Xterra Utah: My First Off-Road Tri!
Race Report: Xterra Utah My First Off-Road Tri!
Summary: Fun Time Playing in the Dirt
I’ll keep this briefer than my usually voluminous reports. You can read my read my backstory and plan going into the race here.
This was the most enjoyable race I’ve done in a long, long time. Perhaps because I went into it with no particular goals other than to have fun. I had originally thought “an Olympic-distance race, this will be easy.” That changed a couple weeks ago when I did a preview of this course. Pound for pound, this race was harder than any road triathlon I’ve done.
The bike consisted of 28k with 3300ft of vertical where I spent probably 85% of the time climbing in the lowest gears on my bike. According to training peaks, I spent over 50% of the time in HR Z4 and put up a TSS of over 170 – more than my TSS for the bike at Boulder 70.3! I saw my HR was high on the ride, but that was the effort I needed to put out to keep rolling and not fall over. That was body blows to make the 800ft of vertical on the 10k run brutal. I still managed to pass over a dozen other athletes on the run and finished strong on the 2-mile descent down to the finish.
I sprinted into the finish and my wife and two daughters were waiting in the grassy area before the finishers chute. They gave me a cheer and I veered off the course to high five them. I had a shit-eating grin at the finish, just like I did at my first triathlon. I can’t wait to do an off-road triathlon again!
Highlights
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Phase |
Summary |
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Swim |
I haven’t done much swimming in the last six weeks. There was so much admin with the spilt transitions that I got to the swim start 5 minutes before the pro start. I didn’t get to do a warm-up swim. I went super easy, just focusing on good form. I don’t think swimming is the strength of Xterra athletes (and most of the field were elite athletes). I stayed in the pack and it was probably the easiest 1500m I’ve done.
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Bike |
The bike course was just epic, peaking at over 7000ft. I remember riding along the top of the ridge, soaking in the sight of the Wasatch Mountains, thinking, “it just doesn’t get any better than this.” I’ve done a total of maybe 20 MTB rides. The elite field quickly left me behind, so I didn’t have to deal with much traffic. Eventually the fastest MTBers from the short-distance course caught up to me (they bypass the final climb). They would politely say, “can I pass when you think it’s safe?” So different from the vibe at a road tri where it can feel like the other participants are actively trying to kill you. I knew I’d get blown away on the MTB, especially since about 75% of the athletes were elites from all over the country. But I have a lot of skill work to do to improve. I actually passed several people on the final climb who had blown up. I just used brute force fitness to make it up.
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Run |
My legs were smoked from the bike. I alternated running and power hiking up the first climb up the ski slopes right out of T2. I unpacked my go-bag during the hiking. I was able to pick up the pace on the rolling single track, passing several athletes. I pretty much had the accelerator pressed to the firewall over the fairly technical course. This is the first race where I recall gasping for air on the run in a long time, probably a combination of the fried legs and altitude. But I kept running. Then I went as hard as could possibly go on the final descent, picking off a few more racers. It was the most fun I’ve had in a race, period.
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Transitions |
T1 was over jagged concrete, making it almost impossible to run. I would leave a pair of flip-flops at the swim exit next time.T2 was fast and smooth, racking my bike, quickly changing shoes, grabbing my go-bag, and exiting.
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What’s Next…
I plan to pretty much focus on mountain biking and trail running from now through 2017. My goal for the remainder of this year is to finish my first 50-mile ultramarathon. Next year, I plan to tackle a 100-miler and would like to mix in some endurance MTB events. I’m considering doing the Leadman series of MTB races and trail runs, culminating in the Leadville MTB 100 followed by the Leadville Run 100 the next weekend. It sounds crazy stoopid, so of course I find it attractive.
This year, I have the following on tap:
- North Face Endurance Challenge Trail Marathon in Park City next weekend. Over 4000ft of vertical peaking at 10000ft elevation. Should be epic!
- Corner Canyon Ultra 50k in October. These are the trails right in my backyard, and I run them all the time. It will be cool to do a race just down the street from my home.
- Dead Horse Ultra 50-miler in November in Moab. This is one of my favorite spots on the planet. I’d love for my first 50-miler to be there.
Thanks for reading!
Comments
We definitely have to hook up for a race or R2R2R in the near future, although you'll totally smoke me. Monument Valley is actually on my short-list for next year. I almost did it this year -- and even had a room booked at the View Hotel -- but decided to go with the more local Buffalo Run. If the weather looks good, I'll definitely do it. Dead Horse has a 30k and 50k option, if you and/or Heather are interested in a getaway to Moab.
Right now, a 100-miler scares the shit out of me. But I felt the same way about an Ironman three years ago. Altitude doesn't tend to effect me much (knock on wood), other than slowing down. When I did Mt Whitney coming from sea level, my friends we're suffering tremendously, but I felt okay except a minor headache. However, I do need my sleep. 24 hours without sleeping worries me most. I figure I may only do a 100-miler once, so it should be an iconic race
Good thinking on doing the Leadville Trail Marathon to reconnoiter. I wish I had done one of the events this year to gauge the difficulty for next year. If I can't convince myself to do the full Leadman series next year, then I'll probably do the Trail Marathon and/or Silver Rush 50 MTB or Run. So it sounds like our paths will likely cross in the next year!
Gabe, love that pic man!
BTW, before triathlon, I raced (for many years) MTB hard core in my younger days and did it on volcanoes, mountains, etc with a professional Specialized SWORKS always placing in the top 3 slots. A very different (crazy) animal it is. I switched to triathlon once I started having kids, due to the concussions I would periodically incur racing hard......I have also done an XTerra and, like Tim says, they are deceptively difficult...
Just fantastic work getting out there and taking on that beast, working hard, performing well man! I am a bit jealous I must say!
Congratulations bro!
SS
xterra looks so muchhhh out of the box for me.
Grats on your race !
Maybe next year for me!
@Francis, the conversion factor I hear is about 5 miles on the trail ~= 15 miles on the road. In terms of time, MTBing tends to be more like an interval workout going over the rolling trails. You push in Z4 with spikes into Z5 all-out power while climbing and then recover on the descents. It is also more of a full-body workout because you're arms and hands are much more engaged in steering, and your core is used heavily on technical terrain and descents. Xterra Utah is a bit unusual in that you start at a much lower elevation than the finish, so it is much more climbing without descents for recovery. Of course, take all this with a grain of salt because I've ridden a grand total of 250 miles on a MTB.
@Scott, thanks! Looking forward to hearing about our Xterra adventure!