Starvation X-Tri Race Report
Woke up at 2:55am on Saturday, July 29th prepared for the start of my first timed Xterra triathlon. Preparation includes coffee, a bowl of cereal, and then off to load up all the gear for all three disciplines: swimming, biking, and the trail run. I went down to see Gay Hunter, my primary support crew along with my wife and two kids. We loaded the bike and got all the gear bags ready to go before making the 5-minute drive down to the Starvation Reservoir. We arrived at about 3:45am and set up the bike at the transition zone, got my live tracker for the day, and met up with Casey Robles and James Lawrence to get a little low down on the course and connect with other racers.
At 4:30am I got into my wetsuit, selected my goggles for the day, put on my swim cap and the location buoy that trails behind us, and met up with the other racers by the water for the 4:45am pre-race meeting. A few minutes later we were all getting in the water, and I gave Gay a big hug as we started a very big day ahead. At 5am sharp we were off.
The swim course included a counterclockwise loop around three buoys and then back to the shoreline where we began. Each athlete was required to complete three laps. I started the swim slowly and stayed outside the main pack of 53 athletes that started the event. I was getting into a nice swim rhythm and feeling good about my headspace and pacing. Everything seemed to be set for the day. Then I felt a hard punch to my left cheek almost knocking off my goggles. In the dark, another swimmer had inadvertently struck me during one of his strokes. I readjusted quickly and went back to swimming towards the first buoy, laughing to myself that this would likely be the first of many situations that come up throughout the day. As I was going towards the first buoy in the dark of night, I mistook a boat near it as the intended target and momentarily got off trajectory and quickly realized that there were some oncoming swimmers heading my way and that I needed to move right. I quickly recognized my error in lights I was going after. The rest of lap one was uneventful, and before I knew it, I was coming back around to the start. I couldn’t see my split on my watch because of the darkness but went right back out on lap two. About halfway through lap two the lead swimmers started to pass me in the water. The water also started to get slightly choppy as the light started working its way into the daylight. Other than those minor hassles to deal with, I had some cramping in my foot and calf that came up a few times and quickly went away after flexing my feet a bit. As I rounded the second lap shoreline I saw my split, which had me at one hour 15 minutes. This was exactly what I wanted to know. I know that if I was over one hour 20 minutes I would need to go faster to make the 2 hour time cut off leaving the water. The third lap the sun broke the horizon right as I approached the first buoy. I remember thinking that the bouy’s look closer in the light but take longer to get to, and in the nighttime they look like they are a long way away but you come up on them quick. The backside of the swim between the first, second and third buoys the choppy water began to pick up. It wasn’t bad but noticeably picking up. It gave me memories of being out in the open ocean a few years ago and having the waves ebb and flow around me hitting the side of my face if I didn’t time them correctly. I made the last corner and it was a straight shot to the shoreline with the wind behind me. I reached the finish at 1:53 with 7 minutes to spare and was met by Gay, Kristin, Hudson, and Kalea who walked me to the transition area. After a quick change out of the wetsuit and into my cycling gear I was off on the bike course at 7am on the nose.
The bike started well. I quickly found a good rhythm and got my Garmin to lock in on the Starvation Course route which would guide me turn-by-turn and give me all the information I need from distance to next turn, current speed, and detail out the 3 climbs on the course. A few miles into the course the GPS had me take an incorrect turn back down towards the lake and I went about a quarter mile out of my way and quickly turned around and it put me back on course. That was the only navigation error of the day, but it definitely rattled me for a while until I became confident again that the route would keep me on the correct course. About 10 miles into the ride I turned onto the mountain hwy and was relieved to see that this next stretch was 75 miles and would lead me right into the last climb of the course. The next 40 miles was great and I felt like I was right back in the saddle on my recumbent. I hit the first large hill which was about a 2,100 foot climb up 8.5 miles and I slowly worked my way up the hill summitting at over 9,500 feet after about an hour and a half of climbing. I could feel the altitude and slowed my speed just a little. I kept a focus on slow and steady. On the decent I had a flat on my rear tire which thankfully due to years of experience changing flats and noticing what it feels like immediately I was able to safely slow to a stop and managed to be back on the road in under ten minutes! Following the decent it flattened out until about the 70 mile mark on the course. At that point was the second climb, which fortunately was about a 500-foot climb at a little over a mile. I charged up the hill taking a few stops to catch my breath and then was on the last little section before climbing up the finish of the bike.
Mile 86 is the last place that crew can help before taking the climb up Guardsman Pass. I stocked up on food and all necessary supplies including a pair of sandals that I “might” need as I heard there were a few sections of hill up to 17% grade. I had over 3 hours to make it to the top of the climb and then a quick 4 mile descent to the second transition station. As I turned up the road I met with another rider Carlos and we prayed together before starting the climb. My bike computer had just alerted me to the start of the climb which would be a 3,900-foot incline over 8.5 miles and peak out at 9,700 feet.
I pushed through the first half mile of climb and quickly had to start walking a few of the corners which were 12-13 percent grades. Carlos went by me again and said that the first 2 miles were the steepest of the climb so after another half dozen start and stops with my legs cramping, being winded and not being able to hold speed I changed out of my biking shoes and into my sandals. I would push the bike as fast as I was able at the elevation level and then when my bike computer would show under an 8% grade I would bike until I hit the next steeper incline. At about the three-mile mark I caught up to Carlos who had just dunked his head in a creek, and I took it one step more and took off my shirt and laid in the river for about 2 minutes letting the cold water flow over my head and cooling off my legs that the hot afternoon sun had been baking. I kept pushing and hit the 5-mile mark at 2 hours and 10 minutes. I still had an hour to make the last 3.5 miles and set a goal in my head to clear another 500 feet of vertical gain in the next half an hour and I would have a chance. As I started to push a bit, I quickly got winded and realized I was going to have to take this slow. The heat was just above 100 degrees, my phone had been alerted to the high heat advisory warning and here I was walking my bike up an 8%+ degree slope at over 8,000 feet of elevation. The reality of the pacing sunk in like a rock as I did the calculations in my head of the 1,500 feet of elevation I still needed to climb and my pace and realizing I would likely be 30 minutes to an hour past the cut off time…
I had watched the new “Sound of Freedom” movie which promotes fighting human trafficking the day before, and one of the thoughts and inspirations that kept me going as steady as I did was the realization of the proliferation in on our communities and the line, “God’s children are not for sale.” There is something about being engaged in life that at least for me if there is a way to help be a part of the solution, I can’t help myself but to engage. Partnering with 1736 Family Crisis Center has been a consistent avenue for me to engage with this over the past 4 years, and I’m grateful for the work they do with recovery and equipping those that have experienced domestic violence and human trafficking.
As is my habit I quickly started running backup scenarios in my head on what I could do. The first thing that came to mind was to officially drop from the course at the second transition and then take on the course unofficially with my crew and likely finish up about 2am. I continued to plod on the last few miles and could feel the exertion of the day waying on me. I managed to get to the summit at 9,700 feet just after 7pm after an over 4 hours climb up an 8.5 mile stretch of road. Quite the experience!
I grabbed some food at the top and had a conversation with Kristin and Gay on the options going forward. I’m so used to digging deep and finding a way through to a solution, but I found myself telling Gay that this time it just didn’t feel right to go on at this point. I felt a little queasy and as much as I know that I can trudge through a 20+ mile trail hike at any given time, the remoteness of the trail and the lack of ability for crew to access me gave me hesitation. I rode the four miles down to time station 2 and turned in my tracker to James Lawrence and thanked him for setting up a spectacular event that didn’t let me down. That’s one of the things I love about ultras is that many of these courses are set up for you to find your limits on a particular day, and today I had found my limit given the conditions.
On the drive home to the hotel I had time to process the day a bit. I caught up with Kristin, Gay, Hudson, and Kalea on their experience through crewing and reflected on the decision to not continue on an unofficial basis. If I had gone on it might have gone well, or I could have had some major issues from the slight heat exhaustion I was experiencing. It could have been a nice seven-to-ten-hour hike through the woods praying for people and reveling in the beauty of the course, or it could have been a struggle fest filled with cramping, overheating, naps, and needing to get outside assistance. I’ll never know what would have transpired if I had kept going.
I feel like I made the decision that has guided me for years on official courses. I go as long as I possibly can as quickly as my body will take me until I either miss a time cut off or get injured and can’t go on. In this case I missed my time cut off and had a wonderful experience and made the decision to lick my wounds and come back another day to another event. As I write this it makes me smile. I care so much about pushing past our ability levels and increasing our capacity. To do that, it’s necessary at times to find that limit.
It was not my day to finish the Starvation X-Tri and yet it was such a full experience, and I’m so glad that I showed up and experienced the course. Stepping into the arena, savoring the experience, and showing appreciation for all of the staff, crew, and other athletes is one of my favorite places in the world to spend time.