Granite Man X-Fit Challenge and 10 Miler Race Report
- bradleyhaag
- Jun 18, 2015
- 3 min read
Background
With my motivation high and some good training in the bank, the wife and I headed down south to Applegate Lake Oregon for a weekend of racing. We arrived to be greeted by several other Triathletes from my Bend excited to be racing as well. After a good nights sleep I walked about 100 feet from our campsite to the start of my race (how awesome is that?).
The "X-Fit" Challenge
500yd Swim: As I made my way down to the lake for the swim start I noticed my competitors (only about 15 were in this event) all had a good amount of muscle on them. I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing but was confident in my trianing so started to focus internally on how I would pace myself in the events ahead.
As the swim started I was quickly drafting off two guys in front of me, these guys were faster swimmers than me but couldn't swim straight at all so even at a slower pace I quickly made my way to second behind a very fast swimmer who in only the last half of the race gained over a minute lead on me.
I exited the water in 2nd thinking how much I enjoyed this short swim compared to the 1500 meter or 1.2 mile swims I do in most triathlons.
Burpees and Kettlebell Thrusters: This was the part of the competition I was most excited for. I didn't know what weight or how many burpess/ kettlebell thrusters we would be doing so in my trianing I aimed for 100 of each. Before the race started it was announced we would do doing 30 of each, still not easy but much better than what I had been training for.
As I transitioned from the swim to the kettlebell thrusters I had gained back a lot of time that I had lost to the leader of swim. As I started my kettlebell thrusters I couldn't help but noticed the faster swim guy struggling to even lift the 36lb kettlebell off the ground let alone squat and press it overhead (you can see this in the picture above). As I blasted through thrusters and burpees I gained a good lead on the competition and was off on the run.
2 mile run: The run was a mix of trails and pavement covering 2 miles. I went off course at one point which cost me about a minute or two but I still maintain a good lead and finished first overall (8 minutes ahead of 2nd place).
Check out this video of the races!
The 10 Mile Trail Running Race
Sunday morning I woke up feeling awesome. Given that the Saturday X-Fit competition was pretty short (about 30 minutes total), it provided a good warm-up for this Sunday event. The run started with about 3 miles of uphill climbing which covered about 1000 feet of vertical elevation. I spent most of this time hiking instead of running. After cresting the highest point the next 4 miles were all downhill. I was flying on the downhills! I wasn't that far behind the lead pack and had pasted 4-5 people on the downhills so was feeling good. The downhills ended at the edge of the lake and the last 3 or so miles consisted of rolling terrain around the perimeter of the lake. I was feeling great for the for a mile or so but then got a horrible side stitch which slowed my pace about 90 seconds per mile. The last 2 miles were a slow slog to the finish. This being said I finished standing up and happy!
Overall thoughts
Both these races were awesome! I was very happy with my results in both races. I left right after the 10 miler but found out I finished 1st in my age group and 7th overall. I'm super excited for future events like theses.
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