Thru Endurance We Conquer!

The first race of the 2010 Xterra USA Tour is in the books. The Xterra West Championships, held at Lake Las Vegas was on the 25th of April. It was another brutally hot day in the desert, racing in the barren landscape north of Lake Las Vegas. I’m pretty happy with my race. I felt much better racing on that course then last year – I was able to use the power I’ve been working on at CTS on the bike and I was able to finish with a decent run. Shonny won – with a smoking fast 1:17 bike split, finishing in 2:24:14. I finished 9th – swimming 24:15, riding 1:36:41 and running 45:34 for 2:46:30. Still further behind the rest of the women in the bike, but it’s coming along. I have some pictures from the race and of the race course here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TracyThelen.triathlete/XterraWestChampionships2010 #

Henderson, NV is just south east of Las Vegas. It's a lot like COS in that it's grown up in a hurry. The Silverman Triathlon finished at the Henderson Multigenerational Center every year, so it's a town I've spent some time in. This year, thanks to some Facebook Friends, I was able to explore some different areas, go to a few different resturants and get to know the town a little better. The best spot for lunch that we found was the 155 Water - a City Cafe, at 155 Water St, across from the city hall area. I got the Tomato-basil pizza both times and I don't even like raw tomatos on pizza! Mom got a BLT and a meatloaf sandwich and said both were really good. Bonus - they make desserts that are just outstanding - we tried the lemon creme pie and the individual serving blueberry and apple pies. http://one55water.com/ - check it out if you're in the area. Off of Horizon Drive, on the southern end of the city is a really good sushi resturaunt. It's called "T...

The Xterra West Championships was a good start to the season. A bit of a shock to the system, but still a good start. My swim was a little off for me, my bike stronger then it's been and a very good run. I still have a lot of work to do over the next few months. I finished in 9th place overall, meeting my goal of top ten. I'll get a race report up in the next few days.

I decided a fun, low stress way to spend my Saturday would be to help with the Kids Triathlon Frank was hosting. He had about 65 kids between 6-12 for a short, no pressure race. I helped a little with body marking in the morning and those kids were hillarious. It's really cute when a little girl is proud she gets a 7 written on her leg this year. "I'm a big girl now!!" After that, I was timing - I had a stop watch with me. Like I said - no pressure, no stress race. The race briefing was adorable - Frank went through the distances for the long and short race, then quizzed the kids on helmets, chinstraps, bib numbers, ect. After that, it was time for the big kids to start the longer race. I don't remember the distances for the two races, but it wasn't far. Enough to be a good challenge for the kids. High tech start - Frank yelled go and everyone started swimming. Ten minutes later, the little kids started. One swam with a kick board! After that, it was time for ...

After the single track fun at Bootleg, I needed to get on to the race course and check it out. Thursday got rained out, so Friday morning we headed to Lake Las Vegas. There were a few changes in the course from last year, but I was most concerned about the rain. How had a heavy downpour affected the trails? I started riding pretty early - wanting to stay out of the heat as much as possible. My plan was for two laps on the bike course, then to run one lap of the run course. My first lap was pretty quiet - not many people were out pre-riding yet. Still had to hike up the monster hill, then discovered there was a new steep hill that I could not ride up. The downs were very loose, with deep sand and hidden rocks. The first bad down already had evidence of people wiping out, with skid marks and deep grooves in the sand. The second steep down - it's like riding off a wall - was much worse then last year with the sand. The wash was firm this time, thanks to the rain, but there were some...

Sometimes watching the weather is a good thing. I knew that a cold front was moving into the Vegas area and it was bringing wind with it. I didn't know what time it would arrive, so despite the late night, Mom and I got organized pretty quickly in the morning. I wanted to ride in Bootleg Canyon, outside of Boulder City. I'd seen the signs for mountain biking every year while in town for Silverman. I'd also heard that the riding in Bootleg was great. This time, I had the right bike and time to play. Once we got to the parking lot, I spent a few minutes chatting with some local riders, getting some information in addtion to my map. It was good info to - spot on as to terrain and trail conditions. I rode for about two hours - started on the southern side, on some of the easier trails. And they were easier, but still plenty technical, with rock gardens, steep climbs, flowly decents. Awsome riding. It was a blast. After riding the easier trails, I headed west on the out and ba...

This was the best example of why I don't like traveling close to a race date. I was supposed to leave Colorado Springs at 9:20 in the evening and land in Las Vegas at 10:20. Perfect - Mom would pick me up and I would get a good night's sleep. Supposed to happened more like this: Checked in at 8:00 - not to worried because there are every few flights out of COS at that time. The lady at the ticket counter said "we're delayed - we don't know how long. The plane has not yet left Las Vegas" Yeah, the plane that I was taking to Vegas had to fly from Vegas still - so at least a two hour delay. Everyone seemed to handle it okay - it was a very chatty group of passengers. Then the agent comes down to the gate - with cop in tow (you know it's bad when there is a cop along) and announces that it will be a long time - they needed to fly a plane from Wichita, KS to Las Vegas, board the passengers waiting in Las Vegas, fly to COS, then turn around and fly back to Veg...

It's been a busy few days - haven't gotten to the blog like I should have. But that doesn't mean it hasn't been crazy! Nick and I decided to make my last ride before I head out to Vegas a hard Buckhorn-Jacks loop. We rode easy up to the Stratton parking lot, then turned it on when we hit the dirt (at least he did - I was too busy trying to keep up!) Made good time meading up thru Stratton. I was hoping for a little break once we hit Gold Camp, but no rest for the weary. Even on his single speed, Nick was able to make me suffer on the road. At the entrance to Buckhorn, Nick took off. Riding a single speed, he wanted to climb at his own pace. I settled into a groove behind him, focusing of good cadance, even power and trying to clean all the switchback. Success at last! I made it all the way up without ever having to unclip! No time to celebrate as Nick was moving again. At least on the down hills, I was able to keep up a little better. We dropped into the Capt' Jacks...

The first triathlon of the season is always the hardest - having to get transitions figured out ect. The worst part is the darn wetsuit. I went to 24 hour fitness yesterday and did a few run-throughs with the wetsuit. Entertaining for everyone else there, but really... A few notes learned from running around. I need to practice a few more times before Xterra. Get the flow of getting out of the wetsuit - espcially over the hips. It's a little tight there. All the bouldering I've been doing with Nick should help with getting the wetsuit on - building finger strength! Take time and plan through everything. My second run-through was much smoother then the first in terms of getting unzipped, cap and goggles off and getting out of the suit. Swimming with the wetsuit on felt so weird. My legs and feet were floating so high - I felt like I was on top of the water, not in the water. Things are a little different in open water then in a pool, I will have a few practice sessions once ...

The wind does not seem to want to go away. Nick and I were planning on heading to Pueblo Saturday and spending the weekend at the park, but not with this kind of wind. (I was blown across the road in my Subaru driving to Pueblo on Friday) So we stayed home and did trail recon around town. And thanks to the wind, it seems that almost everything is dry and ridable! Saturday we headed to CMSP. Nick got his ride and I ran. Still not feeling fast on the trails yet. I know the speed is there, but having problems finding it on the trail. I think I will move all my running workouts onto the trails around town to help with the process. But it was still a good run. I really like CMSP - there is a good mix of trails from rolling and smooth to hilly and techical. It is also pretty out of the wind so we weren't getting sand blasted the whole afternoon. Sunday was brick workout. I spent three hours chasing Nick and Dave all over Stratton, Red Rocks and those trails. Very happy with the ride ...

After working not even full time for the last month, I realized exactly how hard is was to train and work. And how spoiled I am because I don't have to work that many hours. I haven't been working full time, but I was still feeling completly overwhelmed by the end of the month. It's no wonder that I wasn't able to train properly before I stopped working full time. It's not even the intensity of the workouts, it's the quality of rest. Before, I was getting up at 4:30, trying to get in all the workouts, dash to work and treat patients all day, then come home and get my other workouts in. Lately, I've been sleeping to 7:00, eating a good breakfast, doing one quality workout, taking a nap, then eating another small meal, then heading out for my second workout. After that, getting the chores done around the house, making supper and getting ready to go to bed. It was great. Even when I got up early to swim, I was still able to take a good nap afterwards. Haven...