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Ok after some
harassment tonight to put the race report up here it is.
XTERRA World Championship
Maui, Hawaii
October 28, 2007
Weather: Sunny to Partly Cloudy
Hot, maybe mid 80s
SWIM: 1500m
in the crystal clear Pacific Ocean, in front of
the host hotel the Maui Prince, lots of tropical fish down in the water
to get your mind wondering from the race. Was actually a shark attack
the day after the race about a mile from the swim site in Wailea, that
could have been real fun if it showed up a day earlier.
First off the JSTriclub legend Joe D let me
borrow his new Blue Seventy Speed Suit for the swim leg of the race. I
tried it out a couple days before and it felt great, the suit felt
great, was very comfortable, didn't even use any lube around possible
rough areas on the suit and it didn't chaff at all. Highly recommend
getting one of these for any non-wetsuit legal swims about a mile or
further.
The swim went very good for me, I felt fast with
the suit and tried a new approach for me in the swim of staying out of
trouble and swimming on the right side of the main pack. Swim was
counter clockwise. I might have swam a little extra but it kept me out
of trouble and relaxed during the swim. Possibly the best I felt in any
swim leg all year. The swim was 2 X 750 meters with a short beach run in
between each leg. I didn't push it at all on the beach which helped keep
me relaxed for the second loop.
Came out of the water in about 28 minutes, and
about mid-pack which I was very happy with considering the competition
in this race.
T1-speed suit came off very easily and quickly,
and was out of transition fast considering the somewhat long run in and
out of transition
BIKE: 31K or about 19 miles
So there is no preriding of the bike course of
this race at all. The course is
mostly on a private ranch and only used the day
of the race for mountain biking. They set up a short practice course,
which gives you a little taste of the course terrain, but it is nothing
like the real course.
The mountain bike course was pretty tough. In
classic Xterra style, it had a good spread of everything. Lots of long
leg burning climbing sections (some over a mile of climbing), some short
steep hills (too hard to ride up, only hikeable), some fast open it up
sections, and then of course lots of loose lava rock downhill sections
(what the course is notoriously known for). It was also very dry on the
course, which made for a lot of dusty sections, sometimes you couldn't
even see in front of you if you were close to someone else.
They say you are really lucky if you can complete
this course without getting a flat or having a mechanical problem, or
crashing bad for that matter. So lady luck was on my side as I didn't
get any flats. I only had to deal with some minor gear shifting problems
on my bike, possibly from breaking the chain on my bike 2 days before
leaving, and having to get an emergency repair(thanks Clarence and
Patrick for hooking me up with a last minute chain swap out before I
left). I took one small fall, and bruised up my hand and hip a little,
but other than that I had a clean ride. Only other issue was having my
water bottle from the 1st aid station fall out of my bike about a 1/2
mile into the section and then not having any water or fluid for the
next 5 miles (if I get the chance to do this race again I'll be using a
camelback) After every hard section on the bike there were at least 5
people on the side of the trail fixing flats and other mechanical
problems, it was pretty crazy. I would say I might have passed as many
as 50 people with such problems, it is just part of doing this race and
there isn't much you can do to avoid it, just hope you aren't one of the
people it happens to. I was real happy with my downhilling as I was able
to pass a lot of people on some of the tough downhill sections. Just
wish I would have spent a little more time doing some climbing workouts,
but that is hard to do around here in NJ, as there isn't much to
practice on around here unless you head up North. Views of the ocean on
the bike were awesome during the few chances I had to take a look.
Finished the bike leg in about 2:04(something like that). But felt
pretty dead from the tough ride, even felt a little cramping coming on
at the end of the bike, might have been dehydration, especially caused
by those 5 miles where I didn't have any fluid at all.
T2: no problems, out fast
RUN: 11k
Flat first 1/2 mile and then the climbing began,
the climbing on this might have been worse than the biking section. I
totally did not expect that much climbing on the course. And didn't
really prepare for it or I would have done way more hill workouts. Just
never felt great on the run, I was just zapped. I tried to run the
sections that it was doable to open it up during, but those sections
where few and far between. The last 2 miles contained some long soft
sand beach sections and some downed tree hoping, which was the last
thing I wanted to do with how badly I was fighting off cramping up.
Unfortunately the "Babes" from the website were not out there again this
year to run me in on the sandy beach section
Finished the run in around 58 minutes, was hoping
for a lot faster here, just the long race and hot weather I guess really
kicked my butt in this one.
Overall 3:30:53, 139th OA, 15th AG
Very pleased with the performance, considering I
really felt like I was burnt out during my last month of training for
this race.
Looking forward to taking some time off after the
XC series finale tomorrow. No running for at least a month, I'll maybe
only join the crew for some MTB rides on Sundays.
Thanks for all the clubs support throughout the
season, hopefully this report will further persuade some of you to try
and Xterra race next season. They are really a lot of fun and all very
well run races. Hopefully even some of you will be able to qualify for
the World Championship as well. This is definitely a race you need to go
to if given the chance. I'll be trying to make it there again next year.
Later, Bob
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