The Midwest cup Xterra Fort Custers Last stand was an incredible race. This was my first "real" tri. I say "real" because I've done a couple of indoor tri's at my gym, but they were nothing like this. I chose Xterra as my first tri because of my interest in Mountain biking. I love road riding and plan to do a road tri later this year, but this was my focus for this year.

I started training over the winter for this with computrainer classes and lots of time on the treadmill. I also did a couple of MTB races leading up to the Last Stand. When the weather here in Chicagoland warmed up I got outside on the road bike for hill drills and road rides. I took a masters swim class and spent lots of time in the pool, but weather held me back from putting any time in the OW.

My wife and I drove up the night before and stayed in Kalamazoo, MI. It was a nice little town. I'm pretty used to rural Michigan since my grandfather lived there. I spent lots of time with my grandparents growing up and continued to spend time in Michigan into my adult life. My grandfather and I would hunt on family land in MI and I would make the drive up there to help him do things around the house when I could. We stopped in town and ate at a locak Outback and went back to the Fairfield Inn, where we stayed, so I could rest up for the race.

I also had a little motivation the week before the race becuase of my grandfather. My dad told me that my grandfather was stationed in Fort Custer before WWII. So I got to do an Xterra tri on the very ground he and many others trained to be warriors!! This really added to my excitement. Grandpa passed on last year, and I can't even begin to tell you how emotional it was when the soldiers fired into the air as they lowered him in the ground. He was trained to be a sniper and was highly decorated. The man had 2 purple harts, and I was always incredibly proud of him and what he did for our country. So I really wanted to make him proud on his old stomping grounds.

In the morning I got to the park early. The Elite Endeavors crew was already there setting up for the race. I was really nervous. Especially, when I went down to the lake and saw the bouy's set up. You can do laps in the pool, but when you see how far those things were set up out in the lake it can play with you mentally. After that, I found one of the only 2 outhouse's they had at the race. Yes, the anxiety made me sick. Luckily, the park opened up there facilities as well. There were plenty facilities at the race for everyone.

I then met some friends and calmed down. I went and got my registration pack and chip and proceded to set up my transition area. All the Elite Endeavors volunteers were incredible. Lines moved swiftly and there were no problems. I would have liked a little more lock down on transition area, but nothing got stolen or anything from what I've heard. I'm a little paranoid about those things so maybe I made too much of it. After that one of my friends took me down to the beach to get used to the water and swim a little. I have to thank him for that. I don't think I would have made it through the swim had he not taken time to work with me a little before the race on OWS'ing.

We did that until the start of the race. Everything moved on time, we started at 9am. The water temp was 68 degrees, a welcome change from 60 degree water it was a couple days ago. We had a beautiful day to race. It was between 77 and 82 for the whole race. I waited for everyone to go first and kind lagged behind just trying to make it through the swim. I got a little off course a couple of times in the first lap, but quickly got down the sighting technique and was able to find the bouys. Lap one was rough, and I was dizzy getting out of the water and back to the beach for lap two. Lap two went much better, and I actually ended up passing a few people that may have went out to strong in the beginning. I got out of the water in 21 minutes and headed to T1

I didn't rush through my transitions. Being my first tri I just wanted to get through and mentally note everything involved in making it happen. I got real dizzy when I got to the bike, and had to give myself a minute. After almost falling over getting off my wetsuit, I sat down and put my MTB shoes on. Then I grabbed my camelback, helmet, glasses and ran the bike to the end of transition. I stopped and got on for the ride.

The trails were a lot of fun. It was pretty fast with lots of technical riding. I think two of the most fun sections were one with a huge plank that must have been 5- 6 feet off the ground, and a stream crossing that came up well above my bottom bracket. I heard lots of excitement from other riders on the trails. The other participants overall were great. There was lots of words of encouragement and people helping others who had flats, etc. After a good ride of 12.5 miles on the bike, with no crashes for me!!, it was time to head to T2

T2 went a bit faster for me after I found my spot. I made the mistake of mentally marking my helmet ontop of my handlebars to identify my spot when I set it up. Coming back with no bike, got me a little jacked up to find my spot. When I did find it I quickly changed shoes, put a hat on and changed my perscription glasses for sunglasses. I had never did a trail run before, and really liked it. Having obstacles and hill climbs were a good mix to the flat running I usually do. It was really fun, and the race participants here again were really encouraging each other, and there were plenty of spots for on-lookers to catch a glimps of us and cheer us on as well. I may have gone out a bit too hard on the bike because I suffered from some cramps about 3 miles into the run. I had to stop twice to stretch. A friend of mine caught up to me and really encouraged me to keep going and I did with him. When we got to the line we both sprinted to take the win. Unfortunately for me, the cramps took over before I hit the finishline. He went by me and I hobbled over the line.

Overall, I had a great time, and a great first race! There were plenty of drink stations on the run, and volunteers to help with everything. Afterwards, they gave out awards and had lunch and beer for us. I will definitely do this race again next year and I'm sure my friends will too.

Edited by Meulen 2010-05-24 9:49 AM

Try earplugs next time for the dizziness.  It helped me quite a bit.

Good work Brian! Next time will be that much easier! 68 degree water? I probably won't experience that all season. You must of been cooking in your wetsuit.

I threw the ear plugs out last minute since it wasnt cold. Ill try them out next time.

We really got lucky with the water temps. It was really cold until saturday here. It warmed up tremndously in the last few days. Infact, after the race my wife and I stayed at the park and hung out at the beach.

Edited by Meulen 2010-05-24 4:04 PM