Tessa reading scriptures in full 661 downhill pads
We got back to traveling the week after the Music City Triathlon. It was another triathlon trip, this time racing off-road. It would be my last chance to work on XTERRA skills before Nationals. This race was up in Morristown, TN at Panther Creek State Park. I have raced there before, but it was way back in 2001, my first full year of racing. Needless to say, I didn't remember much about the trails there other than I liked them.
I was disappointed to be running tubes in my new set of Maxxis CrossMark tires. I tried to seal them tubeless with Stan's NoTubes, but they just wouldn't seat on the rim. We struggled with it for over an hour before giving up and putting in tubes. I had this same problem before Chickasaw earlier this year. I also tweaked my derailleur two days before the race. It was frustrating trying to get my shifting fixed, but somehow I got it worked out. It was a miracle because the shifting was so far off that I shouldn't have been able to fix it back to normal.
We made the drive on Saturday in order to get in a pre-ride. We were going to camp in the free camping field the park was providing for the racers. We got there just after lunch, planning to set up camp, go for a ride and then go to a movie. We have had 2 free tickets to see a movie for a while and they were about to expire. The gate to the camping field was locked. And it was really hot, so we decided to change our plans around and go hit the movie first. We saw the new Dark Knight movie, then returned to the park in time to pick up numbers and get in a pre-ride loop.
The trails were good. They were dry and fast. Some of the sections could've used a little trimming, but otherwise it was good. The challenge was the climbing. There were several long climbs on the bike course and a few were rocky. It was almost entirely singletrack which I was thrilled with. I even recognized a few sections from my one trip up here over 10 years ago. The run course is on hiking trails, so I couldn't pre-ride it. By the time we wrapped up our ride, the gate was open to the camping field and we went in to set up our tent. I could see some of the run course from the road and was able to view a massive hill out in an open field.
It was a cool night in the tent. We were expecting 68 degrees for a low and it dropped down to around 60. We were not prepared for that cold. We only brought a sheet to cover up with. No blankets. No pants. No long sleeves. Nothing. And we paid for it dearly. I woke up at 2am feeling damp and cold. My calf was cramping from being tense in the fetal position trying to create some warmth. We left the rain fly off, anticipating a warmer night. The heavy dew that fell with the cooler temps had everything soaked when we got up the next morning, both outside and inside the tent. I felt like crap. Everything hurt from being tense all night. I was slow getting ready and did a shorter warm-up than I like.
One race time rolled around, I forgot all about the sleepless night. It's funny how race adrenaline can make you forget about all the bad things that have happened that week. The race began with a swim in a small cove of Cherokee Lake. We were to do 2 laps of a 400 meter square they had marked out in the cove. My plan was to start fast this time to avoid getting run over so much. I figured I was strong enough now to hammer the first few minutes and then back off as everyone spread out. I was hoping for my fastest swim ever, followed by a good bike and then I wanted to push the run as hard as I possibly could. I wanted to be destroyed at the finish.
Racers and spectators gathered for the start in Cherokee Lake
Swim underway
We had over 100 racers as we began the race. I started fast, but so did everybody else. I think the shorter course made everyone go harder than they normally would. I got hit a lot on my legs on the first lap. That is annoying because your head and chest come out of the water when your legs get pushed down. The legs become anchors and hold you back from gliding through the water smoothly. I stayed far to the inside of the course to get away from everybody. That worked better than being in the middle, but I still got hit by people that were swerving badly off course.
The pace of the first lap took its toll on me. I had to back off a lot more than I wanted on the second lap. One guy kept running into me from my right. I moved over twice and he just kept cutting over on me. Then his elbow jacked me in my left eye, knocking my goggles off. Since I had my swim cap on over my goggles, I didn't lose them. I reset the goggles and then ran that guy down and passed him to get away from him. I can't believe he hit my left eye that hard when he was on my right side! Part of swimming is just staying away from the crazies. I faded some more by the end of the swim. My time was slower than I had hoped, but so was the time of all the other people. I think the course was actually longer than 800 meters. My time was 19:00 which was 49th fastest out of 105.
One racer running toward the transition area following the swim
I had a better transition than at Lock 4 and set sail on the first of two 7.5-mile loops. Greg Gibson was just ahead of me starting the bike. Greg is a Pro mountain biker as well. I was hoping to beat him to the woods because I wasn't sure if I could beat him on the bike. I was first out of the water, but he beat me in transition by going without gloves and socks. There was a tricky rock section about a mile into the loop and I got by him there after slower riders ahead of us piled up.
Transition area
The swim didn't seem to hurt my bike as much as the past few races. I tried to be more smooth though, especially since there was a lot of climbing in the second half of the loop. I passed a lot of people on my first lap, moving up into the top 5 overall. I picked off a few more on the second lap. I rode really well in the second half of the bike leg and picked up my lap time by a minute. I caught the 2nd place overall in the last section and had to follow him into the transition area. We got yelled at about dismounting late, but I'm not sure why. Both of us were off our bikes well before the dismount sign. The officials were on the other end of the transition area so they didn't have a clear view of the dismount anyway. They fussed at us, but then let the guy behind us ride all the way into transition to his spot without saying anything. I knocked off two laps in 1:06:17. I thought that would be the best bike time, but it was not. One guy beat me by over 2 minutes!
Bike course map through Panther Creek State Park
I tried to get my running shoes on as quick as possible. I was actually a little too quick. My helmet was still on when I ran out of transition. If Duane Leach hadn't yelled at me as I went into the woods, I may have had it on for the whole run. I heard him though and tossed the helmet into the bushes as I started the trail run. I passed the 2nd place guy in the transition and started the 4.9-mile run with just one racer ahead. I knew the guys behind me were better runners, so I started fast and tried to hang onto my podium spot overall. I was leading my class at this point too.
Run course
I felt good early in the run, but then went flat after the first mile. My legs just didn't have any strength. I wasn't burning with fatigue or bonking, I just didn't have any run legs. I dropped back quickly in the overall and lost the lead of my class. There were 2 long climbs on the course. I shuffled up them like an old man. I had to resort to walking at one point on the second climb. I faded all the way back to 17th overall by the end of the run. What was most irritating was that my legs started to feel good in the last 1/2 mile. Even with as bad as I felt, I averaged a 9:43/mile for the run. My time was 43:46 and 62nd quickest in the run.
My total time was 2:11:04. I finished 5th in the 25-29 age group and 17th overall. The race didn't go the way I had hoped, but I got good training out of it. I've been running more at home since then, but my legs continue to be flat. I definitely have some work to do before Nationals!
Race video. Would've been more, but the GoPro battery died on us. Thankyou Shannon for what video we do have.
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