Maymont’s paved paths and rolling hills will be the site of this weekend’s X-Country Festival.

If you like to run, bike or paddle, this is your kind of weekend here in the RVA.

It starts on Friday for the runners with the Sports Backers’ Maymont X-Country Festival. The Open 5K goes off at 6 p.m. and is a really cool opportunity to race in a place where you’d normally stroll and sightsee. As the Sports Backers’ website describes it: Maymont is a cross country runner’s dream. From the lavish 1893 Maymont House to the scenic wildlife areas that house bison, bald eagles, deer, bears and other animals, the estate is the perfect backdrop for a fall race.

The same is true for Saturday morning’s James River Loop 8-miler. This race is also open to the public, and while it starts and ends at Maymont, the course is really a showcase of Richmond’s downtown trails (click here for the map). Trail lovers will navigate Buttermilk and North Bank trails, as well as the singletrack on Belle Isle before they arrive back at the finish line.

Paddlers have two great options on Saturday, but they’ll have to pick one. At 9 a.m. the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River will host their annual 10-mile “Battle or Paddle” event — your opportunity for a fun paddle or a competitive race in your canoe, kayak, or SUP. The event begins at Petersburg’s Pocahontas Island and the full 10-mile length ends at the Hopewell City Marina near the convergence with the James River. There are also several take-out points along the river for those who do not want to paddle the entire route. At the finish a shuttle will return you and your boat to Petersburg. The entire course is flat water in the tidal section of the river. 

River lovers also have the option of paddling the falls of the James on Saturday as part of the Tour de Fall Line. This first-time event is half paddle, half bike (take your pick) and all celebration of the amazing natural resource we have in the middle of our city. For canoeists, kayakers, and SUPers, events begin at 10 a.m. (or earlier, if you prefer) at Mayo Island, where a shuttle provided by the VCU Outdoor Adventure Program will take everyone up to Huguenot Flatwater. At 10:30 a.m. paddlers can choose to run to Reedy Creek or keep going through the downtown rapids back to Mayo Island where beer, food and music await.

Buttermilk Trail will be part of the course for the 50-miler of Saturday’s Tour de Fall Line. Credit: Phil Riggan

James River Outdoor Coalition president Patrick Griffin said he wants paddlers of all abilities to come out and have a good time together, and, he added, “the river is very, very low so we will have sweep people to make sure everyone gets down safely.”

Mountain bikers have three options as part of the Tour de Fall Line: a 50-, 28- and 14-mile ride. All feature the world famous downtown Richmond singletrack, as well as some of the less well known Pirate Trails and, for the 50-milers, Powhite and Larus parks.  The $40 entry fee gets you a supported ride, a pint glass, one Sierra Nevada beer, Lee’s Fried Chicken and a concert on Mayo Island when you get back (the same is true for boaters and their $30 entry fee).

“It’s a hellacious deal,” said city trails manager Mike Burton. And he’s especially right when you consider that any profit goes to JROC and local mountain bike/trail building club Richmond MORE.

So, there you have it folks. Lace ’em up; break out the paddle; pump up the tires. You have options this weekend no matter your outdoors pleasure.

It’s Wednesday afternoon. That means the weekend is on the horizon, and as I mentioned last week, every Wednesday afternoon this fall you can check back here for a preview of what’s coming up between now and Sunday.

Who wouldn’t want to take the kids camping here? Credit: Tim Thompson

Before we even get to the weekend, there’s plenty going on. Take tonight: If you’ve followed the journey of the Terrain360/RichmondOutside mapping boat down the James this summer, come out to The Camel tonight and see the finished product. The James River Association is sponsoring a happy hour event as part of their Amazing Raise efforts. Ryan Abrahamsen and I will be on hand to tell stories from the summer’s adventure and show off what the one-of-a-kind tour will look like when we release it on Terrain360.com later this month. That’s tonight at 5 p.m. at The Camel, and it’s free.

Also on short notice: today is the last day to register for Maymont’s Family Camp Out. They’re calling this one “Creatures of the James,” and not only do you get to camp out with your kids at Maymont, but there’ll be a guided hike through the estate in search of native nocturnal creatures, and you can meet a few of Maymont’s own animal ambassadors. Afterwards, you’ll make s’mores and enjoy stories around the campfire. There’s even a Continental Breakfast and another hike the next day. (Ages 4 and older; one adult must register for every four children.)

If you haven’t seen some version of the advertising blitz for the VCU Broad Street Mile, well, you must have been out of town the past six weeks. On Saturday the mile/5K/fun run/festival kicks off at 10 a.m. between Belvidere and Hermitage on Broad Street. As the website says, “Broad Street will be transformed into two areas, a running course and festival. The running course will feature the VCU 5K to kick-off the event, and five themed one-mile races that start at 20 minute intervals. The free festival will feature live music, food trucks, local vendors, kids activities and a new RVA Sports Zone featuring the Richmond Flying Squirrels and other local professional sports teams. Sounds like a cool block party even if you’re not a runner.

Rodney the Ram will definitely be in attendance at the VCU Broad Street Mile.

If you are a runner, however, you could hit the VCU Broad Street Mile and still have time to lace them up at the Virginia Farm Bureau’s Stampede 5K at West Creek Parkway. There’s a kids run first at 4 p.m., then a manually timed 5K immediately following. After that the party begins, with food vendors, a farmer’s market, Center of the Universe Beer and agriculture-themed activities for kids.

Finally, on Sunday, there’s an event that if you haven’t trained for by now, you probably shouldn’t participate in. Or maybe you’re just that beastly of an athlete and you can do a half-iron-distance triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) off the couch. If so, or if you want to see some of the region’s top endurance athletes battle it out over a cool urban course, come out to Rocketts Landing for the Richmond Rox Olympic Distance and Endurance Half Iron Triathlons.

Don’t be put off by last week’s heat wave, folks, fall is on its way. And I don’t know about you, but fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. Even after a mild summer like this one, I’m ready for autumn and everything it calls to mind: leaf peepage, apple cider, cool days, cold nights by the outdoor fireplace, football. Call me crazy, but I even kind of enjoy raking leaves.

Volunteers during last year’s ‘Tire-less James’ fill up their batteau with tires. Credit: JRA

Fall is also a busy time of year for outdoor activities in the Richmond area. It seems like as soon as kids head back to school, the calendar explodes with stuff to do. The Events Calendar on our homepage has a comprehensive listing, but starting today, and continuing every Wednesday this fall, we’ll be highlighting the coming weekend’s can’t-miss events for outdoor lovers. (If you’re an event director and your ride, run, triathlon, festival, litter pickup, etc. is on the horizon, let us know so we can feature it.)

Last week, we gave you a heads up the James River Association’s Tire-less James event. Groups of volunteers will comb the river this Saturday in search of old tires and then Bridgestone will haul them away and recycle them (there’s still time to sign up). Ryan and I were up on the James below Iron Gate on Monday taking pictures for our river mapping project and we saw at least four tires between Iron Gate and Gala. So, if you happen to be on that section of the river, keep your eyes peeled.

The Tire-less James is running concurrently with the James River Advisory Council‘s huge James River Cleanup on Saturday. Pre-registration is closed, but you can still join the fun by just showing up to one of the official cleanup sites with close-toed shoes, water and gloves. They’ll provide the bags and take care of the the removal.

If you’re looking to get the heart rate up a little more, drive up to Ashland at 3 p.m. on Saturday for Center of the Universe Brewing Company’s Das Bier Run. There’ll be beer (natch), German food, a 13-piece authentic German band and a team relay fun run. And speaking of beer, yesterday we featured another beer-centric event taking place Saturday — the Spoke and Hop Fest. Head to Hardywood at noon on Saturday and you’ll find 25 Virginia craft breweries pouring two beers each and well as handmade bicycle fabricators from up and down the East Coast (including four from Richmond) showing off their craft bikes. Food trucks and live bands will also be blazing

That’s a busy Saturday folks, but there’s a natural progression in there: Start by cleaning up and giving back, go for a run and a beer then go check out some sweet handmade bikes and imbibe a little more while taking in some live music. Good times.

Back in late May, I reported on the installation of counters — vehicle and infrared — at seven different units of the James River Park. The counters were made possible by a $2,000 gift from the Friends of the James River Park and the James River Outdoor Coalition. The idea with the counters was, for the first time, to acquire actual usage numbers for the 20-parcel, 550-acre park that runs through the heart of Richmond. Up until then, usage surveys were conducted and visitation estimates were extrapolated from there.

Infrared counters are used to count people at a couple of park locations.

With the heavy summer park-use season now over, I spoke with Nathan Burrell, JRPS superintendent, to see how much mounting those counters did. The results were pretty astounding.

“Up through July we were at 500,000+ visitors,” he said. “That’s May through July. And we only have counters at seven locations right now.”

Burrell said he’ll be getting the August numbers by the end of the week, and he expects them to be somewhere north of 100,000 visitors but probably less than July’s 160,000 tally. June had 141,000.

Burrell explained that they use a conservative coefficient to account for the fact that many of the cars that arrive at the park have multiple people in them and some people use the park more than one time a day.

“We’re missing some people there, but we thought it was a safe number. We wanted to be conservative. The last thing I wanted is to be wildly high and then people just disregard them.”

To put these numbers in perspective, in February the Times-Dispatch reported that Maymont was the “most-visited place in the Richmond area,” with 527,153 visitors in 2013. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was second in the region with 479,907 visitors. Rounding out the top five were the Children’s Museum of Richmond with 393,529 visitors; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with 339,139 visitors; and Three Lakes Nature Center and Aquarium with 304,621 visitors.

The James River Park has always been a popular place. We now know how popular. Credit: Richmond.com

The Washington Redskins training camp brought in 164,789 visitors this year.

Burrell said that in 2012, the park system conducted a survey of usage from which they extrapolated a year-long visitation number: that number was between 500,000 and 1.5 million. “We’re going to be close to that million mark (when 2014 is over),” Burrell said.

Here’s some more perspective that city council and the mayor should take note of for future budgets. The JRPS with it’s 1 million or more visitors a year is maintained by four full-time employees (including Burrell), two seasonal employees and one part-timer. That’s something to keep in mind when proposals for $250,000 Carytown signs and redundant, million-dollar bridges over the Haxall Canal come up for debate.

Good results in the water, on the bike and the road require the right preparation. Credit: Endorphin Fitness

Part of the appeal of outdoor recreation is the presence of risk. Whether you’re dropping onto single track or hucking over a ledge, you may be embracing the presence of nature, but you are also tickling the edge of danger. (Ok, some of you give it a full-on noogie.)  However, even at your most dangerous level, perhaps exactly because of the elevated risk, you take extra steps to ensure that you still come home at the end of the day. Helmets, ropes, and scouting all keep you in the green. Just as you approach your sport with a pleasant rush of adrenaline sidled up to a healthy dose of caution, consider offering your body the same respect. While you cannot guarantee that you will never experience an injury, you can certainly do everything in your power to reduce your risk.

Scout ahead

Before you head into your next big adventure, get to know your body. Stepping back and surveying can save you time, pain, and money (unless you have killer insurance; in that case, go ape). Qualified professionals use objective assessments such as the Functional Movement Screen (disclosure: this is one of my preferred methods), the Overhead Squat Assessment, muscle testing, and various forms of postural assessments. These tests examine how you move through a given range of motion in order to determine where you are weak, tight, unstable, and strong. If you haven’t been through a movement assessment, I highly recommend the experience, especially if you are prone to overuse injuries.

In the meantime, at home you can do a quick survey. Standing on two feet, can you bend forward and touch your toes (mobility and hip mechanics)? Can you hold a good plank for 15 seconds (core, shoulder stability)? Can you stand on one foot, with control, for 10 seconds (stability)? Anywhere that you display significant dysfunction or asymmetry opens you up to an increased risk for damage, whether it is on a training run or while mulching your flowers. Over time, particularly any time you increase intensity, the vicious cycle of compensation, damage, pain, compensation winds tighter and tighter until you are shut down. Scout ahead and make a plan. Avoid the rocks.

Check your gear

Bikes and shoes will either give you freedom or extreme discomfort. Finding the right fit is the key factor. I frequently meet with athletes who have met with various doctors, only to learn that their shoes posed the major problem. Bike fit is no less crucial. If you have never been fitted, allow me to address a few things: 1) The saddle doesn’t have to hurt.  2) Low back pain is not normal. 3) Hand numbness is not acceptable. A little bit of time and money on the front end will pay dividends in the long run. Once we have ruled out gear as the compounding factor, looking into other problem sources (see #1) becomes more reliable.

Do the maintenance

You wax your surfboard, pump your tires, and lay out your rope. These chores are tedious, yet hardly time consuming and always worth the increased performance that results. Of course, as your equipment gets older you have to increase the amount of maintenance work, but I think you get the metaphor now.

Cycling is a popular cross training choice for runners.

You should maintain yourself the way you do your bike.

Finding balance between mobility and stability contributes to keeping your body in its best condition. Strength comes into play, but without the foundation of optimal joint movement (a product of stability and mobility), strength results may become compromised. Based on your self-testing (or, ahem, visit to a qualified professional), you would be well served by dedicating five minutes each day to focused drills. To improve hip mobility, squeeze your glute while you stretch your hip flexor and quad. To work on balance, stand on one foot while playing catch with your kid. To improve your plank, start with kneeling planks performed in short sets of 10 seconds on, five seconds off (view our perfect plank video). Continue to progress until you can hold a plank on your toes. I like to work on short sets that force you to find good form multiple times rather than trying to force one long hold where all you practice is suffering. Whatever it is, make it a consistent part of your day. Rather than it being a further demand on your time, think of it as a way of extending the life of, well, YOU.

Can you spit?

Many years ago, in my whitewater days, I was given a sage piece of advice: “When you scout a rapid that scares you, spit. If you can’t spit, don’t run the rapid.”  The day came that I looked at Hollywood Rapid, raging at some unearthly flood stage and, barely able to get around my parched lips, I muttered “See ya.”  In truth, I’m pretty sure I could have run the rapid; but the cost of failure was decidedly final. I didn’t trust myself to be able to do what I needed to do, so I walked away. Being pushed to expand your capabilities is the glory of being active, but with that should come respect for your limits.

Beyond picking appropriate levels at which to participate (if you are 5k ready, you probably shouldn’t come out for the marathon); you should be cognizant of what level you are at from day to day and week to week. Race on race day, train on training day, rest on rest day. Never vice versa. (A co-worker and pro triathlete has it tattooed on his wrists: “Hard Days Hard.” “Easy Days Easy”.) Guaranteed, the most common explanation that I hear for “My calf hurts” is something within the general theme of “I did something I don’t normally do at a speed/intensity/gradient that I’m not used to.”  It’s ok, we all do it.  Sometimes a little push can do wonders for our fitness and motivation; however, when it comes to laying your body on the line, know when it is okay to walk away. Then go train until you CAN meet the challenge.

There are 23 other hours in the day

A standing desk is a good idea, but good posture is key whether you sit or stand.

The time that you spend active usually represents such a small percentage of your daily living that discussing injury prevention solely on that sport is like talking about the tree instead of the forest. We all know of the dangers of sitting at desks all day so I will spare you. Set an alarm for every 50 minutes to remind you to stand up and walk around. If you have a standing desk, you are not off of the hook. The most important thing that I have ever learned with regard to effective physical therapy is that, without good posture, nothing else will hold. Ears aligned over shoulders, shoulders aligned over hips, hips over knees, knees over ankles. Feet evenly balanced on the ground. Avoid sucking in just as much as slouching. Ideally, as you stand, you are at relative ease without having to brace or squeeze anything. With a small degree of attention throughout the day, you will enter your adventure already better prepared, thus set up for reducing your risk for injury.

To make it through an entire season without an issue is a gift, but it is a gift that often takes a little prep work and a touch of luck.  The luck will run its own course, but the work, the work will have to come from you.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”- Benjamin Franklin

Research makes clear the benefits of cross training, and many runners have learned to incorporate it into their training. Some people argue that to run fast you simply need to run more. However, there is a point where one more run could drastically increase your chance for over training or a specific overuse injury. Cross training allows athletes to increase fitness and strength while reducing the risk of injury. Below are several cross training methods that have proven to increase running performance, as well as the best places in Richmond to do these activities.

CYCLING

Cycling is one of the more popular cross training activities. It can increase your ability to have a more powerful run by strengthening key muscles groups and improving your cardiovascular system. Simply put, by getting stronger on the bike you can become a stronger runner.

Cycling is a popular cross training choice for runners.

Key Workout: To gauge progress on the bike, do this test: Warm up for 20 minutes and then do 5 minutes at 95% effort. Take 10 minutes rest and then do 20 minutes at the hardest effort you can sustain for that time. After this, start your cool down. Do this test at the same location each time and record your distance and heart rate if possible to compare progress.

Best Place in Richmond to Cycle: West Creek Parkway is a safe location that many cyclists in the area take advantage of. Just be sure to follow the rules of the road, and watch out for the geese!

SWIMMING

Swimming can be used as a great post-run exercise. It can help loosen up tight areas from your run as well as provide muscular balance. Swimming also increases your lung capacity allowing your fitness reach a higher level.

Key Workout: Do a 500-meter warm up, and then do the following test set: Perform 10 x 100 meters (or yards depending on the pool you are in) with 30 seconds of rest between each interval. These should be done at maximum intensity. Your average pace will allow you to get your threshold swim pace and see if you’re lacking speed over endurance or not.

Pool running is good for injury rehab.

Best Place in Richmond to Swim: The Collegiate School Aquatic Center is located off the Ironbridge exit in Chesterfield. This state of the art swimming facility includes a 50-meter competition pool and a 25 meter instruction pool.

WATER RUNNING

Runners undergoing injury rehab commonly use water running. The exercise allows you to train the running pattern and strengthen key muscles groups without pounding on your body. The key is to do this in deep water and mimic your running form as best you can. Use a flotation belt to get accustom to the technique. Once you get the form down you can remove the belt for a better overall workout.

Key Workout: Do a 15-minute warm up and then 3 x 8 minutes at 80% effort while going as hard as possible for the last minute of each interval. Take 2 minutes easy between intervals and then do a 15-minute cool down.

Best Place in Richmond to Water Run: Any deep-water pool is great for water running.

ANTI-GRAVITY TREADMILL RUNNING

Anti-gravity treadmills are pretty crazy looking, but useful.

Running on an anti-gravity treadmill is a great way to get additional mileage while reducing your chance for injury. This is a specially designed treadmill that allows you to adjust the amount of body weight you run with. You can reduce your body weight by any percentage you would like in order to run at a faster pace or simply run longer with less pounding. This is a great tool to use when rehabbing an injury or simply wanting to increase running fitness by using a running-specific technique.

Key Workout: This is perfect for allowing your body to feel the speed of goal race pace. For example, if training for a 5k you could do a 3.1 mile run at goal race pace and adjust the body weight percentage closer to your actual body weight each time you preform the workout until you run the distance at the pace you desire to run with 100% of your body weight.  Make sure to get a good warm up and cool down during this workout.

Best Place in Richmond to Use an Anti-Gravity Treadmill: Advance Orthopedic has an anti-gravity treadmill that is available for public use. You must call and set up an appointment for someone to show you how the treadmill is operated and then you can schedule the times you would like to use it.

YOGA

It is no secret that runners tend to have very tight muscles, and most running injuries are due to lack of flexibility. Yoga is a great way to improve flexibility while also increasing core control.

Yoga can lead to better results on the trail and road.

Key Workout: Attend a yoga class at a yoga studio for the best instruction.

Best Place in Richmond to Do Yoga: There are many yoga studios in Richmond that are popular for runners. Hot House Yoga is one of the most popular in the area and has classes all day long to accommodate your schedule.

STRENGTH TRAINING

This is an essential component to reaching your running potential. Doing proper strength training exercises allows you to develop muscular balance while strengthening key muscle groups for running. By increasing muscular strength you can become a much stronger runner to a degree. This can also be an essential component to injury prevention.

Key Workout: Do 10 minutes of dynamic warm up exercises like running, jump rope, cycling, etc. You can do body weight exercise anywhere. For example, push-ups, body-weight squats, walking lunges, single leg box squats, split squat, lateral lunges, are all great options. It is best to receive professional instruction before performing these exercises to insure that you have the correct form.

Don’t forget the strength training.

Best Place in Richmond to Strength Train: Endorphin Fitness specializes in strength training for the endurance athlete. Taking one of their eFIT strength training classes is a great way to receive expert instruction and learn key strength exercise to increase running performance.

Pedestrians enjoy the Roanoke River Greenway, which is over 5 miles long. Credit: Max Hepp-Buchanan

It’s amazing what a 10-foot-wide ribbon of asphalt can do to transform a region. Paved multi-use trails have completely altered the transportation and recreation landscape in cities like Boulder, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. For me, those are the first places that come to mind when thinking about great cities for bicycling on paved trails, but what about Virginia Beach? Or Roanoke?

Or Chesterfield County?

Maybe Chesterfield County is not quite there yet, but they are thinking ahead. A team of county staff are now in the process of developing the county’s new Bikeways & Trails Plan, which will map the future of paved trails and on-street bikeways in the Chesterfield. And they are looking to local leaders like Virginia Beach and the Roanoke region for guidance by touring those locations and meeting with their planners.

I have been fortunate enough to join the Chesterfield County team on their study trips this spring and summer, and I’ve learned a lot about how a well-placed trail, built at the right kind of roadway or property development can make all the difference in how people get around by walking or biking.

Our most recent trip was to the Roanoke area just last week. Roanoke Valley Greenways started planning for multi-use trails back in the mid-1990s, so they are already 20 years ahead of Chesterfield County. Regionally, they boast about 25 miles of greenways and over 80 miles of bike lanes and signed routes. And like many jurisdictions, they started with the low-hanging fruit: the first seven years of trail construction in the Roanoke Valley was focused within parks, along sewer lines, and other existing public rights of way. Then they had to start acquiring new land, which makes things more difficult and expensive.

The Roanoke region has been building greenways for over 20 years. Credit: Max Hepp-Buchanan

But they’ve come a long way in a relatively short amount of time and take a lot of pride in their centerpieces, such as the Lick Run Greenway, which runs from Valley View Mall past an elementary school, through a park, and right into downtown Roanoke. It’s only 3.5 miles long right now, but it does a great job connecting major destinations in an urban environment.

The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission has produced a very useful Bike, Hike, & Bus Map that incorporates bus timetables, the dirt trail network and trailheads, and paved and on- and off-street bikeways. This all-in-one alternative transportation map does wonders to maximize the walking and biking enthusiast’s outdoor experience in the Roanoke Valley region (order yours for free here).

While Greater Richmond doesn’t yet have a map-worthy regional network – with all the work that the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County are doing to become more walking- and biking-friendly – one but can’t help think the future of new greenways in our region is bright.

The Richmond race has been part of the XTERRA U.S. tour longer than any other event. Credit: Trey Garman/XTERRA

A month ago the XTERRA East Championships off-road triathlon series came through Richmond. It was the 16th straight year XTERRA has put on a championship-level race here. But there’s a chance it could be the last.

“It’s our oldest concurrently-run location on the U.S. tour,” said Janet Clark, XTERRA president, in an interview last week. “We have a long history and a lot of good times and fond memories (in Richmond), and frankly, a lot of development of that trail system there.”

Why is Richmond in danger of losing XTERRA? After three years as the presenting sponsor of the XTERRA races — sport- and championship-distance triathlons and two trail races — Luck Stone is bowing out.

“We love those guys. They were fantastic,” Clark said, of the Luck Stone team. “They were extremely helpful in keeping that race in Richmond. They brought in some wonderful technology…We leave on very good terms with them. It just doesn’t really fit their overall marketing strategy at this point in time.”

So, Luck Stone is out, and, at least for now, there’s a void to fill. This has happened in the past, notably in 2011, when the city refused to offer XTERRA financial aid after local insurer Heritage Union did not renew as presenting sponsor. That’s when Luck Stone came onboard.

Clark said they’d very much prefer to keep the race in Richmond, “but reality is reality. Obviously, we have a vested interest in Richmond as a race location…and we’re going to be working to keep the race there. But, yes, we do need someone to help us do that.”

XTERRA pros navigate the bike course in this year’s race. Credit: Trey Garman/XTERRA

She added that she hopes to begin negotiating with possible sponsors sometime in the late fall or early winter. When I asked her if XTERRA absolutely needs a presenting sponsor to bring the race back to Richmond, she said that wasn’t completely accurate.

“But I would say we would need some assistance of some kind. Obviously, the more the merrier. We do rely on that local support to keep us in the region. It’s an awfully huge region that that race serves (the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic) and we’ve had some interest from some other locations as well.

“It’s never over until it’s over,” she said. “We have a vested in that race and there are some emotional ties and a lot of history that would certainly sway us in a push-come-to-shove situation.”

A successful triathlon requires much preparation.

So you want to race a triathlon or maybe you want to race a triathlon better. There are more moving parts to think about while you compete than you have fingers and toes. Trying to keep on top of everything can seem like a daunting task, even to the seasoned veteran (or pro triathlete).

I’ve been racing for a few years now and am in my second season of racing as a professional triathlete. I have made my fair share of mistakes leading up to races and on the race course. I would like to share a few of my stories with you so that you can avoid my bone-head mistakes and enjoy a more stress-free race experience!

When you think about the most important gear you need for training and racing you might include goggles, a bike, running shoes, and a helmet. But how do you transport all of this essential gear with you? Maybe you’re driving and have a few duffel bags and you break down your bike so everything can fit in your car. Yeah, well, when you break down your bike you should think to include the front wheel when packing the car. Or you could drive 10 hours to your destination, begin the unpacking process only to have your heart sink to your toes once you’ve realized you have no front wheel and need a Plan B very fast!

In that same vein, you might have some electronics on your bike. Maybe you use a bike computer or power meter. How long has it been since you’ve charged those or replaced the battery? If one of those pieces of awesome technology goes dead on you the day before the race or even race morning, you’ve got real problems. Did you remember to bring extra batteries or the wall charger?

How well have you planned your transition area?

I’ve forgotten both. I’ve even found my electronic shifting system dead before a race, forgotten the charger, and had to scramble around town for hours trying to find someone to charge up my new-fangled bike!

Maybe remembering a wheel is easy enough, and you don’t use all the widgets and gadgets when you train and race. But, did you decide race morning it will be faster to transition with shoes on your bike because someone in the port-o-john line was talking about saving a few seconds? Or maybe you brought new nutrition to the race because you read online the week before about trying an all honey-and-water nutrition strategy will help you get the carbs in that you need. Yes, oh yes. I’ve done these both. I’ve tried flying mounts on my bike with no practice in a race and watched as my bike shoes flew off 20 feet off the road. I have tried an all-honey-and-water nutrition strategy without ever attempting it in training before. Neither situation worked out well for me.

Here is an easy one I’ve ignored on a dozen occasions… not checking my brakes before the race. Maybe something got moved around on the drive over? Nah, not my bike I thought. Then half way through the bike course everyone for a 10-mile radius could hear my super awesome race wheels screaming under the pressure of a shifted, and very stuck, brake pad.

Do you love your bike this much? You might need to.

Have I convinced you yet that I’ve made a few errors in judgment before? I’ve got an even better one. One time, the forecast called for 70 degrees and sunny, so I only packed my ‘hot’ gear. Never did I assume that the forecast would change over the next few days to become much colder, 40s and low 50s, with pouring rain and a water temperature in the same range.

Not only was I so cold that I was shaking, my fingers froze around my brakes and I was unable to let go of my bike for a few minutes, then I couldn’t use my fingers well enough to unbuckle my helmet. I had to start running with my helmet because I didn’t pack gloves and arm warmers just to be safe.

Through all of the mistakes I’ve made and continue to make while racing and training I have boiled everything down to two principles: patience and planning. You can figure everything out, in time. You will remember all of your gear if you plan ahead and make a checklist. You will know what nutrition will work when you plan for race day during your training. You will know your bike is ready to race when you plan ahead to check it over. It takes patience to plan but it’s worth it. I might mess it up a lot, but it’s learning from these mistakes that has gotten me this far.