This wasn't the first time I had been to Xterra Snow Valley. Check out the report from the 2010 Triathlon here! My how time flies...
Points Triathlon Report - 1500 m swim, 21 mile bike, 10 trail run
Swim: 16min 53sec
Bike: 1hr 20min
Run: 45min 51sec
2 hr 23 minutes - 18th Overall
Surprisingly similar to my experience here in 2010, except a little longer. The swim started things off pretty rough considering I haven't been in the water but a couple of time since Ironman last August. I started to overheat in my wet suit and had to turn over and let water in a few times to cool down. The water was nice and things spread out pretty quickly and I settled into a decent rhythm on the second lap and then it was on to the bike.
I love riding mountain bikes, but have always just been damn slow at it. I went pretty hard on each lap of the bike. I new my buddy Paul Romero was behind me in the water and he's a great biker, so was trying to stay in front of him. He caught me on the descent on the last of the 3 laps which wasn't too bad I thought. The bike was tons of fun. Uphill was double track giving plenty of room to pass, or be passed, and then some seriously fast downhill. There was a bit of carnage on the course as it seemed plenty of folks were in over their head on the bike. While I'm not to strong on the bike I have no problem going downhill fast so it was a lot of fun.
On to the run and I knew this was going to be a tough run. It is basically up and down some steep ski slopes. Running in any sort of rhythym is pretty much impossible. But its so much fun. Some portions have you running off trail in and out of these little water gullies. Another section is one of the steepest hills I have ever ran up. I like the tough run and felt good for most of the 10k. There is plenty of aid and I'm a big fan of coming back to the finish area and then having to go out for another lap.
Overall I had a ton of fun and was in good spirits for the next days half marathon!
Half Marathon Report - 13.1 mile trail run
1hr 44min - 5th Overall
Woke up Sunday and felt pretty good. Got a good warm up in and was ready to run. The race starts with a very cool 1k lap where you get to run back through the start with all the spectators and 10k runners creating a nice scene. After this 1k lap you do two 6 mile laps of a pretty fun course. While it's not the biggest hill ever, the trail goes up pretty good for the first half of the loop. Although very runnable I could feel the triathlon effort in my legs and running up hill was harder than normal. I tried to keep up with the first two guys but they were off pretty quickly. Near the top of the first hill I got passed by another two guys and couldn't hang on to their pace for more than a few hundred yards.
From this point on I settled into a rhythm in 5th place and was pretty much alone for the remainder of the race. Coming through the start/finish for the last lap was a lot of fun, and then it was back to up hills and dead legs for another 45 minutes. I felt pretty good other than having tired legs and its hard to not have fun running in the mountains with a bunch of other people. Very cool race. My buddy Scott Hoffman was there and got this great shot of me running!
After the race it was back over to the Snow Valley side of the hwy for a veggie burger and a beer and the awards. Overall winner went 1hr 31 in his first trail race ever setting a new course record, very impressive. I managed to post the fastest combined times for the points tri on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday earning me the Dirty Double Award. How cool! I was pretty pumped for this award and am already making plans to go back next year and defend. Nothing like taking home a little hardware after a great weekend!
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