forgot HRM, put it on and had some trouble getting it on chest. And it was a total waste, 30 min into MTB ride it was around my waste anyway.

No HRM on Off-Road, faster, Hustle up at T1

Holy Cow! Not really being a MT. Biker, I was in for a real education on this one. First .5mi people are bottlenecking, dropping chains, falling, then up a hill, lots of dismounting to let the faster MTB's pass since it was singletrack (and having a pretty good swim, I was in front of a lot of the better MT. Bikers in the early part of the bike). Pucker factor definately in first mile. Just plain brutal trail. Really learned a lot the first 5mile lap around the course (took about an hour) then we get to dismount at transition, walk the bike through transition, grab a drink at aid station, remount and do it again. Faster on 2nd lap cause I knew what was coming and just had an hour long lesson in MTB riding on lap 1. Even so, hit the deck 2wice on lap 2 (cause I stayed on the bike more) cut on thumb which made shifting a little difficult while it was bleeding but eventually it stopped and since the course demanded total concentration, I didn't really notice it. All in all I had a blast though on this course, hooked on doing more MTB riding now.

Ahhhmmmm, do more "real" MTB riding before this type of race.

Not bad. Glad to be done with that nearly 2 hr MTB marathon.

Run was good until I got to the technical trail running stuff, which I had to walk a lot of because it was very rocky singletrack trail and uphill. At this point I was just in "keep pace under control and finish race" mode.

Do some technical trail running prior to this type of race.

Drank some water and rest of Powerade, packed up transition stuff and headed out of Dodge. Little League game I have to get to in 1 1/2 hours. Not sure what the front, middle, and back of pack finisher times were.


Technical aspects of the MTB and trail running courses.


Only reason I rated "too hard" was for the technical MTB and trail running course which I really have never done any of before. Physically (fitness level) I was in good shape and had no endurance issues at all. In fact, I felt good at finish, just couldn't push it as hard as I would have liked because of my ability/skill in MTB and trail runnning. I would say organization of event was "average". Very low key. Start was about 15 minutes late, no chip timing, goody bag was pretty sparse (shirt and a swim cap??!!) for $80 or $90 bucks I would expect a little more (plus they ran out of men's large shirts so had to take XL). Post race buffet looked nice, but I didn't stay because I had to get to son's bball game. Some decent looking water bottles at the prize table which I asked if they were giving them out and the race organizer said, "no these are the age group prizes"- Really?. But overall this was a fun race and a nice change of pace for me by getting to do some MTB and trail running. I would definately consider doing it next year.