Xterra West Champs race recap

 Saturday April 13

 Race start was 10:30am and the forecast was HOT with a Saudi Arabian Wind!

This year was a totally different race than other years in the past.  Some say they thought it was harder than Maui!  I think the heat caught a lot of us by surprise.

Last year was raining and freezing, this year was crazy hot and windy.  I was definitely aware I was in the desert, the heat was oppressive and you couldn’t tell how much you were sweating because the hot wind was so dry.  The wind was blowing you off course at times and out of your line on the higher peaks and open flats, it seemed like there was no where to hide.  It was a tough race to stay hydrated.

Swim   27:20

The water was 57 degrees and pretty comfortable with a wetsuit.  It was much warmer than last year, no frozen hands and cramped calves.  it was hard to believe that the temp was the same as last year, it seemed worlds apart!  I was trying to stay closer to the girls in the line up because drafting is just plain and simple faster than trying to fluff around on my own.  I did alright for the first 1/3 of the race and then I was lonely.  I felt really good (like everyone I am sure) swimming the first leg and heading across the lake but coming back was choppier.  We were also swimming against the current a little.  I have been working on an early high elbow on my catch and this was what I was trying to focus on.  The chop wasn’t horrible but there was a chance of getting a mouth full of water if you weren’t careful.

I felt pretty calm and happy about my swim but I can never tell if I went hard enough, which means if I am questioning it, i didn’t! I was a little too perfect with my stroke and technique…good thing it was a training race live and learn.

In comparison to the fastest times posted last year to this times were a little slower this year by about 45 seconds.  So if I swam a 28:27 last year, it would workout out that I was almost 2 mins faster. I am not sure I completely trust my theory.

Our superstar of the group Croucher swam a 19:58!

 

Bike   1:42:29

“Smooth is fast”

I was stoked when we pre-rode that I was able to ride a section I have not ridden in the past.  Kyle Walker ripped through it like it was cake and it baffled me as I have always looked as this rocky platform I call “marshmallow rock” as a bit of a Rubix Cube.  I called him back so I could follow his line and bingo! It was that easy.  I had to get photographic evidence as the hubby would surely not believe this one.  Christy and I were pretty jazzed about this and I think the husbands were still skeptical we knew what we were doing when we called them later that night to tell them we rode it.  Brett & I had spent quite a bit of time trying to figure this one out in years past.  This year the exit was filled in and smoothed out so it was more rideable.  I have to say full suspension has been a lovely luxury especially when my ride is at 22lbs!  Needless to say we came back the next day and I dug my front wheel in the wrong line and sailed straight over the handlebars.  Croucher had front row tix to this one, my back wheel was a few feet above my head, I escaped unscathed, we nailed it the second time!

Race day I was pushing things but I didn’t kill myself on the bike.  I was sensible and calm through the sand and loose marble gravel, baby head rocks.

I felt like it was a consistent effort and that I rode really smooth especially around the lake’s edge. I was able to stay off the breaks and carry my momentum and not power pedal out of the turns. I was happy with that, it is an improvement.  You gotta pay just as much respect to power as you do technique in mountain biking, and I am still very much a baby in the MTB world.

 

I have to say my bike performed beautifully on race day, the tune & bike fit John Phillips and Bud did at Venture Sports Avon was ace and my Giant Anthem is the best bike on the planet.

I only went though a single 24oz bottle of infinite and a half a bottle of water in 1 hr 40 mins which was not enough.  I was concerned about the run and the heat at this point as I pedaled into a head wind.  I want to work on increasing my threshold to capitalize on my climbing and keep getting out and working on my cornering… here we go short track!

 

Run  55:53

Heading out on the run the heat was relentless.  I started the run at about 12:40pm.  There was no shade on the course and it was arid.  I cannot say enough about the volunteers this year: they were on it, thanks guys.  Approaching every aid station they were always prepared with cups in their hands and calling out to ask what you needed, they were so well stocked with both water and gatorade and they were instrumental in a sufferably hot run.  I grabbed 3 cups at all 4 aid stations.

Mile 1 was an 8:30 min mile pace, I didn’t see the rest, but not crushing myself on the bike, played to my favor on the run.  There were a couple of tough climbs at mile 2.5 and 3.5 which reduced many to walking and the second sucked me in for a bit as I couldn’t find much of a solid footing.   Thanks coach for the hill repeats these climbs weren’t that horrible.

 To my surprise I passed a few pro girls in the run.   I felt strong. As I continued up the riverbed I saw Josiah and he said “Hey Tam, GO” when I saw Conrad a minute or 2 later I was pumped for him and knew he was headed to the finish line for the win!  Nice job Josa.

I passed Chris Jeffrey near the top of the first climb, mile 3 and then Brandi on the second bigger climb mile 3.7.  Since when is running my draw card, I was kind of surprised. I tend to race well in the heat… I must be Australian.

 

I guess saving a little gas for the run is not a bad idea after all.  Knowing that I walked though the aid stations to make sure I got the fluids in me and that I never felt like I was going to blow a gasket on the run, I am please with this effort.  It’s a solid start that is showing me glimpses of my run potential that I think I am starting to tap into.

This week was the most fun trip I have had at a race outside of Maui (hard to top that).  A huge shout out to my mates that I travelled with.  Jamie Gunion, Christy Geyer, Steve Croucher and I loaded 4 bikes onto Christy’s car (well Pete did actually, thanks Pete) and drove to Vegas on Wednesday morning.  We have had so many laughs on the way and we all got along seamlessly.  Croucher was surrounded by some pretty crazy women and he survived.

We all sang along to “Rock of Ages” at the Venetian after the race as a treat for Jamie’s Birthday that was on Wednesday April 10 and had a ball on Saturday night.  Great show if you haven’t seen it.

I am psyched if these guys will travel with me again, they made it so relaxed fun, perfect for abating race nerves.

 

I am proud to say Vail was heavily represented by:

Christy Geyer.               2nd in age

Amelia Van Dyke.         2nd in age

Steve Croucher.            3rd in age

Jamie Gunion

Kyle Walker

Tanya Walker

Mike Stephanek

Ezra Velez

James Ellis

Todd Foral

The Middaugh family had a spectacular weekend with Josiah winning the Championship race.  The boys and Ingrid ran the 5K Sunday where Porter and Sullivan took 1st and 2nd in the kids 5K and Ingrid a 2nd also.

In the car on the way home we are sunburnt, tired, sore and happy.  I am looking forward to seeing my boys, Brett & Zeke, who partied it up in Fruita for 3 days this weekend with Pete & Ellie.  We are not so thrilled to be driving back to 3 feet of snow…

but it will give the sunburn a chance to calm down.  What a great trip with insanely cool people, a trip I will remember, thanks Jamie, Christy & Steve-o for helping me keep it real.

 

Here is an article in SneakPeak Vail that I had a small part in.  If you want to read the whole article highlighting some of the Vail Valley’s top athletes, Click Here.  We are on page 4-5.

Off season

It is just over 5 weeks since Xterra Worlds, but it seems longer than that. I can’t tell you how much time I have on my hands when I am not training. Riding your bike for a few hours can really eat into your day especially when you then feel like taking a nap. I am sleeping like a baby and feel so happy (most of the time) and rested. People have mentioned I look rested also. Does that mean I looked like crap before?

It is an interesting concept for an athlete who has been on a structure training program for 10 months to then go AWOL for a month or so. There have been off season’s where I have felt completely lost without a structure of workouts from my coach but this time I am really enjoying the time off. Of course there is always a little post season depression, it is inevitable after such a peaking of training and mental focus. I am coping much better this year knowing that this period would be visiting me sometime in Novemeber.

The last 5 weeks for me have involved a lot of reflection on my season. What did I do well. What would I do differently. What are my goals for next year. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. In the heat of moment it is difficult to be objective. I have now come to terms with the fact that I was overtrained for the last 6 weeks of the season.

The definition of overtraining is:
Overtraining is a physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. They cease making progress, and can even begin to lose strength and fitness.
If sufficient rest is not available, then complete regeneration cannot occur. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists, then the individual’s performance will eventually plateau and decline. Mild over training may require several days of rest or reduced activity to fully restore an athlete’s fitness. If prompt attention is not given to the developing state and an athlete continues to train and accumulate fatigue, the condition may come to persist for weeks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining

I want to add that this is not my coaches doing. It is my job as an athlete to communicate with my coach how I am feeling and I did not do this.  I did not want to admit that I needed more recovery and I thought that I was weak by admitting that I was tired.  I thought I should be tougher than that.  There is no way that your coach can plan for you if you are not being honest with them let alone yourself.  This is the biggest lesson i learnt this year, admitting I needed a break was tougher than carrying on being fatigued.  I was doing myself and my coach injustice. 

I can now see that I was constantly complaining of being fatigued and tired. I had lost motivation and was going throughout the motions, like training was a job. The fun got sucked out of things. I was irritable and overly emotional. I had lost my competitive drive and my performance was decreasing. I think it would be unreasonable to think that i could have believed that i was overtrained at the time. I am stubborn. Brett has made me pretty aware of these indicators over the past few weeks also. God love him for putting up with me for the months prior to Maui. He must have needed to vacation more than I did.

3 months ago there was no way that you could reason with me that there may be a possibility that I was overtrained. If you have never been there you don’t quite know what it is like. Even now, I still doubt wether I really was overtrained. I struggle with the fact that it feels like a weakness in admitting that I was, but in fact, it is the other way around. I am not trying to toot my own horn, but, it takes courage and maturity to admit it and take ownership. But every now and then I wonder, was I just not mentally strong enough to push through the fatigue and dig deeper. I decided that, if I “keep going doen that road” I will kill all my confidence. Even still, if experience a similar effect in my training again, I imagine I will still be resistant to believing that I am overdoing things. Saying that i was overtrained for the last 6 weeks of my season is not a cop out (an excuse for my performance) because i still raced reasonably. It is a fact my swim split times were getting slower and my perceived exertion was higher, my track splits were close to the same but I was busting my ass to get hit them. I was struggling to do any threshold rides as my power dismally plummeted. Training adaptations only come from progressive overloads and to a certain point fatigue is part of the process, but not for 6 weeks!

Anyway, I have loved joining the yoga world and running with my best friend ZEKER. I pulled my bike out of the bike box and built it last week and cruised around Fruita with my inlaws and it was bliss.

I am swimming because I want to, and I get out when I feel like it. Lifting weights and playing around on TRX is a fun challenge and I have mastered standing on a Swiss ball.

I am stoked I have found a balance again and life is good. I am wary to jump into training to quickly so I am taking December off also. I am still doing about 12/13 hours a week of exercise just not solely swimming biking and running. The break has been so good for the sole and has reminded me of why I started racing in the first place: it’s so darn fun.

See you out there palyin’

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Race Report – 2012 Xterra Worlds

The only memories I have from racing in Kapalua were positive. Regardless, I was nervous. This was the last race of the season.

My family from Australia came over to watch and spend time with Brett and I. And there was a crew from Vail that were racing and supporting. It was so much fun knowing so many people out here.

The night before race day we got a Tsunami warning. There was an earthquake of the coast of Canada and there were elevated swells recorded. We were fine up on a hillside but there were many athletes that were evacuated to higher ground. Christy & Pete were staying in Kaanapali on a ground floor apartment, they had a slumber party with us.

Ingrid and Josiah were housing Kellie and Adam Wirth and Nico. The Tsunami warning definitely added a little drama but it was a ‘no show’.

The swim was rougher than last year but I wasn’t super concerned. I lined up close to Josiah on the far right, not anticipating swimming with him of course, but to follow his bubbles for a few seconds! We/ everyone got caught in the current last year and ended up waay to far left, so I was following the boss.

The swim course was in a ‘M’ shape this year. Starting from the beach it went out for 375m then back into the beach for a short beach run and then back in for the second buoy. The swim start this year was in waves, 1 minute apart.

1. Pro men & women
2. All age group men
3. All age group women

I was hoping to have lots of fast feet pass me so I could try and hang on for the ride. The first lap felt pretty good. Heading out for the second lap got confusing. There were people swimming in to me as I headed out to the 2nd buoy. People were drifting south. The 2nd lap was definitely choppier and tougher to sight the buoy with more swell. Swimming in from the last buoy was messy. I got climbed over a few times which is odd, this usually happens near the start. It really screwed up my rhythm and I got caught in a mosh pit. At least it was easier to sight the huge Xterra arch on shore coming back in. I was frustrated with loosing so much time on the second lap, I knew I was already behind.

Hitting the beach I ran the long transition to discover 1 bike left on the rack… this really sweet Ellsworth. Yup, my really sweet Ellsworth. I have to say this was pretty darn deflating. I wanted to scream ‘are you kidding me, can we start again?’ This was time to boogie. I head out of T1 with what felt like a pretty sluggish transition 2:42, this was possibly due to the fact that so many thoughts ran through my head in a matter or nano seconds. The fastest women’s transition was 1:54. I started drinking straight away. Drink early was what I had planned. I never usually race with a CamelBak but the bike was going to take almost 2 hours and when we pre-rode I was drenched with sweat a half mile into the course. The night before I almost changed my mind but ‘Murphy’s Law’.

The first mile is straight up the golf cart path and there are some pretty steep pitches (Sandy, think little ring, smallest gear possible, pedal or fall off) it made me think of the CompuTrainer when you can’t change gears.

I wanted to burn a few matches early to get past as many people as possible. The first few miles of the bike course have enough room to pass in places but I was finding that when I was coming up on people, it was where it was narrow or a little sketchy. Unfortunately I found myself having to settle and pass when I could. I was getting this heavy feeling in my legs and just felt flat. It was really hard to get any power from my legs. I honestly have never really had this feeling to this extent in a race before. I have maybe felt a little flat but this was no snap. They weren’t hurting and it was’t that lactic burn, it was weird.

I knew I was not on pace when a few girls I am on par with, blew by me in a matter of seconds, they were out of sight in 30. I tried to dig a little deeper. I rode as hard as I could manage that day. I was frustrated. I needed to put in the hardest effort possible or I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the eye after the race. If it wasn’t fast enough then I could live with that. I couldn’t live with giving up.

The last few miles were challenging as I couldn’t drop into my little ring. There was a bunch of dust and sand crunching around and gumming up my chain. I came in off the bike 5-10 mins behind where I thought I should have been, looking forward to the run (very unusual for me). I was hoping to have a better performance. I did.

Last year I ran 56:00, this year 52:47. I reminded myself of high cadence, keeping my hips forward and chest up. I passed Brett and he said “Tammy this is where you need to make a decision”. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Everyone always has their best intentions to race as hard as possible. It takes believing in yourself to trust that you will perform that game plan and not succumb to the evil voice in your head that is trying to sabotage you and slow down to a comfortable pace. I chose to ignore my internal room mate. Competitive racing and finding your limits is not about being comfortable. The thing is you can pushing your body further than the mind tells it. I was intent on trying to find another gear in the run. It doesn’t hurt that much to go faster, it’s never as bad as you imagine it may be. Try it.

The first mile was mostly climbing the second was a Rollercoaster of downhill across the hill and some shorter punch uphills. I was telling myself “I run quickly uphills”. Mile 3 to just past 4 definitely felt longer than I remember, it may be that there is not a tone of shade. In hindsight I didn’t hammered the downhills but over all I am stoked with my performance on the run. I was please I ran the nasty black road at mile 4.5 that reduced me to power walking last year. I saw Brett and my bro just before the techy dry creek bed and when I hit the beach Shane ran beside me in the sand.

If anyone has an older brother or siblings, you may relate. All my life, I have wanted to impress my brother and have him proud of me. In my mind he is good at everything. I guess we all secretly seek our siblings approval (if you like them). I know that he is proud of me, but it won’t stop me from seeking it. It was really cool that he stayed with me for a good 300 yards, thanks Shaneo.

I saw the clock and noticed 3:22, happy I was done. Everyone feels like crap when they finish so I sat down in the shade and let myself get a little emotional for a minute. There was a flood of relief that the race was over but this also meant the bitter sweet end to a season of hard work, it was over and I was disappointed that my last race went terrible wrong. After soaking it in, it is only 1 race and I know that it does not define me.

I have learnt many lessons this year and there are many more to be learnt. The more I race, the more races I will have that are not exactly the results I am capable of, but it is these that you gain the most from. Winning all the time would be fun, but the reward is so much greater when you have had to work you ass of to get there, I don’t want it handed to me (and I have discovered that that clearly won’t be happening). So bring on the struggles and hard work and test me to see if I can stick it out to the podium.

I need to thank my family and Brett for the incredible amount of support for this race. I know Brett calls it the “Tammy show” and it is, I appreciate his support more than he knows. I am also blessed to have Moontime take such incredible care of me and my bike this year. Frank Mitchell is an integral part of keeping things running smoothly, Frank is the best. Ellsworth will always be my favorite steed and Primal thanks for the sweet looking kits.

See you on snowshoes in a month!

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Location:Kapalua, Maui

Last little push

There is 1 week till worlds & thank god, the volume of training is dropping. It was either me or the training.

Wednesday’s track session was chilly & windy. It was 10 x 90 sec intervals.
4 x 400m on the track with a 200m jog/ walk between for recovery, followed by 4 x 90 sec hill repeats. Then it was back to the track for another 2 x 400′s.

This workout did not seem as daunting as the past few weeks, but not a walk in the park either, it ended up 7 miles.

I ticked one goal off the bathroom mirror this season. It was to be able to run my 400m track repeats at 1 min 25 seconds or under. Wednesday at the track was not quite a scorcher of a run but 1:27 for every single 400 was more than consistent.

I am beginning to believe that I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I know I am not alone here. We all doubt ourselves & our capabilities. Which reminds me of Michael Jordan’s quote “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them”.

Today’s workout was redeeming. I had some really hard but shorter intervals on the bike followed by a run. I have been struggling with my running lately. I constantly feel fatigued, almost 20 hours of training a week will do that to you. I have been telling myself unconsciously “I am not a runner”, but not today, I told myself I weighed 5 pounds lighter than I do. Anyway I ran much faster than expected & it felt great. My legs didn’t feel heavy (excuse the pun) despite the VO2 max intervals. Finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Brett & I decided to spend a long weekend in Fruita this weekend to get in a little technical riding & warmer weather. We rode yesterday/ Friday & I was
unsure of how my legs would fare, but we kept it on the easy side & re-rode some of the technical stuff till we got it. It was a great day, confidence building, nailed the nemesis, boo yah!

I am psyched to watch the Colorado High School MTB State Championships tomorrow. Heidi Livran & Rita Gutierrez are going to crush it. Go girls. Best of luck to all the Vail Composite Team. They are an amazing group of kids, watch out for them on any podium. Here they are training at Berry Creek last Tuesday.

So off to bed for a big day of cowbell & watching high school kids kick up some dust. Zeke is knackered, Prime Cut & Joe’s Ridge today burnt the little man out. Although I must say he is smart enough to work out that he can cut the corners!

We fly out to Maui on Wednesday morning 7am. Where I get to have a little Aussie family reunion. Can’t wait to see my Mum, Dad & big Bro. Sleep well.

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Xterra Nationals Recap

Let me start by saying this year has been humbling! We all have pretty high expectations of ourselves and sadly we cannot be perfect all the time. Life would be soo boring, wouldn’t it?

Last year I had a stellar season, the magic seemed to happen every race. I was the First Overall Amateur at Beaver Creek, Nationals, and Worlds. So this year as my first year Pro, I was the little fish in the big pond and definitely had to deal with a mental shift. Be careful what you wish for!

Christy & Jen have been so incredibly supportive this year. They tell me I am fast when I feel slow and help me keep my chin up, and vice versa, you girls rock thanks for listening. Brett knows that he is my rock, nuff said!

I am happy to say I raced a solid race at Nationals and I am happy finishing in the top 10 in Utah. This was my season goal. I am even more happy about the fact that I came 6th in the overall US series, which was a surprising effort for my first year. It doesn’t exactly pay the bills but it certainly is a carrot!

Race day started after a restless nights sleep. I can remember looking at the clock at 4:16am. I slept like a baby before Beaver Creek, but maybe that was because the course was so familiar and I’d slept in my own bed the night before the race. I tried not to read into it.

I set up T2 first which was at the base of Snowbasin Ski Resort and then head downhill to the swim start at Pineview Lake. As always this time of year is chilly in the morning, I had gloves a puffy and beanie to ward the cold.

I had a solid hour to get warmed up and get my transition area organized. Time tends to get away from me, so I jumped on my Enlightenment to ride for a steady 20 minutes. I hadn’t ridden my carbon 29′er much in the last few weeks I had been training on my Evolve which is a 29 full suspension. Immediately it felt like home and super springy and light, ohh i love my carbon hartail. My legs were feeling pretty good and I was calm. I came back into transition set up, threw my Xterra wetsuit on and Brett let me know I had about 15 minutes before the start.

This year we were staying in a 4 bedroom condo in Lakeside. Ron & Lois are incredible (Brett’s parents) and Stan and Carol (Brett’s Uncle & Aunt) were invaluable the days leading into the race, they kept me fed and relaxed and spoilt in terms of not doing much around the house and cooking meals centered around what I usually eat pre-race, lots of veggies, fish & sweet potato. Team Donelson had a petty long day in the sun watching and cheering and I can’t thank them enough, I love you guys. Supporting can be harder than racing.

I swam for about 5-10 minutes and lined up for the start. This year I had decided to start on the far left. I mostly breath to the left and I have found I tend to drift to the right, that was my plan and I stuck to it, I thought it worked well. The start is always a commotion and I followed the thrashing arms and kicks directly into the glaring sun. I found a pretty good rhythm and reminded myself of my mantra. ‘Stretch, scoop, push’. I also reminded myself of the feeling I get when I think of swimming downhill, and of gliding and relaxing when I am rotated on my side. Relaxing in the swim when you are being climbed over is a little tough so it took till the end of the first lap to find some space. This is where I noticed I was swimming with another pink cap, it was Shonny. She swims a little faster than me, so I thought she was having a rough time or I was having a good one. In any case I got on her feet which takes away the effort to sight too much and managed to hang on for about 600 feet. I lost her in the chaos at the buoys. In any case I thought the swim felt long, and times reflect that also. I was 2 minutes slower this year.

I exited the water hearing a few names being called: Shonny & Amelia Van Dyke. Amelia is a stronger swimmer than me so getting out close to her is great even if I had a 30 sec head start. I ran into T1 and noticed my feet were tougher than last year as the stones weren’t as crippling on my barefeet. I got my wetsuit off, bike shoes on, helmet on and took off. I have been duck taping my sunglasses to my helmet to take 1 more thing off the list of things to do in transition, I love it. So my mantra for T1 is “wetsuit off, shoe, shoe, helmet, go”.

Swim + T1= 32:42

The start of the bike is always cold in Wheeler Canyon. I saw the 3 mile marker and was surprised, I had better start drinking. I had planned on getting one bottle of infinite down by mile 7. I ended up only half way through by mile 7. During this time I ended up following a strong female age group rider. I thought about passing but it was a good pace for the first climb and I settled in. In hindsight I should have passed for the downhill section between Wheeler Canyon and Sardine Peak, as it was slower than I wanted but I didn’t. I was sitting in 9th here.

I got caught later in a conga line soon after for a mile or 2 and I am frustrated to have not been more aggressive & forced the pass, I am convinced this cost me a minute or 2. At the turn off to Sardine Peak I got by. After a mile or 2 of climbing Sardine I was feeling a little flat and unsure of whether I should step it up and hurt a little or save myself for the run. I don’t usually think about budgeting my energy so well but the run was tough. In fact usually my plan is to go hard the whole race and just hang on. I think this strategy works well for me, we’ll it did last year! The reason being, you can always push yourself harder than you think you can. Even if you were hurting, if someone came close to trying to pass you, you would find another gear and dig a little deeper, cause that’s the nature of competition. Anyway, I decided to add a little more power and I pulled away from the group I was climbing with. I wanted to make sure I had a clean shot on the downhill. Thinking back I should have done this earlier… Famous last words.

I had a good downhill and came into T2 with Carina Wasle. I think I had one of my fastest transitions ever as I started the run 30 seconds in front of her.

Bike + T2 = 1:43:58

The run felt like slamming into a brick wall! My legs felt like sh*t and it was a hard slog straight uphill, right out of the gate. I chose to think of the hill repeats we had done and tell myself it didn’t hurt as much as it did then. Brett was right there on the first climb telling me to hustle as there were 2 girls within 1 minute and a half of me. Honestly I felt like flipping him the bird, I was moving as fast as I could, but I knew deep down he was there to help. I knew Carina would pass me at some point, she is a strong runner. It’s funny she passed me in exactly the same spot as last year.

I had my Garmin 310 on and it was incredibly helpful to get mile splits. It was great to know how far I had run, so I could mentally pick the race into sections. So I remember for next year it was about .6 of a mile of climbing before it leveled out and traversed slightly downhill, which was difficult to get your legs moving after the climb. This part of the run has some really loose rocks and requires attention, it’s an ankle waiting to roll. Then it starts to climb again around mile 2. First it is gradual and then somewhere around 3.5 it gets exposed and open and pretty steep. There was some new single track added to the top of the climb that added a mile to the course. We were still climbing at mile 4.2. I kept looking up trail thinking, around the next corner it will stop climbing, but it never seemed to stop. This is where I noticed Kim was close behind. She started on the run about a minute and a half behind me and had caught me. I was hoping it would level out soon so I could keep her at bay but she made the pass right before we crested and I was crushed, there goes 9th. She had a great run. I couldn’t get my legs moving. The downhills were fast and banking switchbacks. Fun but the quads were shot. A second water bottle may have helped the run. The last climb up the road before the finish chute is tough but the crowd pulls you through. I crossed the line seeing 3:11:08. Happy to be done.

Run = 54:28

James Ellis, Peter Dann, Amelia Van Dyke, Jen Razee, Josiah Middaugh, Elisabeth Reed, Kristofer Ochs, Adrienne Young, Henry Reed, Christy Geyer, Mike Stephanek and me.This photo is all the crew from the Vail Valley who raced at Nationals, huge huh?

I am walking away from Nationals satisfied but motivated and hungry to work on things for Worlds. Honestly I think most of it is in my head, so stay tuned to see how things roll.

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Location:Snowbasin, Utah

Mountain championships

The Xterra at Beaver Creek is my favorite. It is close to home, so I can sleep in my own bed, all my friends can be there & watch & the trails are in my backyard. With that all said I put a huge amount of pressure on myself & it can be hard to keep things in perspective.

I had a really peaceful night sleep which is great, the more I race the easier it is to sleep the night before. I had a good warm up & separated myself from hustle & bustle & went into my own little world & tried to calm down & focus. I do much better warming up by myself & being quiet. With that being said Brett stayed at the Westin the night before the race. He races the Breck 100 & they changed the date of the race from a Saturday to a Sunday, which meant he would get to watch me race. He has never seen me race Beaver Creek before, I was superstitious & asked him if he minded me having the house to myself. Yeah, yeah, I kicked him out, but don’t feel bad for him he had a ball ordering room service & having Zeke lay next to him on the bed watching TV (we don’t have one).

July 14 was perfect racing weather, & it wasn’t going to be too hot. The gun went off & the swim was started. Starting with the Pro’s is pretty predictable for me. I know that I will end up back of pack & then the faster age group men will swim over the top of me in about 5 minutes. Although you can never really tell, I am pretty sure I swam in a straight line. I didn’t cop a mouth full of water or any smacks to the head so it was a good swim for me.

Swim: 25:41

I have been pretty good about preparing mentally for my transitions. I have limited the number of steps I have to go through. I tape my Smith sunglasses (pink platinum lens) to my Kask helmet & I don’t wear socks. I have a little mantra when it comes to T1:
“wetsuit off, shoe, shoe, helmet, bike & go”
The only extra step this time was the GPS Tracker. Basically I put my run race number belt on now instead of T2.

T1: 1:05

On my Enlightenment I took my 1st gel before I crossed Hwy 6, washed it down with some water & begun to settle into the climb. I could see Kim Baugh when I got to the top of the gondola & made it my goal to catch her within 3 mins. I was pretty surprised when I got to the feed station & Brett yelled you’re in 6th, 6 mins off 1st.

I was expecting 8th, maybe 7, never 6… This gave me a good feeling.

My bike split ended up being the 3rd fastest!

Bike: 1:24:48

Coming into T2 was cool, there we so many people that I knew calling out for me & cheering, I zipped through T2 pretty quick. My legs quickly felt like crap. I became aware the run would be painful & a mind game.

T1: 1:02

I knew that I needed to get to under Allies cabin in under 18.5 minutes to hit my goal time of under 46 mins. When I checked my watch & saw 18:50 I new I was struggling.

Someone told me 5th was about 90 secs ahead. I really took advantage of the downhill & burnt a few too many matches that made my legs bog as soon as I hit any type of incline. I did start to cramp a little on climb 2. The downhill was welcomed but sketchy. I was not sure that my legs were going to hold. I figured my mind was telling me to slow down & I should not listen, the body can go much harder than the mind tells it. Although the last few miles were not not enjoyable I made it.

Run: 47:40

Finish: 2:40:16

This was my best finish this year, 6th place. Thankfully I can now stop questioning myself as to whether I made the upgrade too soon. Thanks to all who supported & came & watched.

A special mention of Donelson Coaching athletes who had the following finishes:
Colleen Roarty 6th 30-34
Jamie Gunion 8th 35-39
Christy Geyer 1st 45-49
Lauri Medina 4th 45-49

Nice job ladies!

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Location:Beaver creek

2012 ITU Off-Road World Championships

Don’t Miss Tam at 2:41!!

The joys of being a Coach

I cannot tell you how proud I am of the athletes I coach. I truely do love my job. Donelson Coaching had a number of athletes race this last weekend and I am blogging to rave about their performances, like a proud parent.

Christy Geyer, Xterra East Championships – Richmond VA
Jim Medall, Boise 70.3 – Boise, ID
Roni Sheldon, Denver Tri (Olympic) – Denver, CO
Sydney Edmonson, Denver Tri (Sprint) – Denver, CO
Lauri Medina, Xterra Sport Moab – Moab, UT

Christy Geyer’s goal for this season was set late last year. “I want to qualify for Xterra World champs in Maui” she told me. Awesome goal. This involves coming 1st or 2nd in your age group in a Championship race (the bigger ones & generally only 1 in each region). We set about building her skills, fitness and speed to make this happen and she did it last week end in Richmond, VA.

Christy is an incredible technical rider and this course was perfect for her. Her swim was incredible, a major improvement, due to dedication in the pool. She kept calm when her timing chip came off her ankle numerous times and she nailed the bike. I was waiting for her to come in off the bike anxiously inspecting girls race numbers to see if anyone had come in before her in her age group, to give her splits. I was too excited, messed up and missed first place slide by me without me seeing.

Christy came out of transition 1 min 58 seconds behind 1st. I was jumping out of my skin, I was so happy for her and she looked really strong heading out for the run. She even managed to take a digger on the Railroad track in the first mile. She tucked and rolled and popped back up like it didn’t even happen.

Christy’s run has improved off the charts and she ran a 54 min 10k. For a trail run that’s fast. I rode to the 5 mile marker to inspect race numbers again and to possibly tell her to hustle if anyone squeezed her out of 2nd, but she was safe. I did tell her that 3rd was 45 secs behind her, but when I realized I was mistaken, I decided to just not tell her Hey there was only a mile left and you can do anything for a mile!

She crossed the finish line a little emotional and I was the first to grab her for a hug when she looked like she could breath. I am so incredibly happy for Christy and all the hours of work she puts in. It just proves you can do anything if you want it that badly.

Meanwhile…
Jim Medall was too busy freezing his ass off while we were sweating it out in the Virginian humidity.

Boise 70.3 was rainy, cold and windy. The water temp. was 57 degrees, but due to severe weather race officials changed the scheduled 56 mile bike ride to under 15!

Jim’s ‘A’ race is Ironman New York in August, so this was very much a training race. I am stoked to hear that he ran a negative split half marathon, which can be incredibly hard to pace. Jim is one of the toughest blokes I know… I am not sure I would of had the balls to start this race. Jim’s next feat before IMNY is the Triple Bypass, I guess you can say the man loves to suffer, I love it.

Roni Sheldon is doing her 1st Half Ironman in Boulder in August. So we figured after completing only sprint tri’s to date, we’d throw in an Olympic distance to see how she held up. Roni did the Bolder Boulder on May 28 and ran a 57min 10K. Apparently she takes a while to warm up, because she ran faster last Saturday after swimming and biking for 2 hours! If you know Roni, she is TINY and she really moves on the bike, mind boggling. Needless to say I think she is ready for the 70.3 distance. Roni, great job juggling your family schedule to get to this race last weekend, truly don’t know how you do it.

Also at this race was Sydney Edmonson. Syd was racing the Sprint distance. Syd is the coolest 17 year old you will ever meet and she will crush you on the road bike and then run sub 7 min miles.

Syd was the 6th Female finisher Overall. If you have ever raced in Boulder or Denver you will know that these races attract a ridiculously talented field. To finish 6th is unbelievable. Watch out for this little pocket rocket. She busted out a 21:28 5K which means she ran 6:55 min miles! You may see Sydney around town, but good luck if you can catch her.

Another Xterra athlete that was on the podium was Lauri Medina. Lauri is an amazing mountain biker and this very technical Moab course was right up her alley. Apparently Lauri was chatting and having a great ole time racing and managed to win as the overall female. Christy and I were jumping up and down on our hotel beds in Richmond when we hear the news. Lauri is the nicest person you will ever meet. She is has an incredible aerobic capacity and a competitive streak that certainly paid off. Lauri’s new victim is Beaver
Creek Xterra.

What an amazing group of people I get to have the pleasure of helping achieve their goals. This weekend is Kim Likosky’s 1st triathlon of the season in Hanover, NH. Not only has she been training her butt off but she is moving house 2 days after the race to Ann Arbour, Michigan. Kim is a magician at fitting more things into her schedule than I can ever dream of, she constantly impresses me. Kim, best of luck this weekend, crush Cheiftan Hill and run like you know you can on the track.

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Teva Mountain Games 2012

The girls pro mountain bike race was ridiculously stacked. Come on down, Georgia Gould, Kelli Emmet & Heather Irmiger. I seem to have a theme of throwing myself in the deep end this year. I reminded myself that this was just a training ride, no expectations just good hard riding.

‘Big Mamba’ was added to the course and this was super fun. Nice banked turns and whoopty doo’s, swoopy turns, BMX’y and enough room to pass. Giddy up, three laps.

The start was an anaerobic cluster. 30 girls fighting for single track on a switch back that ended up in a herd of running bikes to the tunnel. I was somewhat conservative at the start, figuring it was a long climb and things would sort out pretty soon. This seamed to work for me. I chipped away on the climb and was surprised I was feeling pretty strong.

Now if you remember my last race (Alabama), I finished on a flat. Most would have this double checked. I thought it was dialed in mostly because it seamed to be holding air, & I thought it was just burping air, but no. I had a slow leak and the Stan’s would plug it most of the time. Anyways it did not enjoy being bounced over tree roots and the end result was 6 CO2′s!

The first CO2 was christened at the beginning of ‘Hanks’. I burnt a match to get a lead into to the single track. This and more, was lost pretty soon after. I worked hard to get back to where I was becoming frustrated as I had had to throw air in twice a lap.

To sum it up, I am totally ok with what panned out. I pushed hard when I could and I know who I was riding with. I feel good about that. I felt strong and calm. Unfortunately the nature of mountain bike racing is dealing with mechanicals and equipment fails every now and then. I decided that I had the resources to finish the race and keep riding, maybe DFL but no DNF. Not a bad idea till the last lap on the downhill, when I lost air and traction and ended up in the wood’s christening our brand new Ells Kits with grass stains, dirt and some owies.

We tell the girls (Ells) to ‘never give up’ and ‘finish what you started’ so that’s what I did. I am proud for hanging in there, and look forward to next year!

And a special thanks to Nick & Jessica at Primal for the awesome looking kits, this year. We will certainly be cooler in gray instead of black. Thanks for getting them to us pre-Teva.

And Summer from Ellsworth… We miss you already.

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Location:Vail, CO