My amazing parents decided they wanted to sponsor me for this race. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!
My husband and I got to Avon, (next to Vail) Colorado on Friday evening just in time for packet pick-up. I check out both transitions since there were two, we set up our pop-up trailer and cooked dinner on our little gas stove. I woke in the morning so excited to be racing again and the fact that it was an Xterra added that much more excitement. I went out and rode my bike on a paved trail and my doggy accompanied me. That was fun until he got a little freaked out for me (he thinks he’s my guardian) and started barking and stopping right in front of me trying to force me to stop. I took him back to Bobby and went out again. I ran the same trail and felt pretty good although my butt muscles have been tighter than tight ever since I started riding a triathlon bike. I guess I’m still just not used to it (a solid winter of training on it should do the trick!) I think I was a little nervous for my race because I couldn’t force the food down. I decided to just go and set up for my transitions rather than waste time forcing myself to eat and running the risk of throwing up
The Swim
Wow I don’t know if it was because it was a regional championship that qualified racers for Xterra Worlds and USA triathlon Cross Worlds or what but people were more aggressive than I have ever seen. People were throwing elbows around the buoys and just being flat out aggressive and mean. Yikes! I tried to avoid a black eye and focus on spotting the buoys. I got out and jumped on my bike. Since the course starts at 8,000 feet I could feel it in my lungs and legs. The course starts on a paved road that takes you to the dirt and from then on it is straight up. Literally. You keep climbing and climbing and climbing…you get the idea. The bike course for those of you who care has an elevation gain of 3,600 feet in 15.5 miles! Craziness. I was passing herds of people at a time. I asked one guy if I could pass at some point and he just laughed and said “we all want to pass but there’s no way you’re going to pass this line of people” I pulled right over and rode right beside the trail in the tall weeds and passed 15 people right there. That’s how you pass a line of people I guess. After that a super fast chick passed me. What is this? I don’t get passed by girls on a mountain bike! I decided I better stick with her because the rate that she was riding I knew we were going to be in the overall win for amateurs. I stuck with her the entire climb. Almost 12 miles of climbing on a mountain bike did I stay with her. Ahhhh for the downhill…that is until I flatted! Very disappointed I pulled over and used my “Big Air” Co2 cartridge (I was really, really grateful we spent an hour before leaving town driving to every bike shop in Utah Valley to find one! Anyway, this had ignited a flame in me and I rode the next couple of steep climbs as hard as I could passing back some of the girls that had passed me. I rode the descents taking risks trying to find that fast chick that I rode with the whole course. No such luck. I came in to T2 3rd amateur female and was a minute behind 1st and 2nd. I ran hard but knew that I didn’t have much more than what I was doing. The run has an elevation gain of 1,300 feet…pretty epic for 5.75 miles. I stayed in this position and finished in 3rd Overall. I was happy with my results.
And for my other exciting news…I applied for my Off-Road Triathlon pro license and was accepted. So now I get to do Nationals and Worlds without having to travel to 4 races to qualify! Yay! I’m so excited! I know that my bike times will be so much faster just based on the fact that I get to be in the first wave that starts. It’s a huge disadvantage when a super fast biker like myself has to start behind 400 people and try to pass them on single track trails. I’m ready mentally and physically to finally race pro. I can’t wait for Nats!

I cannot believe that I have waited this long to post about my favorite race that I did this summer! Rock Cliff triathlon held on June 26 at Jordanelle.
I signed up for US Trisports 3 deal package. Rock Cliff was the second race of the series for me. Ammie and I went up to pre-ride the bike course the week before. We rode it twice just so that we got a good feel for it and then slapped on our running shoes to pre-run the course. I couldn’t figure out from the map where the run went so I just ran up the highway and thought “another boring road tri run course”, I miss my gnarly xterra courses where they make you run through river crossings, along pipes, straight up hills that you look at and think “I wouldn’t even want to hike that”.
Race morning was beautiful and sunny. The air temp was a little cold and the water was a little colder than I prefer. So I decided to put my toe warmers on my shoes and those instant hand warmer packs in each of the toes. Brilliant! I loved this so much!
The swim went well, when I got out Bobby told me I was in about 15th. The bike course is so much fun and so beautiful, but I wasn’t gaining on my competitors like I wanted to. I hadn’t passed more than 7 or 8 girls until the turn around when I saw the leaders and I was only a couple minutes behind them. I knew I was riding fast and that I could catch up and hopefully pass them by the time we got back to transition. I said to myself the entire ride back “go Erin go. go Erin go.” Haha a little self motivation for ya. I passed several of the girls and got to T2 in 4th place.
The run. I felt so incredibly good running it was crazy. I passed 2 girls on the first lap. As I ran by the finish to start my second lap my husband ran with me and told me that 2nd (Leslie Howlett) was 30 seconds ahead and 1st was 1 minute ahead, “you can get them hun!” he cheered. About 3/4 of a mile later I caught up to Leslie. She told me 1st was wearing gray and wasn’t that far ahead. I couldn’t believe how good I felt. The course was hilly and had some dirt trails. MMmmm me likey dirt! I take back what I said about the course when I was pre-running the course I saw the first place gal and knew I had her, but time was running out…we were only less than a mile to the finish. I kicked it into turbo and ran past her only to finish 30 seconds later. Close race! I was sooo over-joyed.
Someone had told my husband before the race “Erin’s lucky because no one super fast has shown up so she’ll probably win” They ate their words a minute later when “fast” people did show up and said “oh dang, never mind”. If I wouldv’e known this before the race I would’ve raced even harder to prove them wrong.
I also turned out the fastest female run of the day by almost 3 minutes! It was a good day!
Sorry no pics

Warning: If you get weirded out by emotional females then this is not for you to read. JK it’s not that bad, just a little long.

When I signed up for Battle at Midway (BAM) I was so excited for it I could hardly stand it. I went up 2 weeks ago and pre-rode the course 2 times back to back. I fell in love with the course and am convinced it is the best bike course for a triathlon in Utah. It is a little bit hilly (hills suite my long skinny body best) and has some fast rolling down hills and is completely gorgeous! Anyway, somehow between 2 weeks ago and now I have fallen into a bit of a slump (physically). My muscles ache pretty much all day long the only time I feel okay is when I’m excersing…go figure. I literally will complain about feeling like I have the flue because of how bad my body hurts and then will force myself to go run or ride and WALLA! I feel better! Then once I’m done exercising I feel worse than I did before I went out. I also have had some really emotional disappointing things that I’ve been through this summer and I haven’t dealt with them. This week was the climax for my emotional roller coaster that I’ve been on. So with the body aches and the stressors I didn’t feel like doing anything all week. I swam once, which was a joke. I rode my bike for 20 minutes on friday and I ran once this week.

This morning

When I woke up this morning I’m not going to lie…I absolutely did not want  to race, but since I paid a lot of money for it I figured I’d better get the best out of it. When we got up there at 6am I laid my seat back and just wanted to sleep. I forced myself to go for a run warm up.

The swim

I had a good first 3/4 of lap one. The last 1/4 I couldn’t tell which buoy I needed to go around so I sat up and called for one of the canoorers (they are there to be sort of course marshals) he canoed over to me…yes I was just sitting there in the water waiting for him to come over to me. I asked him directions and continued to swim hoping that it was the right direction of the buoy he had just pointed out. I’m telling you, when the sun shines and reflects off the lake you CANNOT see anything. I pretty much wanted to cry right there out of frustration. Then I heard yelling and whistling  so I sat up again thinking I had chosen the wrong way to swim…I hadn’t it was just my cute husband cheering for me . Finally I’m on my second loop. I totally veered off course and had to swim and extra 50-75 meters. Believe me, I need all the help I can get in the swim. Again, I just wanted to cry. I though “there goes my race”. Little did I know that this wouldn’t be the last time I went off course. I did it again on the final buoy. I know what you’re thinking, “aren’t you a professional off-road triathlon racer?” the answer is yes I am and no I’m not racing like one. I got out of the swim and my hubby tells me I’m the 19th female out of the water. “What!?” I ask. “19th!” I decide to ask again hoping I miss heard him and that this time he would tell me 9th. 9th I can handle, I have such fast times for biking and running that I can make up that time and many times end up in 1st. “19th Erin!” Oh flip, I heard right the other 2 times.

The bike

I luckily felt great on the bike! I passed probably 100 people and just felt like I was flying. My Fezzari T3 bike was amazing as always. Nothing much to report about the bike except that I came in 8th female, so I had passed 11 gals…not bad, but not good enough for me.

The run

I started off and felt like a slug, a peppy slug, but non-the-less a slug. I started breathing so hard and loudly that the guys I was coming up on to pass actually turned to check me out and make sure I wasn’t about to die. As I ran past them I wondered if they were asking themselves how someone who was breathing this hard was passing them. I passed 4 girls on the first lap. Sweet for how crappy I felt. Then the emotional stressors that I’ve been going through hit me and I actually started thinking about them. Let me tell you what emotional stress plus exercise does to me. It makes me asthmatic. This is not good. I saw Leslie Howlett who was about 3 minutes ahead of me and thought to myself “you can get her!”  Then these stupid thoughts kept creeping up and I had to keep warding off and asthma attack. “Erin! Focus yourself! I’ll deal with that stuff later.” What is wrong with me. My run slowed down and my breathing increased. I just needed to finish this race and start my road to recovering my body from too much racing and training. Then the last 1/2 mile a girl that I had passed flew by me. Literally I felt like I was walking. Bobby was there cheering me on which always boosts me up. But even still I couldn’t do anything but keep slowing down. This type of run course is my thing too. It’s hilly and hot. The more suffering the better for me. I can push through the heat like it’s nobody’s business. Well not today. I broke out in chills all over my body. Not good.

The results

I crossed the finish line in 5th place. I’m definitely proud of myself for hangin in there and for keeping my emotions at bay so I didn’t breakout in an asthma attack and have to be carried off the course.

3rd, 4th and 5th (me) place were all within 30 seconds of each other.

My good friend Sarah Jarvis that I’ve known from racing for the last 7 years won the females race. I’m so happy for her especially because she’s the nicest racer any of us know!

The breakdown

Well I went home walked straight upstairs and took a shower. I forced myself to cry. Yes I have to force myself since it’s a pretty rare thing for this girl. I wasn’t crying over the race, the race was just kind of the breaking point. I just needed to let go and face the things I’ve been putting off for so long. I am excited to take this week off and chill. After I’m rested up starts my training for Xterra nationals. I can’t wait to start mountain biking and trail running I can hardly stand it!   I think that this race taught me a very good lesson. Don’t over train and over race. I will get burned out. I always think I’ll be fine, but I end up paying for it. Balance is essential. A positive mind is essential for success, but sometimes you’ve just got to let it go and have a breakdown. Don’t hold things in! They will come out in some form or another…injury, fatigue, asthma attacks , etc.

p.s. I’m sorry about the grammar errors. I don’t feel like going back and checking for them!