Xterra East Championship Relay, take 1

I teamed with two other racers to form a relay team for the full XTERRA race. I work in the same building with both of the relay ladies at SunTrust. Jessica is a swimmer extraordinaire and this was her first open water swim race. Becky is a trail running enthusiast and loves running the same trails where the race took place. I was on the bike riding the same trails I (try) to ride weekly. The race and recap are swim, bike, run. These are our recaps… DUN DUN (Law & Orders sound)

Jessica's race recap:

The swim was so much harder than I thought it was going to be.

My wave was the last to start. I swam pretty hard out to the island which is where I caught the stragglers of the wave before us and I started to get kicked around. There was a bottle neck trying to get around the 1st buoy. It was there that I started swimming breaststroke to avoid the people's kicks in front of me. In retrospect, that was probably worse because then the rest of my wave was on my heels and I was getting kicked and hit from all directions. I was essentially trapped! I had to choose whether to try and swim over people like the people behind me were trying to do or avoid people. I opted for avoiding people. Swimming breaststroke allowed me to stay with the people in front of me and to see where I was going, both of which I found really rather appealing given the situation. Probably not a good attitude for a race but hey this was my first ever open water swim.

Once I got over to the island, I had to climb out of the water and into the mud, go for a short jog and then get back in. At this point running over the bridge was looking like the best option but I figured I'd gone this far maybe I could at least get in front of some people and start swimming. I found an open lane and was feeling good for about 4 strokes when bam, a rock, then another and another and another. I think there was probably a reason it was an open lane but hey what can you do? It was then I decided to give up completely on freestyle and resorted to a stroke I'm going to call the Rocky River Belly Crawl. It involves pushing yourself across the river on your hands while having your legs scratched up by all the jagged rocks below. I highly recommend it.

It wasn't until the last two buoys that I was able to swim a little. In my excitement to finally be able to swim I went out a little harder than I should have and tired pretty quickly. Resorted to breaststroke for the last little stretch and finally emerged from the water.

But sadly I wasn't done. I still had to run to the transition area so Scott could get going. Let me just say, it might have only been a ¼ of a mile but it felt like a 100. And of course I had to make it just a little further by running down the wrong row of bikes. I had no idea running after swimming would be so hard! My hat is off to all those people who kept going. But me, I was done! J And that was my favorite part.

I'm somewhat glad I did it but please keep in mind I'm saying that before all my lab results come back from all the water I swallowed when my head got kicked so maybe I should withhold final judgment.

Scott's race recap:

This was my first ever Sunday race during the James River Adventure Games weekend. I am a veteran of the Urban Assault mountain bike races that takes place on Saturday and wanted to try my hand in a Sunday race this year.

We were told not to put on our helmets until we 'tagged' our swimming relay person and I think I am the only person to follow the rules. As soon as I was tagged I threw on my helmet and took off on a run out of the transition area. I had no idea how many people were ahead of me, but I knew at least one relay person was ahead of me. There were a couple relay folks on the wrong bike rack so it was difficult to tell who was in front of me. One thing I did know was I was going to pass a lot of people.

I made my first pass coming off of Brown's Island and passed a few more before I got to Belle's Island. Knowing all of the trails as I do, I was able to pick pretty easy areas to pass for the most part and only was hung up on other racers a couple times.

By the time I left Belle I had passes some 18 riders. One rider I passed, Ted, is a SunTrust worker in my building. I would see him again in Forrest Hill Park.

I hauled as much butt as I could on the gravel road. I wasn't sure of my speed since my computer magnet was not aligned properly and was not tracking my speed. On the gravel road I was passed by a couple folks who moved by me as if I was standing still. I had hoped to draft on the gravel road, but there was no one moving my pace to draft. Someone did draft me for a bit though.

Once back on the Buttermilk trail, I continued my fast pace and also continued passing other racers. When we came up to the brick faced climb I knew I could climb it and yelled for the walkers to clear my path. I made it up and was riding the dirt above it when my tires spun out in the dust. I heard a 'You disappoint me Terbush' from behind me and found out it was Dauley catching me from behind. We both were forced to run up most of Big Clay Hill since it was chock full of walkers. I never saw Chris again.

Coming back down the railroad tie downhill I was chasing a guy who took a really bad line and had to jam on the brakes before going off the side of the trail. He yelled that he didn't see my line until I passed him.

The rest of the way to FHP I backed off since I couldn't pass the two riders in front of me and they were going slow. I didn't climb out of the tunnel into FHP. It was full of walkers and I don't know if I can make it on a clear day with someone pushing me.

On the narrow concrete bridge I had to dab because they had a cone on the bridge where I normally ride. Who puts on cone on the narrow bridge? Did they think we thought the trail took a shortcut over the side into the creek?

The long climb to the parking lot did me in big time. I went out way to hard and was starting to pay for it. I took a GU on the gravel road and that hadn't hit me yet. I was dragging ace big time. Ted caught me early in FHP and was as surprised as I was to see me. He got in front of me and every chance he had he let me pass him. He wanted me to get my butt moving, as did I, for a while there I couldn't. I rode everything in FHP, not everything fast though. I passed people on most climbs even though I felt like poop. I really dug the encouragement from the other riders I passed riding while they walked the hills. It was that encouragement, Ted's forcing me faster and a conversation from some guy who thought he knew me and was racing against Bill Swan that got me through my funk. By the time I was finishing FHP I had my steam again.

For the first time ever I rode the trail into the tunnels from FHP. I kinda had to with my sister and neighbor there cheering my on very loudly. My sister said she saw the curse words I was mouthing as I rode the obstacle. I cleared it though… it was surprisingly simple.

I rode through the tunnel and decided I would ride the rock face back out of it. I've never fully cleared the rock face. There were two riders walking it when I called them off and shot up the rock face so fast I felt like I almost caught air. What a rush!

The rest of Buttermilk was pretty much normal. I passed a couple people and was passed when I got caught behind walkers on easy hill climbs. One lady passed me back when I was caught behind walkers. I got back on her wheel just as we came to the 22nd street Bridge. I followed her as she rode down the stairs and onto the bridge. I wasn't sure I was going to ride that section, but since I had someone to show me the way, I went ahead and rode it. Neither of us rode down the stairs.

I took another GU on the gravel road back to the 42nd street bridge. Again, I didn't have anyone to draft and again I was passed by some really fast muthas. I saw Ben stationed at the 42nd street Bridge and got some needed encouragement and that was out onto Buttermilk Heights.

The first creek crossing out onto Heights has always been difficult for me because I made it out to be a lot harder than it really is - what I call a mental block. I passed one fellow there that had second thoughts at the entrance; I squeezed past him and rode across the creek. I passed another guy on the hill climb afterwards and then almost wiped out when I lost my wheel further up the climb.

I quickly outdistanced the people behind me and ran smack dab into another 6 pack of riders. The last section of Heights is narrow with little room to pass, so I didn't until I was climbing out from under the Nickel Bridge.

Northbank found me pretty lonely. I had one person in front of me and I drafted him across the bridge. I was going to pass him, but had to stop when I picked up a branch in my wheel. I passed a couple more riders by the time I got to the stump dump; there weren't a lot of people in front of me to pass. On the last section of trail before Dominion, I saw Rick taking pictures; hopefully I didn't look too ragged there.

After Rick, I had two more riders that I could see in the distance in front of me so I set my sights on them. After the fence I was behind a girl and guy riding side-by-side so I split the two and kicked it into high gear to gain some more time. I didn't see anyone else until I got onto Tredegar Street and that guy was far ahead. I put the bike in the big ring and reeled him back in and passed him just before the transition.

I ran the bike to Becky, slapped five and just about collapsed. I said I was going to leave it all out on the course and I think I did. My ride time of 1:36:15 (based on my timing) and pace of 10.47 was 1 mph faster than I've ever ridden the JRPS trails. Out of the 5 obstacles I never ride downtown, I rode 4. It was a great ride!

Our finish sheet said our team came in 3rd of 5, the web results show 4 of 9. Our time was 2:54:41. I am very satisfied with our results and how we all did. It seemed like everyone had a fun time and will have some stories to tell of the day's events.

Becky's race recap:

I never get my toe on the start line. For years I have been 'training' for races I never run. Injury, illness, you name - all just symptoms. Underlying cause, plain old chicken. With a little more than a weeks notice, I get an invitation to run the third leg of the Xterra East Championship Race. I was plan 'B'. Plan 'A' was unavailable. Figuring if you are second choice, expectations can't be that high - less pressure - ok - sign me up. Team "I'm with Stupids" was born.

I arrived at 6:30am. Then the waiting began. The race started at 8:30. Jessica had to swim. Thank goodness I did not have to do the swim. I am like an epileptic seizure victim on crack when it comes to swimming. Some good Samaritan would have probably mistaken my freestyle for a near drowning, selflessly rescued me from the cesspool of a river and gotten team "I'm with stupids" DQ'd. Jess and Scott were smart not to ask me to swim. I waited on the shore to point out Jessica's sneakers so she could make the run back to the transition area. Just an aside to the man wearing the all white tri suit…. Maybe you should consider a black one… Just a thought… ahhhhh… My eyes!

Jessica had a strong swim, but I am concerned about the long term health implications she may have from the open wounds she got on the rocks in the river. I recommended a strong antibiotic and a lot of alcohol. I plan to carry Lysol in the event we cross paths in the near future…. Just in case….

I didn't see the transition between Scott and Jessica, but I am sure she finished strong. Back to waiting. In my mind I knew I needed to get out of the sun and off my feet, but I was too anxious. 9 trips to the port-a-potty later (just as terrifying as the flesh eating bacteria lurking in the James), I was ready for Scott to return and start my run. Oh, but wait, could I squeeze in one more pre race anxiety pee? I was running out of the transition area to use the bathroom one more time and all the volunteers got really excited thinking I was starting my leg of the race. When I jumped the barrier to head towards the bathrooms, they all started yelling to me that I was going the wrong way. I felt the compulsion to tell then exactly where I was going… it was a really awkward moment for all involved.

I was really excited when I saw Scott come up the last hill and into the transition area. He had a great ride and now the pressure was on. I passed one person on the way off the Island, but I wasn't on the gravel for 10 seconds before I could hear loud, fast footsteps barreling down on me. It turns out, Scott and Jessica had done such a solid job that I ended up on the run course with some of the top women amateurs. Great. This should really help my confidence issues. It was hot, but I felt pretty good. I passed a couple of folks on my way to the Mayan ruins. I almost plummeted to my death (not really) at the top of ruins - OK, I just lost my balance a little, but of course there was a crowd - no worries…. Nothing injured by my pride. I passed a couple of runners on the sidewalk behind SunTrust, one woman on the grassy pass after the Lee bridge and a big man at the bridge to the stairs down to the service road. I hate the service road. It's long, gravely, very little shade, flat, boring. I kept my head down so I didn't have to see how far I had to go.

Ahh, finally, single track trail. My favorite. Shade! I love the trail. I felt so much better. I was able to open it up a little bit heading back to the river crossing. I was bit directionally challenged when it came to crossing the James. I kept having to stop and look for the signs. Then I found myself in someone's way. They were not pleased. Once I was passed, I offered encouragement to the athlete - it was returned with a "do I even know you" comment. Forget it. I hope you slip on slime. (Not really)

I enjoyed being on Belle Island, but got really nervous as the time kept passing. I was thinking, if I don't get off this island soon, Scott and Jessica are going to kill me! On the stretch from the foot bridge back to the finish a man told me to reel in the guy in front of me. Are you kidding? He has the number 15 on the back of his leg (that's his age group!) I could be his mother…. OK - I'll try. All I needed was about 10 more feet. Next time.

I did it. It's done. I put my toe on the line. I actually enjoyed it. 3rd for Mixed Relay's and 4th out of 9 relay teams. Not too bad for a racing chicken.

Power Sprint Tri

It was an experience.  One that I enjoyed far more than I thought I would.

The night before races I normally can’t sleep, I’ve always been that way.  Fortunately, Alex has taken care of that.  My need for sleep whenever I can get it overrode my nerves and I had a good sleep the night before.

I had all kinds of problems registering for the race.  I think it’s because fate knew I was a slow swimmer.  I registered 4 times and only the last time worked.  The first time I registered I put in 6:30 as my swim time, with each attempt to register I extended my estimation until I put in 9:15 and it was accepted.  Does the computer know something I don’t?  Apparently, it does.

With my estimation of 9:15, my start time was around 8:35.  The first person in the water was in at 7:05.  My race number was 368, the swimmers started in order of their race number with 15 second breaks between every racer, hence the huge difference in start times.  A bunch of people finished the race before I even got into the water.  As I approached the water my nerves got jittery.  Talking to the swimmers around me settled me down a lot though.  None were fast swimmers and I wasn’t likely to piss anyone off with my slow swimming.  Once in the water I swam my butt off and strove for the finish.  The water was very nasty tasting, it wasn’t a cesspool (what does cess taste like?), but it was a sweat pool.  It pays to be fast I guess.  The 2 racers behind me were not present which meant I had 45 seconds in the water before the next person, yet I was still passed by several folks.  As my sister and wife later told me, my first 3 laps were slow and then with my 4^th lap, I just started speeding up.  I felt myself getting faster in the water as well, like I finally ‘got’ part of the stroke.  It felt great.

There were 360 folks who did the swim; my time of 10:14 was good for 352^nd.  In case you are wondering, that’s pretty slow.  There is a but though, I did make it out of the pool!

After I got out of the pool I did something Rebecca said not to do, I put on socks.  It wouldn’t have been so bad had I put my socks on correctly initially, but I didn’t.  Putting them on wrong initially and me being tired made putting on socks a very slow process.  After I finally got them on, I ran to the transition area.  I passed one of the people who passed me in the pool along the path.  The Friday before the race Rebecca taught me how to transition with my shoes already in my bike.  It took some time, but I learned it.  Saturday morning I practiced getting on and off the bike over and over.  Rebecca also told me not to ride with a shirt, but I did and putting that on took a few extra seconds as well.  My time of 2:13 in the transition was good for 113 overall. 

I ran the bike to the mounting area and jumped on and got my feet in and clipped and was riding very quickly.  I immediately noticed that my magnet for my computer was hitting my sensor.  Thwack-thwack-thwack.  I thought about stopping the bike to fix it, I thought about ignoring it and finally settled on fixing it as I rode.  It was a little hairy leaning over to fix it, but I had no traffic on my back and a clear road ahead. Once that was done I kicked it up a notch.  My goal was to average 20mph and to pass as many people as possible.  For most of the ride, I didn’t go more that 1 minute without passing someone.  I always checked numbers as I rode to see how far ahead these people were from me in the swim and love seeing all the low numbers I was passing.  I was not passed during the ride at all and passed at least 25 people.  Once the ride was over, I was in 137^th place, having gained 215 places in the first transition and the ride.  I average 21.1 mph for the ride

Coming up to the second transition I had to take my feet out of my shoes while still on the bike.  The tricky part with my shoes was the locking mechanism for the top strap.  I had to press the release and pull out the strap with one hand.  While taking off my right shoe my calf tightened up and almost cramped.  I was able to quickly pull out my left foot and was ready for the dismount with time to spare.  I passed three riders at the dismount line and dismounted into a run to my bike rack.  Since my shoes were already off, I was able to get in and out quickly, my time of 0:36 was the 18^th fastest overall.

The cool thing about the transitions was hearing my cheering section.  Carrie and Kristin were loud and encouraging.  Gonyo was even able to cheer me on during my second transition since he was already finished by then.  You can never say too much about cheering sections.

With the cheers in my head I took off on the run.  I settled into a decent pace and then heard someone catching up behind me.  It was a young lady and I didn’t want her to pass me, so I upped my speed to a faster pace.  I wasn’t sure how fast I was running, I just knew I wanted to walk.  The run was a simple out and back with one turn in the middle.  The whole time I was running out I was thinking the turnaround had to be around the next corner.  It seemed like it took forever to get to that darn turnaround.  I really wanted to walk, but told myself the effort would be over soon.  The way back was much faster than the way out (in my mind at least).  I passed a bunch of people on the run, some with numbers in the 200’s, it was a good feeling.  I passed more people running that biking and that helped to keep me moving.

As I came to the last turn into the finish I saw an old guy in front of me and I figured I had enough to pass one more person.  I sprinted the finish to the sound of my cheering fans.  My run time of 23:08 was my second fastest 5K and was good for 83^rd place overall.

My total time for the race was 1:11:25 and I came in 106 out of 360.  I wanted to be in the top 50% and I did that.  I passed 246 people (in person and on the clock) after my slow swim.

I am so glad I did this.  Everyone in this email knows how I am with water and everyone has pushed me to keep trying and striving.  I thank you all for helping me do this race.  Without your help and support, I would never have tried the race.