Today’s race was a fun anniversary race for me – it was exactly one year ago that I did my first full Xterra triathlon race back after baby number two, 3 months after Nico was born. So this morning I was hoping I would show my 3 month postpartum self how much farther I could come with another 12 months of work! And finishing today on almost the identical course, with the few muddy spots from last year nice and dry, I was able to take 23 minutes off my time, very satisfying! Here is how the day unfolded….

I feel like I’m sounding like a broken record in these race reports about Canmore, but once again it was a PERFECT and absolutely beautiful day to race out in the mountains! And with over 250 racers out (so I heard and so it seemed!) it felt like a big event with tons of spectators too, it was an awesome atmosphere!

At 9:15 it was the coolest sight watching the Sprint distance Xterra racers start the swim, while at the same time, the duathlon runners ran alongside Quarry lake beginning their 5km run! At 9:30 everyone doing the full distance dove in. I had great feet to draft all around me, but my zig zagging between trying to choose left me on my own in between, doh!! Luckily by the half way part of the 1000m swim I caught on to some fast feet to hang on to for lap two.

After that 15:33 splash in the lake and coming out in about 12th overall, it was a good long run down the green carpet to transition. Getting on the bike I was excited to race for the first time with some custom Mavic shoes with triathlon tops and mountain bike soles! They were easier to get on, and way faster getting off coming into T2 so I’m sure I shaved a few seconds there! Of course, the most comments I get on the bike are always, I love your shoes! 🙂

Thanks Mavic for the Xterra-made shoes!

With a nice road warm-up to the Nordic Centre, the climbing continued and I was feeling 100x better than last weekend on the same course! It was great to feel springy in the legs again, and with some places gained and lost I came off the bike in 1h27min with the 7th fastest bike split of the day, and a whopping 15minutes faster than a year ago, yeah!

JF missed me with the camera as usual but did catch Zoe ripping it up today!

Then it was on the identical and my most favourite Xterra run course! With only a few double track sections, the two-lap run course is full of rooty twisty, fun single track that takes so much focus to navigate that you can forget that you’re actually suffering at race pace. I ended the day with the 4th fastest run split (and knocking 7 minutes off of last years time), and 5th overall behind Mike Vine, Luke Way, Calvin Zaryski (my coach), and Mike Cabigon. Thanks again to race director Tony Smith for yet another “World Class Multisport Event in a Spectacular Location!”

Men and Women’s top 3 overall. Congrats to Tanis Tomlin (2nd) and Kelly Geisheimer (3rd)

3 seconds over 3 days. That was the cumulative time difference between myself and second place overall, Roger Smith, at the end of a 3000m swim, 40km mountain bike, and 20km trail run over the weekend in Canmore. The Xterra Enduro is a new format and unique on the Xterra Canada calendar this season. With the options of doing it solo, entering single days, or doing it as a relay, it is a different challenge from your average one day Xterra race. Although I had just barely recovered from the half ironman in Calgary the weekend before, and had come down with a small head cold, I decided to do it anyway, as long as my cold didn’t get worse each day or go south into my chest. It was a fun “training race” to push a little bit and refamiliarize myself with the course for next weekend’s Alberta Xterra race. Anyway, here is the story….

Day 1: 3000m swim at Quarry Lake. On a blustery but warm Friday evening at Quarry Lake, a nice crowd of swimmers showed up for a swim race start at 7:00pm of 6 times a 500m lap with a short beach run in between each lap. After freezing in Ghost lake last weekend I thoroughly enjoyed the balmy 20 degree water temperature! Once we got going I stuck on my Coach Cal’s feet for a little bit before deciding he was swimming a little too crooked 🙂 After that I was trying to make gains on wetsuit-less Steve up in front of me but the naked arms only seemed to get a fraction closer by the end of the race. Superstar junior Madi Serpico, who was just out for swim portion out 10 seconds in front of me so after 48 minutes in the water I was second female for the night and glad that I’d felt okay being a little under the weather.

All suited up and ready to go with buddy Frank at swim start!

Day 2: 40km mountain bike at the Nordic Centre. For day two of perfect summer racing weather, race director Tony Smith gave us no mercy when it came to including plenty of climbing in the 10km mountain loop we were to do four times. We covered most of the vertical within the Nordic centre from near “the oven” at the top to the bottom of the coal chutes (watch out for big mama bear and cubs here) and plenty of up and down in between. 2h49min later I finished 7 minutes behind first place in second overall for the day. I felt alright during the race but my fatigue level felt doubled afterwards due to my cold. Luckily a fun night out with fellow racers and Calgary training partners at Kyle and Carrie’s place for a BBQ revived me a bit and Zoe thoroughly enjoyed the playmates and treehouse!

All smiles chilling at the finish after another fun day at the office on my Orbea 29er!

Day 3: 20km trail run at the Nordic Centre. By day three I was feeling really tired and was struggling to get myself up to run, let alone keep a good pace through 20km of steep up and down Nordic centre trails where most mortals never feel like they’re going anywhere fast. I learned I had a 17 minute lead on the overall going into the run so figured I would just have to run a good steady tempo to maintain it, but boy was I wrong and my body was not even up to much “tempo” pacing to finish things off! The race began and my body felt like a sack of bricks, oh well, one foot in front of the other let’s go and get it done! The front men’s pack took off like rockets and for most of the first lap I was going back and forth with strong running Cindy Koo. I finally got away on the last hill, and then was on my own for the next hour before finishing for a final sore legged plod of 1h57. Roger Smith of Golden, BC, finished off the weekend with a super strong run and brought my overall lead down to just 3 seconds, whew!!!  Gotta keep it exciting I guess! Now I think I’ll just sleep for a few days – oh wait, I have kids!

Xterra Vernon was a new race on the rapidly expanding Xterra race schedule in Canada. Of all the great Xterra race venues I’ve been to in the last seven years, this one is now high on my list of favourite race venues! Just 20 minutes from downtown Vernon (located in the Okanagan Valley in B.C.), the race took place at Ellison Provincial Park.

Down the hill from a great campground and fun playground area for kids, the transition was picturesque, set up amongst the pine trees next to a picnic area which was steps away from the beautiful beach swim start in a secluded bay on Lake Okanagan (see pic of Zoe playing on the beach).

The Swim: The swim was 2 laps of 750m with a short beach run in between. The water was a pretty ideal 16-17 degrees Celsius and once I was warmed up, the temperature was race-perfect in my Orca 3.8 wetsuit. I got off to an aggressive start and focused on staying on feet in the lead pack. Halfway through the first lap, a bit of a gap opened up between the swimmer in front of me and the three leaders, so I was left chasing down a 30 second gap to the lead pack on the second swim lap. Overall it was a good swim for me and I felt I kept up a good arm turnover throughout. I exited in the water in 4^th place overall

The Bike: After exiting transition, the bike portion began with a good 5 minutes plus of pavement climbing – enough time to wrench my gloves on, get a gel in, and get some blood flowing in my legs before hitting the dirt. The trails were truly single track in a mountain bike park across the road from the campground. It was twisty and fun with occasional rock gardens and log piles to navigate, as well as short power climbs and a few fun sustained descents. In my opinion it was an ideal Xterra course, technically challenging enough for the experienced rider to try and go fast, while still being very ride-able for a beginner. With a few changes in position on the bike, I came into transition in 5^th overall.

The Run: I headed out onto the run side by side, with whom I later learned was Sean, one of my running teammates at the University of Victoria a mere 18 years ago! You never know who you’ll run into at races! And wow, was the run tough – like the bike it began with a good climb and when we hit the dirt it felt like a scramble up some rocks to a ridge. If you looked left at the top it was a breath taking view of the Lake Okanagan before turning right into a rare piece of rolling single track through the woods before crossing the road again and doing a loop up a long climb before descending down switchbacks and all the way back down again before repeating it all over again! I crossed paths with my Coach, Cal a few times throughout the figure eight style loop as he was ripping his way to first place about 10 minutes ahead of me. I pushed the pace as best I could and made up two places on the run before hitting the finishing shoot in 3^rd place overall 2 hours and 34 minutes later.

We were also honoured to have the celebrity race announcer, Steve King, at this race so the spectators were well entertained with racer’s backgrounds and events info during the entire race. Afterwards, I enjoyed just hanging out dipping my legs in the lake and playing at the water’s edge with Zoe and Nico while J-F got in another ride on the fun bike course.

Overall, it was fun weekend road tripping “race-cation” with the family. Although a one and a three year old definitely tested our patience a few times over the 6 hours of drive time it took both ways (not something we do very often!), the amazing rocky mountain scenery, fun overnight visit we had with the Hewitt family in Vernon, post-race night stopover at a friend’s “Slice of Heaven” on Mara lake, and the wonder and amazement Zoe had on her face when we stopped for a tour of the Enchanted Forest just east of Revelstoke on the way home all added to the fun!