Xterra Alberta

Many people thought I was crazy racing Xterra 1 week before Ironman. In fact, I did nopt tell my coach until after it was over. Luckily I was not hurt so she didn't get mad. I had a great day and LOVED this event. For those of you who do not know, I came from a mountain biking background. I raced mountain bikes and one day bougt a road bike to cross train. Well after I started riding road bikes, I knew I could swim and run so thought I would put it all together. I did and the rest is history!

OK, back to Xterra!

The day started off early as I had to bring some of the registration packages from Calgary out for Tony. I got there early and headed down to transition to meet Colin who had kindly brought my bike to Canmore for me as I had all of the registration stuff jammed packed in my car. I got settled asnd I had a few comments that went like this "Arn't you racing Ironman next weekend? Are you NUTS!!! You shouldn't be doing this race!". I laughed and commented on how life is to short. "Seize the day!" I said.

I was very calm about this race as I wanted to race hard but knowing with IMC 1 week away this was not a priority and if I felt pain, got scared, didn't feel like doing it that I would pull out at any point. I don't normally race like that but given my Ironman dreams for the past 5 years with 2 years prep I think it was warranted.

Pre-race was great. I headed back up to the day lodge at the Nordic Centre and chilled. I had 2 athletes racing so we just hung out and talked. I was so relaxed it was wonderful! It was finally time to get on the bus and head down to the lake. I actually realized the girl sitting next to me (Amy) was a girl who I used to mountain bike race with. So cool! We got into our wetsuits and I helped about 10 girls who knew I was from Tri It and asked for assistance and headed to the lake - I love how small Quarry Lake is. A quick warm-up and we were off. The swim was great and I didn't even get banged, hit, kicked, etc. once! This was great! When we came out it was a LONG way to run to T1. Whew! I blazed through T1 and manged to get ahead of many of the girls who beat me out of the swim. When will you learn? Keep transition simple!

I headed off on the bike and realized something was wrong with my bike. Doh! I forgot to put my seat back up after it had been transported. Ok, there is such a thing as being too relaxed before a race. Maybe that uptigt triathlete side of me is not such a horrible thing. I jacked it up and away we went (this is after many girls passed me back). I was then on Amy's wheel which was a perfect spot. We passed few girls who has passed my when I was fixing my seat and I thought "This is great". Then Amy realized we were off course. We turned around just to see the girls we had passed head up the trail before us. Rats! I stayed near Amy for the rest of the bike. The bike course was awesome. It wasn't too technical but it was so fun! I encouraged people as we rode the hills (some of which I had to walk). I made a few technical errors such as gearing due to not being on my MTB for almost 3 years but I didn't care - I was having so much fun! I also played with my seat a few more times (up, down, up , down; thank goodness for quick release). The second lap was a bit better but we slowed up as the duathlon people headed out right before our second lap and many of them were not as experienced on the MTB. So I chatted with another racer and it was nice to get my HR down a bit.

We headed into the stadium for our run. It was great to see so many spectators! I took a second to look where I was; it is beautiful here! I am so luck to be here and doing this! I headed out on the very hilly run course. I was sucking wind pretty hard but was still having so much fun! I got passed by quite a few girls on the run but I was laughing. This was the most intervals I had done all summer. When you do 30km runs you are just not at the speed for these short 7km runs. The girls who all passed me were wonderful and encouraging. Such a friendly environment these Xterra folks! On my final lap I haeded into the stadium and heard my Tony call my name over the PA system. I crossed the line and threw my hands in the air. Mike Whittle and Greg Bradly were there to laugh at me and tell me I was lucky I wasn't hurt.

I cheered my friends, other athletes and my athletes for the next bit until everyone was in and we headed for a delicious lunch.

I loved Xterra and can't wait to see what Tony has in store for next year. I hear registration is already up and the date is September 5th. See you there!