XTerra Canadian Championships Race Report

What was I thinking???? At Richelle's urging, I signed up for the XTerra Canadian Championship waaaaaaaaay back in May. My mountain biking skills have dramatically improved this summer, I've grown comfortable with most of the XTerra Canmore course, so Whistler should be the next logical step, right????

Let me interrupt at this point to say that I had an amazing experience at XTerra Whistler!! The race, the venue, the volunteers, all of it was amazing, a big thank-you needs to go out to everyone who helped to make that day happen, it was wonderful!!!

And now back to my saga....

I arrived in Whistler with my one-woman cheering squad, Gillian, on Friday. I bumped into Danelle Kabush, among other pro's in the lobby, I was starting to get excited!!!! Friday was about checking in, scoping out the village, eating food, getting some sleep. The Nita Lake Lodge is simply magic, a beautifully appointed lodge, excellent venue.

Early Sat morning was cloudy and windy, looked like rain. Uh-oh, better get that OW swim done. The lake was very windy, lots of waves, even some white caps in the middle of the lake. I estimate the temp at 17 degrees, so totally bearable. I decided to swim one lap of the course in the same direction as the race. Which meant I was swimming into the waves along the back stretch. It made spotting difficult,as every time I looked up I would get a face full of water, but I managed to get in one lap. It wasn't an easy trial lap in the waves, so I knew that race morning would be doable. Now for the pre-ride of the mountain bike.

My pre-ride went okay, thanks to Krisitie for touring us around the trails. We scoped out the tough spots, made a plan to walk some sections, but estimated that I could ride 75% of the course. I did not investigate the run as I figured that if I still had teeth at this point of the race I could pretty much crawl and get there.

The Q&A with the pro's was cool: Conrad Stoltz, Melanie McQuaid, Danelle Kabush, and Mike Vine shared some sage advice, the pre-race meeting was next and was dominated by crazy questions about parking, then it was off to find food and sleep.

Sunday morning dawned sunny, a fine mist on the lake, perfect for racing! I was excited for the race, lots of positive butterfly energy, and except for a minor freak-out about goggles (what IS it with my goggles acting up this season?!?!?), I was ready to go.

The swim was, in a word, fantastic. Calm lake, courteous swimmers, goggles were functioning, and I was feeling calm and smooth. I peeked at my watch as I headed back into the water for the second lap and saw 14min on my watch, wow! That was fast for me! Mindful of keeping my HR under control, I did a systems check while swimming but I didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I remember thinking, wow Richelle had the perfect swim program for me, this feels effortless, I could do this for 4km.... but I'm getting ahead of myself (wink!). As I exited the water, I glanced at my watch and saw 28min!! A PB for me in OW 1500m. And I was feeling great!

T1 was smooth, I even managed to gain time on the racers who were there ahead of me and who were still struggling with their socks as I headed out with my bike. I'm getting better at this!

The bike started well, too. I knew that I had a big climb right away, so I let my legs spin and spin, managed to get up High Voltage and even passed a couple of people pushing their bikes. There was a quick descent onto the paved road, and as I cycled down the road a racer came form behind and pointed out that I had a flat rear tire. Oh no!!!!!!!!!! I flipped my bike over, ripped off my gloves, and got to work, while watching lots and lots and LOTS of racers go by with alternating looks of pity and words of encouragement. An angel named John in a bright orange jacket stopped and asked if he could help, he miraculously got the stiff tire back on the rim, and I was off again! Unfortunately, I must have twisted the tube or pinched it somehow, because 500m later I had another flat. This time an angel named Mike stopped to help with the compressed air tube thingee, and this time was good to go. I estimate a loss of at least 30min in all this tire changing. This meant that I had some catching up to do!

It also meant that the pro and leading age groupers were going to catch me on the first lap. I had hoped to finish one lap so as to stay out of their way and not worry about feeling pressured about them coming up behind me on the fun single track sections. I have mixed reviews at this point: it was inspiring to watch pro Melanie McQuaid glide over the roots, and Conrad Stotlz eat up the trail, it was an honor to be on course with them. The pros were awesome about passing and identifying themselves as they approached so that not only were you aware of their flight trajectory, you could choose to get out of the way if necessary (thanks to Mike Vine and champion Josiah M for being patient and clear about their direction of travel). And some of the more experienced age group leaders were also very patient about slower riders (I'm going to give kudos to Cal Z as an excellent example of this). But I'm disappointed in the lack of sportsmanship and trail etiquette most of the racers had for an intermediate rider. Please don't get frustrated and swear at me. The pressure from the other riders was creating a fog in my head and I started making silly mistakes. This inevitably led to a wicked crash while descending Danimal, right in front of a photographer, naturally. I picked myself up, untangled my bike, tried to settle the adrenalin, and asked myself what the F was I doing in Whistler. At the trail split, a volunteer tried to get me to head to T2 but I pointed out that I had one more lap to go, and at that moment I knew that even though this was a tough course, I am not a quitter, I knew I could and would finish this race. Get it in gear.

The start of lap 2 started out with a laugh. While trundling uphill on my bike, Conrad Stoltz breezed by me running a solid pace. As we came out onto the paved section of the road, he pulled ahead up the hill, and on the downhill, I only caught up enough to hear him breathing hard before I ducked back into the trees. What a machine! Lap 2 of the bike was great, I even caught and passed two other girls, and had a much smoother, fun, awesome ride on some wicked Whistler trails! Lap 2 was a huge success!

T2 was smooth, although once again, I'm disappointed by some fellow racers. These three guys had already finished and had returned to the lake to collect their gear. As I'm in T2 changing into my running shoes, taking off my helmet, the guys were making disparaging comments about people walking the course, being too inexperienced to be allowed entry. I shot a dirty look at one of them and he had the decency to look embarrassed. It was enough to motivate me out of T2 even faster.

The run also had two laps. The beginning of lap one was stunningly beautiful. It looped thru old growth forest on a soft bed of loam and moss, over roots and a big log.... Beautiful. My legs were tired but not heavy, I actually enjoyed running!!! Then the uphill started. Or should I say cliff face?? It was a long, steep climb on loose footing. But once at the top, the downhill was sweet. Repeat. Then came the long 3km on the paved road, uphill for 2.5km, with a sharp descent into Nita Lake Lodge. I passed one more competitor, but honestly, at this point, there wasn't anyone else left out there to pass. Too bad, I was feeling strong enough, although I wasn't very fast at this point.

The Finish Area gave me a couple of cheers as I crossed the line, I accepted my medal and ta-dah, I finished!

Some overall thoughts:
- Whistler was FUN FUN FUN, tough, but FUN!
- there were some excellent examples of good sportsmanship: one competitor helped me with my tires, others displayed good trail etiquette, the volunteers stayed to the very end on the course for the slower athletes, lots of cheering throughout the course and encouragement from the field.

As Rose said to me at the Finish Line: "Everyone was invited, but you showed up, congratulations for finishing and having fun."

Thanks to Richelle for giving me awesome training plans and working me through the planning for this race, it was an experience of a lifetime, and who knows, maybe I'll be back next year to show 'em a little extra toughness?

Here are my official times:
1500m swim: 28:46
20ish km mtn bike: 2:50:13
11km trail run: 1:26:17
Total Time: 4:45:14

Photos are coming too! Stay tuned!