Melanie,
This is going to be my first full season of multiple XTERRA races. They are spaced out about a month inbetween each other, and I'm wondering if I should treat the first one as a "get through it and work out the kinks", and then go harder with the second, and all I've got on the last one.

I thought back to racing in college, and I never held back in a swim meet, I always went as hard as I could. But then again, those races never lasted longer than two and a half minutes. A 3 hour tri will take a lot more out of me. So I'm wondering if I should always give everything, or pace it out for a big effort at the end? I'm concerned about the recovery time after each race, will the hard efforts help or hurt me to go faster for the final race?

-Kim

There is no question that one month is plenty of time to recover from an event between 3 and 4 hours. This is assuming that you will take enough down time after the event.

The only way you would be tired going into the next event from a maximal effort at the first one would be overtraining in the weeks between the events. Making sure you take a lot of down time following a race which you fill with recovery, massage and good food will set you up for another big effort.

Racing is an opportunity to test your limits. I say go as hard as you can and do your best! You will get a lot of benefit from a hard race. It is very difficult to push yourself that hard in training, so each subsequent race will then become and feel much better.