XTERRA West Championship, April 25th

Sunday's race in Las Vegas was tough but my fitness felt good. It was my first open water swim of the season which made things interesting. I have been swimming a little faster in the pool this winter, but not fast enought to latch on to the front group of fast swimmers. I ended up in no-man's land for most of the swim but I felt like I held my pace ok and exited the water without too much of a deficit.

The bike course in Vegas was very rocky and very loose. It was my first race on the Felt Nine Team and I was making up good time on all the climbs and after the first lap it was Conrad first and I was about 40 seconds back. Conrad was flying on the descents and rocky sections. Into the second lap I was again gaining time on each climb and I was within about 20 seconds when disaster struck. I flatted about half way through the second lap. I quickly found the leak and I was able to plug it with a Genuine Innovations kit and I refilled it with air. It seemed to be holding but I knew I was losing time to Conrad quickly. By the time I rode into T2 I was about 2:15 down.


My run legs felt pretty good once I hit the climbs and I was about 1:25 down after the first lap of the run. I thought I might still have a shot and I charged the second lap. I came up a little short on the day, finishing 39 seconds down from Conrad Stolz. I knew that my run could only improve from last season but I surprised myself by turning in the fastest run split of the day. Maybe it was the new AVIA shoes? The Americans (Coloradans) finished well on the day with Brian Smith in third and Seth Wealing in fourth. Nico Lebrun from France was in Fifth.

Snowshoe Championships

"The National Snowshoe Championship on Saturday, March 6th was one of the toughest snowshoe races I have ever done. The field was the deepest talent that I have seen at a snowshoe race and the pace was hot from the beginning. Scott Gall wasn't going to leave anything to chance and he pushed the pace from the very start. The two of us had a gap on a very strong second pack before the first mile. Scott kept the pressure through the first 3 miles and I moved into the lead but couldn't shake him. The snow was so soft that every step was a struggle. I kept working every part of the course and every change in terrain looking for an advantage. Finally I was able to put just a small gap during a long climb around mile 4. I attacked every climb over the second half of the course and a couple seconds here and a couple seconds there added up to just enough to secure the win.

I think of snowshoe racing as a pure test of fitness. There were several athletes in the race that were faster road runners than me but that's not the only factor in snowshoe racing. I think that is where my triathlon training and altitude training becomes an advantage. Anything that slows the race down benefits me and the hills and soft snow in New York were the perfect recipe. I had two knee surgeries in November and just started running a little in February. I was a little worried that the pace would be too fast for me right now but I was ok.

The real advantage though is when athletes come to race me at altitude. Sunday was the Jeremy Wright North American Snowshoe Championship which starts around 10,000 feet and goes up from there. After such a tough race in New York the day before and a long day/night of traveling I wasn't sure how I would respond. fortunately I felt more comfortable and 'at home' in the Beaver Creek race and was able to build a very big cushion of almost 2 minutes. After the National race in New York I think everything is going to feel a little easier for a while."