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!

*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

the narrow swim start

heading out on the run

happy to be done (and alive)

Xterra USA Championships, Ogden, Utah. September 26, 2009.

This is the most exciting time of the year. I was stocked to go to Utah to race Nationals, and I’m even more excited to head to Hawaii in a couple of weeks for Worlds, but that’s another story.
Let’s recap the events in Ogden:

It was a whirlwind weekend and I loved every minute of it.
Sept 24: Flew to Boise, ID, rented a car, made the 4 hrs drive to Ogden, checked in at the Marriott Ogden

Sept 25: Built the bike in my hotel room, drove up to Snowbassin to pre-ride to top part of the mountain bike course.

At the Snowbassin parking lot, I ran into Melrad teammate Kat Pollard and her dad, and joined them for a pre-ride:
The fall colors were pretty amazing, we rode the top loop and headed back to the parking lot were we ran onto Miss Mel, who suggested I ride the run course too, so I did!
After riding the run course, I headed back to town to register, listen to the race briefing …etc.
At about 6pm we went for the night of champions dinner, there were 13 members of the Melrad team and we looked so cool!

Sept 26: Up early because it’s race day! Loaded the gear and bike in the car, checked out of the hotel and headed to Pineview reservoir to set up T1. I have to admit, I absolutely hate races with 2 transitions, it’s a huge pain. It was cold! I wasn’t really prepared for a chilly morning. Once T1 was set up, I jumped into the car again and drove to Snowbassin to set up T2. I was a little weird just leaving my running shoes there! I felt like I was forgetting something.
Once T2 was set up, I jumped into the shuttle and traveled back to T1.
Did a quick warm up on the bike, then it was time to get in my super awesome Profile Design Goldcell wetsuit, I headed to the beach/boat ramp for a quick swim warm up. The water was very pleasant.
At 9am we were off. I settled into a good rhythm quickly, I kept finding feet to draft off only to loose them after few seconds… I really suck at drafting, I think that’s something I should work on in the off season. I got out of the water with Yvonne (one of my Northwest nemesis) in 29:30 …still pathetic but under 30 minutes for 1500m, it’s better than it used to be! Transition took a little longer than usual because I had to make sure my Goldcell, goggles…etc were safely in the transition bag…
Once on the bike, I got to work, Yvonne was a little quicker in transition and she became my first target. I passed her within the first km and never saw her again. That’s when the course started climbing, and climbing, and climbing… I actually like climbing but this was a little much even for a climbing lover like me!
From the lake to the gate at Snowbassin, I did a pretty good job at cleaning up my slow swim and passed a lot of people. My Specialized Epic was awesome, and I found that I’m climbing as well as I was with my hardtail, but I’m a lot more aggressive on the downhills. After the gate, there was more climbing, but also more rolling singletrack, I got caught up a few times in some heavy traffic, and made a few aggressive passes, then the trail went back down to T2. That’s were my problems started!
As I was approaching T2, I started undoing my bike shoes, got the right foot out of the shoe, and I was working on my left shoe when, only a few feet away from T2, my front wheel got caught in gravel, my bike skidded on it’s right side taking me down, hard! This got to be my most embarrassing crash ever. My right side from below the knee to my hip was scratched and bruised, my trisuit ripped. Immediately, Xterra staff asked me if I was ok and if I needed assistance, I told them I was ok (I wasn’t) and proceeded my rack. I racked my bike, slipped into my Avia Stoltz and headed for the run in pain…
Bike, including the crash was 2h07

Off to the run and of course, it started with a climb, I wanted to walk but resisted the urge to. At the top of the first climb the trail turned into a rolling singletrack which was a nice relief, but I could feel the effects of the altitude. This was not by any means an easy run, and being hurt really didn’t help. I quickly noticed that there was a TV camera on almost every climb, it prevented me from walking because I thought: “if Melanie sees me walking she’ll be mad”, so I ran (slow, but I ran), I’ve got to admit, there were a few climbs with no TV cameras, and yeap, I walked, but I quickly figured the fasted I go, the sooner I’ll be a the medical tent.
The last 1/2 mile or the of the run course was downhill, sweet relief, that’s when I spotted a woman with a 35 on her calf, I was slowly catching up to her. 1/4 mile from transition I was getting a lot closer, and finally finished with a sprint and passed her in the last 100′ … she never saw me coming! Finished the run in 57 minutes, and the race in 3h37, 7th out of 20 in my AG and 39th female overall (including 20 pros)…
To sum up, I was pretty happy with my race but I do feel like a dumb ass for the stupid crash (I just hope no one caught it on video).
After the race, I went to the med tent, scored a shower from a guy with an RV (and an outside shower), had a burger and hanged out with the Melrad crew. Later I packed my bike for air travel right there on the parking lot at Snowbassin, and drove 4hrs to Boise!

I didn’t really want to race Wild Ride again. I raced in McCall, ID twice in the past, in 2006 where I broke my rear brake lever minutes before the technical downhill, and in 2008, where intestinal issues screwed my race … I was just wondering what will it be this year?

We arrived in McCall on Saturday afternoon, which gave me enough time for a pre-ride. I raced here twice but I couldn’t remember much of the bike course! I by-passed all the road section and most of the fire road and parked hubby’s truck right at the beginning of the loop. I started riding and things started coming back but it seemed a lot longer than I remembered. The trail went up forever and eventually turned into technical singletrack, but it continued going up, I crashed twice while working on some technical sections. The technical singletrack was punctuated by 2 very refreshing creek crossings, and then it went up some more. Just when I thought the climbing was over, well, there was more, and then it went down, like straight down! I went easy on the downhill and still managed to get some air here and there…When I finally got back to the truck, an hour and half had gone by … yep, a lot longer than I thought!

Sunday morning I woke up too early, I was still on Pacific time, and got totally screwed up …Got to the transition and got set up. Ran into my 2 regional nemesis: Korrie & Yvonne, yep, they were here too.
The race started on time at 9am, the 1200m swim felt very long, turns out it was over 1 mile! Got out of the water in 32 minutes, 30 seconds after Yvonne, but minutes behind Korrie. Once on the bike, I got to work right away. The bike course starts by 3 miles on the road, after a couple of minutes, I caught up with Yvonne, and started to work on catching up with Korrie. The road turned into a fire road and went up some more…I kept working hard and passed loads of people. As we were climbing, the trail started getting narrower and narrower and soon we were on singletrack. Things were going pretty well, and I knew I was riding well and making up time on Korrie.
As I approached the final climb I heard a big “crack”, didn’t think too much of it until I reached a flatter section of the course just before the crazy downhill. Then I heard another “crack” and this time my saddle was sinking on one side! Oops! I figured, as long as it’s sitting on the seatpost, I’m ok. I started the crazy downhill, and I was riding well, at good speed. And then, it happened, I felt the saddle give up, and fly into the dirt. I stopped to check out the damages. The saddle railings were completely broken and there was only a piece of railing attached to the seatpost, in other words, I couldn’t sit down anymore! I got back on the bike to resume the race & the downhill wondering how the run’s gonna feel once I ride the last 7 miles like this?
Since I didn’t have a seatpost, I was a lot more careful on the downhill, I have a lot more racing to do this season, so if I could avoid a nastly crash, well, all the better.
Yvonne caught up with me at the end of the singletrack downhill, just before it turned into a fireroad. I don’t think she realized I didn’t have a saddle. During the last few miles to T2, I kept getting passed, I just couldn’t generate constant speed standing up on the pedals… Bike: 1h55 (20 minutes faster than in 2008)

When I got back to T2, I was done, my legs were jello. I transitionned into my Avia Stoltz anyway and went for a 10km run. (T2: 30″)
I knew I was too far behind to catch up with the girls, so I focussed on finishing the race. Finished the run in 53 minutes (11 minutes faster than last year) and the race in 3h24. 8th female overall and 6th in my AG! (Man, the women’s 35-39 AG is tough!).

comfy!