Andrew Marsh: Xterra is off road triathlon, open water swim, mountain biking and trail running, it's a newest thing in multisport.
Male Speaker1: First I started mountain biking and I go to the place of the other guy and then I thought I can swim and I can run, what the heck, so I just jumped in Xterra.
Andrew Marsh: And it came about beyond an argument over who was fitter triathletes or mount bikers.
Female Speaker1: This is my first Xterra race, I am little nervous but I am excited.
Male Speaker2: I like how it pushes you, getting up there in age and it's a challenge.
Female Speaker2: Something about the constant change that you experience when you are biking and running. It's just so much for exciting when you are on a triathlon.
Andrew Marsh: The most important thing about Xterra is that anybody can do it.
Brain Grasky: Hi! I am Brian Grasky, with the Mach3 Multisport team in a beautiful white mountains of Arizona. Now triathlon on the road is a great sport, what could be better, Off-Road Triathlon and that's Xterra. Let me introduce you to the world of swimming, biking and running off the roads and on the trials. So if you are ready grab your fat tires and your trail shoes and let's get dirty.
Male Speaker: Let's take a closure look at an Xterra race. The layout is similar to road triathlon but the locations are much different. First, you'll notice we are in the woods and in the mountains. This venue is a state park with nice cool like to swimming, trails for the mountain bike ride and more drills for the run. You will find it more hilly terrain at an Xterra race and obstacles in your way. You have to bike and run around and over trees, stumps, rocks, sand, steep hills, water crossings and just about anything else you can think of. That's Xterra.
With the typical Mount Xterra, you'll find an increase in altitude at most to Xterra races. If you are traveling to raise at high altitude, be sure to show up about five days before the race to acclimate best. With jobs and commitments, most of us can't do that. So the second best plan is to arrive 24 hours before the race start.
In the race itself, start out slowly. More slowly than you think you normally should. The swim tends to be the worst of the advance for altitude effects. Most people have more trouble with the swim, mainly because it's first and your body is shocked a bit, when asked to perform at higher intensity without the oxygen available. Slow down in the transitionary and start to bike out easy.
Once you get a good feeling on the bike, you can push it up a bit, but as you rise an altitude, your lactate threshold heart rate will drop. So you won't have the ability to push quite as hard as you could in sea level.
Similarly, on the run, start out slowly, until you are sure you can maintain that pace. Then increase your speed as you can. Don't start out too fast as a minute gain for going too hard early on can easy turn in to a five or ten minute slow down but a minute too slow can be made up at the end.
Since the bike courses are all off road, another dynamic of Xterra is it knowing the course ahead of time will A dimensionally with your race. If you have the ability show up early enough to ride the course once, checking out the rough or technical sections a few times. This will take some time and energy. So be sure you do this early enough to recover for the race.
The same thing holds true on the run. Although to a lesser extent since you are moving slower. If you don't get a chance to pre-ride, just keep your head up and your eyes out to make sure you don't miss a turn or go the wrong direction. This is a common problem, but in most instances looking at hit on the trail will reduce its chances.
In road triathlon, you can usually bet on the water, sports drink and some jell or food on the run or bike course. In Xterra that may not be the case, in fact it's not uncommon to have no support on the bike, and only water on the run since most of the courses are remote and difficult to supply.
With this it becomes important to carry your own nutrient. We'll talk about some techniques in doing this a bit later on.
Lastly, with the rougher terrain comes a greater chance of crashing and you will want to wear a few more clothes then in a road triathlon. A good tri-suit or tr-shorts and a jersey will suffice. You will want to wear cycling gloves on the bike and depending on how rough the run course is you may want them on the run as well.
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