EPC Multisport

The first race of the year has come and gone, the XTERRA West Champs outside of Las Vegas.  (FULL REPORT HERE)  It was by far my best opening day result (6th place), which is great, but it was not my best performance. In addition, the pro field was a bit weak with only 18 male pro’s which did not include a few of the heavy hitters like Mike Vine and Dan Hugo, and others that were there were certainly not on form this early in the year. I’m happy with the result and my overall showing, but far from satisfied. This all means that I need to keep working and follow my plan to build up as the season progresses.

Down to the nitty gritty. My Race Week went pretty well. Possibly my best to date. I’d like to stick with something similar for all my priority events. Here is what I did:

• Monday- easy hour run + easy hour swim with a 1500m straight swim + foam roller & stretch + nap
• Tuesday- Masters swim at full effort + nap
• Wednesday- 45 min swim w/ a 1500m straight swim + 2.5 hour Race Week Combo (two bike-run race pace intervals) + 1.5 hour massage.
• Thursday- Travel day. No training.
• Friday- 2 hour course pre-ride + 25 min run + 15 min swim in the lake + foam roller & stretch + nap
• Saturday- 15′ swim + 15′ run + 60′ bike, all on course + foam roller & stretch

Race morning looked like this:

• Woke up 3.5 hours prior to start (5am local time)
• Bathroom
• Breakfast (coffee, 2 slices french toast with melted provolone cheese and maple syrup, yogurt, banana, water)
• Final Bike Prep (air, wipe chain)
• Bathroom
• Hot shower & stretch
• Dress & final race packing
• Bathroom
• Head to race, secure transition spot
• Warm-up (30′ bike, 15′ swim)
• RACE!

My swim was the highlight of the day for sure. We figure I’ve slashed about a minute off my 1500m swim times from last year. I came out of the water 2:45 behind the lead group, instead of the usual 3:45-4:00. I’m still another 0:45-1:00 behind where I want to be (and think I can be) this year. Still a great improvement and I’m thrilled to see the extra swimming this winter paying off. My new Blue Seventy Helix suit was pretty sweet as well. The new arm panels and super thin shoulder rubber were incredible!

On the bike I felt strong, but lacked the high speed descending skills to keep me up where I need to be. My new Seven performed flawlessly and I’m very happy with it. I was able to climb on pace with the leaders, but would get gapped on the slippery high-speed desert descents. Overall I gave up about 4 minutes to the better bikers (the top three finishers). I know I can get this speed back, just wished I had it out there on Sunday. More riding and mtb racing will do the trick over the next month.

Transitions were solid. I came into T2 in 6th place right on Nico Lebrun’s wheel and left with a 10 second advantage and in 5th place! Didn’t last long though as Nico caught up to me and slowly pulled away over the hilly run course. Next to pass was Seth Wealing a few minutes later. Now in 7th place I continued on at a steady pace, but not with the speed I was looking for. At the halfway point of the run I caught and passed Craig Evans moving into 6th place. Nico was still in sight, but I didn’t have much left to push. I ran home with out 7th place anywhere in sight. I need to focus on the run a bit more to get back to where I was last year. Definitely doable.

This week is a recovery week with some endurance training on the weekend. Then it’s back to work the next two weeks. I have big plans for the next two weeks. Really boost the volume in all three sports, including some key bike-run interval sessions and two hard mountain bike races before heading to Texas for round two!

CW

TAGS: race reports, XTERRA