My Road to Xterra


Follow my journey as a mountain biker and Xterra racer! I've updated my race schedule for 2011! Date Race State 2/26/2011 Burns Park Trail Run AR, USA - 3rd Place  3/12/2011 Spa City 6 hour AR, USA  17th Place 3/11/2011 Du It In the Dirt- Duathlon AR, USA  - 1st Place 5/22/2011 XTERRA Southeast Championship AL, USA  2nd Place 6/11/2011 XTERRA Eureka Springs AR, USA   6/19/2011 XTERRA Muleshoe TX, USA   6/25/2011 XTERRA Dawg Dayz AR, USA   6/26/2011 Dawg Days Little Rock, AR 7/16-7/17 Eureka Spring Eureka Springs, AR 8/7/2011 XTERRA Iron Will AR, USA   8/28/2011 XTERRA Magnolia Hill TX, USA 9/3/2011 Slaghter Pen Jam Bentonville, AR 9/24/2011 XTERRA USA Championship UT, USA   10/23/2011 XTERRA World Championship HI, USA   10/29/2011 XTERRA EPIC - Iron Mountain AR, USA   11/5 Attila the Hun Hot Spings, AR

Ask me anything

Submit

14th March 2011

 ()

Spa City 6 hour and Du it in the Dirt Duathlon - 03-12-2011 & 03-13-2011

03-12-2011 - First races of the season!!! Yes! I was so excited and nervous about this weekend of racing. It was my first attempt at doing back to back events, and also my first duathlon. I knew going into this weekend that it was going to be a tough one, but I had no idea! Lonnie (my Spokes team mate and fellow co-worker) and I headed to the Spa City (aka Hot Springs) early Saturday morning.  It was going to be a beautiful day!!! Nate from Spokes was already at our site and had already set the Orbea tent up. This was also the debut of the new Spokes Mountain bike team! We were all pumped up and ready to go. The race went off at 10:00am and it was a le mans start. I’ll never get used to this type of start. Bike shoes were NOT meant for running…. Especially not mine. Can we say ski’s??? Ha. The start is meant to get some distance between the racers, but it really didn’t do much. There was still a long line of folks starting this race together. The first couple of miles was pretty cramped. After that.. it opened up and I could finally breathe. I’m not used to riding with so many other people!! So, after a few miles I got my groove on. I was feeling good on my new Orbea Alma 29er. My tires felt like Velcro!!! In a good way. The new Geax AKA’s were definitely the right choice for my new bike. I decided not to stop after my first lap. I still had plenty of water, plenty of electrolyte drink, and had three gu packets on my bike, so I blazed right on through. Going into lap two was much easier, there was no traffic, and I was feeling GREAT! And was totally humbled by the top guys blazing past me at the end of my lap two. Wow! I stopped in for a pit after I finished lap two. I was feeling pretty good, but was STARVING! So I grabbed a new bottle, a pb&j, took off my base layer and got back on my bike. I was still feeling really good. Legs felt strong, and I was having a blast being outside riding my bike. It was perfect weather for a bike ride! Through lap three, I could definitely feel my legs. I could tell that they were starting to fatigue on the climbs. But still overall I felt pretty good. I got passed by some more of the top guys. I will have to say that everyone in this race was very courteous, calling out that they were passing, and letting me know which side they were going on. That is very much appreciated! I decided to take a quick pit stop after lap 3 as well. Ate a banana, changed my socks (feet were on fire), took more water in my camel bak, and headed back out. I could definitely feel how tired I was getting on this lap. I was really hoping that I would be able to get in 5 laps, but it was not looking like I was going to have time, and my legs just wouldn’t go any faster.  The last half of my 4th lap was a bit brutal. My mind was already done for the day, so the body was not cooperating very well. I was ready to be done. I came in from my fourth lap at 5:26. I only had an hour and 5 minutes to finish another lap, which was not going to happen. So I called it a day. I was happy that I had such a good day racing though!!! DLT racing put on a great event! I finished out the day 17th in the women’s solo category. Top girl did 6 laps! That is amazing! Congrats to everyone out there today!

3-13-2011 - I had previously decided to go ahead and camp out Saturday night so that I could be ready to go Sunday morning for the Duathlon. And with daylight savings time taking effect, I think that was a good plan. However, sleeping in a tent on the ground after 5.5 hours on the bike wasn’t exactly ideal. It was an early rise morning on Sunday. Race started at 9:00. When I got up, my legs were so sore. I decided to sleep in my new Orca compression socks, so my calves actually didn’t feel too bad, but I was wishing I would have had full compression tights on to sleep! I was feeling it for sure. Breakfast was tough to choke down and I was a bit worried that I was going to bonk if I didn’t attempt to get something else in my stomach. I settled on a pb& j, a muscle milk shake, and a rockstar. Ha… what a combo! So, per my coach, I went out for a quick little jog before the pre-race meeting and my legs felt like lead. This was going to be an interesting race. No doubt! The race went off at 9:00am sharp and we were to run down the road to the trail entrance. I started off trying to keep up with everyone, but quickly ran out of steam. The guy behind me said that we started off on an 8min/mile pace. Which was WAY fast for me. No wonder I ran out of steam fast! I slowed up a bit and calmed myself down. The first 1.8 miles was not too bad. I knew I was pretty far behind the others though. I got to my bike and took off. One of the guys at the transition area said “whoa, you did the endurance race yesterday!!! You go girl” which made me smile.. and start pedaling harder!!! Within the first mile I realized that my knees were killing me. You realize after so many hours on your new bike, that some tweaking is in order! Mental note: make some adjustments on the bike when you get home. My gas tank was low, my knees were screaming, and I was just hanging on for the ride. I finally came to the end of the bike, and I was very glad to be almost done. This last part of the run is going to hurt. But I was almost finished for the weekend. It was time to dig deep, push the pain aside, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I was coming up the last little hill, and there were kids playing on the playground, their mom told them to cheer as I went by… and they yelled and cheered … which totally made me smile! Ok girl…. It’s time, it’s almost time to rest, but you have a quarter mile to go. Let’s finish this. So I kept running. I came through the finish line at 2:01. I was hoping to get under 2:00, but I’ll take it. I was just glad to be done! It was time to pack up my tent, get my car loaded up, watch some people get some awards, and head home.  I didn’t even look at the results. I was thinking that I didn’t finish well at all, so I didn’t even want to know. But, as they were calling out for the place finishes in my age category I heard my name. I didn’t even know what place they called. So when I walked up, they handed me a first place medal. I turned to the guy handing out the awards and said “wait, I didn’t get first”, he said Alyssa? Yes. Well, yes you did get first. WHAT? Ha. Nice! I’ll take it.

Thanks to all my support on this race! Thanks to Spokes, Headsweats, and Geax! Looking forward to Xterra Waco coming up in a month!