Race Report: XTERRA Renegade (San Dimas, CA)

So.. I realize that it’s been a LONG TIME (over three months!) since this race, but I’ve only just now decided to put together a race report. The number one lesson out of this race (as it has been for nearly ALL of my races this year) is a lesson in PREPARATION (or lack, thereof). I’ve been really BAD about race prep and training this season. It’s  a mix of a lack of motivation, of wanting to do other things, of wanting to “have fun” rather than train… I know it’s a bad excuse for poor performance… but in reality, I don’t think I did THAT poorly. I’ll just blame it on the fact that I had very strong competitors.

Getting transition area set up...

Swim went off without any surprises. A swim is a swim to me, and I’m usually just happy to get it over with.

Done with the swim!

The usual routine for T1.. blow nose.. spend 5 minutes trying to get wetsuit off..

Coming out of T1

The biking leg was another thing altogether. Minh and I had previewed the course, and decided that the best place to make up time would be on the “road”. If I could tuck down and haul-it on the road section, then I would be able to close a significant gap between me and the girl who swims faster than me. Pretty good advice, and I think it worked pretty well… only the girl who swims faster than me also bikes faster than me… I ended up throwing up on the bike (that took up at least five minutes.. probably more).. on the first lap, about half way up on the first big climb (not the walking one). That almost took me out of the race, but I was able to recover reasonably on the rest of the lap and decided to power through it.

First Lap... My typical riding position.. hunched over and head down.. :-/

 

Pretty butterfly Minh saw while waiting for me to finish riding..

End of the second lap on the bike... head up this time..

I felt decent getting off the bike, but I knew that the run would be PAINFUL. Honestly, before this race, I hadn’t REALLY run since December (XTERRA Crystal Cove 21k) – what with shin splints and laziness and all… So the run was mostly a walk and a slow jog. I tried to keep a decent enough pace, and tried to finish pretty strong, but I finished knowing that I probably didn’t podium (and I didn’t).

Last turn for the run.. homestretch...

Smiling because I know the race is almost over... (note Minh all the way in the back...)

Overall, I enjoyed this race. The course didn’t change too much from the year before, and I had a pretty good time. Granted, I wasn’t completely prepared for it, but they run a good race (Renegade Racing). And.. of course… I had a great time rocking my new Run Team Sparkle Skirt:

A Little Preview – Bonelli Park

Coming out of the “off-season”, I knew I would be out of shape… but I didn’t really anticipate how severe my laziness and lack of training really affected my overall endurance, fitness, and ability to ride/run/swim/train.

The weekend before the US Cup race at Bonelli Park, Minh and I headed out to do a little course recon and to determine whether or not I thought I’d be in any shape to race. We quickly discovered that I wasn’t in any shape to be racing… the new course is a lot “more fun”, which means more technical, more punchy, and less forgiving. My bike handling skills just weren’t up for what would be a brutal beat-down the following weekend, but I was glad we got a preview of the course (rocky downhills, singletrack switchbacks, off camber, rock gardens, logs and all…).

Here's Minh riding through some singletrack with a nervous look on his face...

While we were out there, we did a pre-ride of the Xterra Renegade course that I will be racing in April. The course is the same as last year (at least that’s what we assumed), which meant that I had already done the course before. There’s just one hike-a-bike section that will slow me down, but for the most part, the course is completely ride-able and with some focused training, should be fairly “easy”. I’m actually pretty excited about this race, which will be my first triathlon of the year! Now if only I could get my legs to cooperate so that I could get some good runs in.

Dirty dirty bikes after the ride.. thanks to all the mud...

After the ride, we stopped by The Hat for some pastrami and delicious onion rings… grease and fat – the two necessary ingredients for the perfect pre-ride meal… yum!

Condiments GALORE at The Hat!

mmm.... Patrami...

greasy and delicious onion rings

Tagged!

This is my first time being “tagged” on my blog.. heck.. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until Stuart tagged me on Christmas Eve Eve. So.. without further adieu…

1. What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2010?

That’s an easy one.. HANDS DOWN, my biggest and most proud accomplishment of 2010 was finishing Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside back in March. I was so happy to finish that race, especially with the short experience I had with triathlons and the lack of preparations.

Crossing the FINISH LINE (!!!) of IM 70.3 CA!

The next big and proud accomplishment of 2010 is deciding to torture myself again with another half-iron distance race with even less preparation (if that was even possible).

Not the most graceful of my triathlon performances.. but still a FINISH!

2. What are your running goals for 2011?

I’ve already posted up my race schedule for 2011, but the main running goal isn’t to just finish races. I really want to start being competitive instead of ending up in the middle of the pack (which is still better than the back, but only marginally). So the real running goal for 2011 is to get faster. Key milestones: sub-25 minute 5k (ok.. that’s not THAT fast, but it’s faster than what I can do now) and sub-2 hour half marathon (aiming for 1:45 at Disneyland Half Marathon during Labor Day Weekend).

3. What is your favorite race?

It’s hard to pick a favorite race for 2010 since I did so many. In terms of running, I absolutely LOVED Xterra Trail Race #1 – Point Mugu State Park. That’s one race that affirmed my preference for trail running over street running and made me realize that running is actually fun when the scenery and terrain changes and challenges you.

Awesome course.. and I'll probably come back and do it again!

4. What is your most embarassing running moment?

I’m lucky enough to NOT have had ANY embarrassing running moments to date, let alone in 2011. Although, on a personal note, the San Diego Rock’n'Roll Marathon was pretty much a DISASTER for me. I was grossly unprepared for it (as I have been for most of my 2010 races) which was ok at the start, but escalated quickly from uncomfortable to painful to downright depressing. My legs throbbed and my spirit broke.. I cried.. I almost gave up.. and then somehow I managed to find the will-power to keep going (it mainly had to do with running into my cousins just about when I was ready to throw in the towel).

One of the many "eye-opening" races that told me: "You better be prepared next time!!"

So… that was my first attempt at playing this blog-tagging game… Now it’s my turn to do some tagging…

Elise, Kelly, Skyler, and Allison (you can change it to biking, as that is more applicable)… TAG! YOU’RE IT!

Race Report: Xterra Trail Run – Crystal Cove

As much as I’m not very good at it, I do in fact love running. Trail running, to be more specific.

Sunday marked the 3rd race in the Xterra SoCal Trail Run Series. This one was held at Crystal Cove (YAY! for local races) and at the not too early time of 8AM. It’s still a little bit of a drive from home, so we got up around 6:15AM (or so) to make sure we had plenty of time to grab breakfast, find parking, and get checked-in. Met up with Elise and Skyler, who were also running the 17k.

Race started a little after 8AM, and I made sure to stay at the front. Even though I’m a slower runner and should probably start in the middle somewhere, I like to start near the front because it’s a more accurate race time for events that don’t have timing chips (like most trail races).

I'm not ahead of Elise for very long.. that girl is A LOT faster than me..

The course was a little different from what I was expecting, but I had run most of it before during my training runs. I did feel extremely out of shape, more so during the race than I did during the previous weekend. It was a bit of a bummer not being strong, but I did my best. Tried to run/jog when I could (especially up the hills), but my quads and glutes just felt like jello. Ended up walking quite a bit more than I was expecting to, but finished strong on a long downhill.

Overall winner.. James Walsh

Female winner and 3rd overall.. Michelle Barton.. missed the female course record by less than a minute..

Smiling on a nice long downhill to the finish..

I’ve decided that this is an AWESOME course for hill-training, since there are so many rolling hills that you don’t have to keep doing just one, you can still do a loop. Plus, Crystal Cove has some nice single track for running along the Fenceline at the top (not part of the race course, but I wish it was).

Overall, I’m satisfied with my results. Finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes, 6th in my age group out of 14. I’m a little bit bummed for Elise and Skyler, who had to “jump” age groups for this race since race age is based on your age at the end of 2011 (lame). But they both still did really well: Elise getting 4th, and Skyler getting 7th.

Didn't feel so great afterwards.. but was happy to have finished!

And with that.. racing is OFFICIALLY OVER for 2010! Now I REALLY REALLY need to get back to training.

Race Review: Xterra SoCal Trail Run #1 – Point Mugu 18k

Sunday marked my first venture into Xterra country with the start of the Xterra Trail Run SoCal Series. Four hundred or so runners headed out to Point Mugu State Park (just on the edge of LA and Ventura counties, between Malibu and Oxnard) for the Point Mugu Trail Run. I had previewed the course in September, so I more or less knew what to expect. Goal time was 2 hours (that’s about a 10:45 min/mile pace) – I knew I would be able to handle the flats and the downhills, but it was the climbs and the singletrack (getting stuck behind people) that really made me worried I’d be on the slow side.

Sunday morning came, and Minh and I got up EARLY (5AM) for the drive up to Malibu. The plan was to leave by 5:30AM for the 2 hour drive. We made it to the race earlier than expected (7:00AM), either due to Minh’s crazy speedracer driving or the lack of traffic, or both. I was asleep most of the time, so I can’t really say. We got a pretty good parking spot, since we were there early. Checked in and hung out in the car for a little while.

The essentials for the race.. number, GU, and Garmin

Marked for the run... I haven't put one of these on in YEARS...

At about 8AM, I decided to go for a warm-up run and hit the potties for the last time before the race. I have been suffering from a mild case of shin splints for the last couple weeks, so I hoped that the compression socks would do the trick.

Off on my warm-up.. see you later..

Practicing "technical" stuff on the warm-up.. this isn't even the half of it..

Course talk from the "devil" (race # 666)... "watch out for the unavoidable poison oak."

Even though I’m not the fastest runner, I always like to start these races near the front. It’s a little disheartening to get passed by 100+ runners early on in the race, but it beats adding a few minutes on my overall time from starting in the back. I tried my best to keep to the side so that people could pass me easily too. I may have expended a little too much energy at the beginning though, because I was feeling it pretty hard on the ascents during the first few miles.

"And they're off!!" Already getting passed by atleast 100 runners...

After the start, Minh headed off the assigned meeting location (somewhere between Mile 5 and 6, where the 11k course meets up with the 18k course). He took some pretty nice pictures of the trail, so you can see how much MORE technical it is compared to our local OC trails. I’ve never run anything like this before, and I’m pretty sure we DON’T have trails this technical in OC. Most of our trails pretty smooth, and even the rocky ones are pretty wide.

It was pretty foggy throughout the whole race..

I got passed quite a bit during the run, but I was still keeping a good pace. I ran when I could, but had to walk a lot of the ascent. I didn’t feel too bad though, because I didn’t really get in anyone’s way. For the most part, I slowed to a walk/hike when the people behind or in front were also slowing, and I always stepped to the side when I could to let people pass. I picked up the pace a little bit on flats and downhills to make up for whatever time I had loss on the climbs.

The first water station wasn’t where it was supposed to be (around 4.5 miles).. but luckily I still had enough water to sustain me until I did hit the water station (a little past mile 5). I also didn’t cover myself in poison oak like they had warned would be inevitable. There was poison oak all over the first half of the course, but I was able to avoid it. Even the one spot that was COVERED in poison oak overgrowth didn’t affect me…. perhaps I’m one of the few lucky ones that’s not sensitive to it? Minh’s not even sure if he saw any poison oak.. but then again.. he doesn’t know what it looks like.

FOG! You could hear the ocean, but you couldn't see it..

Just before Mile 6, and the last long steady uphill of the race, I met up with Minh for the bottle hand-off. He prepared a bottle with Heed and a gel for me. It was nice to get a COLD bottle, since my bottle was starting to become not satisfying. Luckily, the weather was cool and foggy, instead of sunny and hot like the preview run. It stayed nice and foggy the entire morning, so it made for PERFECT running weather.

Ready for my bottle hand off...

18k and 11k course merges for the rest of the race

Once we hit the top of the last climb, I was feeling good. I knew that the rest of the course was just downhill switchbacks, and I decided to just let my momentum carry me to the bottom. My knees were starting to hurt, but my shins were feeling pretty good. What’s great about this downhill is that you can occasionally see the start/finish area, and you can HEAR the announcements going on. It’s really motivating to get to the finish. I passed a few people on the downhill, but mostly I just stuck to my pace and tried to finish strong.

FINISH LINE!!!

The picture being taken by the guy in red can be seen below..

Pretty cool picture... I'm gonna buy it.. but haven't gotten around to it yet..

FINISHED... see you at the next one!

I finished in 2:03:13, which is a lot better than the preview run and about what I had expected for myself. Things to work on if I want to be competitve (and I do)… overall speed, hills, ability to recover after hills (this probably goes for cycling and general running also).

Xterra Trail Run SoCal Series #1 – Point Mugu 18k
2:03:13
6 out of 15 AG F25-29 (190 overall)

After this first race, I’ve decided that trail running is a million times BETTER than road running (marathons specifically). On the road, it’s pretty boring. You don’t see anything interesting and it’s just the same road over and over again, 90° turns, and thousands of people around you the whole time. With trail running, sometimes it’s just you and nature, the terrain changes completely from wide and flat to technical singletrack to switchbacks. The views are INCREDIBLE, whether it be of the ocean or the mountains or a wide open field. Sometimes you see someone ahead or hear someone behind, but for the most part it’s just you and nature. It’s great. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to road running only… Maybe if I think I’ll qualify for Boston. That’s still a goal in the back of my mind somewhere.