2014 Xterra Southeast Championship
I may not have qualified for Kona this year, but I got my spot to Maui! After what ended up being an 'interesting' race, I got third in my age group.
The riding at Oak Mountain State Park is fun! They have a lot of great single track. Lots of easy stuff and plenty of hard riding as well. I got up to Pelham, AL a few days early to ride the course and relax. I was impressed they had most of the course marked two days before the race so people knew where to go. When I rode the course a few weeks prior, I thought Boulder Ridge and West Ridge where a part of the course so I rode them and did not like them at all! They were way too technical for a race. Once I rode the official course, I was super please with it. A couple technical spots, but for the most part, really fun, easy riding.
The morning of the race it was pouring rain as I was setting up in Transition. I got there early so I could get one of the end spots on a rack. About 30 minutes before the transition closed it stopped raining so I removed all the plastic from my stuff and headed over to the swim start. I got a chance to get in a little warm up swim and was feeling pretty good! It was wetsuit legal so the swim times would be pretty fast.
The swim felt great! I felt like I was moving fast, and I was close to the front of the group so I never felt crowded. After the first lap, you get out of the water and run around some flags before you do the second lap. This was a nice way to break up the swim. Plus, I lost an earplug at one point so it was a perfect time to grab the extra one out of my sleeve to replace the lost one.
I felt good coming out of the water and into T1. I threw on my gear and got moving pretty quick. In the future, I think I will try and stop using the camelback so I can shed some of that weight since it is pretty heavy and also save some time in T1.
Before we ever hit the trail on the bike I passed about 5 people on the road. This quickly changed when I had some bike issues and got passed by a lot of people. I was behind a guy and asked to pass, but he would never get over. I finally decided to try and pass him on a corner and he tried to cut me out and we both crashed. I crashed another couple times due to the pouring rain and slippery trails but I never got hurt. I did drop my chain and have to straighten out my front wheel, but nothing too bad happened. The ride was really fun but I wish I would have done better. Again, I felt great coming into transition and was out on the run super quick.
I had my best 10k run split and it felt awesome! I passed lots of people and only got passed by one. The trails were constantly rolling up and down and it made running exciting. There were also creeks to cross and logs to jump over. I had a great time here.
I'll probably be back at this race next year since I had such a great time. For now, I guess it's time to get ready to race in Maui!
Nutrition:
I wasn't very scientific about this one... I did my normal breakfast routine, then I had my camelback with Skratch and CarboPro on the bike along with three gels. Then on the run I had one gel and water from two aid stations. I felt pretty good on the run, but I didn't feel the best on the bike.
The riding at Oak Mountain State Park is fun! They have a lot of great single track. Lots of easy stuff and plenty of hard riding as well. I got up to Pelham, AL a few days early to ride the course and relax. I was impressed they had most of the course marked two days before the race so people knew where to go. When I rode the course a few weeks prior, I thought Boulder Ridge and West Ridge where a part of the course so I rode them and did not like them at all! They were way too technical for a race. Once I rode the official course, I was super please with it. A couple technical spots, but for the most part, really fun, easy riding.
The morning of the race it was pouring rain as I was setting up in Transition. I got there early so I could get one of the end spots on a rack. About 30 minutes before the transition closed it stopped raining so I removed all the plastic from my stuff and headed over to the swim start. I got a chance to get in a little warm up swim and was feeling pretty good! It was wetsuit legal so the swim times would be pretty fast.
The swim felt great! I felt like I was moving fast, and I was close to the front of the group so I never felt crowded. After the first lap, you get out of the water and run around some flags before you do the second lap. This was a nice way to break up the swim. Plus, I lost an earplug at one point so it was a perfect time to grab the extra one out of my sleeve to replace the lost one.
I felt good coming out of the water and into T1. I threw on my gear and got moving pretty quick. In the future, I think I will try and stop using the camelback so I can shed some of that weight since it is pretty heavy and also save some time in T1.
Before we ever hit the trail on the bike I passed about 5 people on the road. This quickly changed when I had some bike issues and got passed by a lot of people. I was behind a guy and asked to pass, but he would never get over. I finally decided to try and pass him on a corner and he tried to cut me out and we both crashed. I crashed another couple times due to the pouring rain and slippery trails but I never got hurt. I did drop my chain and have to straighten out my front wheel, but nothing too bad happened. The ride was really fun but I wish I would have done better. Again, I felt great coming into transition and was out on the run super quick.
I had my best 10k run split and it felt awesome! I passed lots of people and only got passed by one. The trails were constantly rolling up and down and it made running exciting. There were also creeks to cross and logs to jump over. I had a great time here.
I'll probably be back at this race next year since I had such a great time. For now, I guess it's time to get ready to race in Maui!
I wasn't very scientific about this one... I did my normal breakfast routine, then I had my camelback with Skratch and CarboPro on the bike along with three gels. Then on the run I had one gel and water from two aid stations. I felt pretty good on the run, but I didn't feel the best on the bike.
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