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Crested Butte Colorado - Career Breakthrough At Altitude! |
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Written by Administrator
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It is hard for me even to believe that this is the FIRST race in my 11 years of racing road, mountain bike and triathlon that I have won a race at altitude. Incredible! Even when I was a favorite on the Canadian National Mountainbike series in the 90s I continued to falter at altitude, until now! What made a difference? Well, obviously three years of training with a Hypoxico altitude tent made a difference, as I have steadily improved at the high altitude races, but I think the fact that this year I MUST win at altitude to finish strong in the National Series has motivated me to push a little past the pain, and to prepare with scientific rigor. This was the reason that I went to my first Xterra Points Series race in Colorado, put on by the dynamic duo of Ashley Burt and Tina Kempin, both of the Crested Butte Bank, which sponsored and hosted the race. I wanted to have a race at a similar altitude to the race in Keystone, and Crested Butte fit the bill, over 9000 feet above sea level with similar race distance. I went to the race at the worst day of acclimation, after a week of pretty much sitting on my butt doing nothing, felt flat as a pancake, and busted ass to get the win. It was very satisfying. There were two very good locals there, Janae Pritchett and Jennifer Smith (known for NORBA racing), who are fully acclimated and ready for battle on their home turf, so I had some serious competition. This was very good for me, and the race was likely more difficult than the course at Keystone, so I feel like I had a good taste of what will be required at our last series stop before the finals. I had a fantastic week at the race, hosted by the awesome Burt family (the killer "B"s), so read on to hear about how cool Gunnison and Crested Butte, Colorado are... |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 April 2006 )
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Milwaukee Mishap Means No Number One |
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Written by Administrator
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It was all over except for the news reports, I had a four minute lead built up by a third fastest swim and fastest bike leg, and as I went out onto the run I was certain my run was going to be a formality. I steady clicked through the miles, careful to drink whenever possible, and focused on leg turnover. Then disaster struck?. I took a wrong turn at about 4 km to go, adding about 600m while I traveled back to the course en route to the finish. I continued on, trying to not think about the error, but with about 300m to finish, Jamie surprised me, running by into the finish, and I had nothing to answer with and lost the race by 22 seconds. That is racing and it was my own error (likely caused by a little heat induced delirium, it was almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit and about 88 percent humidity, I spend a little time with an IV post-race) and I am SO mad that I handed over the win when I already owned it. I am now focused on our next race in Keystone, which may be pivotal for the series. I am at a 10 point disadvantage for the series, and I can?t afford to be more than that going into the finals in Lake Tahoe. Jamie and I have further pulled away from the rest of the girls for the overall title, almost assuring ourselves of the top two spots (barring a DNF disaster in Tahoe) but unless I win in Keystone, CO in three weeks, even a win in Tahoe won?t ensure a first place in the US Series. Nothing like a little pressure to make you step up, huh? So I am on my way to Boulder right now, my second favorite training place on the planet, to adjust to altitude and try and get my best possible race at 9500 feet. But going back a bit to the story of Milwaukee, city of beer and brats??. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 April 2006 )
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Just Short of My Richmond Repeat |
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Written by Administrator
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How painful to your heart is being passed in the final kilometers of a triathlon... I had sworn off being passed in the run this winter by training my BUTT off in the run, but managed to sabotage my own race this week after coming back from Europe. I felt pretty good as soon as I got in, and was psyched to do some training to kickstart the system and get ready for Richmond but I think I kickstarted too much, because my good feeling off the plane turned into a blown feeling by the time of the race, and my horrible run was the result. I practiced the bike course too much, and the run course too little.. I was caught and passed at the infamous boulder hopping section (flashback to 2002 when Anke passed me there while I was going unconscious from heatstroke). No heatstroke for me, it wasn't THAT hot, but a pass that I couldn't counter meant I lost the race by a tiny margin. It is frustrating to think of all of the little mistakes I made during the race that had they not been made, maybe I wouldn't have finished the race with a deficit. However, the bigger issue was I made the rookie mistake of being so nervous about a race that I thought I needed to do more to get ready, rather than less, and paid for it. Still, even though Jamie had a better day, it was a good race, Jamie and I were both top 20 overall on the day, which is definitely respectable, and we continue our deathgrip on the US Championships series as we are tied in first, with a sizeable lead over third. The best thing about this week, however, was the message from my Italian friends, so please check out the photos in "Other Photos" so you can see just how amazing those people are!! And then, carry on to the story.... |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 April 2006 )
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My First European Win - Xterra Italy!! |
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Written by Administrator
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If you only have one race per year to travel to, make it the Xterra in Italy. This race, which is on the island of Sardinia and the village of Villacidro, is the best race experience this year, and probably the best race experience ever for me, Maui 2003 included. I can?t actually say enough about how great the people in Sardinia are, how amazing the fans were, how beautiful the course was, or how great the parties before and after the race were. It was everything that Xterra is about, family, fun and excitement. Winning the race also helped me to appreciate this venue, but I won because I was just so happy to be there. It is a great confidence boost because I believe the course is a lot like the race on Maui and I had a convincing win, with all of the best girls there. I stayed with Roberta Pittaus family, and they were so warm, generous and friendly I felt like I was the new blonde sister of Roberta. It was really, really cool. My week in Sardinia was amazing, the race went really well, and the story is to follow?.. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 April 2006 )
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Xterra Eastern Europe - Czech Republic |
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Written by Administrator
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Okay, no matter how many times I have travelled to Europe, the overseas thing always seems to squash me for a week or so. As I started to describe in the last report, I had three days of travel to get from Mt Saint Anne, Quebec, to Ottawa, to Toronto, to Heathrow, to Prague and then finally to Hluboka nad Vltavou. Luckily, Ross met me at Heathrow so my homesickness went away, but I was a little out of it from lack of sleep and travel fatigue. Needless to say, from my seventh place result, I was not feeling my best. I was consistent though, I had a bad swim, a bad bike and a bad run (really bad run!). It has been a long time since I have performed so poorly and it didn't feel good at all. Renata Bucher, our new Swiss star, had an awesome race, running and biking her way into first place, and I am so happy for her to get her second win this season. Having said that, I am pretty motivated this week to perform much better here in Europe. Ross and I did have some fun in Czech Republic, but it was not without incident, and the story follows.... |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 April 2006 )
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Race Reports 
