The inaugural Winter Teva Mountain Games took place this weekend in Vail, Colorado and it is already being considered a huge success.  I participated in the 10k Snowshoe on Saturday night and the Vail Uphill on Sunday morning.  With big prize purses, all of the endurance events were sold out and attracted high caliber athletes from all over the country.  The 10k snowshoe event was a night event, requiring headlamps for all competitors.  With other events going of simultaneously (telemark big air, mountain bike slalom, mountain bike big air) the course designers were forced to route the race up the mountain.  It proved to be a pure test of fitness with very steep uphills and downhills all on groomed ski runs.  Scott Gall, Travis Macy, Jared Scott, and Alex Nichols were just some of the athletes vying for the podium spots.  I was able to break away early thanks to some early surges by Jared, but the course proved to be much more challenging than I thought.  I was able to hold a lead to the finish, but completely exhausted and it required my biggest effort so far this year.  Scott Gall and Travis Macy nearly closed the gap on the long downhill before the finish and Scott got the best of Travis in the sprint to the finish.  I had a bottle of Ultragen recovery drink waiting for me at the finish which would prove to be important with another race in less than 12 hours (and a Qdoba burrito).

Sunday morning, 5:00 am came up quickly, but I woke up a bit before the alarm which is always a good sign.  My body was definitely fatigued, but I had a good feeling it would respond when the time came.  I organize my training in such a way to be ready for back-to-back races with consecutive hard efforts weekly.  Today’s race was the Vail Uphill, a lung-busting climb finishing at over 10,300 ft above sea level.  I have gotten to know the route well over the past couple months, but the flip-side was that I knew exactly how challenging it can be.  To make it more interesting, there was a whole new cast of characters most of which were fresh for today’s event.  Again, I took the race out hard to get a good feel of the competition.   To my surprise I was alone after the first 5 minutes, but with only a small lead on second and third.  I kept pressing and sealed the deal with a personal best time of 32:03.  Jason Delaney was uncomfortably close in 32:22 and John Tribbia third in 32:31.  The open division of this race allowed for any choice of footwear and I chose to modify the lightweight AVIA Bolt shoe, by bolting a snowshoe cleat to the forefoot.  Here are the interesting shoe choices of the top 3 men in todays event:

With the month of February comes a month of winter racing.  I will do my best to keep my website updated as I compete in six races in four weekends.

February 3 Pedal Power Winter Triathlon

February 4 Beaver Creek Snowshoe Adventure Series (10k)

February 11 Teva Mountain Games Snowshoe Race (Night 10k)

February 12 Teva Mountain Games Uphill Race

February 18 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon

February 25 USSSA National Snowshoe Championship

The Pedal Power Winter Triathlon in Leadville February 3rd was the first event which consisted of a 5k snowshoe, 10k snow bike, and 8k cross-country ski.  Winter triathlons are a blast, but I hadn’t been doing any specific training for this event since I opted not to race in the USAT Winter Triathlon National Championship this year.  It was actually my first time on the skate skis this season and my skis hadn’t been waxed since last winter.  Luckily I was able to build a lead in the technical snowshoe and build on it in the snow bike leg to win by over 6 minutes.

One observation:  I had planned to drink one water bottle of First Endurance EFS during the bike, but when it is 4 degrees even water with lots of electrolytes freezes very quickly.  I tried to gulp down the slushy drink, but it was just too cold.  The race only took a bit over one hour so I was okay, but that’s not a mistake I want to make in a longer event.

Sunday was the second event of the Beaver Creek Snowshoe Adventure Series and I was able to pull of a  victory on tired legs in the 10k event.  The race climbed for most of the first 3 miles and the second half of the race consisted of ankle-strengthening single-track.  It was a good test for the Teva Mountain games next weekend where there will be a night snowshoe race followed by an Uphill race at 7:00 am.

Living in snow country presents some unique winter training opportunities and some challenges.  Uphill snowshoeing, skinning, and cross-country skiing can be good ways to get outdoors, stay motivated, and build a big engine, but there is also a need to keep some specificity for the bike leg of triathlon.  This is where the CompuTrainer at Dogma Athletica comes in.  It’s not enough to just get on and ride though, or else you succumb to the same pitfalls of riding any bike trainer–too much slacking.  Frequent threshold testing and selecting the appropriate intensity and volume of hard work is key.  Since it is such a controlled environment, if you take advantage of that fact you can really maximize your time and take a lot of the bu!!$#!t out of your training.  That’s not to say that a 4 hour ride in a warmer environment wouldn’t be fun, but a very potent stimulus can be had in a fraction of the time.  Last week for example I rode 2 hrs 30 min averaging 271 watts, which included 5 x 12 min at 320 watts, followed by a steady 8 mile run outside.  This is considered a long workout for me, the longest I will do all month, but it’s the volume of the quality work that allows me to get away with half of the volume as many of my competitors.  Most of my indoor workouts are in the 60-90 min range with about 40-60 minutes of that around threshold power depending on which energy system I am focusing on and whether or not I performed my secret strength training before (more on that later).

Along the same lines, I also like to take advantage of the fact that I live between two great ski resorts–Vail and Beaver Creek.  A weekly workout that I like to do with some variations is a steep uphill run, downloading the chairlift or gondola.  Frequently I make multiple trips and occasionally I wear a weighted vest (although I am careful not to overdo it).  Again, this cuts out some of the junk, which would be all of the downhill running only resulting in fatigue and soreness–ok to do once in a while, but something I like to avoid.  I feel like I can get more aerobic benefit with much less distance covered and less impact.  It is hard to say whether it translates better to running or cycling, but after experiencing the run course at XTERRA Worlds last year, it’s at least close to XTERRA’s version of running.  Two weeks ago I covered 10 miles in 2.5 hrs with over 5000 vertical feet.  I never like to run much more than 90 minutes, so to be able to cross the 2 hour mark on foot is a big deal for me.

2011 proved to be a great year on the racing scene and on the home-front.  My off-season racing (is that an oxymoron?) consisted of some local snowshoe races and select winter multisport races.  It was an undefeated winter with victories at the USAT Winter Triathlon National Championship, the Jeremy Wright North American Snowshoe Championship, and the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon.

The XTERRA US series started earlier than normal and it was a demanding early season schedule with the ITU Cross-Triathlon World Championship in Spain thrown into the mix.  I started off strong with a solid victory at the XTERRA West Championship in Las Vegas, after a long winter of nearly 100% indoor bike training.  In Waco, my lack of technical riding proved to be a factor, losing about 3 minutes to Conrad on the bike and then regaining nearly all of it on the run to finish 2nd by 8 seconds.  My trip to Spain was memorable but the course was not very favorable with close to zero feet of elevation gain.  I finished 4th against some great competition and it was reassuring to see all XTERRA regulars ahead of me.  It was tough to be stuck in the drug testing room while the top 3 podium finishers were allowed to leave for the awards.  I had a hard time balancing so much early season racing with family, work, and school and felt like May was a bit of a rough patch.

In June I successfully defended my title at the Teva Mountain Games by winning the Ultimate Mountain Challenge for the 4th consecutive year.  I also dabbled with the half marathon distance with the Lubbock

Texas 70.3 where I finished 3rd in 110 degree heat.  The highpoint of July was my big win at the XTERRA Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek (finally) and a fun family trip to the outer banks.  August was a time to regroup and put in some consistent training.

In September I defended my title by winning the XTERRA Canada National Championship in Whistler.  The XTERRA US National Championship was an exciting race with a disappointing flat tire late in the bike.  I went on to finish 3rd with a strong run.  After last years multiple flat tires at the XTERRA World Championship, my primary concern was to ride bulletproof tires and allow my fitness to decide the race.  The course was tough and so was the competition, but I was satisfied with my effort, finishing 4th.

This year I decided to spend my off-season with a little unconventional training and racing.  The Spartan Race series was brought to my attention several months ago, but at the time I was too focused on the XTERRA series to change up my training or take a chance with such a random set of skills.  The Spartan Race is a competitive obstacle course race.  This particular event was 8 miles long with over 30 obstacles both natural and man-made.  Since this was the championship race, there was a prize purse of $10,000 for first place and it was winner-take-all (no cash for second place).

Although I didn’t train very specifically for the race, it did happen to work with my off-season plan with some functional strength training, easy running, and high speed treadmill sprinting at Dogma Athletica.  I could see how the training for these events could be a blast.  The events require a great combination of endurance, strength, agility, balance, and strategy.

I didn’t approach the event with any expectations other than to have fun and give it a solid effort.  I knew Hobie Call would be the man to beat and with his 15+ race experience would be a huge advantage in the obstacles.  In the early stages of the race Hobie and I raced side-by-side which made for a fun and exciting race.  Around mile 5 there was a very long commando crawl under barbed wire.  Hobie rolled on his side for the entire length (150-200 yds) so I started out doing the same.  I got so dizzy after about 30 yards that I had to go back to the elbow crawl.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but that one obstacle pretty much decided the race with Hobie putting over 90 seconds on me.  I was able to work back into the race, gaining time on the sandbag carry, the 5 gallon bucket full of rocks carry, and some tough hills, but in the end came up short, finishing second.  I had a great time and Hobie proved that he was the champion.  Hopefully I will get a chance to revisit one of these races in the future.  I highly recommend a Spartan Race for anyone looking for a challenge.

None of this proved to be an obstacle for defending XTERRA Canada champion, Josiah Middaugh, who racked up the fastest bike split and won the race today and his second consecutive XTERRA Canada title in 2:38:46 – almost two minutes ahead of second placed Mike Vine. “It was one of those days – magical. It feels awesome,” said Middaugh of his win. “It’s a hard course, and tricky – all new trails and much tougher than last year. I got here Wednesday so I had time to practice, and that definitely helped.”

Canada’s Mike Vine took second. Vine, originally from Victoria, has been living and working in Edmonton for the last year, and made a rare appearance for this race. “I haven’t been training much”, he admitted “and that seems to be working. This course is good for me, so that helps. The swim is what I really let slide, so I knew I would come out pretty far down – about where I expected at 2:40 off the top guys. It took me a while to get going on the bike –but towards the end of the first loop I reeled in the swimmers, including Conrad (Stoltz) and Seth (Wealing) – and that fired me right up.” Coming into T2, he was 1:30 behind Josiah, and held 2nd place on the run to finish in 2:40:34.

The bike course in Vegas was very rocky and very loose. It was my first race on the Felt Nine Team and I was making up good time on all the climbs and after the first lap it was Conrad first and I was about 40 seconds back. Conrad was flying on the descents and rocky sections. Into the second lap I was again gaining time on each climb and I was within about 20 seconds when disaster struck. I flatted about half way through the second lap. I quickly found the leak and I was able to plug it with a Genuine Innovations kit and I refilled it with air. It seemed to be holding but I knew I was losing time to Conrad quickly. By the time I rode into T2 I was about 2:15 down.

My run legs felt pretty good once I hit the climbs and I was about 1:25 down after the first lap of the run. I thought I might still have a shot and I charged the second lap. I came up a little short on the day, finishing 39 seconds down from Conrad Stolz. I knew that my run could only improve from last season but I surprised myself by turning in the fastest run split of the day. Maybe it was the new AVIA shoes? The Americans (Coloradans) finished well on the day with Brian Smith in third and Seth Wealing in fourth. Nico Lebrun from France was in Fifth.

I think of snowshoe racing as a pure test of fitness. There were several athletes in the race that were faster road runners than me but that’s not the only factor in snowshoe racing. I think that is where my triathlon training and altitude training becomes an advantage. Anything that slows the race down benefits me and the hills and soft snow in New York were the perfect recipe. I had two knee surgeries in November and just started running a little in February. I was a little worried that the pace would be too fast for me right now but I was ok.

The real advantage though is when athletes come to race me at altitude. Sunday was the Jeremy Wright North American Snowshoe Championship which starts around 10,000 feet and goes up from there. After such a tough race in New York the day before and a long day/night of traveling I wasn’t sure how I would respond. fortunately I felt more comfortable and ‘at home’ in the Beaver Creek race and was able to build a very big cushion of almost 2 minutes. After the National race in New York I think everything is going to feel a little easier for a while.”