This blog has been provided by Nienke Oostra, who qualified for the Xterra World Championships, and made sure she prepared well to have the race of her life.
What I love the most about the Xterra World Championships, is that it is an elite event, qualifying is by placing top 3 in your age group in the male division and top 2 in the female division in races all over the World. Sure slots are available through roll down but to be able to grab one of those you already have to be at the pointy end of your age group. This results in super tough competition on the day, and a feeling of belonging leading up to the event. We deserved to be here.
We had a great week in Maui beforehand, with plenty of time to explore the course, catch up on sleep, and take in the beauty of the island. We stayed at Napilli, 2km down from Xterra Headquarters, in a quiet little resort on the beach. It was hard not to relax here whilst swimming with sea turtles and enjoying the spectacular sea views. Magical.
The bike course had been changed from the previous year, adding a lot more single track and technical climbs. It was a spectacular course and had something to offer for everyone, sharp sandy corners, very steep technical climbs, steep fast descents, long leg burning climbs, all set in an amazing environment. This was a top class ride and I was excited. It was funny to think we climbed over 3000m in 30 degree heat in our taper week…
Race day always approaches way too fast but I was the most prepared I have ever been and I felt ready. We left pre race dinner early to get in the right frame of mind for the next day and get an early night. That was the plan. But nature threw us a curve ball and before we knew it deafening sirens were screaming and people started frantically running around. A minute before this Ray alarmed me by saying “babe, you won’t believe this but I have some bad news”.. A tsunami warning… Are you kidding me!!! Could it not just wait one day???
Tsunami watch – not normally part of your pre-race plan.
In situations like this I tend to go more relaxed than I ever am in normal life, so whilst everybody was getting ready to evacuate I finished the cup of tea I just made. “Stuff this” I thought to myself. We headed back to the Ritz where Xterra was held, this was on top of a hill, only the beachfront properties had to evacuate. We brought everything ready to race in case we couldn’t head back to our accommodation. We found ourselves a couch and tried to relax. Luckily the waves didn’t end up as big as expected so we returned back to our beds in the middle of the night. At this stage it was very unlikely the swim would go ahead in the race the next morning. Although this would be in my favour being a poor swimmer, I was disappointed, this was not how it was supposed to be.
After an anxious night of sleep, I struggled to get pre race nerves under control (mistake number one). I seem to go aloof when this happens, my body shuts down and it is something I really need to work on in future. We set up in transition early, got body marked and headed down to the beach still not knowing if there would be a swim. We were watching the ocean get rougher as time was passing by, which didn’t help my nerves at all. I spotted a group of dolphins which took my thoughts of the race for a while, they were really giving us a show which was very cool.
Can we please go swimming now?
Finally the swim got the all clear, race buoys were dragged out into the ocean, the beach was getting crowded, a short warm up to get a feel for the water and the race was on!
The swim was rough, not just the waves but the currents were unbelievable, not anywhere near how calm it had been during the week. I concentrated on my task, breathing, finding feet and trying to relax. There were only 1 minute intervals between the 3 waves, pro’s, male, female and to my surprise I started to swim my way through the back of the male field at the first buoy, this was good. I had a solid swim and felt fresh. The run up to transition was long and I used it to get ahead, feeling great.
Fast transition and on my bike, I heard Lynda “you go get them girl, one by one” she was a strong swimmer so I did well coming out of the water with her. I also heard a commentator announce last years 40-45 age group winner come through. I knew what she was capable of and had to be able to ride with her to place well in my own age group. I followed her up the hill, I was surprised how well I felt – “this is awesome” I thought. I passed her before we got to the single track but then the pace dropped and I got stuck behind slow people, damn you roadies I thought to myself… In the NZ champs I was forced to surge and overtake, surge and overtake after a bad swim which ruined my legs for the run, I didn’t want to make that mistake again and with a solid swim I decided to ride it out (mistake number two). As we hit the hills later on in the course and I knew that would help. On top of that the blokes refused to let me pass and after a few times yelling “can I pass please” I gave up. How cool would it be for the pro’s having the trails for themselves I thought. The chick who I wanted to ride with was aggressive as she passed me, yelling her way through the crowd taking out a few trees in the process, I let her go (mistake number three).
Up until this point I was cruising (mistake number four) when a guy flew passed me yelling “links” which means left in Dutch. For some reason it woke me up and in an instant I jumped on his wheel and followed him, this was racing, before I knew it we caught up to the girl I let go, and were flying up the hill, my legs feeling awesome.
Turning onto the first grinding climb away from the single track I reminded myself this is where I wanted to take a gel… my stomach turned… I left the gels in transition. (biggest mistake of the day number five). I remembered I taped one on my frame and looked down… Gone… This was not good. I tried to stay calm, I just had to drink as much as possible and hope for the best. This was not a course to do on an empty stomach. Stupid me. I re-focused on my task ahead and transferred the aggression I felt onto my pedals, I was riding well.
Focus on the finish….
The most frustrating part of the bike leg was people not letting you pass, and by people I mean blokes. Girls were awesome about moving away whilst you are directly competing with them but guys, they just don’t like getting passed by a chick. I was getting more and more aggressive as we were moving towards the top and the words of 4 times world champion Conrad Stolz “go hard or go home” entered my brain. On the downhill and I was on my own now, I was borderline out of control and my bike sounded like a rattling musical instrument. But it was just awesome, I felt I was made to do this! For a moment I was worried about getting a flat as both Ray and I got one whilst practicing the course but I blocked the thought out, there was no room for doubts.
Last climb, although my legs felt awesome I started to feel the effects of my lack of nutrition and it was worrying. Nausea started to set in and I felt light headed. I couldn’t drink much more without having to deal with the effects of a water filled stomach on the run so there was nothing I could do.
In transition I noticed not too many bikes, it made me smile, I am in the race I thought, less than an hour to go. My legs were still there and not complaining. I tried to catch up on nutrition but I should have known this does not work and as nausea took over I started to fade and my pace dropped. “Hold it together” I thought but I wasn’t feeling great, a girl passed me so I stuck with her. “Keep running, keep running” I thought, Matts voice in my head, don’t walk. She wasn’t running away from me and we were passing people so I must be doing ok. As I tried to take more nutrition in the nausea was worsening and developed into stomach cramps. I started to feel dizzy. I ignored it and ran and shuffled up the steepest climb of the run course.
We were on the downhill now and the girl was running away from me, I tried to pick up the pace and stay with her but felt uncoordinated, damn it, more girls ran past me as if I was standing still, crap. I was catching up to my friend Max which gave me a bit of a burst. I could hear transition, but the switch backs downhill seemed to last forever and the sun was burning. I reached the beach, 200m to go, my brain had switched off by this stage and I was just putting one foot in front of the other as fast as I could, I heard Ray yelling out my name. I am done I thought, I am done as I crossed the finish line.
4th in my AG and I was gutted, top 5 was my goal, top 3 was my dream, so close. My dream was crushed and I could not help thinking I failed. I was in 2nd place off the bike. What if I had ridden more aggressively from the start, what if I hadn’t left nutrition in transition, what if I had pushed just that little harder? But truth is I didn’t and that’s all part of racing. Top 44 female Xterra in the World including pro’s. I have only been training with my coach Matt Randall for the last 6 months and he has helped me improve out of sight. I still have so much to learn and so much improving to do. This race has made me hungry to train harder, to become better and faster and to be mentally stronger. I loved every minute of this experience and although my race wasn’t perfect it was an awesome day competing against nature and 800 of the World’s best athletes. Xterra rocks.
Post race breakfast – where everyone is a winner!