Cindy's Xterra Race Report

Since finishing 70.3, we have hiked into Mt Assiniboine (where we hiked approx a half marathon for four days while carrying 30+lb packs), and I went to Edmonton and back for work. I'm tired! In a good way...so I decided to cut back at this weekend's XTerra Alberta triathlon. I've ridden the full distance course a few times, it's simply wonderful and technical, but I wasn't up to racing it just yet. Instead, after discussing with Richelle, I decided to dial it back to the sprint distance for today, but to keep Whistler at the full distance.

Here's how it went:My family decided to spend a holiday weekend on Canmore, we arrived on Friday night. The condo that we rented is amazing, it's got lots of room for the five of us plus it is close to downtown for walking and bike riding. On Sunday morning, we dropped off my bike at T1 by 7am and were waiting around in the lodge talking with other athletes as they arrived. I felt pretty calm, ready for the day. Thanks to Aly for helping me fit into my wetsuiit! And then the sprint women were off! It was one of my best open water swims. Admittedly it was a short swim of 500m, but I had long smooth strokes, and was out of the water in 10:30. Nice!

T1 was okay, then off on my bike. I passed a few girls on the way up to the Nordic Centre, then watched ,y heart rate climb as I went up the big hill. Once at the top, it was a fun descent, a few more climbs, then I hit the pavement at full speed.

T2 was very smooth, and I felt strong heading out into the run. Wow, my brick training has paid off this year, I'm much stronger at recovering my legs in the early stages of the run. The run course was fun, and while I wasn't particularly fast, I enjoyed the trail. Richelle and I had agreed that on hitting the pavement I would give it everything I had and cross the finish line ready to collapse. Well, there were three gals ahead of me that I was watching on the back half of the run, and I decided to go get them. It was a strong push to the finish and I managed to catch them all! Yay me!

Thanks again to Aly for catching me at the line and walking me around. I was spent! Overall, a.much better race than last year, I had a blast, hung out with some great new friends, what a great day in the mountains. Official results aren't posted yet, but I will add them soon, along with some photos. Promise!