Toughest XTERRA race I have done to date

XTERRA West Championships in Lake Las Vegas held it's fame for being one of the toughest races on the circuit. It wasn't much technical rather fast but with some steep and long hills and rocky and fast descends. The course was everything but what I was able to prepare for in the North Dakota winter. By the way, as I am typing this there's been about 16" of fresh snow fallen in the land of forever winter, Bismarck, North Dakota. I am glad that we are taking our time and stopped in Salt Lake City. I was able to get in some good biking above Draper, UT. So my swim was rather good. If it was really 1500m than my 23:45 time is the fastest so far. All the swim work in the pool is starting to pay off. Though I still wasn't as quick and my T1 was a catastrophy. It took me at least a good two minutes to peel off the wetsuit than putting my gloves, helmet, shoes etc on.. Everything seemed like slow motion to me. By the time I was on the bike another dozen must have passed me. I spent the entire first loop on the bike in and out of the saddle, passing everyone I saw in front of me. I burnt through most my energy within miles into the bike and just as I started the second loop I was already cramping up. I tried to maintain a good rhythm but was passed back by some who seemed to have saved more for later. At that point even to maintain a decent pace I had to dig deep into my energy reserves that I should have saved for the run. Transition was fine and I was off to run. It seemed as though the whole run but at least 4 miles was all uphill. It just never wanted to end. I usually thrive at this time and even now I kept passing it just wasn't as powerful as it should have been. The wind that was rather blustery and 90 degrees by 1 pm was just making everyone double check their goals they set in the morning. I certainly wasn't planning to just shuffle the run. I had a goal to post the fastest run split of the day. Unfortunately that time must come at another day, another race. Around the 4 mile mark just as we started going downhill I finally cramped up so bad that I had to stop, stretch and when I hoped to be able to go my hamstring seized up again. I just stood there, bent over, stretching my hammy. A good minute had gone by by the time I felt OK to give running a go again. It was all downhill from that point and I passed back two but had to settle for 28th position overall including many pros. I was never this tired but after finishing I noticed that many had similar troubles and some fared even worse. Though I got luckier and didn't fall, unlike the Caveman, I am bringing back some seriously sun burnt lower back, shoulders and legs. Don't they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Own pictures to come as soon as we get back to the Dakotas.. And fight our way trough the snow that probably blocks our drive way.. Until then: RESULTS: http://www.jtltiming.com/results/x-veg.html Picture Gallery (courtesy of XTERRA) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151876430256110.1073741833.139989526109&type=1