Xterra Mountain Championships

The Xterra Mountain Championships is one of the toughest courses on the circuit and also happens to be my favorite. This year I managed a 4th place finish in a strong field of women and took over 4 minutes off my time from last year.

My swim was less than stellar and I came out about a minute behind a big group of girls. I was disappointed with my swim but not worried because I am part mountain goat and the straight uphill bike suits me well. I quickly passed many women in the first two miles of the course and moved up into 2nd place. I could see Melanie ahead of me and was inching closer to her with Kelly Cullen right on my wheel. I always gauge how I'm doing on the bike by how long it takes Shonny to catch me. I got to where she passed last year and still no sign of her. I kept thinking "Shonny should be coming by any minute". Well, turns out I continue to get faster on the bike and she didn't catch me until the top of the paved road section. When she caught me we rode together passed Mel and continued riding together until the top of the climb at which point she pulled away from me. Mel, Kelly and I continued to play cat and mouse the entire rest of the bike course. With about 3 miles to go on the bike my stomach started cramping up and I slowed a bit to see if I could get it to relax before the super hard and hilly run. I came into T2 in 4th and knew if my stomach cooperated I could run some girls down. No such luck with my stomach behaving. I managed to get through the first big climb but it was running the first long downhill that put me over the edge. I resorted to walking some, a few stops to try to rub the cramping out and thoughts of "can I keep going?" crossed my mind. Of course, I kept going and was hoping that nobody would catch me. Thankfully, I had a big cushion of time off the bike and wasn't caught on the run leaving me in 4th at the finish line and only 25 seconds behind 3rd.

Shonny took the win, Mel second, Kelly Cullen 3rd, me 4th and Emma in 5th. Yep, that's all three Specialized Xterra girls in the top 5 (Mel, me, Emma). Nice work ladies! While I wanted to be closer to a WIN I have to be proud of being only 5 minutes behind last years World Champion, Shonny. I'd say it was a pretty good day for this social worker by day and professional triathlete by wee hours of the mornings and weekends.

Thanks to all my great sponsors, Avia, Specialized, Native Eyewear, Infinit, NoTubes, and Honey Stinger! I feel like I'm on the cusp of a really great race and hoping it will happen at Nationals!

4th of July Weekend Re-cap

A little delayed update but better late than never. Our 4th of July weekend started Saturday with a drive to Steamboat to stay with some of our good friends and their two little boys who escaped the heat of Tucson to the more reasonable climate in Steamboat. Saturday and Sunday were spent with a little bike ride around the Stagecoach reservoir, Smores around the campfire (it's pretty entertaining to watch a 4 year old make their first Smores), a failed fishing trip and lots of playing with Legos and blocks. A little more on our fishing trip. Our friend Jamie assured us we would catch trout at this great lake above Yampa, "yeah my brother caught like 6 fish in 6 casts". Sounds great right! Well, after about 60 casts Doug, Jamie nor I had caught a single fish. The 4 year old was not impressed by our returning home with no fish.

Monday we got up early and drove to Breckenridge for our annual 4th of July tradition, the Firecracker 50. We race this the "more fun way", as a team with each of us doing a 25 miles lap. This year it was each of us doing a 27 mile lap due to some course changes. I debated between riding my S-Works 29er and my Era and ended up opting for the 29er. I was worried I would take a beating on the hardtail over some of the rocky parts. Some parts were a little rough as I expected but in the end I think the 29er was the fastest choice given the climbing and long road sections. I had a smooth ride and felt fast the entire race, except on some tight singletrack sections where I was stuck behind men who were doing the whole 50miles and weren't going as fast as I wanted to. We took the Coed Team title for the 3rd year in a row. No big money or prizes but simply our fun 4th of July tradition.

This weekend is the Xterra Mountain Championships and I'm excited to be healthy and ready for this race. The course is great for me, climbing, climbing and in case you didn't get enough a little climbing at the end.

Racing, Racing, Racing

The last week has been a busy one and I managed to crush myself at a CU short track race, the Winter Park Super Loop XC and a Stroke N Stride (minus the stroking due to lightning). Good results in all events, 3rd in the Short Track, 2nd in the XC, and 2nd (got beat at the line) in the 5K Stride. Too busy for many words so pictures will have to suffice.

Short Track

Winter Park Super Loop XC

Celebrating the podium by myself since all the other women took off

Brr, it's cold on the top of Trail Ridge.

Stroke N Stride