Ogden Xterra Sport...

Last year I raced the 4th Street Clinic Triathlon put on by the U of U medical department and had an absolute blast. It was a short tri with a twist, instead of a road leg it was a mountain bike course near the U. Since then I have been training for the Ogden Xterra Sport off road triathlon and this past August I was finally able to race it! 

The Ogden Xterra is the Mountain Championship course, meaning that placing well here will earn you an invitation to the USA Championships at Lake Tahoe and/or the World Championships in Maui. Professional and more competitive racers race the Championship triathlon with a 1.5k swim, 30k mountain bike, and 10k trail run. I raced the Sport course with a 750m swim, 19k mountain bike, and 5k trail run. While shorter, the Sport race follows the Championship course and so the difficulty is high. 

I got to the race early enough and set up T1 at the Pineview Resivoir, then drove up to T2 at Snowbasin Mountain Resort. I lolligagged at the T1 setup and as a result missed the last shuttle bus down the mountain to the race start. I was standing with a handful of other slackers when a bus driver informed us that we'd missed the last bus. We all scrambled for our cars and sped down the mountain. I got there just as the cannon went of for the Championship racers. Luckily, the Sport group didn't leave for another half an hour. 

I had rented a wetsuit from SBR Sports in Orem and thought that was all I needed for the swim prep (besides some strategically placed Body Glide, goggles, and my fluorescent green swim cap) unfortunately I didn't sit in the water and acclimate to the cool temperature. As soon as they shot the cannon off I dove into the high 60'ish degree water and promptly gasped a mouthful of water, "so that's why everyone was chilling in the water before the start!" I had to backstroke for a buoy length before acclimating enough to breast stroke(Aislinn has since commented that I was indeed doing the front crawl not the breast stroke, dang medication). I was soooooo slow!

After the swim I was ticked off at how slow I was and determined to make up some time on the bike while still saving some juice for the run. I started slow, recovering from the swim (and the claustrophobic effect of the wetsuit) but soon found myself passing rider after rider. This gave me motivation and I really started pushing it on the course, which was almost entirely all uphill (except for a mile or so downhill towards the end of the course). I must have passed 40 or 50 other competitors and I got tired of yelling "passing on the left (or right)". I did get passed by an exceptionally talented female rider sponsored by Kuhl Clothing. She had a flat but passed me once she got it fixed, although I kept up with her almost to T2. 

T2 was a bit confusing as it was at the Snowbasin Resort parking lot. I was unsure as where to start running, but I soon got going only to be slowed down from side stitch cramping. I had to walk it out then got to running. I was making good pace the second half of the course and saw the finish line when my right shoe came untied. I got it tied and then sprinted to the finish, I re-passed a few competitors that had passed me and came across the downhill finish with my hair flying in the wind. 

I had so much fun racing the Xterra and I have already determined to start training for the full length Championship distance for next year. I think my swimming is what needs the most improvement on, but I know just being in better overall shape will make a difference too. I think the most important training I can do is stretching, especially my hamstrings. It seems my family is cursed with extra tight hammies so yoga and other stretching is necessary to continue being healthy racing. It was a challenging race, but I can't wait until next year!