A sporty family called XTERRA

XTERRA European Series Podium 2013

Many years ago I got talked into doing a race, I rode horses back then so I did not run or swim, I did ride a little on the MTB for fun. I was naïf enough to think elite athletes were extremely talented and never did I ever think they would train as many hours as they do to be as good as they are. My good friend, super veterinarian athletic mother of two, Karen Holmes showed me the brochure for the race she had in mind. It was Xterra NZ. My first introduction to triathlon. How hard can it be I thought, I can swim 1500m (even though it was a self-made version of breast stroke) I can MTB 30kms and I can run 11kms. I had never attempted this back to back in the form of a triathlon and it didn’t even come to mind it would be any harder. Before the race someone said to me “you know Nienke, some people train years for this” I wasn’t arrogant about thinking I could do it without any training, it was purely ignorance. And in this case ignorance wasn’t bliss

Xterra NZ

A cool story would have been that I ended up a freak of nature and smashed the race, but that is not what happened.  Underprepared doesn’t even come close to describe my overall state before the event. The good thing was that I was oblivious about the pain I was going to inflict on myself. The obvious happened, I nearly drowned in the swim trying to avoid all the smashing arms around me. I was gasping for air dealing with the very cold temperatures of the lake having borrowed a too large sleeveless wetsuit. I barely survived many near death experiences on the bike course trying to master drop offs, cliffs, and heart breaking climbs. And the run, well I am not even sure if you could call it running, I cramped in areas I never knew I had muscles and I was barely moving towards the end. Race nutrition? What do you mean race nutrition? The only thing that kept me going was an advertisement I had read as part of the race pack with Olympic Gold Medallist Triathlete Hamish Carter in which it quoted “finishing is over the finish line” I repeated that in my head over and over again, even out loud towards the last kms of my 4hrs long struggle. I had to throw up straight after the race. Never Again.

Helena Erbenova and me

"Never Again" couldn't have been further from the truth. Xterra never really left my mind and after years of following my veterinary career around the World, I came back for it.  When I got qualified for the World Champs in Maui in 2009 as an age grouper, I decided I needed a coach as I didn’t think swimming the whole 1500m in breaststroke was appropriate for a World Championship.  I learnt that going out for a ride on the weekend every now and then wasn't classified as real training. My baggy shorts were swapped for fashionable lycra.  And with a 4 month crash course in how to train (swim) and race whilst working full time with the help of Scottish coach Alister Russel, I got a top ten finish in my AG in Maui. I was hooked and wanted more. We are now 4 and a half years later and I am preparing myself for my 2^nd XTERRA season in the pro category, juggling the stresses of being a veterinarian with the dedication required to race at elite level. But the hard work is all worth it.

Cedric Lassonde and Llwellyn Holmes

What is it that makes XTERRA so special and why do I find the sport so inspiring? Why do I push myself to near death on brutally tough courses and when crossing the finishing line completely in the hurt box I am inspired to do it all over again (but then better)  a week later?  Psychiatrists might have a better chance of getting to the bottom of this than I do.

Xterra UK Prizegiving

I got a real taste for what it meant to be part of the Xterra family experiencing the support I got from everyone involved racing on the Xterra European tour for the first time this summer. Without any prerequisites I was immediately accepted into the core group of Xterra fanatics and made close friendships with supporters, athletes, and organisers all bonded by a key factor, a passion for off road adventures. Very quickly I learned that many top Xterra athletes have other professions to finance their passion. In the bunch of pro’s I met on tour there is a wood worker, a DJ, psychologist, massage therapist, teacher, an actress, stunt woman, personal trainers, coaches and numerous more I haven’t found out about yet. Some may say that this makes the sport less professional and underdeveloped, but I find it opens the sport to more interesting individuals.

Kathrin Muller Chantell Widney Renata Bucher

The camaraderie that exists between the XTERRA athletes was really an eye opener; I had experienced a not so friendly environment in road triathlon and MTB at higher level before. Every XTERRA race is on a different type of course suiting different types of strengths. I feel the competition is more against the terrain than against different individuals.  This makes the sport very friendly. The adventurous nature of the 3 disciplines, open water swim, Mountain bike and trail running attracts similar minded people; it’s not about sheer speed, but a lot more about being creative, problem solving, technical ability and strength which rewards personality traits  I find inspiring. The word PB does not exist in Xterra as the courses all over the world are incomparable and the conditions vary from year to year making a race completely dry one year to crazy muddy the next. You never know what to expect. And when it all goes wrong a good sense of humour and pure determination is what gets you home. For all of these reasons combined I love Xterra and would highly recommend to give any of the races on the Xterra World Tour a go, there is something in it for everyone. My sport, my passion.

Xterra Italy pre race banter with Renata, Helena, Niko and Bartoz

Here is what some of the familiar faces of XTERRA have to say:

                                                                
Nico Lebrun: Xterra World Champion 2005, 35 wins and 41 podiums on the Xterra World Tour

XTERRA attracts down to earth, friendly people, there seems to be no room for big ego’s. The races are set in beautiful locations, the courses are hard but good fun at the same time it’s always great having a beer with Big Kahuna Dave and the end of a race.

Conrad Stoltz : Olympian, 7 times Xterra World Champion

XTERRA, like the ABSA Cape Epic, has become the new “golf.” It is fashionable and the “new thing to do” for many reasons: Its challenging, its exciting, its outdoors, its nature friendly, its great for health and  well being, its family friendly and yes, most of us just love suffering…

Lesley Paterson : Two times Xterra World Champion, Multiple Xterra World Tour Winner
When I looked up Xterra, I almost fell off my chair with excitement. I just knew it was for me. Xterra is everything I always thought triathlon should be. I grew up in the rugged outdoors of Scotland with beautiful challenging scenery and that’s Xterra all over. Somehow, you honestly do feel like you’re not racing your competitors, you’re racing the terrain! ITU seems so clean, polished and urban that it has taken the spirit out of triathlon!

Helena Erbenova : Olympian, ITU World Champion Cross triathlon, World Champion Winter triathlon and winner of the Xterra European Series

Due to Xterra I have been to places I would normally never visit, and they have always been stunning. For me the people is what makes Xterra most beautiful, the athletes and organisers are very friendly. I find there is a big difference between XTERRA and ITU where I am bound by strict rules. Xterra has opened new possibilities for me which I never dreamed of. It forces me to work on myself and always try to improve. Xterra means very much to me and I am glad my own counry the Czech republic runs the Xterra series.

Kathrin Muller : 2013 ETU Cross Triathlon Champion, 2013 Celtman Champion, former ITU champion
I am from an ITU background where it’s all about speed and being very competitive against other athletes, in Xterra the course plays a major role. It’s a mix out of adventure, hard work, staying alive and finally doing all of this better than anyone else. I enjoy the nature elements in Xterra whilst seeing beautiful places and surrounded by all sorts of people I haven’t met before. You experience a mix of high athletic performance and fun




http://www.xterraplanet.com/races/global_tour.cfm

http://nico-lebrun.com/

http://www.conradstoltz.com/

http://www.lesleypaterson.com/

http://www.cedriclassonde.com/

https://twitter.com/llewellynholmes



 

Winter Training in Scotland

 I generally don’t really enjoy writing about training, but winter training in Scotland is not just training, winter training in Scotland is a crash course in “how to toughen up in 10 days and stay tough".

I arrived in Kirriemuir at the end of October after 10 days of cycling in the South of France in lovely warm weather. I started my job straight away as my European Xterra Extravaganza had left me with quite a bit of debt and after 4 months off I was eager to be a veterinarian again. Being a horse vet means that on a busy day I will be outside 80-90% of the time enduring whatever the weather throws at you. In Scotland that meant I had to deal with temperatures way below my level of comfort. And it took a good few weeks and a wardrobe readjustment for me to not to be all crunched up and turn into the hunch back of Notre dame in an attempt to stay warm.

 

After a busy morning working out in the cold I was patiently listening to years of clinical history of one of my patients whilst trying to cope with a sharp icy cold wind against my face. Half way through the very detailed list of ailments the horse had had for the last 5 years,  the owner  of the horse stopped mid-sentence looked at me worried and asked “are you alright?” by this stage my jaws had frozen stiff so I could only nod yes. “your lips have turned blue” she said. It took a nice hot cup of tea and two chocolate biscuits to snap me out of my hypothermic state. From then on the lovely woman had a cup of tea and biscuits waiting for me whenever I had to visit her yard to treat any of her horses.

Having started my athletic career in Singapore from which I moved to Australia, I didn’t own any winter training gear as I had never needed it.  I was told I had to invest in some good cycling booties and gloves, it was only Autumn I thought, I will be alright for a while to come. I thought wrong.

 

On one of my first weekends in Kirriemuir I decided to go for a descent bike ride up to the local ski field Glenshee, I calculated it to be roughly a 3-4hr ride with a great amount of climbing which would keep me nice and warm. ( In a blond moment I forgot that what goes up must come down)When the day came and the weather conditions were less than ideal, I still went ahead with the ride. I did not want to let my boss down who so kindly had mapped out the cycle route for me. After a good 4hrs on the bike I returned, barely able to move with frost bites all over my feet (I had to google it to make sure that was what they were as I had never seen them before). It took an hour in a hot bath to remotely turn back to normal. Although the scenery of the ride was absolutely amazing, the hail storm high in the hills was not. Determined to finish the ride I made it to the top. I had to descend in below zero temperatures and extreme winds which was close to insanity. Unlike Sydney I did not pass any petrol stations or cafés on my ride in order to regain my core temperature. I did get some comforting beeps from cars passing by. I never saw one other cyclist on the road that day, or many of the other days I went out for a long ride in wet conditions.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, hugging a hot water bottle and buying winter cycling gear online, but I still haven’t  managed to find gloves or booties able to keep my hands and feet warm on a long ride through the Scottish country side. It was only Autumn with the winter still to come. I suddenly realised why the Euro’s were such tough competitors. If you can beat the wind, snow, hail, rain in these temperatures on any training ride or run, you can beat anything.

 

Whilst I was struggling with the Scottish winter training conditions, my training pal, a Husky cross Shepherd called Fynn was coping much better. In Sydney he would barely keep up with me on any of my runs, loving the snow here he was the one hard to keep up with! But even Fynn had to toughen up, the first time he sighted water at one of the local Lochs he enthusiastically threw himself in it being used to the comfortable water temperatures of the ponds at Centennial park in Sydney. I wish I had a camera to capture the look on his face when he hit the water “what the *****!!” , he run out as enthusiastically as he run in and didn’t touch the water for a few weeks.

I decided to learn from the locals and team up with the marathon trail runner of our veterinary practice for a training run. If he was able to train during the winter time for his ultra-marathon’s so should I for my triathlons. We left straight after work which meant it was pretty dark. I was following  him up a hill (mountain) in the pitch black wearing head torches and wet weather gear, I felt like I was about 5kg heavier with all my layers of clothing on. Watching where to place my feet with a bare minimum of light made the run just as hard as the incline of the hill. I realised this now had become the reality of my training conditions. When he left me behind for dead on the downhill whilst I was worrying about breaking an ankle in the slippery darkness of the forest I knew it was time to toughen up. It was a relief to make it safely down to the bottom, 3 more repeats I was told by Gavin with a torturing smile (the run had 200m elevation gain over just over a km each repeat)!

 

Since then I have struggled my way through snow storms on my hill runs following Fynns paw prints, I have grinded my teeth when I believed my hands and feet were going to fall off towards the end of a long cycle, and I have faced my fear of the dark going out for runs after work with no city light for support. The most comfortable place these winter months has been the Dundee pool. And although I have to leave my warm bed just after 5am to squeeze in swim squad before work, the pool is nicely warm, brightly lit and the girls from the Dundee City Aquatics and coach Chic are bubbly enthusiastic. The place to be this winter!

 

 Whilst I am dreaming of being a proper professional athlete escaping winter and training in perfect weather conditions I am putting a new meaning to the saying “rain, hail or shine”.  Whilst I shrivel up in hot baths in between training session, the smell of wet gear drying on every available radiator is taking over my home. The joy of winter training. Whilst the cold months are passing by (slowly) I am dealing with them, and I must say, there is no better feeling then sitting on the couch with dog Fynn, enjoying a hot cup of coco after a long day of work and hard training. If Scotland doesn’t make me stronger I don’t know what will!!

"Bad weather always looks worse through a window"

 

 

 

Favourite quote

"It's impossible." said pride. "It's risky." said experience. "It's pointless." said reason. "Give it a try." whispered the heart.

Thought of the Day

A list of my 2013 Racing blogs on MarathonMTB.com

http://www.marathonmtb.com/author/nienke-oostra/