Pre-Race
XTerra Victoria is no doubt on of the most beautiful courses I have raced: luscious forest, soft loamy soil (with some big rocks for good measure), warm lake, challenging course. And Race Director Monique is amazing, she hosts a first-class race - way to go! I didn't take a supporting race crew (AKA The Family) with me to this event, so no pics in this post, sorry to disappoint, you will just have to take my word for it, this course is a beauty!
I chose this race for a couple of reasons: it's approx 6 weeks prior to XTerra Canmore so it will help me to gauge fitness and readiness, and it's also a Maui qualifier, so you never know what can happen on race day!
I arrived in Victoria on Thursday, having driven from Calgary all day and taken the ferry crossing, one of my favourite relaxation exercises. My goal for the next two days was to check out the course, prep and rest for race day.
On Friday I headed out to Durrance Lake, approx 25 min north of the city. I had studied the maps before hand, but wasn't prepared for the knotted mass of trails in the area! After a few mis-starts, I was finally on a trail, no wait, maybe it was the trail that I just passed, yes, keep rolling.... you get the picture. On race-day it was much better marked with chalk arrows. The course was rooty and loamy with big rocks that, as Mel McQuaid pointed out, are meant to roll up and over. Seriously? It looks like a rock wall! Of course, she's right, that's why I paid good money for my front fork. I mastered a couple of the lines that she highlighted, it came in handy on race day, thanks Mel! Two laps of the course were plenty - not enough to know all the drops and tricks, but enough to wear me out for one day.
I returned to the lake on Saturday to check out the run course - love it, more on this later - and swim in the lake. There was chatter about the lake being too warm for wetsuits, so I hopped in with just my bathing suit. It was perfect!
Race Day
I woke up nervous. It was raining, so I worried about a slippery course, and I just couldn't settle. So I tried to methodical things: finish packing the truck, tidy the condo, attempt to enjoy my breakfast (ha!), drive out to the lake. For some reason, I thought the race started at 9am. As I was casually pumping my wheels, a fellow racer pointed out that transition was closing in 10 min. 10 min! I headed to Transition immediately, where I learned that the race was starting in 25 min! EEK! I never make these rookie mistakes!
The Swim:
LOVE LOVE LOVE my new Huub Wetsuit. It fits well, no arm restriction, easy to strip off.... and due to the rain, the water had cooled off so it was a wetsuit-legal race. I jumped into the mix of the swim, maybe I started a bit too quick, I had to pull back on pace at the first buoy, but the winter and spring coached swim lessons rang in my head (yes, Ed, I can hear your voice inside my head, kinda spooky and inspiring at the same time): smooth your stroke, work on the front end of your stroke. I stayed with the pack most of the way around the first lap, but could feel my breath getting ragged, so I opted to stay smooth and aim for efficiency. The second lap was better, still had lots of people around me, and I didn't lose much ground.
I think the 1500m course may have been a bit short, as my swim time clocked in at 21:54.
T1:
OMG - my wetsuit is amazing! It came off my arms in the first try! Quick to put on helmet, sunglasses, socks and shoes - I didn't spend much time here, not much to report.
The Bike:
The initial climb is a long fire-road, approx. 10 min of climbing, with a couple of loose sections in it, entirely rideable, it's about having the fitness to ride it well without burning out the legs for the technical sections that follow. I ended up behind a 25-year old male rider, whose adrenalin was running high so that he exaggerated every move, which meant he bailed off his bike on the smallest of features and had one endo that was quite spectacular. This translated into me putting down my foot more frequently than I had planned and ignited my mental "oh shit" factor. I knew that I had to drop him so that I could continue to ride MY race, not his. Finally, towards the end of the first lap, it opened up enough for him to give me space to pass, I didn't see him again all race and I was able to ride more smoothly and confidently. The second lap was quieter and faster: I knew I had lost time behind the other rider, I knew that the fireroad on the second lap was slow, but I persevered and my Garmin tells me I had a negative split by almost 12 min on the 2nd lap. The goal of today's bike was simply a vehicle to get me to the run.
Bike time: 2:10:55.
T2:
In and out, remember to have quick feet to start the run. Go!
The Run:
The first one km of the run course snakes thru the thick forest, it's pretty flat but has lots of roots so you need to pay attention. I tried to gain momentum, keep the feet moving quickly, the legs didn't feel burnt out from the bike so I opened up a bit more than usual. The massive hill from 2-3.5km is also known as The Beast. Yes, I needed to slow to a walk, the pitch was steeper than most staircases! But I was able to get the legs moving again at the top fairly easily. The downhill of the run was tricky, very technical with loose soil, lots of big rocks and drops, but very fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the run on this race, even lap two when I was getting oh so tired. Lap 2 went well, again, I kept reminding myself to open up the legs and push forward a little bit faster, and I'm pleased that I had the mojo to keep going.
Run time: 1:12:39
On hitting the Finish Line:
Overall, pleased with my effort. It was a tough course, I am un-used to riding West Coast trails, and I had a solid run. It wasn't my best race, in fact I'm almost ready to declare it "average," but there are a couple of things that I learned:
- use the bike as a way to transport you to the run, then go push your pace a bit.
- the focus on running early in my season makes running in a race much more enjoyable and while I'm still working on speedy trail running, trail running at the end of the race is fun.
- I can mentally identify when I need to stop riding someone else's race and take action to get myself back on track.
Finished 5th in my AG, 57 out of 62 racers.
Total time: 3:48:49
What's next? Back into training, will have some fun riding in Revy later in July and again in Fernie in August, all to prep for XTerra Canmore on August 17.
Happy Trails!
