Xterra French River

This past weekend I competed in Xterra French River held in Oxford, MA. I'll admit, I was not 100% mentally there for this race as I'm still feeling the bumps and bruises from Richmond. But nevertheless, it was a race that was important to help keep my aspirations for Utah alive.

Since, it was so close I drove down the morning of so no pre-ride (I really wouldn't recommend this). I check in and set up and as the start gets closer I'm starting to feel that competitive drive again. The nerves start kicking in and the fact that I took a week off after Richmond seemed like it was a bad choice. I told myself to relax, and that I just need to have fun and not be concerned about how I finish.

I throw on my wetsuit and do a quick swim warm up and my stroke was feeling smooth, which usually is a good sign. The start was unique in that it was a time trial start. They announced strong swimmers up front so I went in the water first right next to a local woman pro. The gun goes off and I'm sprinting to the first buoy. I tell myself to ease up but my stroke felt strong and even when I eased up, I felt fast. I swim my two laps in 9:44 (for a reported 1000m swim) and head to transition.

This season, I seemed to have gotten proficient at transitions and I was in and out real quick. Learning how to do flying mounts and securing my shoes on the bike is really a huge boost. I kept waiting for the superbikers to fly by me on the course but I was able to hold them off for a few miles but inevitably, they passed me. No worrries, I was flowing well and having a good time. The trails were not too technical but extremely dry and bony and I was getting rattled pretty good. But there were sections that were fairly smooth and I hammered those as hard as I could.

I finish up the bike course and head out on the run. Ouch. The run course was brutal. It basically ran up a rocky, technical ridge. I'm not sure about the other competitors but I hiked up most of it in an effort to not blow up. Coming back down wasn't much better. The trail was so dry it was all dust and as a result, I couldn't get a good grip going down. In conditions like this it's best to just keep your feet moving and pray things work out, which fortunately they did as I made it down in one piece. I crossed the line in just under 2 hours, good enough for 11th overall and second in my AG, which helps the Utah dream alive. This was a great race and I'd definitely recommend it for people looking to try Xterra.

In other news, I was recently invited to the 2014 and 2015 ITU Cross Championships as well as the 2014 Xterra World Championships held in Maui. I really did not expect this so I'm not sure right now if I'll try and do them but it's exciting to see that I am moving closer towards my goals. I've got one more race this weekend in the 'Dacks and a week back in Upstate NY where I'll reflect and think about what I'm going to do. Until next time.