Xterra Training

The Xterra Triathlon is next Sunday and I must say, I am feeling under trained. My training intensity and frequency has fallen off slightly in the last several weeks. I've fallen off the ab workout bandwagon and I have not been putting in any long run miles. Also, after the Riverrock mountain bike race, I did not get back on my mountain bike until last Tuesday evening. I felt pretty tight in the legs and did not seem to have much power to get up the more difficult obstacles. Granted it was super hot which is always a factor. I have been riding my road bike but ideally I would have ridden the mountain bike course downtown many more times before now just to get to know it better and to work on my skills.

Given all of this, the other day, I decided I was officially under trained for this upcoming race. Most of what I read says that it is better to be under trained than over trained so I am not terribly dismayed but rather just cognizant that I could be in better shape and more ready for this difficult race. This race will be the longest Triathlon I have ever done on a tough course all the way around.

On Saturday morning I met up with the Richmond Triathlon Club to swim, bike, and run the Xterra course. We met at 9:30 AM at the swim start, had a brief chat, and then took off across the river. The swim was difficult. I decided to wear these little river shoes to protect my feet from the rocks and other debris that is always found in an urban river. Plus we would be swimming across the river to Belle Island where we would be getting out of the river to run about 20-30 yards before returning to the river to swim back across. The Xterra web site recommends shoes when swimming in the James River so I thought it best to wear them. However, not only was I the only one out of 11 swimmers to be wearing anything on the feet, the shoes did seem to slow me down. At least I think the shoes did. Who knows for sure as the current was very strong and despite the other people saying they were slow in the water, they obviously have different definitions of slow than I do. I was pretty far back from the field but it was not a race and we had planned to stop at a few spots in the river to regroup and discuss the water current and strategy.

The swim back across the river from Belle Island was difficult as the current was very strong. I tried hard to stay as far up stream as possible but the current had different ideas. During the race I will have to be sure to aim way upstream in order to make it around the final turn buoy. For the training swim, I did not make it far enough upstream and had to go below the rock we had been aiming for. I was pretty close to the rock, sort of floating around it, when I saw a very big water snake up on the rock. It had its head cocked like it was slightly annoyed. I am no snake expert but it looked like it could have been a poisonous snake by the shape of its head and all the markings. I moved away as fast as possible.

The rest of the swim was rather easy although I was very tired and did take a few breaks. The water was shallow enough that I was able to stand up here and there. The swim is going to be very difficult and taxing because of all the current. Plus since it is a mass start, there is always the chance that someone will swim over me or I could get kicked or punched in the mouth, gut, or other unfavorable place on the body.

Once we got back to the shore, we all mounted our bikes and rode the one loop of the two-loop bike course. This year's Xterra course is going to be different than in years past. We are basically doing the exact same course as the Riverrock bike course except in the other direction. I am used to riding most of the course in the direction we will be racing except for Forest Hill Park. The guys from the Tri club said it was easier to ride in this direction and after riding it, I have to agree.

I felt pretty good on the ride. We were taking it easy for sure. And since we had a big group, we stopped a few places to regroup. Also, I learned how to ride down this one particular obstacle that I have never ridden down. The guys in the club gave me some pointers on the proper line to take and after watching a few guys go down, I attempted it. My heart jumped as I went down it but I made it and realized that it is not as bad as it looks.

After the ride, 4 of us went on a run. We ran about 4 miles of the 6.2 mile course. We ran pretty fast-much faster than if I had been running on my own. But I kept up and felt pretty good. I was trying out some new shoes which seemed to work out pretty well. All in all, it was a good workout and I think I learned that although I may not be properly trained for this race, I should be able to do OK.

I am predicting that it will take me about 3.5 hours to do the course. I won't be anywhere close to the leaders who will finish in just over 2 hours. Of course they are pro athletes who do this sort of thing for a living. The best thing I can do from this point forward is to rest, stretch, sleep, eat right, hydrate and on race day-do my best and forget the rest.

Bitten by the bug

Let me apologize up front that this installment is quite long. I am very interested in getting everyone up to date on my story.

After the summer of 2005 I hung up my soccer cleats for the Fall season. My wife and I had planned a fall trip to the Grand Canyon and some other national parks and I wanted to make sure that I did not get injured so I could enjoy the trip. In the fall of 2005 we took our two week vacation with my parents and brother John. We did some great hikes including backpacking down in to the Grand Canyon to Indian Gardens and Plateau Point. After our 2005 trip, we knew that we would have to go back again and do more backpacking in the Grand Canyon. It was a great trip and I could devote several entries to the trip but I feel like I need to move my story along so I can get you all up to date.

In January of 2006, I read about a fellowship opportunity in our church bulletin that sounded like a lot of healthy fun. Each year my church does a 10K training program for the Monument Avenue 10K. Thousands of people participate in the race and there are lots of local training groups that meet to train for the race. After the service I signed up for the training program. After I signed up, I learned that we would be meeting on Saturdays at 7:30AM. That seemed a little early for me but I had signed up so I had to go with it.

I had never run a race of any distance and did not really know what kind of training was required for a 10K. But that did not matter because our church training group had several great coaches. Most of the coaches were marathoners with multiple marathons under their belt including one of the pastors and the church organist. Plus, I was playing soccer on two teams again in the spring season so my 10K training would be complimented by two soccer games each week.

I thought I would have trouble getting motivated that early in the morning on a Saturday but when my alarm when off on that first Saturday at 6:45 AM, I found it pretty easy to get up. I was doing something very new and was excited. We all met at the church and signed up for either the novice, intermediate, or advanced group. I signed up for intermediate. Once we completed our meet and greet and morning devotions, we hit the pavement following the routes that had been planned by Pastor Mark. I ran at the front of the Intermediate group. The route for the Intermediate group was shared with the Advanced group up to a point. When we go to the point where the intermediates were turning around to head back to the church, I decided to keep going with the advanced group.

As it turns out, long distance runners run their long Saturday runs at a pace that is significantly slower than race pace. These long slow distances help to build endurance. All my years of soccer and biking had trained my body pretty well and I could easily run long slow distances. I had no idea that I could do it although it really should not have surprised me. I continued to run with the advanced group every Saturday and I did my weekly runs as prescribed by Pastor Mark.

Joining a training team was great motivator for me. Not only did I have people to run with on Saturday but I felt motivated to put in the mileage so I could hang with these guys each Saturday. The advanced team were all marathoners. Some of them would get up super early on Saturdays and put in many miles before we met to do the 10K training. I looked up to them because they were regular guys with regular full time jobs and families yet they were very fit and seemed to be able to run forever.

Our training continued from the end of January to the end of March. My goal was to beat 1 hour in what would be my first ever 10K. As we approached race day, I realized that I would be able to beat 1 hour with no difficulty at all. I ran the race in 49:07 which translates to just about an 8 minute mile. Running across the finish line with all the people cheering and the bands playing felt great. The months of training in the cold paid off. I had a big kick at the end and felt great after the race.

Melissa met me at the finish to congratulate me. I felt a certain euphoria. It was not the so called "runners high." I had just run 6.2 miles and I think one has to run a great deal more to achieve the "runners high." The euphoria came from a sense of accomplishment. There is something very rewarding in having a very well defined goal, knowing and taking all the steps necessary to achieve that goal, and then reaching the goal. I also love to shovel snow. With snow shoveling, the goal is very well defined and it is easy to tell when the goal has been achieved. Plus it is great exercise.

After this race, it was safe to say I had been bitten by the racing bug. I decided to sign up for another race. This time I was a bit more ambitious. I signed up for the Xterra Sport race which is an off road triathlon that comes to Richmond every summer. In previous years I had watched friends compete in this difficult race and thought I would go ahead and give it a try.

I really had no training program for this race. I had a good running base and I had been biking as much as possible on the course that they used for Xterra. My weakest area was swimming. I know how to swim but I am no Michael Phelps that is for sure. I managed to get a few training swims in and also participated in a clinic down at the river that was course specific. The guy teaching the clinic showed us how to navigate the currents and gave us some very useful tips that would give us a little home field advantage.

The Xterra was both difficult and a blast. It was my first ever triathlon. I arrived early and got my bike setup in the transition zone along with my running gear. These types of races always start with the swim, mostly for safety and logistics. Imagine running and biking many miles and then jumping into a river with fast moving current. Somehow I think that would be a recipe for disaster. The swim part of this race is hard because not only do you have to go cross current several times and do some swimming upstream against the current, there are rocks and other debris to watch out for. There are even some places where you can stand up for a few paces depending on the level of the river.

The gun went off and off we all went in the water. It was almost comical. I swam for as long as I could before I had to tread water and do the doggie paddle while I caught my breath. I felt like I was losing serious ground. I knew I could not win this race by any means but I did not want to be last. We did a wave start based on sex and age group with a 2 minute gap between groups. The women were the last ones to leave the shore. As I did my doggie paddle, the women would catch up to me and pass. I kept trudging along with the mantra, "just keep moving." I did catch a second wind and was able to swim more but I ended up with lots of starts and stops. I made it out of the water to the cheers of Melissa who is my biggest fan and is always there to support me. I ran back to the transition zone, got on the bike and headed for the technical and difficult mountain bike course. I was quite familiar with the course and finished pretty strong. Back at the transition zone, I pounded some sports drink, changed my shoes and headed out for the final leg of the race which was a 5k. I used the same mantra, "just keep moving."

My intent is not to give you a play by play of every race but this race was so difficult and at the same time exhilarating so I thought I would share some of the details. Part of the 5K course goes up what locals call the "Mayan Ruins." The "Mayan Ruins" is actually just about 20 very large steps that go up an embankment. Each step is about 1 to 2 feel high. Most people use their hands to climb up these steps. I did well on this part. I was able to leap up each step and pass several people along the way. The run then continues along the flood wall and eventually makes it way back to Brown's Island.

For my first Tri, I did pretty good. I finished in 1:55. Again I felt a great euphoria when I finished. It was so fun. The course was excellent and I was competing against some great athletes. Granted the pro who won the full distance race did his race in just under 2 hours also. I stuck around to watch him finish. He did twice the distance I did in the same time it took me to do my distance. What a beast.

At this point in my athletic career, I had discovered that racing was a lot of fun. Not quite as fun as soccer but it was different. I looked forward to running and biking knowing that the goal was to do well in races. By the end of 2006, I had done two races. In 2007 I would end up doing even more.