Race Report - Xterra Beaver Creek

So I decided to enter this race a few days before Ironman just for fun. It was a little close to Ironman to race again but I thought it would a good test of where I stood in terms of a faster paced race. Plus I just love off road riding and running.

So we arrived up at Beaver Creek ski resort Friday July 17, the day before the race. We checked into the Comfort Inn right near the resort, which I recommend for convenience, quality and value. We headed over to the Xterra venue to check in. We ran into Cindi and Cirk, Dana's mountain biking coaches, Xterra ambassadors and all around bad asses on the offroad frontier. Check in was not Ironman smooth. 5 people working, 4 people in line and a 20 minute wait. You can see where that doesn't make much sense. Anyhow I got done with registration and we headed out to dinner at the same place we had New Year's Eve dinner. A nice Italian place where I had some pasta and chicken breast. Perfect the night before the race.

Race Day - I woke up around 6am and given a 9am race time I was able to eat a normal breakfast. I had 2 hard boiled eggs and an English muffin with some black coffee. We quickly packed up the car and headed over to T2 (different from T1 as this was a point to point race). I set out all my run gear and then we drove/walked to T1 where the race was to start. I got my swim to bike transition set up and then got bodymarked and picked up my timing chip.

Swim 1 mile - 31 minutes - the swim started off pretty uneventfully. The lake was a little small so we were right near the edges for 2 laps. About half way through the first lap I was having a little trouble with the rhythm of my breathing. I thought maybe my race suit was too tight. Then it dawned on me, I was swimming at 7,000 feet. DOH! Anyway I got my breathing under control and proceeded to swim pretty decently.

T1 - 5 minutes - getting better at this but still can save 3 minutes. Need to get the wetsuit off and the helmet and shoes on. Had a Hammer gel and some Heed.

Mountain Bike - 15.5 miles 3600 feet of climbing - 2:20 wow the first 2 hours were climbing. It was incredibly hard and remember we started at 7,000 feet so the air was thin. I just kept plugging away and laughing about ridiculous it was. Then to add insult to injury (really no injury except maybe my pride) since it was point to point you don't ride all the way back down just about half way. However some of the downhill was a little technical and I passed some folks who were walking down the hill, which was nice. I just let it rip. Too tired to brake much anyway.

T2 - 3 minutes - maybe can save a minute and a half here, but Dana was there cheering me on and taking pictures and I was laughing still about the torturous bike ride.

Trail Run - 5.75 miles 1300 feet of climbing - 1:04 more Heed and Hammer gel. My heart rate was drifting into zone 4 on the hikes up hill given the steepness. I was basically close to redlining most of the bike and run. The run finally leveled out and I could jog at a decent pace. Once the downhill came I ran hard. It was pretty fun and I passed a couple folks.

Finished in about 4:04 which was on the slow end of my expectations. At the finish line I met up again with a guy I had chatted with on the bike named Ben. He was from Ohio and saw my Ironman Coeur d'Alene hat. He said he raced it too, his first Ironman and marathon. Anyway he was out for a family vacation and signed up for fun and rented a mountain bike. We've kept in touch and it's always nice to make new friends in triathlon. It was a brutal race but a fun experience. I'll do it next year if it's not too close before Ironman.