Warren Miller 2008

If you have the opportunity to check out this year's Warren Miller file 'Children of Winter'...do so. It's GREAT! I'm super motivated to finally get an Alpine Touring ski setup so I can begin the training for the Winter XTERRA World Champs in Snowbasin, Utah in March...OHHHH BABY...let the snow start to fall :)

70.3 World Championships Race Report

November 8th, 2008

Clearwater, Florida
4th Age Group

With absolutely no preparation for this race, the only thing I could do on race day was go into it with a positive attitude and do the best I could ...with a smile of course. I did just that and couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome.

The Swim - Sub 30min...whoooaaaaa! I have been swimming like a fish in the pool recently and just haven't been able to translate it to open water, but after Maui and this race, I'm pretty sure it's finally starting to click. I know I am capable of producing an even faster time (as I already have in the pool), but this is a great starting point.


The Bike - Considering this was the first time I had been on this thing since July, I really couldn't have any expectations. I tried to convince Timex to let me race the mountain bike with slicks, but that just wasn't going to cut it! The TT bike is a 100% different setup than my mountain bike and uses completely different muscles. It was quite awkward at first, but I finally started getting the hang of it about 10 miles in and feeling really fast and strong. Well that was until a pack of about 45 people came zipping by me going 30mph with about half my competition sitting in. Hmmmm...yeah, thought about jumping in, but honestly, that's not my style and I'd rather not play that game. After getting settled back into my position and watching the group in front disappear like I was standing still, another giant pack came buzzing by me almost running me off the road. Seriously, they came right through and split on my right and left then pretty much just cut me off when they got in front of me. Yes, another group of girls were nicely tucked in there too. I'm really not bitter, just annoyed...I promise. My bike split was a good 10-15min off all the girls who were in front of me, but I'm totally cool with that.

The Run - 13.1 miles off the bike? Are you serious? I can't even tell you the last time I ran 90min, much less off the bike! Anyway, I surprisingly felt amazing and was able to click off the miles effortlessly and almost felt like I was floating. At about mile 10 I was ready for it to be over as I was getting really hungry so I just went faster and actually negative split the last 5K and was able to easily sprint to the finish with the same smile that I started the race with :) I threw in the pic above because it shows my girl Jax killing it out there and the guy (in black) who I ran with the entire time.

The Finish - Again, smiles all around. I was so excited to be done with the race and start partying. This was finally the end of an amazing season of racing, learning and kicking butt and even though I didn't have the race I was capable of in Clearwater, I am learning that not every race can be that perfect race. I'm really glad I decided to stick it out and go out there, not only to see all of my amazing teammates, but to be there for JZ (the big sis I never had) to win the entire event!

The Quick Clearwater Recap

The Boulder ladies rocked the house this weekend. Joanna Zeiger is the new 70.3 World Champion, Brooke Davison won her age group and took 5th overall and I came in 4th in my age group.

Of the entire trip, I can honestly say that the 4.5hrs of racing was the worst part. Having no motivation to race hard, not being on my TT bike since July and just chillin' on the beaches of Maui for a week, doing a half ironman with a bunch of fit and fast people wasn't very enjoyable. I did manage to have a solid race despite not jumping in the giant draft packs which was very pleasing.

Hanging out with the team and partying like rockstars was definitely the highlight of the weekend and worth all the hassles and travels. From pre-race fun and bugging Doug at the truck to dancing til the wee hours of the morning at the Tiki bar then hitting up Ihop at 2am in the morning, we really couldn't have a more fun group of people on the Timex Team.

Thanks for such a great weekend everyone. Congrats to Bruce, Ian, Chris, Joe, Richie, Andrew, Cindy and Oakes for stellar performances!

To Clearwater it is!!!!

After I finish packing, get a short run in and and take a quick shower, I'm going to pick Mark up (JZ's husband) and head to the bus stop to catch a ride to the airport. Yep, we're heading to the Half Ironman World Championships in Florida. Things have not been going very smoothly since I've been back from Hawaii and I'm not nearly as excited to race as I was before, but I bet the moment I get there the motivation will set in.

I haven't been on my time trial bike since the last road race I did in July and I honestly haven't run more than an hour off the bike since then either so the half marathon might just kill me...who knows though, could be super rested and fly like the wind...that's what I'm hoping for :) However, if that's not the case, I'm completely okay with it and ready to just enjoy the time down there with the Timex Crew and my old manager Benny whom I haven't seen since April. I probably won't have time to post anything while there, but you can check out the live race coverage on Saturday, November 8th if you click on the link below. It will start at 6:30am EST.

XTERRA World Championship Race Report

October 26, 2008
Maui, Hawaii
1st Age Group - World Champion
3rd Amateur

After an amazing dinner and ceremony for all the nations the night before, I woke up race morning feeling refreshed and ready to have a great day. I absolutely love the fact that our races don't start until 9am so I can sleep in a bit and have time to get in a good hearty breakfast. However, when I'm out there in the middle of the day roasting in the sun I do sometimes wish we would have started a bit earlier!!! Can't have it all though :) Anyway, it was an amazing morning...calm waters, not a cloud in the sky and smiling people EVERYWHERE! I set up transition, went for a little warm up, slathered on the sunscreen then headed down to the water. Everything was going beyond smoothly and I was sooo excited to race!

The Swim - Gotta love the mass beach starts with over 500 people! We all make it to the first buoy together which makes for one giant disaster. I was lucky to not have lost my googles, but I did have someone grab my leg and pull me completely under. Yes, I did inhale about a gallon of salt water which was quite unpleasant for the duration of the swim! I was pretty certain things would get less rough after the first two buoys, but everyone seemed to be sticking together. It was nice having a good draft, but man did I get beat up. Ended up having a very solid swim time which made all the blows to the head well worth it...I think!

The Bike - Pre riding the course is not allowed in this race so I honestly had no idea what to expect. I only went with what I heard from others - hard, hot, loose & rocky, technical, do not go off the trail or you WILL get a flat...hmmm...that's not very encouraging! With a set of burly bombproof tires and a good attidude, I set out with confidence. I immediately passed the 3 amateurs who were ahead of me and was riding very strong up the first climb. At about 30min I started getting really hot and felt like I was overheating or melting for that matter. I took it down a knotch, popped a gel and dumped the bottle of water I had over my head. About 15min later I felt amazing and continued to hammer the super steep climbs and descend like an idiot! At about 90min into the ride (3/4 of the way) my lower back started to seize and I lost all power in my legs. It was not only super painful but more frustrating than anything. I knew I was working my back really hard with all the steep climbs and technical descents, but this had never happened before and I didn't understand why now. I ended up getting off my bike to stretch it and relieve some of the tension. During that time, I was passed by 3 girls who were all in the 15-19 age group. WHAT?!?! Are you serious? I instantly got back on the bike and tried to catch them. I was working so hard and going nowhere...I then got passed by 2 other girls who I had gone by within the first 10min of the bike. UGH! Was I really going that slow and losing that much time? At that point, I mentally lost it. I semi gave up. Why? I'm not really sure. That's very uncharacteristic of me and if there is one thing I will take from this race, this was it.

The Run - After a smooth transition, I headed out on the run somewhat emotional. I was pretty sure there was no way I would be able to catch the girls who passed me as my back was already tightening up again. I put my head down and tried really hard to just run as fast as I could without being upset with my poor attitude on the bike. It was really hot on the run and I wasn't feeling great which wasn't easy but I did manage to pass a few girls back. Running on loose lava rock and through deep sand was a true test at the end of that race and I pulled it together to finish with a respectable run split.

The finish - Holy crap was I excited to be done with that race. People weren't kidding when they said that was the toughest course on the XTERRA circuit...and I now know why! Sure, I was totally bummed out that I didn't get the overall amateur title by 2min to a girl I beat by over 12min at Nationals, but hey, I won my age group and couldn't be more thrilled about that! I'm a perfectionist and my biggest critic...as are most athletes, but as disappointed as I was...it's only going to fuel the fire to come back and kick the crap out of that course next year!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported me throughout this race and my debut into the XTERRA world. I could never have done it without you! I have found my passion in the sport and cannot wait to see where it takes me over the next years :)

The end of Maui has come :(

...but it was one hell of a good trip!

After saying goodbye to CJ and Branden, Tom and I rode our bikes along some amazing coastal roads, played in the water, hung out with Blake and his family, and soaked up some good rays.

We couldn't have asked for a better and more perfect group to spend our time in Hawaii with so thanks to all you guys for such a great time. I can't wait to do it again!

However, I can wait for another overnight flight that ended in some serious jet lag! Congrats to everyone who raced in the XTERRA World Championships and look forward to seeing you out there again next year!

Tom Torrance's Update from Hawaii!!!

Oh man, first time blogger. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that. Well, Erin's out running and everybody else has headed back to colder climates, so I basically stole the keys to the car here. Does anybody read this? HI VICKI! This being my first experience hanging out with the tri crowd, I really didn't know what to expect. But if need be, I was all ready to roll with some new tri-geek material. And let me tell you, it came in handy. When Branden (Rakita) started giving me crap on the flight out here about "ohhhh, the mountain biker can't swim.", I knew that I was in for a fun trip. And FYI....I can swim. It's just not very pretty and most of the time it involves some sort of inflatable animal.

Erin's last post left off with us spending a little time on the beach while some surfed and some swam. Well, I didn't do much of either. The Halloween party got me into bed around 3am. I was up at 6am, and back to the party location to look for one lost cell phone. That was only the second time that i'd lost it that day. That's just the engineer in me fighting its way through. It did eventually turn up. I'll skip the details in order to save some face here.....but thanks goes to Ryan (Decook) for saving the day. Anyway, i spent most of the day sleeping on the beach. It was amazing.

Well, yesterday was Tom's day. On the way back from the beach the day before, we stopped into a bike shop to inquire about some proper singletrack in the area. We were given a map and some rough instructions on how to find the sweet stuff, and we were ready to go. Needless to say, I was more than a little excited.

Oh, my new friend Chris (Christine Jeffrey). The girl stopped making fun of me long enough to score 5th place overall!

Anyway, off to the trail.....the Makawao Forest Reserve. The drive there took a little longer than expected, as the navigator was a little off the back. Erin eventually lost map privileges. :) But we did finally make it to the trailhead.

Having spent the entire day before laying in the sun, it was a nice change to get lost in some trees.


The trail was a mix of Northern California darkness with turny midwest singletrack. Good times were had all around.... Well, except when Erin decided she'd ride up ahead and not stop at the intersection, leaving us wondering where in the world she went. she's swears that she didn't see it. I swear we need to tie a bell or something onto that girl.

OK, Erin's back now. We're going to go riding, then maybe surf a little. I'll end this with some lesson's learned from my first Xterra experience.

1. If given the chance, Xterra guys like to wear as little as possible and touch each other

2. Don't unseat your tubeless tires the night before the world championships if all you have is a floor pump. (I actually already knew that one, Branden just reinforced it for me). On the bright side, my wheels did get top 20 at the World Championships.

3. It's probably not the best idea to shave your head(Blake Voges) the evening after spending the entire day racing in the sunshine of Maui. I do appreciate the dedication to one's Halloween costume though.
4. I didn't really learn anything from this photo, just found it kind of amusing.

5. No matter how much you try, you're probably not going to fix 5 years of colorado mountain bike tan in a week

Race Update and Maui Happenings

I'M A WORLD CHAMPION!!!

As always, a more detailed report will come later, but here's the short version. It was an absolutely beautiful day but pretty hot with little cloud cover. I got pretty beat up in the swim, but found some good feet and had a great time. Hopped on the bike and was leading the amateur race until about 90min into the bike when my back started to seize up a bit forcing me to get off and stretch it out. Apparently I didn't have the core strength on the really steep climbs and my saddle had shifted pointing the nose straight up...I didn't realize this until after the race, but whatever. At any rate, I had lost all power in my legs and started getting passed by all sorts of girls. I got a little frustrated but finished the bike and headed out for the run. Not the best of runs but it got me back into the top 3 overall females. I finished first in my age group and missed the overall amateur title by 2 minutes...grrrr :) However, I am super excited about my world title (and not crashing like Branden - see below) and for everyone else who had a great day. Also it was so great to have Tom out there supporting all of us and giving my family updates the entire time. Thanks buddy, you're the BEST!!!

As for the other fun stuff going on, Tom went out on an epic ride on Saturday by himself that had me worried out of my mind when still wasn't back after 5+hrs of riding, but the pics he came back with were pretty cool. He's still working on the whole tan thing, but it's getting better :)

We had a pretty crazy time at the awards ceremony and the Halloween party after the race. Chris was 5th pro female which was amazing and fun to see and well, there was just lots of ridiculousness with costumes and water bottles filled with vodka and lemonade later that night!



Monday was pretty low key with a nice trip to the beach for some surfing, relaxing and skin burning. Blake and Ryan were catching some good waves while Tom was attempting to even his tan.


I have been updating all the pics daily so check em out!

Race Morning in Maui

The sun has not yet risen, but the weather report is calling for a beautiful sunny day in the mid to high 80s with little wind and lots of humidity...splendid! I don't have much to post other than I'm super excited to race in about 3 hours and that I'm not too sure I really want to leave Maui! Even though we haven't really started to relax due to getting ready for the race today, we've still had such a blast out here with everyone with lots of good laughs. I have posted pictures on the 'My Pics' link to the right for the trip so take a peak...some of them are pretty funny. At any rate, if you are interested, the race will be streaming live video and race updates online at 8:30am Hawaii time, 12:30pm MST and 2:30pm EST - just click on the pic below. I'll post a quick recap later today or tomorrow but there is lots of partying to be done after the race and I could be a little distracted! Alright, off to chow down some breakfast! Wish me luck!

The Travels and a quick update

Holy crap it's a long way to Maui...I haven't been on a plane for that long since I lived in Europe and had to make the trek back and forth several times a year! At any rate, despite being picked on by Tom and Branden the entire trip and the 4 hour time change, everything went smooth sailing. The above pic is the view from our condo....sooooo pretty :)

So today we went down to the race headquarters to register and to get in a bike ride on the 'practice course'. The best part is that Tom 'Mr. Anti-triathlon' Torrance had to sign up for a one day USA Triathlon license just to ride the practice course with us...haha, too funny.

Better yet, he had to put an XTERRA number plate on his bike!!! I bet all his mountain bike friends are laughing now!

We then went for a short swim in the choppy ocean, watched Branden make fun of Lieb's gigantic goggle-like sunglasses then back to the condo for some lunch and a little rest.

A fun BBQ in the evening made for a great first day here in Maui. Lots more to come so stay tuned.