Archive for the ‘Alexia Droz’ Category

Lucky Once More - Xterra Vashon - July 11, 2010

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

By Alexia Droz


Alright, it’s been a month, I know! I’m a little slow coughing out race reports these days.

I’ve been to Xterra Vashon a million times, I like the race and it’s close to home (well, in comparison to other Xterra point series races). This year, I had company since teammates Tim and Rob where racing and teammate Jo was cheer-leading!

The weeks leading to Vashon were definitely interesting. After Xterra Farragut (where I got sick during the race), I took an entire week off, then tried to ease back into regular training during the following weeks. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly in tip top shape, but I was feeling healthier that I have been in a while.

Race morning was a little cool and overcast. Got set up in transition, warmed up, blah blah blah…
The swim started in 3 waves, with the gals being last 10 minutes after the start of the first wave. I did my best to avoid the jellyfishes and was out of the water in 12ish minutes. Transition was super fast, in 2 seconds I pealed off my super duper Profile Design Goldcell wetsuit.

The bike course is 3 loops and each loop starts with a steep switchback climb, it can get very congested especially on the first loop. Once at the top of the hill, things started rolling a bit, well sort of, my rear tire felt flat, I kept checking but it looked normal. I passed a bunch of guys, and then a woman passed me, I tried to stay on her wheel but couldn’t, either I had no legs, or something was wrong with my wheel or both. On the 2nd loop the photographer informed me I was the sixth women….uhmm… a few minutes later, one of the women I’ve been chasing dropped out with a flat (yeah - she was in my AG), and soon, I had my eyes on 4th. During the 3rd loop, I moved up to 4th, until I clipped a tree and crashed during the downhill, ouch!

Once back on the bike, I realized that I had some foliage stuck in my rear rotor & hub, the wheel was barely moving so I had to pull over, during which I was passed and dropped back to fifth…Finally, I hurried up back to transition, trying to stay close to the fourth place woman.

I rocked T2! 19 seconds! Moved up on spot in the process.
I took off as fast as I could hoping I could handle the run at a decent pace, but my lack of fitness was starting to show. I passed a few guys during the run and never saw any other women. Crossed the finish line in 2h12 and 4th overall/1st in AG…

After the race, I realized my rear wheel was barely moving… no wonder it felt “hard”.

some pictures:

In my alphabet, there is no D, N or F ! Xterra Farragut - June 12, 2010

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Since I have been back from Las Vegas and the West Cup, I haven’t really been feeling in tip top shape. Actually, I wasn’t feeling that good while in Vegas either, but after Vegas, things went downhill really, really fast. I had massive headaches, felt dizzy most of the time and I was extremely tired, so for the past 6 weeks, training has been all over the place. Some days I felt fine and managed to train almost normally, some days, I just couldn’t do anything. Eventually, I was diagnosed with an ear infection, was given antibiotics and told to not do any training for a week, it seemed to do the job.

About 2 weeks before the race in Farragut, I got back into normal training, I did noticed that the day after a swim, I would get headaches, but overall I was feeling much better. I was pretty excited to get back to training, and racing. I knew that I would probably not be ready for the race in Farragut with only 2 weeks of training behind me, but the racing opportunities in the Pacific Northwest are limited to about 3 months of the year so you take it when it’s there!

On the Friday before the race I headed East to Idaho, taking the slowest most scenic route! I don’t really enjoy interstates so when I travel to a race, I also like to enjoy the drive getting to it!

My hotel was about 40 miles from the race site and having done this race last year, I decided to skip the pre-ride and just relax instead…Race morning was pleasant, since the race didn’t start until noon! I was feeling still pretty good when I arrived at Farragut State Park. I ran into teammate Tim Holland at registration, it’s always cool to see teammates at races…
I got set up, then went for a warm up ride and then a warm up run. Then it was time to suit up for the very very cold swim!

We headed down to the beach, I was prepared for the cold water with my Profile Design Goldcell, my neoprene cap and booties! However I wasn’t quite ready for the cold water, it was announced at a balmy 46 degrees! I knew I had to get in the water before the start to “get used to it” , it took me a few minutes to master the courage to actually put my head in the water, the result: instant Slurpee brain freeze!  Because of the cold water, the swim was shortened to 750m (instead of 1500m)…in my opinion, 750m in these conditions is plenty!
The race director fired his shotgun (it’s Idaho) and we were off! As I ran from the beach into the water, I tripped over a rock…my foot was partly saved by the booties but it did hurt anyways… then I started swimming and amazingly got into a pretty good rhythm. The tricky part about this swim is the current, or whatever is going on in this lake (which is a 1000′ deep), so you really have to pay attention to where you are going…

I got out of the water in 13′ and then started the long trek up to transition (up the stairs, across the field, it’s far). Once in transition, the first sign of “something’s wrong” appeared: I had to sit down to remove my wetsuit and put on my bike shoes! I never do this, ever!
Once on the bike, I go cranking like I usually do but it felt a lot harder than usual. I could not generate and speed or power, and my heart rate was thru the roof, almost like I had heart palpitations!

About 15 minutes onto the bike, my heart rate was still super high, even thou it had a few descents to “recover”, but that’s when I started getting dizzy! Then the headaches appeared…the bike course felt incredibly long, turns out it was a bit longer than last year and totaled 23 miles… I was doing my best to keep going, and as I was approaching the end of the first loop, I was starting to wonder if I should continue or not? My condition was getting worse as the race went on… but against my better judgment, I continued onto loop 2…
During loop 2, I got passed more than usual, had to pull over to puke twice, and I was getting so dizzy that I crashed head & shoulder first onto a tree that should have been avoided pretty easily under normal circumstances … I was feeling so bad at that point that I couldn’t eat anything to get ready for the run, and I was now very seriously considering throwing the towel … but, I hadn’t seen anyone from my age group and I knew I could be leading it (or be dead last).To top it off, a DNF meant no points… so I got back to T2, racked my S_Works Epic, put on my Avia Bolts, and went for the run …
bike: 2h09 (15 min slower than last year! Yikes)

The run was extremely unpleasant, the view was nice, but I had to concentrate hard to not fall, stumble or trip. The pressure in my head was unbearable and the dizziness was still very present. It took all the willpower I had to actually finish the race…The run course felt super long too, but it’s probably because I was feeling like crap! Finally, I had the finish line in sight! I finished in 3:28. I could not longer stand up, I had to lay down, someone got me some ice and 1/2hr went by before I could stand up again…
At the awards, I found out that I won my age group! Good thing I kept going and finished!

I find it a little ironic, I had tons of great races last year where I didn’t win my age group, and for once a super super bad race translate into an age group win … it’s too weird…

In any case, this is my 9th Xterra/triathlon season and to this day, I have finished every race I started. 

What happens in Vegas …

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Yes, I know, it’s been a few weeks since the Xterra West Cup in Vegas. I haven’t been very good with updates lately! So let’s recap the events of the past few weeks:

On April 22, I traveled to Las Vegas for the Xterra West Cup. It was to be my first Xterra of the season and I was super excited to race but also spend some time with the Melrad Racing team.
The trip didn’t really start on the right note, my flight to Seattle was delayed for technical problems (Horizon Air had to send in a different plane) and I missed my connecting flight to Vegas. I ended up taking a later flight and finally made it to my hotel in Henderson, NV at almost midnight!
I was pretty trashed from the trip and slept pretty well until I was awaken the next morning by a call from Melanie! I can’t really blame her, it was 8:30am, I should have been up already! We made plans to meet that evening to sort out gear sent by our awesome sponsors (wetsuits by Profile Design, cycling gear by Bellwether, peanut & almond butter by Justin Nut Butter, and helmets by Lazer). In the meantime, I went for a pre-ride with Shawn from Avia, and teammates Jo & Tim. The course was slightly different than last year but the big climbs were still there! I surprised myself by actually riding the entire tricky steep descent than I couldn’t ride without crashing last year… I credit this success to my Specialized S-Works Epic (was riding a different bike last year) and the the countless hours I spent on the Epic over the past few months…
On Saturday, I did a little swim, little ride and a little run…just to get the legs going. Around 4pm, the entire Melrad Racing team gathered at the Loews Resort for a nice little get together. It was really cool to be able to meet the entire team, everyone came (even team members that weren’t racing!), Dan from Nathan & I did some gear distribution (one of the many things I do as the team captain), we received wetsuits & bike cages from Profile Design, helmets from Lazer, cycling gear from Bellwether, peanut & almond butter from Justin Nut Butter, chain lube from Squirt, shoes and water bottles from Avia and of course, hydration products from Nathan. After this Xmas in April, we took a team picture since everyone was here!

Sunday, April 25 = Race day!
Pretty uneventful race morning, I went thru my usual routine. I knew this race wouldn’t be a cake walk, for several reasons:
1/ I hadn’t really been feeling myself in the weeks leading to the race. My run was not really up to par for this time of the year and I had been feeling overly tired for no reason.
2/ I usually try to race an point series Xterra before I race a Cup race (usually Xterra Real late March in NorCal) but I wasn’t able to go this year and I felt a little rusty.
3/ My age group was DEEP and populated by very talented and fast women (but I won’t let that intimidate me).

As usual, my goal was to race hard, have fun and try to qualify for Maui…
Just before the race my wetsuit zipper got stuck into my try suit… but teammate extraordinaire Becky Batizy fixed that! Thanks Becky!
The swim started in waves, and as usual, the women (and guys over 40) were the last to go. The swim went pretty well and I was ecstatic to see 26:30 on my watch as I got out of the water. This marks my best 1500m ever, beating my previous best (last year’s 27:30 here in Vegas) by 1 minute. My swim is finally approaching the level of “acceptable” … Back during my first few years as a triathlete, my 1500m swim was around the 35 to 37 minute mark, so a 26:30 makes me very happy! I have to credit this success to my super awesome Profile Design Goldcell wetsuit, this thing is amazingly comfortable and makes slow people somewhat fast!
The run to transition was long… once at the racks, I peeled off my Goldcell and onto my Specialized Epic I was. I had no real sense of how many 35-39 years old women where ahead of me. But I got to cranking and soon I found myself on the moon landscape that is the Las Vegas bike course. I saw many women with a 35 on their calf during the bike, and passed them all, until Cary Kinross-Wright passed me (Cary is a very strong Xterra athlete, I finished 2nd behind her last year on this very same course), I was actually surprised that she was behind me, and realized that I was probably doing fairly well. Seconds after Cary passed me, I heard her rear tire go: ppppfffffff! And I’m thinking: “lets get away!” That’s when I got this Lenny Kravitz song in my head: “I wanna get away, I wanna fly away”! So I proceeded to move into double time to try to hold off Cary, I knew she was a fast runner so I wanted to get as much distance between us as I could…
I was moving pretty well on the bike and towards the end of the second loop, I caught up to teammate Marcus Barton, and proceeded to point out to him that he was being passed by a girl! I guess it’s my role as the Captain of the Melrad team to be a little mean to the troops!

Back to T2, hoping that I was near the top of my age group (turns out I was 4th) and that I could hold on Cary and whoever else that may knock on the door. So far the race was going well; good swim and a very decent bike, but I was a little worried about my run. I was right, I started running and I had …no legs. The engine wasn’t firing up, there was nothing there. Right after I started the second loop, Cary K. caught up with me, and passed me like I was standing still, half way thru the second loop, another female with a 35 on her calf passed me, again, I could not respond, I knew then that I would have to try to qualify for Maui elsewhere because I wasn’t getting it here!
Finally, the finish line was in sight, and I crossed the line in 6th with a time of 3h11…
Some of my Melrad teammates got great results: Tim Holland won his age group, Jo Markham got 2nd, Fred Smith 4th (and 5th overall amateur), Meiling Yee was 3rd…

So that sums up my West Cup experience for this year…
Back home after the race, and still experiencing high levels of fatigue which is impacting my training. I’m hoping the issue will be resolved by the time of my next race which should be Xterra Farragut in Idaho on June 12.

Thanks to teammates Heather & Greg for handing me a fresh bottle half way thru the bike!

The best season ever!

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

2009 is in the books, and it was by far the best racing season ever!

It all started early February 2009 when I heard about Melanie McQuaid’s new Melrad Racing team and immediately e-mail her to try to convince her to take me in… and she did! I was ecstatic to be accepted in the team but had no idea what to expect. By the end of February the team was finalized and I (virtually) met my 19 teammates. Early April, I was named team captain, which was at times a little stressful, always kept me busy but turned out to be a blessing.

I did a couple of snowshoe races late January and early March as a little warm up for the season, then headed to NorCal late March for Xterra Real where I won my age group on a flat tire, a week later, back in Washington State, I won overall at the Westside Series Mountain Bike race on Whidbey Island. It was a good start of the season, things were going well…

I couldn’t wait to travel to Vegas for the Xterra West Cup on May 2. It was a fun weekend, met a bunch of teammates, stayed in a super cool hotel and qualified for the Xterra World Championships. A couple of weeks after Vegas, I did another mountain bike race on Whidbey Island (the Indie Series’ Whidbey Island Mudder), and won overall.

As the season was progressing, we kept receiving stuff, everyday was like Christmas! Now, I’m assuming that most pro athletes are used to getting free gear from their sponsors, but for us amateurs, it was just amazing! Our amazing sponsors for the 2009 season were: Specialized, Avia, GU, ProBar, Profile Design wetsuits, Lazer Helmets, Nathan (transition bags), Genuine Innovation (C02 & pumps), Salt Stick, SciCon (Travel bags), Sundog Eyewear, Pactimo, TYR, CycleOps & Titec…

In June, I did something pretty stupid and raced a Xterra Cup race and a Half Ironman back to back on the same weekend. It took me 3 weeks to recover!
In July, I made money for the first time (ever) of my triathlon career, by finishing 2nd overall at Xterra Vashon Island.
In August, I got ran over by a train (or that’s what it felt like) at Xterra Black Diamond, did ok at Xterra Portland, and lost my saddle half way through Xterra Wild Ride.
In September, despite all my hard work all season, I came up short(tied)and lost the Northwest regional title for my AG to longtime nemesis Korrie Dubray. However, I won overall at the XTC Squamish (a Canadian version of Xterra)a week before the Xterra Nationals. In Utah (at Xterra Nats), I had a pretty good race until I smashed my face in gravel 3 feet from T2 but managed to finish 7th in my AG.
October is like my favorite time of the year because it means: Hawaii! This year marked my second trip to the World Champs, and despite racing 41 minutes faster than my previous attempt, I was not entirely satisfied with my performance but that’s a good excuse to try again next year!!!

Overall, this was an awesome season, I had a fantastic opportunity to be part of an amazing group of people, and part of an amazing adventure. I think I made the most of it, I went everywhere, raced hard and had fun!

I’d like to thank Melanie McQuaid for having the brilliant idea of Melrad Racing, for accepting my application, and for being such a great person and competitor.

I’d like to thank all the Melrad sponsors for the mountain of gear we received.

I’d like to thank my husband, for being so patient with me, with my endless hours training & racing, and for providing love and support but also airfares, hotels & rental cars … love you, couldn’t have done it without you…

I’d also like to thank my teammates, you guys are great!

Too lohi for Maui

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

*Lohi means “slow” in Hawaiian

Back in May, I traveled to Las Vegas for the Xterra West Cup in hopes to qualify for the World Championships. I had a good race that day placing 8th amateur and 2nd in my age group clinching a slot for Worlds.

We arrived in Maui few days before the race, which gave me plenty of time to get ready.
The day before the race, I got caught under heavy surf while going for a swim, and hurt my lower back. Basically, my movement was restricted, and could hardly bend over to put my shoes on. That afternoon, I went to the local medical clinic and got a prescription for painkillers. I had huge hopes for this race (age group podium), and it seems they were just slipping away…

Race morning: I woke up not really rested after a bad night a) in pain, b) stressed over my back pain. It was not exactly a good combination for race day. However, I did feel a little better, and not as stiff as I was on Saturday.

I got body marked, #216, and proceeded to set up my gear. One of our awesome Melrad sponsors, Profile Design had sent us some prototype speed suits to try out in Maui, which was really cool.
About an hour before the start, I did some stretching specifically to loosen up my lower back. I also made sure I got my Hawaiian blessing …

The Swim:
This year, the swim start was very narrow, we couldn’t fan out on the beach like I remembered. I stayed away from the huge pack as I didn’t know how my back would react. The ocean was rougher than in 2006, and I had a difficult swim. I never got into a decent rhythm, couldn’t find a good pair of feet to draft from, and kept running into traffic. While running on the beach between loops 1 & 2, I looked at my watch and saw 16 minutes, I knew then that today wasn’t my day. The beach run felt long, and the second loop even longer than the first!
Swim: 32’ (just over 2’ faster than in 06… I was not impressed by my performance).

T1 went fairly fast, the Profile Design Mako speed suit just peels off quickly. M back was stiff so it took me few extra seconds to put on my bike shoes. After a short run to the mount line, I was off on my awesome Specialized Epic.

The Bike:
Once on the bike I started pressing, I knew this was the place to make up time, it was now or never. Unfortunately, my crappy swim meant more people on the course and more traffic on the hills.
Hills I can normally clear, I had to walk because there was just too many people in the way walking their bikes. I never got into the groove, and I knew I wasn’t making up any ground. The course was also very dusty, it made for some very difficult riding, there were times where I couldn’t see 2 feet in front of me.
The lava rocks are everywhere, and I just didn’t want to know what it feels like to crash on this lovely trail. I think at the end, I ended up being too cautious.
The bike course climbs and climbs a total of 3000 feet before plunging down “the plunge”. After all that climbing, I welcomed “the plunge”, I was ready for some good downhill and some fresh air! Unfortunately, “the plunge” is only a mile and half, so you’re back into climbing way too soon. My Specialized Epic performed great on Hawaiian soil, in comparison to the hardtail I rode 3 years ago, this ride was just amazing. It’s really too bad that the “engine” wasn’t working well today.
Side note: no crashes, no mechanicals… I lucked out!
Bike: 2h19 (28 minutes faster than in 06 … not bad, but slower than I was shooting for)

T2 went ok, as usual.

The Run:
By the time I got to T2, it was almost noon, the temperature was freakishly hot (mid 90s). I had 7 more miles to go. One thought was going through my head: run, no matter what, keep running. So I put on my Avia Stoltz and headed off for the run.
The run started nicely enough, with the neatly manicured grass of the golf course. Then the course took us to a section of road before attacking the climb to Haleakala. Once on the dirt road, the slope became steeper, the heat was oppressing and there was no shade to be found. I kept on running, but I knew I was slow. I reached the first aid station with a sight of relief and poured as much cold water on my head as I could. I kept on running (slowly) for most of the climb until I reached Cactus Alley. Once again, I welcomed the downhill section, my speed went up, and I passed 2 women from my age group. The lava rocks were omnipresent, reaching the end of Cactus Alley meant getting rid of the lava rock and saying hello to the deep sand of Makena Beach.
Makena Beach is beautiful. I have always loved Makena Beach. As a matter of fact, I even got married there, but this is a hell of a place to run! The sand was deep, and it stuck to my wet shoes, making them heavier. On Makena, I caught up with another woman from my age group, I stayed with her until we reached Spooky Forrest, and passed her at an aid station.
Spooky Forrest has always been my favorite part of the run course. I gained some speed and ran well there, until the sand of Black Sand Beach slowed me down again. One more section of lava rocks, then I emerged onto the golf course and down the finish chute… done!
Run: 1h08 (15 minutes faster than in 06, but again slower than I was hoping)

Race: 4h04 (8/23 AG, 34th amateur)

To sum up, I wasn’t as well prepared as I thought. Having hurt my back the day before really didn’t help. I know I can race better and faster, I even beat the woman that won my age group earlier in the season…
I have a lot to work on this winter, my number one priority is the swim.
I will be back next year as a stronger swimmer, a etter mountain biker and a faster, leaner runner. I will be on the Xterra World Championships podium in 2010.

Before the race, ready to go

Before the race, ready to go

the narrow swim start

the narrow swim start

heading out on the run

heading out on the run

happy to be done (and alive)

happy to be done (and alive)