XTERRA Snow Valley - TriathlonOther

Ugly! Started strong, but rapidly became short of breath presumably due to the elevation. It was a real struggle not to panic, regain composure, and continue with the swim. I was having such a hard time that I almost quit the race a couple of times. After struggling through the first lap, my second time around went better, but I had to still resort to unilateral, every-other-stroke breathing.

Not sure. Swimming is my obvious weakness, but I have no way to really prepare for elevation.

T1 time included in swim time.

Transition went smooth, but had to spend a little extra time bagging my wetsuit since T1 and T2 transitions were in different locations. Ran out of transition, stepped on timing mat, and mounted bike on the run - only to be told to dismount and run further before mounting. This was slightly irritating since there was no signage indicating were to mount. Even more frustrating, when I go to remount my bike, my saddle moves nose down. Great!

Transition was smooth on my end. Just a little communication problem with the race officials.

I gave a hard effort, but I would of liked to have been able to climb more out of the saddle, The terrain was just too sandy and loose to allow for this technique.

Now, the next mishap. At the completion of the bike segment, I'm preparing for transition leaning over to undo my shoes. I have another rider to my outside and I'm taking the inside line into an approaching turn. All of a sudden, the guy comes off his line into my line. When I tried to brake and correct, my bike slipped out in the sand and I took the impact mainly to my left shoulder and head. I was probably traveling at about 20 mph at the time. My wife said the fall looked pretty bad, but I was able to get right back on the bike without loosing much time. All I remember hearing is the race announcer talking then say "Oh my God!"

All I can think of is trying to keep a smooth cadence and pushing a faster tempo for this course.

Not a bad transition. I tried my best to ignore my new road rash and push through transition.

Not fall before transition.

I had a good run. While pace appears slow, this run is the hardest course I've ever experienced in any XTERRA races. And, if the course isn't tough enough, there is no time to get your legs after T2 as the run begins straight up the ski slope.

The fastest time was only 21:43.

Keep working on my trail running. My practice has paid off though, as I feel much more comfortable and agile running downhill and navigating steep descents.

None. Walked around a bit while I talked to my wife.


Once again, I was limited by the swim.


This is a good race, but the disciplines are out of proportion. They either need to shorten the swim or add laps to the bike course to make it fair for all.

6/20 AG. 25/121 Overall. Worst finish this year for me. 6th place only gets me 47 out of 75 points toward US Nationals. While this race moved my into 5th place for the region, I also lost any chance of winning my region (CA, NV, and AZ).