I was very confident about this swim, be it either 500M or 850M. There was a decent current that was very apparent as soon as the first wave got into the water, they were all drifting downstream. When it was my turn, I headed upstream to the tip of the island (about 30 feet from the turn bouy) and this gave me a good site point to keep me in the right vicinity of the turn. Turn upstream, and maybe I was drafting but I didn't know it, but I caught up to a giant pack of people at the next turn bouy. the next 2 legs, this girl and I kept beating on each other, until finally I decided to give it a really hard 10-12 pulls to get ahead. the current was really strong at the shore, becasue it was shallow so paying attention to your sighting was muy importante. made it out of the water, right around when I expected to, if not a little faster, with lots of gas still in the tank.

wet my goggles before we started so they wouldn't fog up. Other than that, I cant think of much, since I know I came out of the water ahead of 20-30 people.

Xterra doesn't use timing chips, so there was no transition times at all.
This transition includes a 1/4 mile run back to transition. so coming out of the water nice and calm, was now gone. I put a pair of shoes at the swim out, so I could put them on for the run back, but I was dizzy, so this was a slow undertaking. I was slow once I actually got to transition....but who really cares

Maybe not fire up the grill and cook that steak. I could have been faster in transition, but I knew I had a good deal of race left.

I loved this bike course. It was 90% singletrack, and more than 75% of the trails were new. I think someone was bored so when they built the trails they decided to make a climb every 500feet. mind you these weren't rollers, they were climbs, one after another. I didn't have my Garmin with me, but i'd guess there was 1500-2000ft of climbing, 50ft at a time.
I kept to my plan of pushing hard on the fire roads becasue it was free speed. the first 2 miles had the biggest climb of the day, and the biggest decent of the day. The most interesting part of the day was carrying the bike up 4 flights of stairs, over the train tracks, to get to the Buttermilk trails. Buttermilk is a tight technical portion of trails that are quite rideable, but slow becasue they are so technical. at this point I actually caught and passed someone! AFter Buttermilk, we crossed the river down a steep bridge. Sweet 30seconds of recover, at 25mph! the new sections of trails were gnarly to say the least. the last 4 miles were filled with tight switchbacks, both climbing and decending, lots of rock gardens, and root balls, and even a few logs to jump. I caught another group of people, who were really struggling, like me, but a little more. One of the girls in front of me lost her front wheel in a rock garden! My good Karma for the day was stopping to help her with her bike. she didn't have any idea what to do! i put her bike back together, got infront of them becasue they were menaces! and off I went to finish the ride. About the time I was coming back onto the island, my legs were starting to cramp. Remember no salt tablets=cramping

climb better. remember salt tablets, be more agressive when in a group with people. Again, I rode faster than 5-6 people that I am sure of, becasue I either passed them, or caught them on the ride.

Again, the T time is a guess. I was cramping as soon as I got off the bike,so I took my time again. I knew the run would not be pretty. grabbed a gel, and started the walk out.

Salt tablets!

I walked out of transition, to the water stop right next to it, drank my gatoraide, and water, and tried to run. managed about 100yds of running, and my toes curled up,and my calves were cramping badly. ok now the plan is walk as fast as i can without taking a long stride. I tried to run every now and again to see if it was better, but it never lasted. took more gatorade and water at mile 1, made sure I drank all of it, and it was up the flood wall. managed to run a little more before problems set in again,but it was progress. then comes the Mayan ruins. This is a set of steps, about 75ft tall, made out of railroad ties. They are not even, level, or consistent. Thank god there is a fence right next to it. I got about 1/2 way up,before I started to use the fence as a hand hold. the last person who caught me on the run got to the ruins just after me. right after the ruins is mile 2 water stop. gatoraide and water. tired running again,and it worked ok. still a little sketchy, but I could shuffle faster than i was walking. the rest of the way was shuffle, walk, shuffle, walk until I got to the finish and I ran!

not cramp. I could have beaten 3-4 people if i could have run.

drink lots of gatorade, get free athletes barbeque, and dump old bay seasoning on both my chicken and greenbeans for the salt.
They announed me when I crossed the line because I was DFL. They even called me up to the stage at the awards presentation to give me a beer. I said no for now, but I'll take you up on that beer in Maui!
Once I had some fluids and salt in me, I felt fine.


weight, and cramping


I doubted myself frequently during the race. But I kept remembering that Maui is not at all technical, and all about climbing, and having a set when you're decending. I didn't get to beat my time from last race here, but I have no doubt, with the same course as last time, I would have been an easy 30-40 minutes faster without the cramping.
Se La Vie.
I had a blast, so now its time to plan to knock some serious time off that race next year.