The Farisenator* is making a much anticipated appearance at the ITU Cross Triathlon World Champs on Saturday.

* Also known as Faris Al-Sultan, IM Kona winner and esteemed long distance road triathlete. Known for fast biking, lots of hair, go-everywhere-speedo and curious water bottle placement.

In preparation for racing off road, he did an intensive “Crashkurs” course which included dismounting over the handlebars. Most people thought the jumping off was meant as comedy, but then we saw the course..

Lots and lots of roadie friendly “mountian biking” #earoiseverything sections…

And 2 short sections of what I call “High Speed Boulders of Death sections:”

Maybe Faris’s Terminator moves arent so far fetched after all!

The mens Elite race is loaded with a curious selection of athletes from all sorts of back grounds:

Click on page for full start list.

When I planned my racing calendar this year, I decided to only do races I enjoy.  Fun, technical, challenging, well designed, adrenaline filled and true to the XTERRA nature I fell in love with 13 years ago.  I dont necessarily pick races to suit my strengths, (like this one with its 1600m of climbing on bike and 550m of climbing on run) but I like real mountain biking, real trail running, and preferably an interesting destination. That's why I'm still passionate about racing. When I'm having fun, I enjoy doing my job and I'm fast. Unfortunately the XTERRA Italy course changed from last year, and the fun factor was replaced with a "either you can, or you cant" attitude. Not the best way to attract newcomers to the sport, and not the reason I do this. While I'm on the topic: I'm writing this blog at the location of my next race. (Location withheld to protect the innocent.) Even though the course suits me relatively well, I'm quite disappointed with the seemingly hours of boring gravel road, dangerous down hills (only 30 seconds of it)- obviously not meant for mountain biking-  avoidance of single track, and a no-imagination run course. All this when we're riding right through thousands of hectares of stunning pine forests – perfect single track terrain. Maybe I'm a quality course snob, but the poor quality of many XTERRA courses is frustrating and confirms my dreams of sometime soon building a phenomenal course(s) which would redefine the sport. Fun for the hard core athletes, yet accessable to beginners & kids.  Think XTERRA / Urban Rage / Tough Mudder, with a lot of Caveman sprinkled on top…. Anyway, back to Italy:  

Got out the swim with Kiwi Braden Curry and someone else. About 30" behind Roger Serrano the Bearded Beast.

Hoping for rain because that's the tyre I've got.

Early on we did a fun loop through the old town of Scanno. Probably my favourite part of the race- narrow cobbled alleys, down century old stairs,

Watch out for fellow competitors, super slippery cobbles, and maybe an opening door…

Past old ladies in traditional black, where today they watch a different world go by…  

Get off the brakes and bring some speed- faster is easier. After the fun and games of whizzing through town we climbed. And Climbed. And CLIMBED. As you can see below on my Suunto Movescount file, the 1st climb was 700m in one go – 43min for me. Mostly steep, gravelly,  jeep track. I dont mind climbing, but then the down hill must be good. Unfortunately this year it plunged almost straight down the ski slope. In dry training conditions I glazed my brake rotors its so steep.  Yet, going slowly due to the rain, it took me less than 8 minutes to get down. Not a good "Yahooooo!!" rating. (Divide Suffering time by Fun time to get Yahooooo rating: 43/8 = 5.3 Yahooooos)

Click here for full interactive Movescount file. Braden and I climbed together, but when Ruben Ruzafa caught us, Braden went with him and I couldnt respond. My legs were heavy and HR low- an indication that my legs werent rested enough, and I was paying the price for too much pre riding. As can bee seen in "Bar Chart and Curve" section, my avs HR was only 146. I spent only 1hr36 (of 2hr55) going Very Hard (between 146-163),  39min going Hard (127-146) and 16min below 126HR. When fit and rested I can do 3hrs at 155hr avs. As we summited, the rain started coming down in huge drops, and the ski slope instantly became an ice rink. The Yahoooo factor went up.

Loved the Command Post, (now available at your Specialized dealer) dropped the saddle, and the big knobblies on the front Ground Control 2.3 tyre came nicely into play.

In less than 5 minutes, I was in the village down theeeeere. Straight down the ski run in the back ground.  Some sections through the trees were real slippery, the trick was finding traction on the leaves and not in the mucked up "trail". Please dont do this on a under normal conditions on a normal MTB trail. But these were mostly goat trails and I didnt want to make unnecessary cartwheels and have to fix my bike with a piece of wood like this guy…

It was tough tough times for the age groupers! This guy broke his handlebar, found a stick to make a ThereIfixedIt.com #Cavemanstyle plan. Classic!

Coming in with Carloni (FRA), behind a flying Ruzafa.

The run was really challenging -technical, super hilly, scenic & fun.

Stunning sections through Scanno. Loving the new Hoka Huaka racers.

and surrounding hills.

Save some energy for the views.

The rain didnt dampen the crowd's spirits. Braden Curry is a hard core mountain man, and came steaming past me up the last climb to get 2nd behind Ruzafa.

3rd for Caveman, 1st Ruzafa (ESP), 2nd Curry (NZ)   PrincessHotstuff! Still trying to shake the cold she pickup that day- running around in the rain, cheering, taking photos and giving splits at every oppertunity.

Eating lamb sosaties with Kiwis in Italy?!? Sam and Braden Curry & kids. Check out Bradens' adventure race, RedBull Defiance in NZ.

Made many new friends (& touched up my French) here with Ezechiel and family from France.

A super tough race for the age groupers. Bike wash on the swim course – not so much sympathy for the bike after a long day 🙂

Ciao Italia! Grazie mille!!! Guten tag Deutchland und Austria for Specialized Germanic Dealer Event

Went for a little ride in the legendary Redwood forest with a friend. (Bay Area- San Francisco)

Click on the image for Youtube link.

Recent NY Times article on triathlons moving to the more adventurous side:

[Most off-road racers start with traditional endurance events before moving on to off-road competitions.

Conrad Stoltz, a professional triathlete from South Africa and four-time Xterra World Champion, started his career with traditional triathlons and competed in two Olympics. He now focuses on off-road competitions.

“With road triathlon, you chase the white line on the road,” Stoltz said. “It’s all about taking as much pain as possible. He or she who trained the hardest and suffers the most usually wins.

“To do well in off-road tris you need to be technically skilled, brave and robust, on top of being superfit and well trained.”

“You go back to the Stone Age. You’re a caveman or cavewoman again.”]

Read the whole article on the NYTimes link:

Make pool time count.                          Photo by Hendrik Steytler

Finding time to train for 3 sports is hard enough as it is.

Last week I was at the Specialized Dealer Event and between riding 2015 bikes with dealers, presentations, expo, catching up with industry friends and bike & run training, I only had 30minutes to squeeze in a quick swim.

I jogged the few street blocks to the local 25yd pool and hit the water running:

Caveman’s Magic 30min swim set:

– Warm up: 8 minute easy swimming, focussing on feeling the water and concentrating on good stroke. Once I start feeling good, I like to throw in some one arm swimming (other arm by the side) and maybe a 100 IM or 2- to get the heart rate up and get some more “feel” for the water.

– Main set: 20 minutes of sprinting 25s. Sounds easy, but the trick is in the rest period: Only 3 breaths “rest.” Between the hard sprinting and short rests, pretty soon I’m at theshold. Its the best of both worlds: I can swim 20min harder than race pace, but  the short rests keeps the effort high,without blowing my arms up. The 3 breaths also teaches you to control your breathing-  focus on breathing deeply and recovering as much as possible in the short time. In a 25yd pool my send off is about 20 seconds, and this work out adds up to about 1800yds. (1600m)

– Cool down: 2 minutes easy with some back stroke to flush the lactic acid.

Of course, if you’re serious about swim performance, this should not be your “bread and butter” swim set, but it works great if you’re short on time, just want to maintain fitness. And after all, staring at the bottom of the pool is only fun for a while.

Make every length count.