More pics from  XTERRA Las Vegas coming in.

A couple of good qoutes this week:

From my coach Ian Rodger: “Training is like fighting a Gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the Gorilla is tired.” “or maybe its more like fighting Chuck, you dont stop till Chuck is tired…”

When I couldnt remember my rental car company. Just like I often forget my airline company, hotel room # etc so I made this one up…

“The rental car company is Hertz. Just think of what the race is going to feel like Sunday: its going to Hertz!”

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Its always good to start the season with a win.  Even though Josiah Middaugh made my job a lot easier by flatting when he poached my line…

More complete post later. Click here for XTERRA report and complete results.

I got the job done on the bike- this moon landscape course is very particular- there were lots of crashes and flat tires. I had my Specialized Epic Sworks’ Brain suspension set up super plush and could safely (well, kind of) power through the rough stuff – Caveman style.

I know its last years’ World Champs race kit ,(2010 kit is in the mail) but check out my new flash Green and Gold (Springbok) Oakley Radars!

Congrats to fellow Avia racer Shonny Vanlandingham for kicking off the XTERRA season with a bang, Raynard Tissink (we raced each other as juniors) won Ironman South Africa, And Burry Stander got 3rd at the 1st UCI World Cup

2009 XTERRA World Champs podium by Rich Cruse

From L to R: Olivier Marceau (4th), Micheal Weiss (3rd), Eneko Llanos (1st), Nico Lebrun (2nd), Conrad Stoltz (5th)

Yes, I am disappointed. (Thanks for the nice e-mails. True friends are the ones who cares no matter the result) I did everything in my power to get to this race in top form and win a 4th World title. My equipment was faultless. But I was 5th best that day. I gave 100% in preparation and execution. I am content with that knowledge.

Winners look great and when you win a race it feels easy.(ok, relatively easy) Winning means you’re in control, within your limits. Losing is hard, physically. It means you gave 110%, played all your cards and lost. I gave it all, as can be seen here in my rare “Rocky Balboa on the ropes” look…

Pics by Rich Cruse, visit his album here

Too much:

The 2nd half of this season was just too much.

That cut in my foot was too deep, too long and too dirty.

Yes that cut: (Late June at XTERRA Richmond- read race report and surgery report) Dr Moose Herring in Richmond, VA is the coolest surgeon/triathlete you’ll ever come across- have your next surgery with Moose Herring…

Too much hospital time.

Too hard nosed to not race 2.5 weeks later: (with hardly any training, but it helped me win my 7th USA Series title)

The day before XTERRA Vermont. “My foot is fine”

– Too many injuries. When I resumed training early August, the injuries started. Typical Caveman, I thought “once the hole closes, I can carry on as if nothing happened”. This time I was wrong. It feels like I spent more time (and a small fortune) getting massage/ rehab/acupuncture than I spent training. I would fear running sessions, not knowing what was going to hurt next. I havent had a training related injury in ages, and I was reminded about the head games injury plays with an athlete on a deadline.

– Too little time. 3 weeks before USA Champs (7 weeks before Worlds) I realized I was in trouble. I was self coached this year, and knew how to get to Worlds in the right shape if everything went right. But everything was going wrong. I started panicking and needed someone to help me with a quick fix.  Like anyone else would, I reached for Facebook. Ian Rodger was a sport scientist at the Sport Science Institute in Cape Town where he did lab tests on my preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I didnt know him well and it took me a while to track him down on Facebook. (I knew I had the right Ian Rodger when I saw the Ian with the profile pic of a cyclist riding  a slimy cobblestone “road” somewhere in Belguim) I havent seen him in over 5 years, but I remember being impressed at how he combined the science of sport with the practical aspect of sport, especially cycling, and how he could look at wattage numbers and get a ton of information form it. First thing he did was to put me on 180mm cranks. A 6ft 3 guy with a 33inch saddle height warrants long levers. The 2nd thing was to  lower my saddle to alleviate the lower back pain that has been bothering me for many years. (Was great in training, but in the race it showed up again- so if you see me riding sitting up, with no hands, bouncing through loose lava- its to relieve my QL pain.)

He very much liked the numbers he saw in those tests back in 2000 which instilled confidence in me. (512W Peak power and 430W for 20km) His knowledge of numbers also meant we could to some extent overcome the 12 000mi geographical coach/athlete problem. Ian did damage control during a really tough time for him personally- his mom was dying from cancer.

We only had a handful of sessions “to count” between racing USA Champs and traveling to Kona where I trained in the heat and did some appearances for Specialized and Avia. I knocked out a few good sessions- the last recorded one being 5x 10min hill climbs at an average of 451W. Of course I did too much faffing around at Ironman and subsequently missed a few days fighting a cold.  Not much fun spending 3 days in a hotel bed on a tropical island.

I know its a cliche amongst athletes, but I really needed at least 4 more weeks of prep…

Too much of a road race.  I dont mean to whine, but this course technically, gets easier every year. Apart from a few patches of loose pebbles, 2 turns and a few steep climbs, its really a road ride with 3000ft of climbing. What happened to laying awake the night before the race, trying to remember which gnarly root section came after the 3ft drop off? Its cool to have 500 people in the same race at the same time, but if the course gets any easier we’ll have to start calling it “Ironman.”

Too bad bad luck strikes all too often: 2 Days before Worlds Ruben Ruzafa (last years champion) crashed on the practice course and got 40 stitches, Brent McMahon was injured last minute and DNSed. Dan Hugo’s season was similar to mine- got hit by an apple truck in the spring, struggled with subsequent injuries and then finally H1N1 finished his season off-  bad things happen to great athletes– its the nature of the game. Especially this one.

I fought them on the landings, I fought them in the trenches and I fought them on the beaches, but I was seeing so many stars, I cant even remember on which beach Olivier Marceau passed me for 4th.

Hindsight. After a long, hard and stressful season with seemingly more time on the massage table than in training, a $45k hospital bill (thankfully USAT took care of that), it was nice to wash away the dirt, stress and bad memories of a good season turned bad.  And temporary respite from the heavy burden of being the guy who has to win.

Excited about the upgrade to the new Avia AVI Stoltz we have been testing. Firmer midsole

Photo and camera by Rich Cruse. www.richcruse.com

I met sports photographer Rich Cruse at my 1st XTERRA– Richmond VA 2001.

Since then we have become close friends, but also we managed to do a lot of business together. He would shoot pics at races and make me look good- not an easy task- and I would offer it to the press and sponsors who would buy them off Rich. That way Rich made a living, I looked somewhat good, and the sponsors and magazines got great pics.

I attended Vineman 70.3 this past weekend to work at the Avia stand– my shoe sponsor. We worked the expo and race day, sold shoes and had great meals and wine afterward. Shoe designer Ike and I also brainstormed on the 2010 Avia AVI STOLTZ.

From the AVIA booth I saw Rich sprint across a big field with about 60lbs of camera gear flapping in the wind. I ran over and offered to help him carry. We got to the finish just before Aussie Joe Gambles, the winner. I wanted to give Rich’s camera back but he said:“Shoot!”

So I “shot”:

Thanks for the credit Rich!