Lance Armstrong Preps For XTERRA USA Championship

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong gave a brief interview ahead of tomorrow’s XTERRA USA Championship at Snowbasin Resort – his first triathlon in 22 years. Quotes and photos provided by XTERRA.

XTERRA: Think you can win tomorrow’s XTERRA USA Championship?

Armstrong: As much as I would like to think I could win or be a favorite I think it’s irresponsible to think that way. I haven’t done a triathlon in 22 or 23 years, haven’t done a mass start swim like that in just as long. This sport is very different. Just think about starting with hundreds of people in the water, think about the specificity of transitions. My transitions in the last 22 years have been all in the last week playing around in my garage, and I don’t know if that’s good enough. I’ll go out, have fun, push myself as hard as I can, and we’ll see.

XTERRA: There is a lot of buzz out there about you racing, are you excited about your first XTERRA?

Armstrong: I get the sense that people are excited, but nobody is as excited as I am. I sleep like a baby, and I woke up five times last night, so that’s the strongest statement I could make. I don’t ever have a problem sleeping, until last night.

PHOTOS: Lance Armstrong’s Trek Superfly Mountain Bike

XTERRA: Nervous?

Armstrong: Maybe you should ask me that in the morning, but last night I was nervous. I’m nervous for the race, but also because of the complexity of this event. A road race or the Tour de France is obviously difficult and complex but you’re dealing with one discipline, and you have a lot people to help manage those things. Manage the bike, manage the body, manage the food. This I have three different disciplines on my mind, and I’m thinking wait a minute, I’ve got to bring stuff for swimming, and cycling, and running. It’s a little more complicated.

XTERRA: What do you think about Utah?

Armstrong: I think Utah is amazing. You could spend your summers here and your winters up on the hill skiing, seems pretty good to me.

XTERRA: About the Livestrong Foundation

Armstrong: We’re an organization that was founded almost 15 years ago in Austin, Texas and are here to serve cancer survivors from all over the world, and not just the survivors but their friends and family by providing services, either direct services or services online. We touch millions of survivors all over the world ever year.

When you think about a race, you think, ‘what do I have to think about for this XTERRA tomorrow’, and most people know those answers. When you’re told you have cancer, whatever type it may be, people are full of questions, their family is full of questions, their friends are full of questions, and they don’t know where to turn. It’s one of the toughest things in this world to navigate. So, why we’ll have our own difficulties navigating this course tomorrow it will never compare to the navigation it takes to get around and get through this thing we know as cancer.