XTERRA East Championship

This was one of my "A" races of the year... I'd had my mind on this race for a long time, and was the first race of the year that I really wanted to do well at. Unfortunately the weather was too warm and humid for me to be my most competitive. Heat has never been my freind, and being a bigger guy, my body can't cool itself like the majority of skinny guys I compete against. I've learnt about my body in the heat the hard way, like DNF'ing at last years Florida 70.3, and Darkhorse 40 in 90+ degree temps... Both big learning experiences. So I threw away my original strategy, and just went for one of survival. My goal was just to finish, not have to visit the Medic tent, and be coherent enough to drive the 7 hours back home immediately after the race... solo.

Here is a map of the race course... The transition area is basically in downtown Richmond! This is one town I would not mind living in at all.

Coming out of the water at the end of the 1K swim leg... Was fun swimming in moderate current and dodging river rocks, but not the best swim time for me. I'm still not swimming that well this year. No wetsuits allowed because of the warm water temps, but I did wear booties on my feet to protect from debries on the river bottom, the 100 meter trail run at the halfway point of the swim, and the long run back up to T1. (I did a test in the pool earlier in the week, swimming in booties slow me down by about 20 seconds per 500yds... small price to pay to ensure your feet are still intact at the end of a swim like this!!!)Heading out of T1 and on to the 25K bike course... the trails are awesome, never a dull moment on the bike. I went through my 100oz camelbak, and large frame bottle, and could have still used more water... (was also taking salt/electrolyte blocks, and a gel)

Back from the bike in T2, I swapped hydration packs for the 10K run , this time using my Nathan 2 liter running specific pack, with 10oz of perpetuem, and more salt/electrolite blocks. Finished the contents with about a mile to go in the race... It was getting really hot, and there was no shade for the first half of the course... I've never drank this much in any race before, but it worked for me, and actually could have used more. I was probably abouty 10lbs lighter at the finish than at the start!!!

Mission accomplished. Finshed strong, no medic tent, and ready to tackle the drive up I95.

I ended up 7th in my Age Group with a time of 2:29:15. Earned a bunch of qualifying points towards XTERRA Nationals, and still ranked 2nd in the Northeast, after David who's in 1st, had a great race here, qualified for Worlds in Maui, but most importantly, made is debut in one of my many pointless videos (see below)...

I took this video with this camera standing in the middle of the James river. Awesome.

This race is definately going on the calendar next year. Who's coming with me?!?!