Who's racing Xterra? What are you doing differently?

Z,

Which one are you planning on doing? The Buffalo Creek in June? I've been thinking about signing up for that one myself. My first tri ever was an off-road tri and it was tough (the Fat Tire Tri in Ft. Collins; they no longer put it on although rumor has it that it may come back). Consider investing in a Camelbak for the bike. The RD, who himself raced only XTERRA events, highly recommended this. I didn't listen. He was right. Even a non-technical MTB course will have bumps and rocks, and you want both hands on the bars as much as possible. Between focusing on the course and keeping your bike on it, reaching down for a water bottle is tricky.

Ride on dirt as much as possible. Riding on pavement is way easier than dirt. Also, if it should happen to rain the night before the race, the damp dirt will stick in your tires and you'll be surprised how much weight that adds, not to mention that it's just more difficult to pedal on wet dirt. To prepare for this, try to ride on dirt after a rain, if possible, and if the trail you ride on allows riding when it's wet because, some don't.

Don't even think about comparing your time to a road sprint. At the tri I did, the winner, who was a pro and had raced a few Iron distances, finished in something like 1:20.

BTW - This may sound like a dumb question, but why is the cadence on a MTB totally different than on a roadie? I mostly ride my MTB just because it's convenient and safer to ride on the dirt trails near my house and haven't really noticed a huge cadence difference. Then again, I'm going from MTB to road, which may be different. I agree that the two bikes are different in terms of handling and of course gearing, but once I spent more time on my roadie I feel fairly comfortable training on my MTB and racing on my roadie. 

I could be in for Buffalo Creek next year.  

Interested in the other responses from those experienced in both.

As for my 1.2 cents.  You will still want to get your road miles in for building base and spend enough time on the dirt for technical skill.  And remember these two thoughts. 

Look where you want to go, not at what you are trying to avoid,

and I can't remember what pro said this, but she was the top woman about 9 years ago,

"The whole secret to Mountain Biking is pretty simple, the slower you go, the more likely it is you are going to crash"

i raced an x-terra last year.

humbling experience is putting it mildly.

Put in as much time riding single track as you physically can and practice running up rock walls (repeatedly)

That's not too far from the truth. You forgot the part about practicing running downhill, which can be just as hard as uphill.

Running off the bike.

Get used to the feeling of lead legs.

Just make sure you smile when you finish!

Take a look at www.racergirl.com

You think your legs are dead from a normal tri?  Tripple the hills, then look forward to this as a run course:

(icort1.jpg)

(icort2.jpg)

Matt, which tri was that? That's just wrong.

For Z and other Coloradans, here's an off-road tri that just started. Check out the results - the overall winner took 1:28. That would be what, an age group winner in a road tri?

http://www.racingunderground.com/dirtfest/index.html

That's the Iron Creek tri in Spearfish South Dakota.  That hill is part of a two loop course.  I don't have a picture of the half mile 17% hill at the start of the run loop.  The fact the race is in July just adds insult to injury.  Last year it was over 100* at gun time (2:00 in the afternoon)

In terms of training for it, it was a month after my marathon, which was also somewhat hilly.  To prepare for that I did a TON of hill work, both long runs and intervals, as well as a lot of hill work on the bike.  My moutain biking skills were seriously lacking, but I made up a lot of places by being a strong hill climber.  Same with the run too.  My overall pace was pretty slow, but the fact that my recovery time after a climb like that was super low (from the hill training) I could pick my pace back up on the flats and pass a lot of people coming off the hills during the run.

I think i might do that one too.  I need to serisouly start hitting the single track though

I was going to suggest more time in the weight room as well but I always get nailed for saying stuff like that. As a life-long MTBer, you have more credibility. If someone wants to argue with you, they better have spent some time on a MTB. You're right about the upper body fatigue. I once did one of those go up a ski lift and ride down deals. You'd think that it was easy - all you do is ride down and you don't even need to pedal. Total body fatigue after that one run.

I can think of 3: AZ Xtreme XTERRA by DCB, Deuces Wild XTERRA by TriSports, and Papago Park Off Road Tri by Red Rock Co.

You must be doing the Papago Park one in Oct. Have fun!

I race the Xterra Southeast Championship, right in my backyard in Birmingham, Al.  I totally agree with jbjboc, you got to ride the Mtn bike one to two days a week.  The XTERRA is much harder to me because its all anaerobic full tilt.  Mtn biking to me has a greater physically demand than road biking.  You must work your technical skills for many of these courses.  The XTERRA Southeast is the same course the Pro MTN bikers race on a couple of weeks before the XTERRA.  You can seriously hurt yourself at "Race Pace", pushing the limits of your technical ability.  They are definitely a blast and a must if you enjoy Mtn Biking.